Kamasutra

CONTENT

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
q Preface
q Introduction
MODERN KAMA SUTRA INTERPRETATION
q Over 40 sexual positions with images and detailed explanations
PART I: INTRODUCTORY
q Preface
q Observations on the three worldly attainments of Virtue, Wealth, and Love
q On the study of the Sixty-four Arts
q On the Arrangements of a House, and Household Furniture; and about the
Daily Life of aCitizen, his Companions, Amusements, etc.
q About classes of Women fit and unfit for Congress with the Citizen, and of
Friends, and Messengers
PART II: ON SEXUAL UNION
q Kinds of Union according to Dimensions, Force of Desire, and Time; and on
the different kinds of Love
q Of the Embrace
q On Kissing
q On Pressing or Marking with the Nails
q On Biting, and the ways of Love to be employedwith regard to Women of
different countries
q On the various ways of Lying down, and the different kinds of Congress
q On the various ways of Striking, and of the Sounds appropriate to them
q About females acting the part of Males
q On holding the Lingam in the Mouth
q How to begin and how to end the Congress. Different kinds of Congress, and
Love Quarrels
PART III: ABOUT THE ACQUISITION OFA WIFE
q Observations on Betrothal and Marriage
q About creating Confidence in the Girl
q Courtship, and the manifestation of the feelings by outward signs and deeds
q On things to be done only by the Man, and the acquisition of the Girl thereby.
Also what is to be done by a Girl to gain over a Man and subject him to her
q On the different Forms of Marriage
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TRANSLATOR' S NOTES

In the literature of all countries there will be found a certain number of works
treating especially of love. Everywhere the subject is dealt with differently, and
from various points of view. In the present publication it is proposed to give a
complete translation of what is considered the standard work on love in Sanscrit
literature, and which is calledthe `Vatsyayana Kama Sutra', or Aphorisms on
Love, by Vatsyayana. While the introduction will deal with the evidence
concerning the date of the writing, and the commentaries written upon it, the
chapters following the introduction will give a translation of the work itself. It is,
however, advisable to furnish here a brief analysis of works of the same nature,
prepared by authors who lived andwrote years after Vatsyayana had passed
away, but who still considered him as the great authority, and always quoted
him as the chief guide to Hindoo erotic literature.
Besides the treatise of Vatsyayana the following works on the same subject are
procurable in India:
The Ratirahasya, or secrets of love
The Panchasakya, or the five arrows
The Smara Pradipa, or the light of love
TheRatimanjari, or the garland of love
The Rasmanjari, or the sprout of love
The Anunga Runga, or the stage of love; also called Kamaledhiplava, or a boat
in the ocean of love.
The author of the `Secrets of Love' was a poet named Kukkoka. He composed
his work to please one Venudutta, who was perhaps a king. When writing his
own name at the end of each chapter he calls himself `Siddha patiya pandita',i.e. an ingenious man among learned men. The work was translated into Hindi
years ago, and in this the author's name was written as Koka. And as the same
name crept into all the translations into other languages in India, the book
became generally known, and the subject was popularly called Koka Shastra, or
doctrines of Koka, which is identical with the Kama Shastra, or doctrines of
love,and the words Koka Shastra and Kama Shastra are used indiscriminately.
The work contains nearly eight hundred verses, and is divided into ten
chapters, which are called Pachivedas. Some of the things treated of in this
work are not to be found in the Vatsyayana, such as the four classes of women,
the Padmini, Chitrini, Shankini and Hastini, as also the enumeration of the days
and hours on...