One part of the text that speaks to the modern reader is Book Five, on the seduction of other men’s wives. In the earlier meditations on reasons to do this [1.5], there are a few details, such as the commission to kill the king’s enemy, that do not survive the cross-cultural journey. But for the most part, this passage brilliantly represents the self-justifying arguments of the adulterer, and of the adulterous wife, in ways that rival the psychologizing of John Updike and Gustave Flaubert. Book Six has an even more basic relevance for modern women and men, since this is the one section of the text that imagines both men and women as more or less free agents, constrained by the man’s lust and the woman’s need for money, it is true, but not by an assumption of the natural passivity of the woman (an assumption that colours the rest of the text and is made explicit at 2.1.26). In Book Six the woman’s thoughts on such subjects as how to get a lover, how to get rid of him, or how to tell when he is cooling toward her, ring remarkably true in the twenty-first century. Vatsyayana himself often calls the courtesan here ‘the woman’, and her lover ‘the man’, and when he does so Yashodhara remarks (at 6.1.12–13, for instance) that these passages often have a more general application. This may mean that they apply to any relationship in which the woman may have the upper hand, not merely the particular case of the courtesan. This part of the text is not just about sex for money, but about sex for love, particularly for people who are free to choose their partners; which means it is for us. The Kamasutra has attained its classic status because it is at bottom about essential, unchangeable human attributes—lust, love, shyness, rejection, seduction, manipulation—and it is fascinating for us to see ourselves mirrored in it even as we learn deeply intimate things about a culture that could well be described as long ago and in a galaxy far away.
A NOTE ON PRESENTATION
An asterisk in the main text and in Yashodhara’s commentary indicates a note at the back of the book. Notes solely to Yashodhara’s commentary are prefixed by [Y] in these Explanatory Notes. In Yashodhara’s commentary V stands for Vatsyayana (the author of the Kamasutra).
References are in the form: 1.3.5 (meaning Book One, Chapter Three, passage 5). In the main text superior figures mark the beginning of each passage, and the numbering in Yashodhara’s commentary relates to the passage numbers. The running headlines to every page show the passages that appear on that page.
The sixty-four sections are not part of this numbering reference system; their numbers are, however, shown in square brackets to the left of their headings, which also appear as running headlines.
KAMASUTRA
BOOK ONE · GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
CHAPTER ONE
[I] Summary of the Text
1WE bow to religion, power, and pleasure, 2because they are the subject of this text,* 3and to the scholars who made known the mutual agreement among the three, 4because those subjects are integral to the text. 5For when the Creator emitted his creatures, he first composed, in a hundred thousand chapters, the means of achieving the three aims of human life, which is the vital link with what sustains those creatures. 6Manu* the son of the Self-born One made one part of this into a separate work about religion, 7Bri-haspati* made one about power, 8and Nandin, the servant of the Great God Shiva, made a separate work of a thousand chapters, the Kamasutra, 9which Shvetaketu Auddalaki cut down to five hundred chapters. 10And then Babhravya* of Panchala cut this down further to a hundred and fifty chapters in the following seven parts: General Observations, Sex, Virgins, Wives, Other Men’s Wives, Courtesans, and Erotic Esoterica.
11 Dattaka made a separate book out of the sixth part of this work, about courtesans, which the courtesans de luxe of Pataliputra* commissioned. 12In response to this, Charayana made a separate book about general observations, Suvarnanabha about sex, Ghotakamukha about virgins, Gonardiya about wives, Gonikaputra about other men’s wives, and Kuchumara about erotic esoterica. 13When many scholars had divided it into fragments in this way, the text was almost destroyed. 14Because the amputated limbs of the text that Dattaka and the others divided are just parts of the whole, and because Babhravya’s text is so long that it is hard to study, Vatsyayana condensed the entire subject matter into a small volume to make this Kamasutra.
15 Here is an overview of its sections and chapters:*
16 The first book, on General Observations, has five sections in five chapters: summary of the text, the means of achieving the three aims of human life, exposition of the arts, the lifestyle of the man-about-town,* and the work of the man’s male helpers and messengers.
17 The second book, on Sex, has seventeen sections in ten chapters: sexual typology according to size, endurance, and temperament, types of love, ways of embracing, procedures of kissing, types of scratching with the nails, ways of biting, customs of women from different regions, varieties of sexual positions, unusual sexual acts, modes of slapping and the accompanying moaning, the woman playing the man’s part, a man’s sexual strokes, oral sex, the start and finish of sex, different kinds of sex, and lovers’ quarrels.
18 The third book, on Virgins, has nine sections in five chapters: courting the girl, making alliances, winning a virgin’s trust, making advances to a young girl, interpreting her gestures and signals, the advances that a man makes on his own, the advances that a virgin makes to the man she wants, the advances that win a virgin, and devious devices for weddings.
19 The fourth book, on Wives, has eight sections in two chapters: the life of an only wife, her behaviour during his absence, the senior wife, the junior wife, the second-hand woman, the wife unlucky in love, women of the harem, and a man’s management of many women.
20 The fifth book, on Other Men’s Wives, has ten sections in six chapters: on the characteristic natures of women and men,* causes of resistance, men who are successful with women, women who can be won without effort, ways of becoming intimate, making advances, testing her feelings, the duties of a female messenger, the sex life of a man in power, the life of the women of the harem, and the guarding of wives.
21 The sixth book, on Courtesans, has twelve sections in six chapters: deciding on an eligible lover, reasons for taking a lover, getting a lover, giving the beloved what he wants, ways to get money from him, signs that his passion is cooling, getting him back when his passion has cooled, ways to get rid of him, getting back together with a discarded lover, weighing different kinds of profits, calculating gains and losses, consequences and doubts, and types of courtesans.
22 The seventh book, on Erotic Esoterica, has six sections in two chapters: making luck in love, putting someone in your power, stimulants for virility, rekindling exhausted passion, methods of increasing the size of the male organ, and unusual techniques.
23 Thus the text has sixty-four sections, in thirty-six chapters, in seven books, consisting of 1,250 passages.* That is the summary of the text.
24 Now that it has been summarized briefly,
it will be described in detail,
since wise men of the world like to have things told
in both a contracted and an expanded form.
CHAPTER TWO
[2] The Means of Achieving the Three Aims of Human Life
1 A man’s lifespan is said to be a full hundred years.* By dividing his time, he cultivates the three aims in such a way that they enhance rather than interfere with each other. 2Childhood is the time to acquire knowledge and other kinds of power,* 3the prime of youth is for pleasure, 4and old age is for religion and release.*5 Or, because the lifespan is uncertain, a man pursues these aims as the opportunity arises, 6but he should remain celibate until he has acquired knowledge.*
7 Religion consists in engaging, as the texts decree, in sacrifice and other such actions that are disengaged from material life, because they are not of this world and their results are invisible; and in refraining, as the texts decree, from eating meat and other such actions that are engaged in material life, because they are of this world and their results are visible.* 8A man learns about it fr
om sacred scripture* and from associating with people who know about religion. 9Power, in the form of wealth, consists in acquiring knowledge, land, gold, cattle, grain, household goods and furniture, friends, and so forth, and increasing what has been acquired. 10A man learns about it from ‘The Tasks of the Superintendent’,* and from merchants who know about trades and markets. 11Pleasure, in general, consists in engaging the ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose each in its own appropriate sensation, all under the control of the mind and heart driven by the conscious self. 12Pleasure in its primary form, however, is a direct experience of an object of the senses, which bears fruit and is permeated by the sensual pleasure of erotic arousal that results from the particular sensation of touch.* 13A man learns about pleasure from the Kamasutra and from associating with the circle of men-about-town.
14 When these three aims—religion, power, and pleasure—compete, each is more important than the one that follows. 15But power, in the form of wealth, is the most important goal for a king—because it is the basis of social life—and for a courtesan.* Those are the means of achieving the three aims.
16 Scholars say:* ‘It is appropriate to have a text about religion, because it concerns matters not of this world, and to have one about power, because that is achieved only when the groundwork is laid by special methods, which one learns from a text. 17But since even animals manage sex by themselves, and since it goes on all the time, it should not have to be handled with the help of a text.’ 18Vatsyayana says: Because a man and a woman depend upon one another in sex, it requires a method, 19and this method is learned from the Kamasutra. 20 The mating of animals, by contrast, is not based upon any method: because they are not fenced in, they mate only when the females are in their fertile season and until they achieve their goal, and they act without thinking about it first.
21 Materialists say:* ‘People should not perform religious acts, for their results are in the world to come and that is doubtful. 22Who but a fool would take what is in his own hand and put it in someone else’s hand? 23 Better a pigeon today than a peacock tomorrow, and
24 “Better a copper coin that is certain
than a gold coin that is doubtful.”’
25 Vatsyayana says: People should perform religious acts, because the text cannot be doubted; because, sometimes, black magic and curses are seen to bear fruit; because the constellations, moon, sun, stars, and the circle of the planets are seen to act for the sake of the world as if they thought about it first; because social life is marked by the stability of the system of the four classes and four stages of life; and because people are seen to cast away a seed in their hand for the sake of a crop in the future.
26 Fatalists say:* ‘People should not act to gain power and wealth, for even when these are energetically pursued they are not always achieved, while even when they are not sought at all, they may come by chance. 27“It all happens as fate decrees”, people say, 28for fate is what leads men to gain and loss, victory and defeat, happiness and unhappiness.
29 Fate made Bali into
an Indra, king of the gods,
and fate hurled Bali back down,
and fate is what will make him an Indra again.’*
30 Vatsyayana says: All undertakings are based upon a method, because they presuppose a man’s exertions. 31Even wealth and power that must inevitably arise in the future presuppose a method. Nothing good happens to a man who does nothing.
32 Pragmatists say:* ‘People should not indulge in pleasures, for they are an obstacle to both religion and power, which are more important, and to other good people. They make a man associate with worthless people and undertake bad projects; they make him impure, a man with no future, 33as well as careless, lightweight, untrustworthy and unacceptable. 34And it is said that many men in the thrall of desire were destroyed, even when accompanied by their troops. 35For instance, when the Bhoja king named Dandakya* was aroused by a Brahmin’s daughter, desire destroyed him, along with his relatives and his kingdom. 36And Indra the king of the gods with Ahalya, the super-powerful Kichaka with Draupadi, Ravana with Sita, and many others afterwards were seen to fall into the thrall of desire and were destroyed.’ 37Vatsyayana says: Pleasures are a means of sustaining the body, just like food, and they are rewards for religion and power. 38But people must be aware of the flaws in pleasures, flaws that are like diseases.* For people do not stop preparing the cooking pots because they think, ‘There are beggars’, nor do they stop planting barley because they think, ‘There are deer.’* 39And there are verses about this:
A man who serves power, and pleasure,
and religion in this way
wins endless happiness that has no thorns,
in this world and the next.
40 Knowledgeable people undertake a project
that does not make them worry,
‘What will happen in the next world?’
Or ‘Is this a pleasure that will not erode my power?’
41 Undertake any project that might achieve
the three aims of life, or two, or even just one,
but not one that achieves one
at the cost of the other two.
CHAPTER THREE
[3] Exposition of the Arts
1 A man should study the Kamasutra and its subsidiary sciences as long as this does not interfere with the time devoted to religion and power and their subsidiary sciences. 2A woman should do this before she reaches the prime of her youth, and she should continue when she has been given away, if her husband wishes it.
3 Scholars say: ‘Since females cannot grasp texts, it is useless to teach women this text.’ 4Vatsyayana says: But women understand the practice, and the practice is based on the text.* 5This applies beyond this specific subject of the Kamasutra, for throughout the world, in all subjects, there are only a few people who know the text, but the practice is within the range of everyone. 6And a text, however far removed, is the ultimate source of the practice. 7‘Grammar is a science’, people say. Yet the sacrificial priests, who are no grammarians, know how to gloss the words in the sacrificial prayers.* 8‘Astronomy is a science’, they say. But ordinary people perform the rituals on the days when the skies are auspicious. 9And people know how to ride horses and elephants without studying the texts about horses and elephants. 10In the same way, even citizens far away from the king do not step across the moral line that he sets. The case of women learning the Kamasutra is like those examples.
11 And there are also women whose understanding has been sharpened by the text: courtesans de luxe and the daughters of kings and ministers of state. 12A woman should therefore learn the techniques and the text, or at least one part of it, from a trusted person, in private. 13And alone, in private, a virgin should practise the sixty-four techniques that take practice. 14But the people qualified to teach a virgin are: a foster-sister who grew up with her and has already made love with a man; or a girlfriend* who has had the same experience and with whom she can converse without risk; one of her mother’s sisters who is her age; an old servant woman who is trusted and can take that aunt’s place; a female renunciant with whom she has previously been intimate; and her own sister, if that sister takes her into her confidence about her own love-making.
15 The sixty-four fine arts that should be studied along with the Kamasutra are: singing; playing musical instruments; dancing; painting; cutting leaves into shapes; making lines on the floor with rice-powder and flowers; arranging flowers; colouring the teeth, clothes, and limbs; making jewelled floors; preparing beds; making music on the rims of glasses of water; playing water sports; unusual techniques; making garlands and stringing necklaces; making diadems and headbands; making costumes; making various earrings; mixing perfumes; putting on jewellery; doing conjuring tricks; practising sorcery; sleight of hand; preparing various forms of vegetables, soups, and other things to eat; preparing wines, fruit juices, and other things to drink; needlework; weaving; playing the lute and the drum;* telling jokes and riddles; completing words; re
citing difficult words; reading aloud; staging plays and dialogues; completing verses; making things out of cloth, wood, and cane; woodworking; carpentry; architecture; the ability to test gold and silver; metallurgy; knowledge of the colour and form of jewels; skill at nurturing trees; knowledge of ram-fights, cock-fights, and quail-fights; teaching parrots and mynah birds to talk; skill at rubbing, massaging, and hairdressing; the ability to speak in sign language; understanding languages made to seem foreign; knowledge of local dialects; skill at making flower carts; knowledge of omens; alphabets for use in making magical diagrams; alphabets for memorizing; group recitation; improvising poetry; dictionaries and thesauruses; knowledge of metre; literary work; the art of impersonation; the art of using clothes for disguise; special forms of gambling; the game of dice; children’s games; etiquette; the science of strategy; and the cultivation of athletic skills.
(16 The sixty-four arts* of love that come from Babhravya of Panchala are different. We will return to them and speak of their techniques in the discussion of sex, for they are an essential element of pleasure.)
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