Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra is the most renowned book on lovemaking ever written. Initially written by an Indian sage sometime between the fourth 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. Hardly anything 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 approaching the end of his life, and looked upon the writing of it as part of his religious responsibilities. 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 authored in a time when the civilised Hindu was expected to attain three main beliefs. Artha, or worldly wealth, Dharma, or religious merit and Kama, the science of love and pleasure. Vatsyayana accentuates that this work is not to be used purely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. However, it became, over the years, a vital part of the readings of thousands of Indians, and unlike other authors who wrote just for men, Vatsyayana's timeless book was used to tutor young brides ahead of their weddings. We owe a great deal to the Victorian explorer and scholar Richard Burton and his colleague Foster Arbuthnot, who took great pains to decipher the initial Sanskrit. Risking prosecution and in the face of opposition, they published it in 1883 under the fictitious imprint The Kama Shastra Society of London and Benares. It was distributed, 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 behaviour and customs of the orient, although undoubtedly it was also used as a guidebook for Victorian husbands. Since it was unearthed, 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 meant love, pleasure, sensual gratification, while Sutra meant aphorisms, compressed expressions. But Kama is far more than just erotic pleasure. It includes all sensory pleasures. Thus perfumes, silken clothes, good food, music and painting all came within Kama's realm. When Vatsyayana named his treatise Kama Sutra, he aimed to lay down ideals for the gratification of all these pleasures. So he illustrates how the house of the ideal citizen is to be built, furnished and provisioned. Which sweet scented flowers should be grown in the gardens. With which sculptures and paintings the rooms should be adorned, what incenses should perfume the air and what music should attend the meetings of lovers. In a very real sense, sex was considered by the Hindus not only necessary and natural, but nearly sacramental - the human counterpart of the marvel of creation. Erotic statues and carvings all over India confirm to the fact that it was a topic 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 exact advice on the sexual act itself - in the portion of the book known as the sixty four - but also lays down instructions on household management, medicine, education, marriage, courtship, and various accomplishments cultured men and women needed to obtain in order to appeal to the opposite sex. Tip! Lay the woman on her back and raise her thighs, then, getting between her legs, introduce your lingam. Article based on text taken from Thorsons First Directions Kama Sutra. Get Free Web Content From ArticleBuilder.net
Essential Kama Sutra
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