The Kama Sutra

The best known example of Hindu sensuality is the Kama Sutra, a sex manual compiled in the second century A.D. by Vatsyayana. Basically it is a guide to a virtuous and gracious living, an instruction in the aesthetic and sexual aspects of life in seven parts, of which the second is the best known, dealing with the sexual acts, and listing 64 different ways of fucking:  sexual athletes often try to emulate them. Further sections deal with how to acquire a wife, and then how to have sex with other men’s wives – it is OK if they were fellow students, someone who has been brought up with you, or someone who has already enjoyed five other men.

Right: straight forward sex.  Note that it is out in the garden with the flowers and shrubs in the background, though presumably on some broad balcony. It’s a fine position for him but an athletic one for her. I hope she doesn’t hold it too long and that he will soon reached his climax.

The Kama Sutra is written in Sanskrit, the language of the classical India.  Many of the Sanskrit epics were preserved in oral form until the English savants succeeded in writing them down and studying them. The Kama Sutra was first translated and published in English by Sir Richard Burton in 1883 – as it was for private circulation only, he was able to include ‘the nasty bits and all’.

Left:  another athletic pose. But she would have to be quite an athlete to make such a pose. I wonder whether she will be able to hold it long enough for a full fuck?

An interesting section deals with oral sex with detailed instructions of how to take a man’s lingam into one’s mouth, kissing it at first and then eventually sucking it down – though it does not go as far as suggesting that one should fellate one’s partner to full climax.

The illustration, left, shows an example of ’69’ where they are going head to tail. It’s a fine position for him, but a little tricky for her. But both seem very phlegmatic: he is clearly about to lick her cunt but his mouth is firmly closed and she is clearly about to suck his penis, but her mouth is also firmly closed. One would like to see them two seconds later.

The Kama Sutra itself was not illustrated but numerous paintings were produced in the 18th and 19th century showing scenes in the glorious Indian tradition of sexuality. Many of them were for the English market and have found their way into English collections, notably the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge and the V and A.

This is one of my favourite, because utterly unrealistic, illustrations. It appears to show the Prince returning from a hunt in his chariot, shooting off an arrow to celebrate. In fact it is a passion wagon and he is fucking her, as can be clearly seen: double-click on this photo to enlarge it. The five servant girls receiving him are also dressed for sex for their dresses show their midriff nearly down to their cunts, and also the lower half of their breasts: I wonder which he will take first?  The charioteer is also a lady with a similar revealing dress. As for the chariot – this is a passion wagon par excellence – very capacious but  totally unrealistic.

The Hindu tradition has had two setbacks, firstly from the Moslem and Mogul invaders from the 12^th century onwards, who imposed Moslem ideals of purely abstract art, and then sadly the British from the 19th century, who although studying the Kama Sutra as a scholarly text, and acquiring drawings for their strictly private collections, nevertheless imposed the dull English prudery that has perverted so much native art in the world today.

In modern India, ‘Bollywood’ continues the Indian tradition of lively romantic themes, but for the most part it is sadly restricted by Western ideals of prudery.

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18th February 2014, revised 13th October 2017