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The Padma Purāṇa lays out the Dharma of prostitutes. Prostitutes must follow a vow which purifies them of sins. This vow includes worship of Viṣṇu, as well as service of a Brāhmaṇa for 13 months:

Having thus worshipped Govinda, the lord of the form of Anaṅga, the lady having made an offering with sandal, flowers, and incense, and then having invited a Brāhmaṇa...

She should bear in mind that the best brāhmaṇa, who has eaten well according to his sweet will, is Kāmadeva meant for Rati. The lady should do whatever the best brāhmaṇa desires.

She, speaking with a smile, should offer herself with all sincerity (to the brāhmaṇa)....

Thus till the thirteenth month arrives, she should gratify a brāhmaṇa and then send him to his house

This (vow) I have especially narrated to you, since this is the duty that should be always performed by the prostitute

My question is, does this vow really involve having sex with a Brāhmaṇa? I thought Brāhmaṇas are not allowed to have sex with prostitutes.

Or does this mean Brāhmaṇas are allowed to have sex with prostitutes who are following this vow?

If that is what is actually enjoined, then it follows from the idea that the dharma for all castes involves serving Brahmins and the Lord through what is permitted for their castes. For example, Kṣatriyas protect Brāhmaṇas and Yajñas, Vaiśyas farm and acquire food for Yajñas, Sūdras serve brahmins, wives serve their husband as the lord, etc. So along those lines, this vow might have prostitutes serve Brāhmaṇas through sexual service. But I am looking for stronger descriptions of this vow to confirm this.

Aupakarana Abhibhaa
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Ikshvaku
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    lol, where do you find such questions ?! These rules are most likely not applicable in Kali Yug, just like Ashvamedha Yagna or Niyoga for progeny. – ram Oct 03 '20 at 03:01
  • @ram I saw this section while reading the Padma Purana, and it goes against what Manu says about how it is sinful to eat the food of prostitutes. So how to reconcile? And is sex really involved with the Brahmana? – Ikshvaku Oct 03 '20 at 03:12
  • @Ikshvaku, IMO, it just seems like an archaic theoretical question. i don't think the issue is ever going to arise.. the issue being - someone interested in scripture enough to read this part of the purana, but then feeling permissible to indulge in those kinda sinful activities. Unless you're dealing with someone who actively cherry picks such verses to paint Hinduism in a bad light.. then we can try to resolve contradictions and counter them. – ram Oct 03 '20 at 05:50
  • @Carmen sandiego. Could you please tell where you found explicit mention of sex? Like verse no. Desire cannot be taken as only sexual desire, and mention of wife only shows that the Brahmana would not have any sexual desire. – Satya Oct 03 '20 at 10:34
  • @Satya - sorry . I meant couldn't find. Let me repost – Artist Formerly Known As CSD Oct 03 '20 at 10:47
  • I could NOT find explicit mention of sex between Brahmana and prostitute in the chapter. and in her interaction with Brahmana it reads "Having adorned him, along with his wife," ; so wife is always around. That being said this chapter would be rejected because it would be in conflict with what is mentioned in smritis that are higher in epistemic authority – – Artist Formerly Known As CSD Oct 03 '20 at 10:47
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    @Carmen sandiego. I think there's no need to reject this chapter. Unless you think it says to have sex with Brahmana there's no contradiction with higher smritis. Indeed it has even more beautiful concepts like it asks to worship vishnu as innerself of kamadeva. I'll try to answer this and shall discuss then if there are any contradictions. Thank you. – Satya Oct 03 '20 at 10:59
  • I believe this to mis direct a vaidik brahmana who is inherently evil how is that possible by including such thinks in sstvik puranas so that he can be way from doing satvik karmas – Prasanna R Oct 04 '20 at 03:56
  • @PrasannaR This section may be a tamasic part of the puranas since it is against the Vedas, since it encourages prostitutes to have sex with Brahmanas (and vice-versa). Manusmriti, the foremost of dharma shastras, says in 4.209 that one should not eat the food of a prostitute. And then it says in 12.95 that smritis that are against the Vedas are tamasic in origin. – Ikshvaku Oct 04 '20 at 13:25
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    Not only manu smirti Krishna in Uddava geeta clearly says yuooshit sangha sanghina thektva, still further he says stree sangha sanghina thekthva (avoiding sangha of persons who are in friends group of athesit, or different view about god like im god, i will become god)all these people are called stree – Prasanna R Oct 04 '20 at 13:34
  • @AupakaranaAbhibhaa Suggest you not do trivial edits like converting "Brahmana" & "Brahmin" to "Brāhmaṇa". There are literally 1000's of such posts on this site which use simplified transliteration (i.e., Rama instead of Rāma). Every time you edit, it pushes the post to the Active queue on the main page for everyone to see. If you are particular about using IAST, limit it to your own posts (questions and answers). There's no need to edit others' posts. – Say No To Censorship Nov 02 '20 at 15:50
  • @sv. Whatever transliteration method they are using, some lead to severe problems if simplified too much e.g. equating Rama and Rāma make this https://greenmesg.org/stotras/rama/rama_rama_rameti.php, a very important mantra, make much less sense. So the ambiguity has to be decreased. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa Nov 02 '20 at 16:10
  • @AupakaranaAbhibhaa You maybe right about transliteration for mantras need to be accurate but this site is about Hinduism; it's not meant to be used only by practicing Hindus. Some users even thought that mantras should not be posted on this site in any form (including IAST). Since this SE site is an information sharing site just like Wikipedia, we don't bother too much about the most accurate transliteration and such. Users are intelligent to make their own decisions. – Say No To Censorship Nov 02 '20 at 16:20
  • @sv. The information in that mantra does not make sense without differentiating between Rama and Rāma. It would translate as nonsense without it. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa Nov 02 '20 at 16:23
  • @AupakaranaAbhibhaa Like I said, the site doesn't care if the mantra works or not. This is a Q&A site about Hinduism. We don't tell people how to write, print or chant a mantra and whether they have the adhikāra to chant, etc. We leave it users to decide. Just like Wikipedia. – Say No To Censorship Nov 02 '20 at 16:28
  • @sv. The mantra is not just a prayer. It is telling you something about Rāma you wouldn't know otherwise. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa Nov 02 '20 at 16:30
  • @sv. It's a really important detail too. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa Nov 02 '20 at 16:30
  • @AupakaranaAbhibhaa It maybe important for the chanter but not so important for a scholar or casual reader. This site has over 12,000 questions. So we don't users converting all Sanskrit words to IAST. It's not worth the effort, besides, it creates unnecessary updates to the Active queue on the main site. – Say No To Censorship Nov 02 '20 at 16:36
  • @sv. Okay maybe you have a point because the vast majority of people will not be able to see why it's important, but when you have Sanskrit drilled into your head as much as I have वरानने stands out. With Sanskrit grammar rules, scripture rules and context the meaning of वरानने can only be something, which reveals the meaning of the mantra, which itself reveals some incredibly important information not known before. – Aupakarana Abhibhaa Nov 02 '20 at 16:59

1 Answers1

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Yes, it does. The same story narrated in Matsya Purāṇa is more explicit:

CHAPTER LXX

...

Henceforth, any Brāhmaṇa coming to them for the sake of sexual enjoyment on a Sunday, should be respected and honoured. In this way, the good Brāhmaṇas should be kept satisfied for a period of thirteen months; but if they go abroad, their course of action will be different.

...

If, with the consent of that Brāhmaṇa, another handsome person come to them, these women should, with love and affection and to the best of their ability, perform all the fifty-eight kinds of observances of Love, favourite of man and gods, which would lead to pregnancy and which is not harmful to their soul's welfare.

I have described to you this vrata in detail, which, when always performed, never leads the prostitutes to sin.

Say No To Censorship
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    Does the context also say what are the qualities to be possessed by said 'Brahmana'? Does above vrat apply to Kali Yuga, or even those 'brahmins' who work in IT and eat burgers at McDonalds ? – ram Oct 04 '20 at 03:38
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    @ram This section may be a tamasic part of the puranas since it is against the Vedas, since it encourages prostitutes to have sex with Brahmanas (and vice-versa). Manusmriti, the foremost of dharma shastras, says in 4.209 that one should not eat the food of a prostitute. And then it says in 12.95 that smritis that are against the Vedas are tamasic in origin. – Ikshvaku Oct 04 '20 at 13:25
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    @ram Also note that this purana says that these brahmanas who have come to visit prostitutes are "good Brāhmaṇas", so it is definitely a tamasic revelation. – Ikshvaku Oct 04 '20 at 13:27
  • @Ikshvaku, yeah looks like Matsya purana is classified as Tamasik. – ram Oct 04 '20 at 16:40
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    @ram Not just the purana itself, but even sattvic puranas have tamasic sections in them. Padma purana is classified as sattvic, but it has tamasic and rajasic sections. The Vishnu, Bhagavata, and Varaha puranas on the other hand are regarded as shuddha sattva puranas, whereas other puranas are mishra. This is mentioned in Ramanujacharya's Vedartha Sangraha. – Ikshvaku Oct 05 '20 at 14:29
  • @Ikshvaku. May be today versions of Varaha Purana is not suddha sattva. I hope it is tampered a lot. – Satya Nov 07 '20 at 11:12
  • @Satya why do you hope it is tampered a lot? – Ikshvaku Nov 07 '20 at 12:03