History of Indian Kamasutra
Vatsal Kumar Anand
February 09, 2012
The Kamasutra is an ancient Hindu text depicting human sexual behavior in Sanskrit text. Written by Vatsyayana, the Kamasutra has 1250 verses, divided among 36 chapters, organized into 7 parts. These 7 parts are as follows – General remarks, Amorous advances/sexual union, Acquiring a wife, Duties and privileges of the wife, other men´s wives, About Courtesans & Occult practices. These parts provide a wide range of guidelines ranging from the different types of embraces, caressing and kissing , biting and marking with teeth, etc. to providing assistance in choosing ones lover, looking for a steady lover, different ways of making money, renewing ones relationship with a former lover, etc.
Composed between 400 BCE and 200 CE, the Kamasutra is not merely a sex manual, it promotes a principled and gracious life style and explains the nature of love, family and other pleasure oriented aspects of life.
´Kama´ literally means ´sensual or sexual pleasure´, while ´Sutra´ means ´a thread or line that holds things together´, it is metaphoric in meaning - the metaphor is derived from an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms that constitute the kamasutra.
The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most celebrated of a group of literary texts known as Kama Shastras (Sanskrit: Kāma Śāstra) meaning ´Discipline of Kama´. As legend goes the person responsible for the first transmission of the Kama Shastras was Nandi, the sacred bull, Shiva´s doorkeeper. Nandi had overheard the Almighty Shiva and his wife Parvati making love and thereafter decided to record and distribute what he had chanced to and for the benefit of mankind.
The most famous translation of the Kama Sutra text was the English one privately translated in 1883. It was the outcome of a joint effort between renowned orientalist and author Sir Richard Francis Burton and renowned pioneering Indian archaeologists.
A majority of the western world have misconceived the Kama Sutra by defining it as a manual for ´Tantric Sex´ (Hindu philosophy combining spiritual and indulgent sexual practices). This western view of the Kama Sutra is wrong and doesn´t promote the true ideals and purpose of this literary text.
Composed between 400 BCE and 200 CE, the Kamasutra is not merely a sex manual, it promotes a principled and gracious life style and explains the nature of love, family and other pleasure oriented aspects of life.
´Kama´ literally means ´sensual or sexual pleasure´, while ´Sutra´ means ´a thread or line that holds things together´, it is metaphoric in meaning - the metaphor is derived from an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms that constitute the kamasutra.
The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most celebrated of a group of literary texts known as Kama Shastras (Sanskrit: Kāma Śāstra) meaning ´Discipline of Kama´. As legend goes the person responsible for the first transmission of the Kama Shastras was Nandi, the sacred bull, Shiva´s doorkeeper. Nandi had overheard the Almighty Shiva and his wife Parvati making love and thereafter decided to record and distribute what he had chanced to and for the benefit of mankind.
The most famous translation of the Kama Sutra text was the English one privately translated in 1883. It was the outcome of a joint effort between renowned orientalist and author Sir Richard Francis Burton and renowned pioneering Indian archaeologists.
A majority of the western world have misconceived the Kama Sutra by defining it as a manual for ´Tantric Sex´ (Hindu philosophy combining spiritual and indulgent sexual practices). This western view of the Kama Sutra is wrong and doesn´t promote the true ideals and purpose of this literary text.
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