Global InformationKama Sutra information
 Two folios from a palm leaf manuscript of the Kamasutra text (Sanskrit, Devanagari script) | |
| Author | Vatsyayana Mallanaga |
|---|---|
| Original title | कामसूत्र |
| Translator | Many |
| Country | Classical Age, India |
| Language | Sanskrit |
| Subject | The art of living well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life |
| Genre | Sutra Literature |
| Set in | 2nd–3rd century CE |
Published in English | 1883 |
| Text | Kama Sutra at Wikisource |
| Part of a series on |
| Hindu scriptures and texts |
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The Kama Sutra (/ˈkɑːmə ˈsuːtrə/; Sanskrit: कामसूत्र, ⓘ, Kāma-sūtra; lit. 'Principles of Love') is an ancient Indian[1][2] Hindu[1] Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life.[3][4][5] Attributed to Vātsyāyana,[6] the Kama Sutra is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions,[3] but rather was written as a guide to the art of living well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life.[3][7][8] It is a sutra-genre text with terse aphoristic verses that have survived into the modern era with different bhāṣyas (exposition and commentaries). The text is a mix of prose and anustubh-meter poetry verses. The text acknowledges the Hindu concept of Purusharthas, and lists desire, sexuality, and emotional fulfillment as one of the proper goals of life. Its chapters discuss methods for courtship, training in the arts to be socially engaging, finding a partner, flirting, maintaining power in a married life, when and how to commit adultery, sexual positions, and other topics.[9] The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad.[10][11]
The text is one of many Indian texts on Kama Shastra.[12] It is a much-translated work in Indian and non-Indian languages. The Kamasutra has influenced many secondary texts that followed after the 4th-century CE, as well as the Indian arts as exemplified by the pervasive presence of Kama-related reliefs and sculpture in old Hindu temples. Of these, the Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[13] Among the surviving temples in north India, one in Rajasthan sculpts all the major chapters and sexual positions to illustrate the Kamasutra.[14] According to Wendy Doniger, the Kamasutra became "one of the most pirated books in English language" soon after it was published in 1883 by Richard Burton. This first European edition by Burton does not faithfully reflect much in the Kamasutra because he revised the collaborative translation by Bhagavanlal Indrajit and Shivaram Parashuram Bhide with Forster Arbuthnot to suit 19th-century Victorian tastes.[15]
- ^ a b Doniger, Wendy (2003). Kamasutra - Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press. p. i. ISBN 9780192839824.
The Kamasutra is the oldest extant Hindu textbook of erotic love. It was composed in Sanskrit, the literary language of ancient India, probably in North India and probably sometime in the third century
- ^ Coltrane, Scott (1998). Gender and families. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 36. ISBN 9780803990364. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Wendy Doniger & Sudhir Kakar 2002, p. xi.
- ^ Coltrane, Scott (1998). Gender and families. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-8039-9036-4. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Wendy Doniger (2003). "The "Kamasutra": It Isn't All about Sex". The Kenyon Review. New Series. 25 (1): 18–37. JSTOR 4338414.
- ^ Haksar & Favre 2011, pp. 1–5.
- ^ Carroll, Janell (2009). Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity. Cengage Learning. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-495-60274-3. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Devi, Chandi (2008). From Om to Orgasm: The Tantra Primer for Living in Bliss. AuthorHouse. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-4343-4960-6. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Wendy Doniger & Sudhir Kakar 2002, p. xi–xiii.
- ^ Alain Daniélou, The Complete Kama Sutra: The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text, ISBN 978-0-89281-525-8.
- ^ Jacob Levy (2010), Kama sense marketing, iUniverse, ISBN 978-1-4401-9556-3, see Introduction
- ^ Flood (1996), p. 65.
- ^ Khajuraho Group of Monuments Archived 16 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine UNESCO World Heritage Site
- ^ Ramgarh temple Archived 9 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The British Library
- ^ Wendy Doniger (2016). Redeeming the Kamasutra. Oxford University Press. pp. 155–157. ISBN 978-0-19-049928-0. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2018.