Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra is the most famous book on lovemaking ever written. Originally written by an Indian scholar 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 general reader since the 1960's. Very little 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 looked upon the writing of it as part of his religious obligations. It is a learned and carefully researched work, objective and semi-scientific, and is itself founded on the writings of prior sages.
The Kama Sutra was authored at a time when the sophisticated Hindu was expected to attain three values. Dharma, or religious merit, Artha, or worldly wealth and Kama, the science of love and pleasure. Vatsyayana accentuates that this work is not to be used merely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. However, it became, over the years, a necessary part of the readings of thousands of Indians, and unlike other authors who wrote exclusively for men, Vatsyayana's timeless book was used to tutor young brides prior to their weddings. We owe a good deal to the Victorian explorer and scholar Richard Burton and his acquaintance Foster Arbuthnot, who took great pains to decipher the primary 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 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 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 sensual gratification, pleasure, love, while Sutra means compressed expressions, aphorisms . But Kama is far more than simply erotic pleasure. It encompasses all sensory pleasures. Thus silken clothes, good food, music, perfumes and painting all came within Kama's domain. When Vatsyayana named his treatise Kama Sutra, he meant to lay down standards 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 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 attend the meetings of lovers. In a very real sense, sex was considered by the Hindus not only necessary and natural, but practically sacramental - the human counterpart of the miracle 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 obscene and secret. The Kama sutra in its entirety is a lengthy work and consists not only of precise advice on the sexual act itself - in the section of the book known as the sixty four - but also lays down instructions on courtship, education, household management, marriage, medicine, and a variety of accomplishments cultured men and women needed to obtain in order to appeal to 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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