Kama Sutra

by Rachel Hughes

  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

  Coloring the teeth, garments, hair, nails and bodies, i.e. staining, dyeing, coloring 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

  Preparing perfumes and odors

  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 flavor and color

  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, and 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 cipher, 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 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 concerning 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 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 using mantras 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.”

  It is said that a man who engages in these different types of arts can win over the heart of women whereas a man who doesn’t will have a difficult time winning over a woman’s heart. This is a lot to expect from a man, and this certainly doesn’t reflect the views of modern day society, however, historically in Indian practice, this was expected of men who wanted to gain a satisfying sex life.

  There are also many reasons a woman may reject a man, many of which are outlined in the Kama Sutra. According to the Kama Sutra, men that are rejected by women usually

  “Affection for her husband

  Desire of lawful progeny

  Want of opportunity

  Anger at being addressed by the man too familiarly

  Difference in rank of life

  Want of certainty on account of the man being devoted traveling

  Thinking that the man may be attached to some other person

  Fear of the man's not keeping his intentions secret

  Thinking that the man is too devoted to his friends, and has too great a regard for them

  The apprehension that he is not in earnest

  Bashfulness on account of his being an illustrious man

  Fear on account of his being powerful, or possessed of too impetuous passion, in the case of the deer woman

  Bashfulness on account of his being too clever

  The thought of having once lived with him on friendly terms only

  Contempt of his want of knowledge of the world

  Distrust of his low character

  Disgust at his want of perception of her love for him

  In the case of an elephant woman, the thought that he is a hare man or a man of weak passion

  Compassion lest anything should befall him on account of his passion

  Despair at her imperfections

  Fear of discovery

  Disillusion at seeing his gray hair or shabby appearance

  Fear that he may be employed by her husband to test her chastity

  The thought that he has too much regard for morality.”

  One thing that can be agreed upon in modern day belief is that love can change your life. Love is a necessity for the well-being of our individuality and overall self. Living a loveless life would be one of loneliness and unhappiness. Kama Sutra attempts to prevent people from living loveless lives by telling us how to get the attention of other human beings. As far as the beliefs nowadays, to win over the heart of someone else, you need to both communicate what you are looking for in a relationship. Expressing your likes and dislikes will give each other a better idea of personality and what would make the other happy.

  Communication in a relationship is something that cannot be stressed enough. You can’t expect to fall in love with someone if you never communicate with them, and vice versa. You both need to be comfortable expressing emotions with one another or love will never be one of the emotions you both experience. Lust can be felt by looking at one another; love can be felt by speaking with one another.

  Chapter 3: Behavior Inside And Outside The

  Bedroom

  In order to have a fulfilling sex life, you have to hav
e an individual behavior both inside and outside the bedroom. The Kama Sutra states different ways in which men and women must act; we will get into those later. Starting off, though, behavior inside and outside the bedroom are rarely ever comparable, but they do work interdependently. For example, going on a few dates with an individual you think is attractive but you have yet to be able to carry on a conversation without being put off by something your date says. This same date tends to be angry and mean to other people, sometimes at you as well. You both start drinking and things start to heat up, and it turns out that your date is a very passionate lover but not a very personable person. This may be a turn off to some people.

  Both your behavior towards your lover inside and outside the bedroom will reflect your overall compatibility with one another. As far as behavior inside the bedroom, Kama Sutra state there are certain ways in which a man and a woman should behave towards one another before taking each other to bed. According to the Kama Sutra, “The man who is ingenious and wise, who is accompanied by a friend, and who knows the intentions of others, as also the proper time and place for doing everything, can gain over, very easily, even a woman who is very hard to be obtained.” There are also certain kinds of women that men should avoid; according to the Kama Sutra. These can all be interpreted different ways in modern day. These types of women include:

  A leper; probably due to disease and ill health. Leprosy was a dangerous and contagious disease in those times. The thought of contracting such a debilitating and deforming disease was terrifying.

  A lunatic; no one wants to be with someone “loony”. Lunatics can be a danger to themselves, their lovers and their family members.

  A woman turned out of caste; back when the caste system was a huge determining social factor. Now, this would equate to a celebrity dating a blue collar worker of a wealthy man dating a poor woman.

  A woman who reveals secrets; this was meant to avoid any woman who couldn’t be trusted. Confidence is an important trait in relationships and is necessary to sustain a relationship.

  A woman who publicly expresses desire for sexual intercourse; this could be a turn off to men because it may be a red flag that she could sleep around or perhaps engage in infidelity. In those times, men were allowed to sleep around a bit more than women were.

  A woman who is extremely white; Paleness could be an indicator of someone who never leaves the house or is ill in some way.

  A woman who is extremely black; This was back when racism and slavery were highly prominent.

  A bad-smelling woman; someone who smells bad equates to someone with poor hygiene. Having proper hygiene is important to stay healthy and make yourself desirable. A woman with bad hygiene could be seen as lazy o someone who just doesn’t care.

  A woman who is a near relation; such as a cousin or a niece/nephew. Incest was (and still is) frowned upon ethically and health-wise. When families begin to reproduce within their gene pool, mutations begin to occur.

  A woman who is a female friend; it may be hard to break past the friend feeling. To avoid this difficulty, women who are your friend should not be considered for lovers.

  A woman who leads the life of an ascetic; this would mean someone who does not do anything for pleasure; no sex, kissing, embrace, love. For obvious reasons, the Kama Sutra recommends avoiding this type of woman.

  And, lastly the wife of a relation, of a friend, of a learned Brahman, and of the king.

  Although there are many types of women the Kama Sutra states to avoid; there isn’t much emphasis on the types of men that women should avoid. I think that a lot of the same statements can be echoed for men as well. One trait that wasn’t discussed was physical abuse. No abuse of any kind should occur in any form from either the male or the female. If abuse of any kind occurs, the relationship should be ended immediately.

  During sex, the Kama Sutra describes sex as being comparable to combat. When men and women get into the passion of sexual intercourse, they can instinctually strike out at one another in passion. The Kama Sutra describes several types of hits and blows, all of which are not done out of malice, only out of passion.

  The most common places for individuals to strike out at one another is:

  The shoulders

  The head

  The space between the breasts

  The back

  The middle part of the body

  The sides

  There are four different types of strikes:

  Striking with the back of the hand

  Striking with the fingers a little contracted

  Striking with the fist

  Striking with the open palm of the hand

  The Kama Sutra also analyzes the sounds made during hitting and sexual intercourse. The sounds are all based on the force of the hit and the area in which the hit was inflicted. The sounds and cries that come from the individual are also listed among the sounds heard.

  According to the Kama Sutra:

  “The sound Hin

  The thundering sound

  The cooing sound

  The weeping sound

  The sound Phut

  The sound Phât

  The sound Sût

  The sound Plât”

  Besides these, there are also words having a meaning, such as 'mother', and those that are expressive of prohibition, sufficiency, desire of liberation, pain or praise, and to which may be added sounds like those of the dove, the cuckoo, the green pigeon, the parrot, the bee, the sparrow, the flamingo, the duck, and the quail, which are all occasionally made use of.

  Blows with the fist should be given on the back of the woman while she is sitting on the lap of the man, and she should give blows in return, abusing the man as if she were angry, and making the cooing and the weeping sounds. While the woman is engaged in Congress, the space between the breasts should be struck with the back of the hand, slowly at first, and then proportionately to the increasing excitement, until the end.

  At this time the sounds Hin and others may be made, alternately or optionally, according to habit. When the man, making the sound Phât, strikes the woman on the head, with the fingers of his hand a little contracted, it is called Prasritaka, which means striking with the fingers of the hand a little contracted. In this case, the appropriate sounds are the cooing sound, the sound Phât and the sound Phut in the interior of the mouth, and at the end of Congress the sighing and weeping sounds.

  The sound Phât is an imitation of the sound of a bamboo being split, while the sound Phut is like the sound made by something falling into the water.

  At all times when kissing and such like things are begun, the woman should give a reply with a hissing sound. During the excitement when the woman is not accustomed to striking, she continually utters words expressive of prohibition, sufficiently, or desire of liberation, as well as the words 'father', 'mother', intermingled with the sighing, weeping and thundering sounds. 1 Towards the conclusion of the Congress, the breasts, the jaghana, and the sides of the woman should be pressed with the open palms of the hand, with some force, until the end of it, and then sounds like those of the quail or the goose should be made.

  'The characteristics of manhood are said to consist of roughness and impetuosity, while weakness, tenderness, sensibility, and an inclination to turn away from unpleasant things are the distinguishing marks of womanhood. The excitement of passion and peculiarities of habit may sometimes cause contrary results to appear, but these do not last long, and in the end, the natural state is resumed.'

  The wedge on the bosom, the scissors on the head, the piercing instrument on the cheeks, and the pinchers on the breasts and sides, may also be taken into consideration with the other four modes of striking, and thus give eight ways altogether. But these four ways of striking with instruments are peculiar to the people of the southern countries, and the marks caused by them are seen on the breasts of their women. They are local peculiarities, but Vatsyayana is of opinion that the practice of them is painful, barbarous, and base, and
quite unworthy of imitation.

  In the same way, anything that is a local peculiarity should not always be adopted elsewhere, and even in the place where the practice is prevalent, excess of it should always be avoided. Instances of the dangerous use of them may be given as follows. The king of the Panchalas killed the courtesan Madhavasena by means of the wedge during the congress. King Satakarni Satavahana of the Kuntalas deprived his great Queen Malayavati of her life by a pair of scissors, and Naradeva, whose hand was deformed, blinded a dancing girl by directing a piercing instrument in a wrong way. 'About these things, there cannot be either enumeration or any definite rule. Congress having once commenced, passion alone gives birth to all the acts of the parties.'

  'Such passionate actions and amorous gesticulations or movements, which arise on the spur of the moment, and during sexual intercourse, cannot be defined, and are as irregular as dreams. A horse having once attained the fifth degree of motion goes on with blind speed, regardless of pits, ditches, and posts in his way; and in the same manner a loving pair become blind with passion in the heat of congress, and go on with great impetuosity, paying not the least regard to excess.

  For this reason, one who is well acquainted with the science of love, and knowing his strength, as also the tenderness, impetuosity, and strength of the young women should act accordingly. The various modes of enjoyment are not for all times or all persons, but they should only be used at the proper time. And in the proper countries and places,” as quoted directly from the Kama Sutra.

  Chapter 4: Kissing Techniques

  Kissing is one of the most intimate practices we share with one another. One of the reasons there are so many different kissing techniques is because kissing can be the key to arousal for nearly every individual. Your lips contain some of the highest concentrations of nerves. Kama Sutra has an abundance of kisses, biting and nibbling techniques that need to be shared.