An introduction to Kama Sutra

Of all the things Europeans have learned from the Far East, Kama Sutra is probably the best known, along with Buddhism and Yoga. With the start of the industrial revolution of the late 18th century and the fashionable foreign traveling, Northern America and Europe have been flooded with ideas, art objects, values and philosophy from the Far East that have changed, to a certain extent, our way of thinking. Busy Westerners obsessed by the future are intrigued and captivated by the attitudes of people who are content to live this day and who are not afraid of the future.

When talking about Kama Sutra, most people think of it as an exotic manual on sexual satisfaction or just an old porn magazine. The complete name of the book is in fact “Vatsyayana’s Aphorisms on Love” (“Vatsyayana Kamasutram”) and it’s a book made of 36 chapters. The goal of this collection of aphorisms is to provide relationships with courtesans, a comprehensive guide to sex, courtship of married women, marriage and, finally, improving chances to have excellent sex through the use of herbs, spells, substances and sex toys. As you can see, the idea of this book was to become a definitive guide to what love and sex meant to the Indian society around the 4th century AD.

Aside from love and sex, the “Aphorisms on Love” is a very traditional book, after the fashion of the society that spawned it. Its purpose is to teach a lover how to get the woman he desires while still protecting each others good names and reputations. Reputation was very important all over the ancient world, not just in India, and the person who forfeited it for such an unimportant thing as sex was considered to be frivolous, not worthy of the esteem of others. Vatsyayana himself, a celibate scholar, believed that sex was not bad in itself, but that engaging in it was certainly frivolous and very sinful.

Each chapter of the 36 chapters were written by an expert of the issue and cover a wide range of issues, such as sex positions, observations on the daily life of a citizen, personal adornment, gaining the confidence of women, how to kiss and the means by which courtesans get money. The best known part of the book, the study of sex and the positions, makes up only about 20 percent of the whole book. Nevertheless, those who are truly interested in sex should read the entire book. After many centuries the ancient theory is still surprisingly accurate because people still want the same basic things from each other.

This may sound very doubtful, at the bottom Kama Sutra is somewhat akin to Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, although the old Indian book on love is much more careful to observe the morals of the time. Both books are guides aspects of their respective societies and both deal with them in a frank and realistic manner. Vatsyayana is not fooling himself that men and women are naturally virtuous creatures and so was perfectly willing to give advice on how to seduce married women, just as Machiavelli knew that a prince is bound to do evil things from time to time.

Learn more about Kama Sutra: sexguide