Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra is the most renowned book on lovemaking ever written. Originally composed by an Indian sage sometime between the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD, it was not translated into English until the 1880's, and has only been available to the common reader since the 1960's. Very little is known about the author of the Kama Sutra. He belonged to the Vatsyayana sept, and his own name was Mallanaga. He embarked on the book as he was nearing the end of his life, and saw the writing of it as part of his religious duties. It is a carefully researched and learned work, semi-scientific and objective, and is itself based on the writings of earlier sages.
The Kama Sutra was created in a time when the sophisticated Hindu was expected to attain 3 values. Artha, or worldly wealth, Dharma, or religious merit and Kama, the science of pleasure and love. Vatsyayana accentuates that this work is not to be used only as an tool for fulfilling our desires. However, it became, over the years, a vital part of the readings of thousands of Indians, and unlike other authors who wrote solely for men, Vatsyayana's timeless book was used to coach young brides prior to their weddings. We owe a good deal to the Victorian scholar and explorer Richard Burton and his colleague Foster Arbuthnot, who took great pains to translate the original Sanskrit. In the face of opposition and risking prosecution, they published it in 1883 under the fictitious imprint The Kama Shastra Society of London and Benares. It was circulated, with other translations of eastern texts such as The Perfumed Garden, the Ananga Ranga and The Arabian Nights, among a selected group of people who were interested in the customs and behaviour of the orient, although undoubtedly it was also used as a manual for Victorian husbands. Since it was discovered, the Kama Sutra has revolutionized the western approach to Indian culture, showing as it does how natural and central sex was to Indian thought. The Sanskrit term Kama means pleasure, love, sensual gratification, while Sutra means compressed expressions, aphorisms . But Kama is far more than just erotic pleasure. It covers all sensory pleasures. Thus good food, perfumes, music, silken clothes and painting all came within Kama's realm. When Vatsyayana named his treatise Kama Sutra, he aimed to lay down standards for the gratification of all these pleasures. So he explains how the house of the ideal citizen is to be built, furnished and provisioned. Which sweet smelling plants should be grown in the gardens. With which paintings and sculptures the rooms should be decorated, what incenses should perfume the air and what music should attend the meetings of lovers. In a very real sense, sex was thought of by the Hindus not only necessary and natural, but virtually sacramental - the human counterpart of the miracle of creation. Erotic carvings and statues all over India testify to the fact that it was a subject to be approached with reverence and objectivity, rather than as something obscene and secret. The Kama sutra in its entirety is a lengthy work and consists not only of specific advice on the sexual act itself - in the portion of the book known as the sixty four - but also lays down instructions on courtship, marriage, household management, education, medicine, and various accomplishments cultured men and women needed to obtain in order to catch the attention of the opposite sex. Article based on text taken from Thorsons First Directions Kama Sutra. Get Free Web Content From ArticleBuilder.net
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