Kamasutra : History of Kamasutra

The Art of Love: Kamasutra Discussion of Quotes from the Ancient Indian Philosophy of Kamasutra

In this page we have the common spelling 'kamasutra'. Alternative spellings are "kama sutra, Karma Sutra, and karmasutra kama shastra".

Blessed are the three objectives of the life, virtue (Dharma), prosperity (artha), and Love (kama), the subject of this work.

Altindischen practices under the Kama Shastra based on the Vedas. The first formulation of the Kama Shastra, or the rules of love, is due to Nandi, Shiva's companion. It is now in the form of the "Kama Sutra" written by Vatsyayana ways sometime between the first and sixth centuries AD The Kama Sutra is recognized as the true surviving text of the original Kama Shastra. Vatsyayana says that he only quotes and condenses the previous work and refers to himself in the third person (Vatsyayana thinks ..), if his opinion to express.

The Kama Shastra was one of the three ancient Indian texts on the aims of life. It should be understood that under the Artha Shastra and the Dharma Shastra (which were written in Sanskrit, seventh century BC). As Alain Danielou confirmed;

Life requires three types of activity: their survival to safeguard its existence and its food, its reproduction to see after forms of activity usually associated with sexuality, and, finally, to establish rules by which the behavior of different individuals to fulfill your tasks in the framework of the species. In the human society, which is represented as three needs three goals of life: physical goods (artha) survival; erotic practice (kama) provides for the transmission of life and rules of behaviour, a moral nature (dharma), ensure the And the cohesion duration of the species. (1994)

So with religion, morality (dharma) and material success (artha), kama is the third goal of human life. Kama is defined as more;
Kama is the perception of the appropriate objects of the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, supported by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar relationship between the Authority and the sense object, and the awareness of joy arising from the contact is Kama. (1883)

Kama is to learn from the Kama Sutra (aphorisms about love) and from the practice of citizens. (1883)

The ancient Indians appear to be very good evolutionists, as it is clear from evolution that sex and survival are the two most fundamental forces driving our continued existence. Further, the Kama Sutra is an evolutionary work in that it promotes the cultivation of skills to become a well rounded / well evolved individual with healthy, intimate relationships with others. As Alain Danielou agrees;

The Kama Sutra is not a pornographic work. First and foremost, it is a picture of the art of living for the civilised and refined citizen, completing in the sphere of love, eroticism and the pleasures of life. (The Complete Kamasutra, Alain Danielou 1994)

Sixty Four Arts of Kamasutra

As the sixty-four arts are respected, are charming, and add to the talent of women, they are called by the Acharyas dear to women. A man skilled in the sixty-four arts is looked upon with love by his own wife, by the wives of others, and by courtesans. (Kamasutra)

The aim of the Sixty Four Arts of the Kama Sutra is not merely to be a good wife, but to be a skillful, playful, understanding, refined, sexual, beautiful and intelligent woman. The Kama Sutra also expresses cultivation of the male, his understanding of female nature and the importance of cultivating sensual moods and intimacy. The ancient Indians show great attention to detail of smell, light, music, food, drink and touch before intercourse can begin.

The following Kamasutra Arts to be studied:

Singing

Playing on musical instruments

Dancing

Union of dancing, singing, and playing instrumental music

Writing and drawing

Tattooing

Arraying and adorning an idol with rice and flowers

Spreading and arranging beds or couches of flowers, or flowers upon the ground

Colouring the teeth, garments, hair, nails and bodies, i.e. staining, dyeing, colouring and painting the same

Fixing stained glass into a floor

The art of making beds, and spreading out carpets and cushions for reclining

Playing on musical glasses filled with water

Storing and accumulating water in aqueducts, cisterns and reservoirs

Picture making, trimming and decorating

Stringing of rosaries, necklaces, garlands and wreaths

Binding of turbans and chaplets, and making crests and top-knots of flowers

Scenic representations, stage playing Art of making ear ornaments Art of preparing perfumes and odours

Proper disposition of jewels and decorations, and adornment in dress

Magic or sorcery

Quickness of hand or manual skill

Culinary art, i.e. cooking and cookery

Making lemonades, sherbets, acidulated drinks, and spirituous extracts with proper flavour and colour

Tailor's work and sewing

Making parrots, flowers, tufts, tassels, bunches, bosses, knobs, etc., out of yarn or thread

Solution of riddles, enigmas, covert speeches, verbal puzzles and enigmatical questions

A game, which consisted in repeating verses, and as one person finished, another person had to commence at once, repeating another verse, beginning with the same letter with which the last speaker's verse ended, whoever failed to repeat was considered to have lost, and to be subject to pay a forfeit or stake of some kind

The art of mimicry or imitation

Reading, including chanting and intoning

Study of sentences difficult to pronounce. It is played as a game chiefly by women, and children and consists of a difficult sentence being given, and when repeated quickly, the words are often transposed or badly pronounced

Practice with sword, single stick, quarter staff and bow and arrow

Drawing inferences, reasoning or inferring

Carpentry, or the work of a carpenter

Architecture, or the art of building

Knowledge about gold and silver coins, and jewels and gems

Chemistry and mineralogy

Colouring jewels, gems and beads

Knowledge of mines and quarries

Gardening; knowledge of treating the diseases of trees and plants, of nourishing them, determining their ages

Art of cock fighting, quail fighting and ram fighting

Art of teaching parrots and starlings to speak

Art of applying perfumed ointments to the body, and of dressing the hair with unguents and perfumes and braiding it

The art of understanding writing in cypher, and the writing of words in a peculiar way

The art of speaking by changing the forms of words. It is of various kinds. Some speak by changing the beginning and end of words, others by adding unnecessary letters between every syllable of a word, and so on

Knowledge of language and of the vernacular dialects

Art of making flower carriages

Art of framing mystical diagrams, of addressing spells and charms, and binding armlets

Mental exercises, such as completing stanzas or verses on receiving a part of them; or supplying one, two or three lines when the remaining lines are given indiscriminately from different verses, so as to make the whole an entire verse with regard to its meaning; or arranging the words of a verse written irregularly by separating the vowels from the consonants, or leaving them out altogether; or putting into verse or prose sentences represented by signs or symbols. There are many other such exercises.

Composing poems

Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies

Knowledge of ways of changing and disguising the appearance of persons

Knowledge of the art of changing the appearance of things, such as making cotton to appear as silk, coarse and common things to appear as fine and good

Various ways of gambling

Art of obtaining possession of the property of others by means of muntras or incantations

Skill in youthful sports

Knowledge of the rules of society, and of how to pay respect and compliments to others

Knowledge of the art of war, of arms, of armies, etc.

Knowledge of gymnastics

Art of knowing the character of a man from his features

Knowledge of scanning or constructing verses

Arithmetical recreations

Making artificial flowers

Making figures and images in clay

A public woman, equipped with a good disposition, beauty and other features to win, and also versed in the art, is given the name of a woman or public Ganika of high quality, and receives a seat in an assembly honor of the men. She is also always respected by the king, and praised by men learned, and searched for her for all, it becomes an object of universal context. The daughter of a king, as well as to the daughter of a minister, learned in the above art, their husbands at favourable they can, even if they are thousands of other women besides. And in the same way, if a woman is separated from her husband, and falls in need, they can easily, even in a foreign country, through their knowledge of this art. Even the bare knowledge of them attractive to a woman, although the practice of them can only be possible, or otherwise in accordance with the circumstances of each case. A man who is versed in this art, which is loquacious and familiar with the art of gallantry, profits very quickly the hearts of women, even if he only learn with them for a short time.

The Kama Sutra of Vatsayayana, Sir Richard Burton, translator (1883)