Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra is the most well-known book on lovemaking ever written. Originally written by an Indian scholar sometime between the fourth century BC and the first century AD, it was not translated into English until the 1880's, and has only been available to the general reader since the 1960's. Hardly anything is known about the creator 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 obligations. It is a learned and carefully researched work, semi-scientific and objective, and is itself based on the writings of prior sages.
The Kama Sutra was authored in a time when the sophisticated Hindu was expected to obtain 3 principles. Artha, or worldly wealth, Dharma, or religious merit and Kama, the science of love and pleasure. Vatsyayana points out that this work isn't to be used simply as an instrument for satisfying our desires. However, it became, over the years, an essential part of the readings of thousands of Indians, and unlike other authors who wrote exclusively for men, Vatsyayana's timeless book was used to instruct young brides before their weddings. We owe a great deal to the Victorian explorer and scholar Richard Burton and his associate Foster Arbuthnot, who took great pains to decipher the original Sanskrit. Risking prosecution and in the face of opposition, 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 a selected group of people who were interested in the behaviour and customs of the orient, although undoubtedly it was also used as a manual for Victorian husbands. Since it was discovered, the Kama Sutra has transformed 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 merely erotic pleasure. It includes all sensory pleasures. Thus music, perfumes, good food, silken clothes and painting all came within Kama's domain. When Vatsyayana named his treatise Kama Sutra, he aimed to lay down values 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 scented 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 regarded 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 give evidence to the fact that it was a topic to be approached with reverence and objectivity, rather than as something secret and obscene. The Kama sutra in its entirety is a lengthy work and consists not only of exact advice on the sexual act itself - in the part of the manuscript known as the sixty four - but also lays down instructions on courtship, education, medicine, household management, marriage, and various accomplishments cultured women and men needed to acquire in order to catch the attention of the opposite sex. Article based on text taken from Thorsons First Directions Kama Sutra. Get Free Web Site Content From ArticleBuilder.net
Kama Sutra Position
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