Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana [antikvár]

FOREWORDDr. S. C. Upadhyaya is an erudite scholar of Sanskrit and Indian art whose knowledge of ars amoris of the ancient Indians requires no commendation. It is, therefore, in the fitness of his ripe scholarship that he has produced an up-to-date and literal translation of Vatsyayana's Kamasutra, which without any doubt, is the most important treatise on the art of love. Vatsyayana had not only incorporated various schools of thought on the science of love but also arranged his material in such a way that it was handy to poets, artists and above all to those lovers for whom the Kamasutra was the very life-breath of existence. The entire range of the topics on love has been laid bare with a cold scientific thoroughness unparalleled in Sanskrit literature. Vatsyayana's aphorisms are models of brevity. From his observant eyes nothing seems to have escaped. The art of love-making in various phases, the instruments of love-making, the psychology of sex, the courtesans and their victims, the routine of accomplished lovers, etc., have been treated with precision and scientific view-point.In such a treatment of love, courtesans and uninhibited sex, one could expect the writer soaring to fanciful heights, but this expectation is belied in the face of a scientific work arranged topic-wise which reveals the analytic mind of a great thinker. Vatsyayana no doubt acknowledges the debt of past masters on the science of sex, but his critical mind refuses to accept the views with which he could not agree.Incidentally, the Kamasutra is not a dry catalogue of love acts. Its wider canvas touches many aspects of social manners and customsthe luxurious life of the city, the sports and pastimes of the elite and the common folk, the sacredness of the home, the cultivated wiles of the courtesans, the goshthis or club houses and other institutions which served as convivial gatherings accompanied by drinking, gambling, dancing and music.The picture of the ancient Indian society painted by Vatsyayana may appear shocking to modern reformers, but to ancient Indians prudery had no meaning. While delighting in the spiritual speculations, and for ever in the quest of final emancipation. Indian thinkers also realised the value of money as a necessary adjunct for piety and comfortable living. Sex had no vulgar connotation for them. Indian poets sang the charms of love and sex and went into ecstasies over the beauties of the human body. Even dry as dust books on religion touched upon love and beauty in the anecdotes they related for the edification of the pious and the god-fearing. This feeling for sex and beauty became a guiding spirit of Indian art and there is little doubt that Vatsyayana played no mean part in evolving and sustaining a warmth for love and sex in art and literature.