What's Really Behind The Famous Kama Sutra?
Photo by Deon Black on Unsplash
As famous as it is misunderstood, Kama Sutra rhymes with exotic erotism. Everyone knows some of the sex positions described in the ancient text, but they represent only one aspect of the book. According to the author, the goal of existence is to compose with pleasure, and its fulfillment is an art that requires education.
What is Kama Sutra?
What does Kama Sutra mean?
Kama Sutra roughly means "the rule of desire".
To be more precise, Sutra refers to the expression of a general truth or principle in the Indian literary tradition. Kama means desire, but it is also the name of the Hindu deity of libido, love, and sexual desire. In a broad sense, the word kama refers to the urge to satisfy the senses through sensual imagination and sexuality.
Historical context of the Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra is an ancient text written in Sanskrit (the literary language of Ancient India) in the 3rd century. The author, Vatsyayana Mallanga, was probably a brahman living in a Northern city of India at the time of the Gupta empire.
While his book is ambitious, it would be a mistake to believe that it is only about love-making. Actually, Vatsyayana wrote an education manual on erotism as an art of living.
Why? To him, the knowledge about pleasure is getting lost. And we believe him when we know that the patriarchal society of his time was violently condemning female adultery by cutting the nose of the sinners.
Kama Sutra, what is it all about?
The book is divided into seven parts on how to have a successful life. He describes:
The three goals of existence for Hindus: principles (dharma), material achievement (artha), sensuality (kâma).
The sixty-four different ways to have sex: anything from embracing, kissing, grabbing to slapping!
Ways of courting a woman for marriage, choosing the right partner according to astrological compatibility and social casts.
The traditional duties of a wife: cooking, cleaning, taking care of her husband.
How to create deep bonds with friends and family.
The use of courtesans and prostitutes for men to build confidence before marriage.
Occult practices, personal grooming, the use of perfumes, oils, and remedies for sexual problems.
All the things you don't know about the Kama Sutra
Common myth: is it all about sex?
The first contact Western cultures had with the Kama Sutra was the British explorer Richard Francis Burton, who was the first to translate the ancient text into English in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the translation was inaccurate and emphasizing the cliché of an eroticized India.
What can we learn from the Kama Sutra?
To master the art of pleasure, a man needs to learn about the sixty-four sex positions. In the book, they are divided into eight activities: embracing, kissing, scratching, biting, oral sex, moaning, copulating in diverse positions, having the woman playing the role of the man.
The Kama Sutra is liberal regarding female sexual freedom, as it depicts seductive characters with various partners. While the book is addressed to wealthy and educated city dwellers, it also aims to inform women of pleasure. The author condemns violence towards women to avoid disgust in sex, and preconizes giving them financial power of the household.
Rejecting the idea that sex is for reproduction only, Vatsyayana gives particular attention to female pleasure. He advises partners to orgasm together, but when not possible, the man should let the woman climax first. Actually, he mentions that women have eight times more desire than men, thus the absolute need to satisfy them.
Vatsyayana talks about homosexuality, positively describing gay sex between men as a "third nature" or a "third sexual behavior". Surprisingly, he also mentions female homosexuality, explaining the use of dildos, fruits and vegetables to satisfy themselves.
There is a typology of partners according to the size of their genitals, endurance and temper. Equal couplings are the best match, and the worst, when the man is smaller than the woman. Penis size was already a source of anxiety in the Indian Classic Era, and according to the author, size does count. However, while he acknowledges that we all differ in size, vaginas as penises, there are ways to ensure pleasure for both partners.
To overcome male deficiency, the author recommends the use of drugs (ancient India's viagra!), toys, and a combination of postures that will make the woman tighter (the mare's trap, for example!). If the man is smaller than his partner, there will be the problem is genital size anxiety.
If the man is larger than the woman, she needs to position herself so that she stretches herself open inside. As an alternative, she can use drugs such as ointment to create the same effect.
Have you noticed that sex positions mentioned in the Kama Sutra refer to animal behavior? In a sense, it means that sex is bestial. The author insists that humans need education, contrarily to animals, as their sexuality is more repressed.
Resources
Wendy Doniger, The Mare’s Trap
Frédéric Boyer, Exactement comme un cheval fou
Dr. Brandy Engler, What the Kama Sutra can teach us about seduction
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