Diagnosis of Lovesickness, Islamic Manuscript, 18th Century
An illustration (on lower half of page) of the diagnosis of lovesickness by feeling the pulse. From a Persian treatise on sexual hygiene titled Ladhdhat al-nisa' (The Enjoyment of Women) translated from an Indian text and copied and illustrated by Nakhshabi, whose dates are uncertain. The copy is undated; the miniatures are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century. Sexual hygiene was popular topic of monographs. The treatises usually included procedures and recipes useful for enhancing the pleasure of sexual intercourse and for aphrodisiacs, and sometimes procedures for ensuring the production of offspring. They also often included instructions for regimen and hygiene that would make a person more attractive, as well as cosmetic procedures and recipes. The treatise which Nakhshabi prepared was probably one of several Persian versions of a Hindi text called Kok-shastar or Kokasara and attributed to one Koka, or Koka pandit, and based on a Sanskrit text. Koka pandit wrote in Sanskrit a book entitled Ratirahasya (On the Art of Love), and it is probably this book from which the later Hindi and Persian versions derive.
Size: 2730px × 4219px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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