Kama Sutra Kama Sutra
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. 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 C.E., probably during
the great cultural flowering of the Gupta period.
Kama
Sutra Preceding history
- 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.
- 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.
Time and background of
Kama Sutra
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", composed 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.
- Kamasutra Sex Positions
Kamasutra Sex Positions, Ancient Indian Philosophy of Kamasutra: The Art of Love, Kamasutra Quotes,
- KamaSutra Art of Love
The Art of Love: Kamasutra Discussion of Quotes from the Ancient Indian Philosophy of Kamasutra
- Old Kamasutra Painting
Old Kamasutra Painting
- Kamasutra Painting
Anonymous Kamasutra Painting artist from India, around 1900
- KamaSutra Sexual Positions
KamaSutra Sexual Positions
- Salutation to Dharma, Artha and Kama
Chapter I. Preface Salutation to Dharma, Artha and Kama
- ON THE ACQUISITION OF DHARMA, ARTHA AND KAMA
Chapter II. Observations on the Three Worldly Attainments of Virtue, Wealth, and Love, ON THE ACQUISITION OF DHARMA, ARTHA AND KAMA
- ON THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO BE STUDIED
Chapter III. On the Study of the Sixty-Four Arts
- THE LIFE OF A CITIZEN
Chapter IV. On the Arrangements of a House, and Household Furniture; and About the Daily Life of a Citizen, His Companions, Amusements, Etc.
- Kinds of Union According to Dimensions, Force of Desire, and Time; and on the Different Kinds of Love
Chapter V. About Classes of Women Fit and Unfit for Congress with the Citizen and of Friends and Messengers
- KINDS OF SEXUAL UNION ACCORDING TO DIMENSIONS, FORCE OF DESIRE OR PASSION, TIME
Part II: On Sexual Union
Chapter I. Kinds of Union According to Dimensions, Force of Desire, and Time; and on the Different Kinds of Love
- Of the Embrace
Chapter II. Of the Embrace
- On Kissing
Chapter III. On Kissing
- On Pressing or Marking with the Nails
Chapter IV. On Pressing or Marking with the Nails
- On Biting, and the Ways of Love to be Employed with Regard to Women of Different Countries
Chapter V. On Biting, and the Ways of Love to be Employed with Regard to Women of Different Countries
- On the Various Ways of Lying Down, and the Different Kinds of Congress
Chapter VI. On the Various Ways of Lying Down, and the Different Kinds of Congress
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