KAMASUTRA - Sex Handbook

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The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, might be called a treatise on men and women, their mutual relationship, and connection with each other. It is a work that should be studied by all, both old and young, teens and matures. It can also be fairly commended to the student of social science and of humanity. This work is not intended to be used merely as an instrument for satisfying human desires but it is ancient manual of deep and spiritual erotical life educare. A good person, acquainted with the true principles of this science, and who preserves his Dharma, Artha, and Kama, and has regard for the practices of the people, is sure to obtain the mastery over his senses. Kamasutra is a part of traditional 64-fold Tantra culture.

KAMA-SUTRA

MANUAL of YOUR SEXUAL LIFE

The word Kamasutra is from Sanskirit language and there is no synonym of it in the English language. And one thing more Sanskrit and Hindi are two different languages. Kamasutra (Hinduism) an ancient Sanskrit text giving rules for sensuous and sensual pleasure and love and marriage in accordance with Hindu law. Kamasutra is the ancient Bible of proper spiritually sexual life. Kamasutra (Sanskrit: कामसूत्र), (also Kama Sutra), is an ancient Indian art/text widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature. It is said to be authored by Mallanaga Vatsyayana. A portion of the work deals with human sexual behavior. The Kama Sutra is most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra (Sanskrit: Kāma Śāstra). Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's door keeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind. Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was collected into its present form in the second century CE.Kama (काम kāma, kAma) is a Sanskrit word that has the general meanings of "wish", "desire", and "intention" in addition to the specific meanings of "pleasure" and "(sexual) love". Used as a proper name it refers to Kamadeva, the Hindu univerasal God of Love or Archangel of Love. The Kama Sutra (Sanskrit: कामसूत्र kAmasUtra/M), (alternative spellings: Kamasutram or simply Kamasutra), is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature. It is said to be authored by Mallanaga Vatsyayana. A portion of the work deals with human sexual behavior. The Kama Sutra is mostly notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra (Sanskrit: Kāma Śhāstra). Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind. Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was collected into its present form in the second century CE; however, given that Mallanaga Vatsyayana wrote sometime in the Gupta period (between 4th and 6th centuries), this speculation of Keay's is doubtful.

The text emphasizes what was known as the purusharthas, or the four main goals of life. The first is dharma, or the act of living with virtue. The second, Artha, deals with material prosperity. Kama relates to erotic and aesthetic pleasures. Moksha is liberation through being released from the cycle of life and death. The first three goals can be achieved in every day life and are ordered according to importance (yes, sex is the least important). The Kama Sutra is not by definition a tantric text as it does not discuss the sacred rites that are meant to accompany those acts. But many who follow tantra do use the book as a guideline or starting point from which they can build their tantric rituals. The sexuality that is included in this book is meant to correspond to that notion of Kama. Though it does have a religious nature, the Kama Sutra has been translated into virtually every language on earth and is the most known Evangelion of the world. The Kama Sutra is extremely popular, more than Biblie and sought after by lovers who want to add more excitement to their love lives.

The Kama Sutra found copies dates back to about 200-400 CE, about 1,600 or 1800 years or more. It is a manual for developing the erotic sensibilities, knowledge and skill, including specific instruction on sexual techniques, as well as many other sensual and cultural expressions, referred to as the 64 arts. The approach to sex in the Kama Sutra is from a secular (non-religious, non-spiritual) perspective, whereas Tantra is definitely spiritual. The Kama Sutra does not in any way deny the value of spiritual practice, it is just not presenting that perspective. Tantra is all about awakening to full enlightenment, while the Kama Sutra is about great, satisfying, fulfilling sex, primarily between heterosexual couples. In the Kama Sutra sex was considered an essential aspect of everyone’s education. Sexual knowledge and skill were considered to be evidence of achievement, refinement, intelligence, psychological maturity, and part of the good life—the book was actually directed toward the upper class, educated, economically affluent portion of the population.

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Mallanaga Vatsyayana was a very holy man (sadhu), a seer, and a sage (rishi), and in all of the spiritual senses of the word, a tantric. Mallanaga worshipped the Divine as both feminine and masculine (Shaktishiva), and lived primarily a religious life. Mallanaga wrote the Kama Sutra for the ruling class (nobled rulers, lords, princes and kings), which at that time in India's history was the Kshatriya, or Warrior caste. Based on mentions of 1st Century historical figures in the Kama Sutra, and on mentions of the Kama Sutra in early 5th Century works, we know that Mallanaga Vatsyayana wrote the Sutra sometime between the 1st and 4th Centuries A.D. The Kama Sutra is simultaneously a manual of matchmaking, flirting, sensuality in life and in sex, romantic love, human nature, attracting a man, turning on a woman, how to seduce a man, how to captivate a woman, how to get a man or woman to marry you, arranged marriages, affairs, gold-digging, the economics of love, affairs with courtesans, keeping the affections of a lover or spouse, love potions, charms, and everything in between. Mallanaga Vatsyayana not include deeper tantric sexual practices in his most famous work, because he knew that sexuality is only an appropriate spiritual tool for some good students of tantra marga. Mallanaga wrote the Kama Sutra for the ruling class and their educare so they could balance and enjoy their sensual appetites with their social and spiritual obligations as rulers. And He as a seer not to pass on secrets he knew would be lost on many of these students.


KAMASHASTRA (kAmashastra, kAmazastra)In Indian literature, Kamashastra refers to the tradition of works on Kama. It therefore has a practical orientation, similar to that of Arthashastra, the tradition of texts on politics, government etc. Just as the former instructs kings and ministers about government, Kamashastra aims at instructing the townsman (nāgarika) the way to attain enjoyment and fulfillment. The earliest text of the Kama Shastra tradition, said to have contained a vast amount of information, is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god Shiva and his wife Parvati. During the 8th century BC, Shvetaketu, son of Uddalaka, produced a summary of Nandi's work, but this "summary" was still too vast to be accessible. A scholar called Babhravya, together with a group of his disciples, produced a summary of Shvetaketu's summary which remained a huge and encyclopaedic tome. Between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC, several authors reproduced different parts of the Babhravya group's work in various specialist treatises. Among the authors, those whose names are known are Charayana, Ghotakamukha, Gonardiya, Gonikaputra, Suvarnanabha, and Dattaka.

However, the oldest available text on this subject is the Kama Sutra ascribed to Vatsyayana who is often erroneously called as "Mallanaga Vatsyayana". Yashodhara, in his commentary of Kama Sutra, attributes the origin of erotic science to Mallanaga, the "prophet of the Asuras", meaning it originated in prehistoric times. The attribution of the name "Mallanaga" to Vatsyayana is due to the confusion of his role as editor of the Kama Sutra with that of the mythical creator of erotic science. Vatsyayana's birth date is not accurately known but he must have lived earlier than the 7th century since he is referred to by Subandhu in his poem Vāsavadattā. On the other hand Vātsyāyana must have been familiar with the Arthashastra of Kautilya. On the other hand Vātsyāyana refers to and quotes a number of texts on this subject, which unfortunately have been lost. Following Vātsyāyana, a number of authors wrote on Kāmashastra, some writing independent manuals of erotics, while others commenting on Vātsyāyana. Of later works well known are Kokkaka's Ratirahasya (13th century) and Anangaranga of Kalyanamalla (16th century). Of commentators on Vatsyayana the most well known is Jayamangala (13th century).

EROS AND EROTICISM

In Greek mythology, Eros (Greek: Ἔρως) was the primordial god of lust, love, and intercourse; he was also worshipped as a fertility deity. His Roman counterpart was Cupid. In some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares, but according to Plato's Symposium he was conceived by Poros (Plenty) and Penia (Poverty) at Aphrodite's birthday. This explains the different aspects of love. His Roman equivalent was Cupid, "desire", also known as Amor, "love". According to tradition which was made by Eratosthenes, Eros was principally male the patron of love bettween men and women, while Aphrodite ruled as the feminine patron of love between men and women. Throughout Greek thought, there appear to be two sides to the conception of Eros; in the first, he is a primeval deity who embodies not only the force of erotic love but also the creative urge of ever-flowing nature, the firstborn Light for the coming into being and ordering of all things in the cosmos. In Hesiod's Theogony, the most famous Greek creation myth, Eros sprang forth from the primordial Chaos together with Gaia, the Earth, and Tartarus, the underworld; according to Aristophanes' play The Birds, he burgeons forth from an egg laid by Night conceived with Darkness. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, he was worshiped as Protogonus', the first-born. There are similar ideas to the Kama concept in India.

Eros (ἔρως érōs) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Modern Greek word "erotas" means "(romantic) love". The term erotic is derived from eros. Eroticism is an aesthetic focus on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. It is not only the state of arousal and anticipation, but also the attempt through whatever means of representation to incite those feelings. The word "eroticism" is derived from the name of the Greek god of love, Eros, in sanskrit culture Kama (kAmadeva). It is conceived as sensual love or the human sex drive (libido). Philosophers and theologians discern three kinds of love: eros, philia, and agape. Of the three, eros is considered the most egocentric, focusing on care for the self. Ancient Greek philosophy’s overturning of mythology defines in many ways our understanding of the heightened aesthetics sense in eroticism and the question of sexuality. Eros was after all the primordial god of unhinged sexual desire in addition to heteroeroticism, which is the yearning of sexual desire from the opposite sex. In the Platonic ordered system of ideal forms, Eros corresponds to the subject's yearning for ideal beauty and finality. It is the harmonious unification not only between bodies, but between knowledge and pleasure. Eros takes an almost transcendent manifestation when the subject seeks to go beyond itself and form a communion with the objectival other. The French philosopher Georges Bataille believed eroticism was a movement towards the limits of our own subjectivity and humanity, a transgression that dissolves the rational world but is always transitory.
In Freudian psychology, Eros, also referred to in terms of libido, libidinal energy or love, is the life instinct innate in all humans. It is the desire to create life and favours productivity and construction. Eros battles against the destructive death instinct of Thanatos (death instinct or death drive). Love Magic is the attempt to bind the passions of another, or to capture them as a sex object through magical means rather than through direct activity. It can be implemented in a variety of ways such as written spells, dolls, charms, or different rituals. Yet an objection to eros and erotic representation is that it fosters a subject/object relationship in which the object of desire is mere projection of the needs of desiring subject. Love as eros is considered more base than philia (friendship) or agape (self-sacrificing love). But erotic engagement paradoxically individuates and de-individuates the desirer. Some believe defining eroticism may be difficult since perceptions of what is erotic fluctuate. For example, a voluptuous nude painting by Peter Paul Rubens could have been considered erotic or pornographic when it was created for a private patron in the 17th century. Similarly in the United Kingdom and United States, D. H. Lawrence's sexually explicit novel Lady Chatterley's Lover was considered obscene and unfit for publication and circulation in many nations thirty years after it was completed in 1928, but may now be part of standard literary school texts in some areas. In a different context, a sculpture of a phallus in Africa may be considered a traditional symbol of potency though not overtly erotic.


In Roman mythology, Cupid (Latin cupido) is the god of erotic love and beauty. He is equated with the Greek god Eros, and another one of his Latin names is Amor (cognate with Kama). In popular culture Cupid is frequently shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentine's Day. Given that Cupid is a personification of love, and in particular sexual love, the ancients faced a difficult dilemma when they had to account for his parentage. If sexual love did not exist yet, by what process could they give birth to the god of love? Accordingly, there are many different stories about Cupid's parentage. Cicero provides three different lineages: son of Mercury (Hermes) and Diana (Artemis), son of Mercury and Venus (Aphrodite), and son of Mars (Ares in Greek mythology) and Venus. It seems that Cupid did not gain parents until later Greek antiquity. According to Hesiod's Theogony, the most ancient Greek theoography, Eros - the Greek equivalent of Cupid - was created coevally with Chaos and the earth. Throughout ancient mythological writing, there appear to be either two Cupids or two sides to the figure of Cupid. One is the son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Venus. He is a lively youth who delights in pranks and spreading love. The other is a son of Nyx and Erebus, known for riotous debauchery. Cupid's cult was closely associated with that of Venus, with Cupid being worshipped as devotedly as she. Additionally, Cupid's power was supposed to be even greater than his mother's, since he had dominion over the dead in Hades, the creatures of the sea and the gods in Olympus. Some of the cults of Cupid suggested that Cupid as son of Night and Hell mated with Chaos to produce both men and gods, making the gods the offspring of love. Cupid is a holiday character and symbol usually representing Valentines Day and the emotion of love. Cupid is the Roman version of the Greek deity Eros and the Hindu deity Kama. The most common representations of Cupid include a baby with wings and a bow and arrow.

Gallery Love "Cama Sutra" Miniature Painting

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Although this miniature painting "1000 people" is only 17.5 x 24 cm high, are more than 1000 people depicted. It always compares it with Kamasutra.

Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra, (alternative spellings: Kamasutraṃ or simply Kamasutra), is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Mallanāga Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses. Kāma means sensual or sexual pleasure, and "sūtra" literally means a thread or line that holds things together, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual..
The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra (Sanskrit: Kāma Śhāstra).Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind. Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was collected into its present form in the second century CE.


Content
The Mallanaga Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. According to both the Burton and Doniger translations, the contents of the book are structured into 7 parts like the following:

• 1. Introductory
• Chapters on contents of the book, three aims and priorities of life, the acquisition of knowledge, conduct of the well-bred townsman, reflections on intermediaries who assist the lover in his enterprises (5 chapters).
• 2. On sexual union
• Chapters on stimulation of desire, types of embraces, caressing and kisses, marking with nails, biting and marking with teeth, on copulation (positions), slapping by hand and corresponding moaning, virile behavior in women, superior coition and oral sex, preludes and conclusions to the game of love. It describes 64 types of sexual acts (10 chapters).
• 3. About the acquisition of a wife
• Chapters on forms of marriage, relaxing the girl, obtaining the girl, managing alone, union by marriage (5 chapters).
• 4. About a wife
• Chapters on conduct of the only wife and conduct of the chief wife and other wives (2 chapters).
• 5. About others' wives
• Chapters on behavior of woman and man, how to get acquainted, examination of sentiments, the task of go-between, the king's pleasures, behavior in the women's quarters (6 chapters).
• 6. About courtesans
• Chapters on advice of the assistants on the choice of lovers, looking for a steady lover, ways of making money, renewing friendship with a former lover, occasional profits, profits and losses (6 chapters).
• 7. On the means of attracting others to one's self
• Chapters on improving physical attractions, arousing a weakened sexual power (2 chapters)

Pleasure and spirituality
Some Indian philosophies follow the "four main goals of life",known as the purusharthas:
1). Dharma: Virtuous living. 2). Artha: Material prosperity. 3). Kama: Aesthetic and erotic pleasure.4). Moksha: Liberation.
Dharma, Artha and Kama are aims of everyday life, while Moksha is release from the cycle of death and rebirth. The Kama Sutra (Burton translation) says:
"Dharma is better than Artha, and Artha is better than Kama. But Artha should always be first practised by the king for the livelihood of men is to be obtained from it only. Again, Kama being the occupation of public women, they should prefer it to the other two, and these are exceptions to the general rule." (Kama Sutra 1.2.14)
Of the first three, virtue is the highest goal, a secure life the second and pleasure the least important. When motives conflict, the higher ideal is to be followed. Thus, in making money virtue must not be compromised, but earning a living should take precedence over pleasure, but there are exceptions.
In childhood, Vātsyāyana says, a person should learn how to make a living; youth is the time for pleasure, and as years pass one should concentrate on living virtuously and hope to escape the cycle of rebirth.
Also the Buddha preached a Kama Sutra, which is located in the Atthakavagga (sutra number 1). This Kama Sutra, however, is of a very different nature as it warns against the dangers that come with the search for pleasures of the senses.
Many in the Western world wrongly consider the Kama Sutra to be a manual for tantric sex. While sexual practices do exist within the very wide tradition of Hindu Tantra, the Kama Sutra is not a Tantric text, and does not touch upon any of the sexual rites associated with some forms of Tantric practice.

Translations
The most widely known English translation of the Kama Sutra was privately printed in 1883. It is usually attributed to renowned orientalist and author Sir Richard Francis Burton, but the chief work was done by the pioneering Indian archaeologist, Bhagvanlal Indraji, under the guidance of Burton's friend, the Indian civil servant Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot, and with the assistance of a student, Shivaram Parshuram Bhide. Burton acted as publisher, while also furnishing the edition with footnotes whose tone ranges from the jocular to the scholarly. Burton says the following in its introduction:

It may be interesting to some persons to learn how it came about that Vatsyayana was first brought to light and translated into the English language. It happened thus. While translating with the pundits the `Anunga Runga, or the stage of love', reference was frequently found to be made to one Vatsya. The sage Vatsya was of this opinion, or of that opinion. The sage Vatsya said this, and so on. Naturally questions were asked who the sage was, and the pundits replied that Vatsya was the author of the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature, that no Sanscrit library was complete without his work, and that it was most difficult now to obtain in its entire state. The copy of the manuscript obtained in Bombay was defective, and so the pundits wrote to Benares, Calcutta and Jaipur for copies of the manuscript from Sanskrit libraries in those places. Copies having been obtained, they were then compared with each other, and with the aid of a Commentary called `Jayamangla' a revised copy of the entire manuscript was prepared, and from this copy the English translation was made. The following is the certificate of the chief pundit:
`The accompanying manuscript is corrected by me after comparing four different copies of the work. I had the assistance of a Commentary called "Jayamangla" for correcting the portion in the first five parts, but found great difficulty in correcting the remaining portion, because, with the exception of one copy thereof which was tolerably correct, all the other copies I had were far too incorrect. However, I took that portion as correct in which the majority of the copies agreed with each other.'

In the introduction to her own translation, Wendy Doniger, professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, writes that Burton "managed to get a rough approximation of the text published in English in 1883, nasty bits and all". The philologist and Sanskritist Professor Chlodwig Werba, of the Institute of Indology at the University of Vienna, regards the 1883 translation as being second only in accuracy to the academic German-Latin text published by Richard Schmidt in 1897.
The English translation by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, the Indian psychoanalyst and senior fellow at Center for Study of World Religions at Harvard University is becoming regarded as the standard text; it was published by Oxford University Press in 2002. Doniger contributed the Sanskrit expertise while Kakar provided a psychoanalytic interpretation of the text.


A noteworthy translation by Indra Sinha was published in 1980. In the early 1990s its chapter on sexual positions began circulating on the internet as an independent text and today is often assumed to be the whole of the Kama Sutra.

Alain Daniélou contributed a noteworthy translation called The Complete Kama Sutra in 1994. This translation, originally into French, and thence into English, featured the original text attributed to Vatsayana, along with a medieval and a modern commentary. Unlike the 1883 version, Alain Danielou's new translation preserves the numbered verse divisions of the original, and does not incorporate notes in the text. He includes English translations of two important commentaries:

• 
  
• The Jayamangala commentary, written in Sanskrit by Yashodhara during the Middle Ages, as page footnotes.
• A modern commentary in Hindi by Devadatta Shastri, as endnotes.

Daniélou translated all Sanskrit words into English (but uses the word "brahmin"). He leaves references to the sexual organs as in the original: persistent usage of the words "lingam" and "yoni" to refer to them in older translations of the Kama Sutra is not the usage in the original Sanskrit; he argues that "to a modern Hindu "lingam" and "yoni" mean specifically the sexual organs of the god Shiva and his wife, and using those words to refer to humans' sexual organs would seem irreligious." The view that lingam means only "sexual organs" is disputed by academics like S.N.Balagangadhara.