| Kamasutram, generally
known to the Western world as Kama Sutra, is an ancient Indian text on
human sexual behavior, widely considered to be the standard work on love
in Sanskrit literature. The text was composed by Vatsyayana, as a brief
summary of various earlier works belonging to a tradition known generically
as Kama Shastra, the science of love. Kama is literally desire. Sutra signifies
a thread, or discourse threaded on a series of aphorisms. Sutra was a standard
term for a technical text, thus also the Yogasutram of Patanjali. The text
is originally known as Vatsyayana Kamasutram ("Vatsyayana's Aphorisms on
Love"). Tradition holds that the author was a celibate scholar. He is believed
to have lived sometime between the 1st to 6th centuries AD, probably during
the great cultural flowering of the Gupta period. |
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The earliest text of
the Kama Shastra tradition, said to have contained a vast amount of information,
is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved
to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife
Parvati.
During the 8th century
BC, Shvetaketu, son of Uddalaka, produced a summary of Nandi's work. However
this "summary" was still too vast to be accessible.
Modern translated version
of the original Sanskrit.A scholar called Babhravya, together with a group
of his disciples, produced a summary of Shvetaketu's summary. This remained
a huge and encyclopaedic tome.
Between the 3rd and 1st
centuries BC, several authors reproduced different parts of the Babhravya
group's work in various specialist treatises. Among the authors, those
whose names are known are Charayana, Ghotakamukha, Gonardiya, Gonikaputra,
Suvarnanabha, and Dattaka:
— Dattaka composed a
work on courtesans which Vatsyayana reproduces almost entirely in Kama
Sutra.
— Suvarnanabha's text
mentions Shatakarni Shatavahana, a king of the 1st century BC who killed
his own wife accidentally during sadistic practices, thus giving a hint
on the time period it was written.
Yashodhara, in his commentary
of Kama Sutra, attributes the origin of erotic science to Mallanaga, the
"prophet of the Asuras", meaning it originated in prehistoric times. Nandi
is then said to have transcribed it for mankind. The attribution of the
name "Mallanaga" to Vatsyayana is due to the confusion of his role as editor
of the Kama Sutra with that of the mythical creator of erotic science. |
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| Vatsyayana seems to have
lived around the 4th century AD, at a time of cultural prosperity known
as the Gupta period. The fact that Varahamihira in his Brihad Samhita (literally
"Grand Opus")(around the 6th century AD) claims to have drawn his inspirations
from the Kama Sutra, and the Kama Sutra's mention of King Shatakarni Satavahana
who lived in the 1st century BC gives the ranges for the possible production
time of the Kama Sutra. Vatsyayana claims the various major works of Kama
Shastra had become difficult to access, which is why he undertook to collect
and summarize them in Kama Sutra. |
The Kama Sutra has 36
chapters, organized into seven parts, each of which are written by individual
experts in the respective fields. The parts are:
Part One - Introduction
(5 chapters) - on love
in general and its place in the lives of men and women
Chapter One: Contents
of the Book
Chapter Two: The Three
Aims of Life
Chapter Three: The Acquisition
of Knowledge
Chapter Four: The Conduct
of the Well-bred Townsman
Chapter Five: Reflections
on Intermediaries Who Assist the Lover in His Enterprises |
Part Two - Amorous Advances
Chapter One: Stimulation
of Erotic Desire
Chapter Two: Embraces
Chapter Three: Petting
and Caresses
Chapter Four: The Art
of Scratching
Chapter Five: Biting
Chapter Six: On Copulation
and Special Tastes
Chapter Seven: Blows
and Sighs
Chapter Eight: Virile
Behavior in Women
Chapter Nine: Superior
Coition or Fellation
Chapter Ten: Preludes
and Conclusions to the Game of Love
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Part Three - Acquiring
a Wife
Chapter One: Forms of
Marriage
Chapter Two: How to Relax
the Girl
Chapter Three: Ways of
Obtaining the Girl
Chapter Four: How to
Manage Alone
Chapter Five: Union by
Marriage |
Part Four - Duties and
Privileges of the Wife
Chapter One: Conduct
of the Only Wife
Chapter Two: Conduct
of the Chief Wife and Other Wives |
Part Five - Other Men's
Wives
Chapter One: Behavior
of Woman and Man
Chapter Two: Encounters
to Get Acquainted
Chapter Three: Examination
of Sentiments
Chapter Four: The Task
of Go-between
Chapter Five: The King's
Pleasures
Chapter Six: Behavior
in the Gynoecium |
Part Six - About Courtesans
Chapter One: Advice of
the Assistants on the Choice of Lovers
Chapter Two: Looking
for a Steady Lover
Chapter Three: Ways of
Making Money
Chapter Four: Renewing
Friendship with a Former Lover
Chapter Five: Occasional
Profits
Chapter Six: Profits
and Losses; Reflections on Doubts Concerning the Advantages and Disadvantages
of Relations |
Part Seven - Occult Practices
Chapter One: Success
in Love - Improving physical attractions by herbs, aphrodisiacs, spells.
Chapter Two: Arousing
a Weakened Sexual Power - Dildos, piercing, methods of enlarging penis
size, shrinking and enlarging vulva size, darkening hair, bewitchment.
Temples
of Love
Khajuraho
with Gallery
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