Telling Bodies

Abstract An analysis of what the physical description of bodies tells us about the hypocritical characters of government officials, bawds, drunkards and dishonest gurus in Sanskrit satirical works. This paper presents selected portrayals of the physical female and male bodies from both satires and comic monologue plays. These satires make fun of hypocritical people in power, while the plays comment on life in the red light district. Bodies in these works are seen as mirrors and metaphors of the personalities and types who inhabit them, revealed both through their shape and their body language.