Kama Sutra

Love teachings of the Kama Sutra

Everyone knows the Kama Sutra is ancient India's racy sex manual.
The title conjures titillating visions of erotic frescos in which regal
maharajas with outsized genitals cavort with naked bejeweled nymphs
in positions exotic enough to slip the discs of a yoga master.
Kama Sutra literally means "treatise on sexual pleasure." Unlike the
Christian view that the sole purpose of sex is procreation, in the
fourth century Hindu world that gave birth to the Kama Sutra, the
cultivation of sexual pleasure, independent of procreation, was
considered one of life's highest callings. The ancient Hindus believed
that life had three purposes: religious piety (dharma), material
success (artha), and sexual pleasure (kama). All three were equal, and
the erotic was celebrated as the seat of earthly beauty. In the Hindu
world the pursuit of sexual pleasure was revered as a sort of religious
quest..

The Kama Sutra was written by one Vatsyayana Mallanaga, about
whom nothing else is known. However, from the text, it's clear that he
was upper-class. He takes servants for granted, and assumes his
readers have the leisure time to seduce virgins and other men's
wives, and the money to buy the gifts he recommends giving to do
so. Vatsyayana also claims to have written his treatise "in chastity
and highest meditation." It's hard to know what to make of this. Some
commentators have scoffed that, given the subject matter, this seems
highly unlikely. But considering the reverence with which the ancient
Hindus approached matters sexual, it's also possible that Vatsyayana
wrote his book with the gravity of, say, a modern-art critic discussing
a cache of just-discovered erotic paintings by Picasso. We'll never
know.