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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 a Citizen,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 employed with regard to Womenof 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 OF A WIFE q Observations onBetrothal 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 | previous | content | next |

Preface

TRANSLATOR' S NOTESIn 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 called the `Vatsyayana Kama Sutra', orAphorisms 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 and wrote years after Vatsyayana had passedaway, 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 The Ratimanjari, or the garland of love The Rasmanjari, or thesprout 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 wastranslated 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 usedindiscriminately. 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 which the women of the different classes become subject to love, The...