What exactly is the Kama Sutra?

Some may know the Kama Sutra as a series of diagrams showing couples in bendy sexual positions, but is there more to it than that? Well yes there is, contrary to what most people think, the sexual positions list is a small snippet of the original work, just one of 35 chapters. This doesn’t necessarily mean you could leave it lying around on your kitchen table for your children or grandma to see. The erotic pictures of men and women in explicit and diverse sexual positions were banned until the 1960s for being obscene. Even though the law branded it pornographic, the Kama Sutra is a high-minded philosophy for life. Buddhist and Hindu philosophers composed it in India some 2000 years ago as a life manual for religious students and members of the aristocracy. Written originally in Sanskrit, Kama Sutra translates as ‘aphorism for love’.

One may not expect religious students in the West to need a life manual for love and sex but, for them, eroticism was seen as part of a journey to holy enlightenment. The search for pleasure and the ‘techniques’ of love would help you attain a burst of spiritual perception, bringing you one step closer to the divine state. Instead of being viewed as indulgent, kama (love) is considered one of the three main wisdoms; the others being dharma (virtue), and artha (prosperity). ‘An intelligent and knowing person attending to all three, without becoming the slave of his passions will have success in everything he may do.’ Quoted fourth-century Vatsyayana Mallanaga, an Indian scholar who is credited with compiling the Sanskrit transcript we have today. The Kama Sutra is also full of handy hints such as what to wear to attract a partner and signs to look for in a lover. The book was translated into English in 1888, even though it would be another 80 years before a lot of us would have been able to buy a copy without being put under arrest. That said, with 1250 verses of text, it could be pretty heavy reading. Not to worry though, many of the modern versions go easy on the overly wordy parts and have sparked mass appeal by courageously focusing on the sexual positions; of which there are a liberating 529 to choose from.

The text is there to be read as a sex manual but it depends on your agility and looseness of limb to be able to perform all the positions. The Kama Sutra warns those with back problems and arthritis to go easy. Many of the sexual positions can only be achieved through practicing for years. Having said that, there are so many postures to choose from that everyone will find something to suit. And if, like the average couple, you have sex two or three times a week; it would take three and a half years to try out all the positions listed in the book.

Essential Reading:

The Complete Illustrated Kama Sutra by Lance Dane