Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is the most celebrated book on lovemaking ever composed. Originally written by an Indian sage 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 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 approaching the end of his life, and looked upon the writing of it as part of his religious obligations. It is a carefully researched and learned work, objective and semi-scientific, and is itself centred on the writings of past sages.
The Kama Sutra was authored at a time when the sophisticated Hindu was expected to attain 3 values. Dharma, or religious merit, Artha, or worldly wealth and Kama, the science of love and pleasure. Vatsyayana stresses that this work isn't to be used only as an mechanism for fulfilling our desires. However, it became, over the years, a necessary part of the readings of thousands of Indians, and unlike other writers who wrote solely for men, Vatsyayana's classic book was used to teach 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 decipher the primary 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 an elite group of people who were interested in the customs and behaviour of the orient, although undoubtedly it was also used as a guide for Victorian husbands. Since it was discovered, the Kama Sutra has revolutionized the western approach to Indian culture, showing as it does how central and natural sex was to Indian thought.
Tip! The woman lies on her back and the man crouches between her legs which he then puts under his arms or on his shoulders.
The Sanskrit term Kama means sensual gratification, love, pleasure, while Sutra means compressed expressions, aphorisms . But Kama is far more than simply erotic pleasure. It takes in all sensory pleasures. Thus perfumes, silken clothes, music, good food and painting all came within Kama's domain. When Vatsyayana named his treatise Kama Sutra, he intended to lay down values for the enjoyment of all these pleasures. So he illustrates how the house of the ideal citizen is to be built, furnished and provisioned. Which sweet scented 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 attend the meetings of lovers.
Tip! Lay the woman on her back and raise her thighs, then, getting between her legs, introduce your lingam.
In a very real sense, sex was considered by the Hindus not only necessary and natural, but almost sacramental - the human counterpart of the miracle of creation. Erotic statues and carvings all over India demonstrate to the fact that it was a subject to be approached with reverence and objectivity, rather than as something secret and obscene.
The Kama sutra in its entirety is a long work and consists not only of detailed advice on the sexual act itself - in the portion of the manuscript known as the 64 - but also lays down instructions on medicine, courtship, household management, education, marriage, and different 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 Tamil
