Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra is the most famous book on lovemaking ever written. Initially composed by an Indian sage sometime between the 4th century BC and the first 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 saw the writing of it as part of his religious duties. It is a carefully researched and learned work, objective and semi-scientific, and is itself founded on the writings of former sages. The Kama Sutra was created at a time when the cultured Hindu was expected to attain 3 main beliefs. Artha, or worldly wealth, Dharma, or religious merit and Kama, the science of love and pleasure. Vatsyayana accentuates that this work isn't to be used only as an mechanism for satisfying our desires. However, it became, over the years, a vital part of the readings of thousands of Indians, and unlike other writers who wrote only for men, Vatsyayana's timeless book was used to teach young brides prior to their weddings. We owe much to the Victorian scholar and explorer Richard Burton and his acquaintance Foster Arbuthnot, who took great pains to interpret the primary Sanskrit. In the face of opposition and risking prosecution, they published the book 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 Ananha Ranga, The Perfumed Garden and The Arabian Nights, among an elite group of people who were interested in the behaviour and customs of the orient, although undoubtedly it was also used as a guide for Victorian husbands. Since it was unearthed, the Kama Sutra has transformed the western approach to Indian culture, showing as it does how natural and central sex was to Indian thought. Tip! Let the woman lie on her side and stretch out her bottom leg. Crouch down between her thighs, lift her top leg and introduce your lingam. The Sanskrit term Kama meant love, pleasure, sensual gratification, while Sutra meant aphorisms, compressed expressions. But Kama is far more than merely erotic pleasure. It takes in all sensory pleasures. Thus good food, music, perfumes, silken clothes and painting all came within Kama's domain. When Vatsyayana named his treatise Kama Sutra, he intended to lay down ideals for the gratification of all these pleasures. So he illustrates how the house of the ideal citizen is to be furnished, built and provisioned. Which sweet smelling plants should be grown in the gardens. With which sculptures and paintings the rooms should be decorated, which incenses should perfume the air and which music should be present at the meetings of lovers. In a very real sense, sex was thought of by the Hindus not only natural and necessary, but practically sacramental - the human counterpart of the marvel of creation. Erotic carvings and statues all over India testify to the fact that it was a topic to be approached with objectivity and reverence , rather than as something secret and obscene. The Kama sutra in its entirety is a lengthy work and consists not only of explicit advice on the sexual act itself - in the section of the book known as the sixty four - but also lays down instructions on household management, marriage, courtship, education, medicine, and a variety of accomplishments cultured women and men needed to acquire in order to interest the opposite sex. Article based on text taken from Thorsons First Directions Kama Sutra. Get Free Web Site Content From ArticleBuilder.net
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