KAMA SUTRA : PART1-CHAPTER -4 The life of a citizen

Having thus acquired learning, a man, with the wealth that he may have gained
by gift, conquest, purchase, deposit,1 or inheritance from his ancestors, should
become a householder, and pass the life of a citizen.2 He should take a house
in a city, or large village, or in the vicinity of good men, or in a place which is
the resort of many persons. This abode should be situated near some water,
and divided into different compartments for different purposes. It should be
surrounded by a garden, and also contain two rooms, an outer and an inner
one. The inner room should be occupied by the females, while the outer room,
balmy with rich perfumes, should contain a bed, soft, agreeable to the sight,
covered with a clean white cloth, low in the middle part, having garlands and

bunches of flowers3 upon it, and a canopy above it, and two pillows, one at the
top, another at the bottom. There should be also a sort of couch besides, and at
the head of this a sort of stool, on which should be placed the fragrant
ointments for the night, as well as flowers, pots containing collyrium and other
fragrant substances, things used for perfuming the mouth, and the bark of the
common citron tree. Near the couch, on the ground, there should be a pot for
spitting, a box containing ornaments, and also a lute hanging from a peg made
of the tooth of an elephant, a board for drawing, a pot containing perfume,
some books, and some garlands of the yellow amaranth flowers. Not far from
the couch, and on the ground, there should be a round seat, a toy cart, and a
board for playing with dice; outside the outer room there should be cages of
birds,4 and a separate place for spinning, carving and such like diversions. In
the garden there should be a whirling swing and a common swing, as also a
bower of creepers covered with flowers, in which a raised parterre should be
made for sitting.
Now the householder, having got up in the morning and performed his
necessary duties,5 should wash his teeth, apply a limited quantity of ointments
and perfumes to his body, put some ornaments on his person and collyrium on
his eyelids and below his eyes, colour his lips with alacktaka,6 and look at
himself in the glass. Having then eaten betel leaves, with other things that give
fragrance to the mouth, he should perform his usual business. He should bathe
daily, anoint his body with oil every other day, apply a lathering substance7 to
his body every three days, get his head (including face) shaved every four days
and the other parts of his body every five or ten days.8 All these things should
be done without fail, and the sweat of the armpits should also be removed.
Meals should be taken in the forenoon, in the afternoon, and again at night,
according to Charayana. After breakfast, parrots and other birds should be
taught to speak, and the fighting of cocks, quails, and rams should follow. A
limited time should be devoted to diversions with Pithamardas, Vitas, and
Vidushakas,9 and then should be taken the midday sleep.10 After this the
householder, having put on his clothes and ornaments, should, during the
afternoon, converse with his friends. In the evening there should be singing,
and after that the householder, along with his friend, should await in his room,
previously decorated and perfumed, the arrival of the woman that may be
attached to him, or he may send a female messenger for her, or go for her
himself. After her arrival at his house, he and his friend should welcome her,
and entertain her with a loving and agreeable conversation. Thus end the duties
of the day.

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