Kamasutra

by Vatsyayana Mallanaga

  26 Men and women are created differently: the organ of one goes in, and of the other, out; one swallows and the other is swallowed.

  28 The two cases, of a sexual couple (man and woman) and a grammatical sentence (with an active subject and passive locus) are not analogous at all. For, in the sentence, ‘Devadatta is using logs to cook rice in a pot’, the rice is produced through the combined action of the various case relations such as nominative (Devadatta), instrumental (logs), locative (a pot), and so forth.* But the man and the woman are acting upon one another, since the woman, who is the passive locus, depends on the action of the man in achieving her object, namely pleasure in her own offspring, and the man, who is the active agent, is dependent upon the woman. And their sensual pleasures are separate and dissimilar because their timing and their natural forms are different, even though they are of the same species.

  30 As it is said:

  A woman’s sensual pleasure is twofold:

  the scratching of an itch and the pleasure of melting.

  The melting, too, is twofold:

  the flowing and the ejaculation of the seed.

  She gets wet just from the flowing,

  and her sensual pleasure of ejaculation comes from being churned.

  But when a woman is carried away by her sexual energy,

  she ejaculates at the end, it is said, just like a man.

  The best case is when the man and woman achieve their sexual pleasure at the same time, because that is an equal coupling. But if it does not happen at the same time, and the man reaches his climax first, his banner is no longer at full mast, and the woman does not reach her climax. Therefore, if the coupling is unequal rather than equal, the woman should be treated with kisses, embraces, and so forth, in such a way that she achieves her sexual pleasure first. When the woman reaches her climax first, the man, remaining inside her, puts on speed and reaches his own climax.

  31 Otherwise, because of the dissimilarity between the sensual pleasure of scratching an itch and the sensual pleasure of ejaculation, how could there be nine forms of sex with regard to climax?

  33 There are nine forms of each of the three categories, making twenty-seven possibilities for each man and the same number for each woman. If these mate in all possible combinations, the total comes to 729 (27 × 27).

  34 There are some verses of Babhravya about this:

  Endurance is the most important factor of all,

  because, in time, even a ‘hare’

  can touch deeply, everywhere,

  inside the vagina of an ‘elephant cow’.

  But a ‘stallion’ is said

  to make up for the endurance that a ‘doe’ needs,

  and therefore some say that

  size is what is absolutely more important.

  And others say that sexual energy is more important,

  since even a ‘stallion’, if he lacks sexual energy,

  cannot accomplish the goal;

  sexual energy makes up for length of endurance.

  But even a woman whose sexual energy is dull

  should not worry about this,

  for a man must find out the strengths and weaknesses

  of the sensuality of each woman.

  A man who lacks sexual energy and size,

  or who has sexual energy but lacks endurance,

  or who lacks endurance and size,

  can succeed by using the one that is left.

  36 He runs out of fluids first because the woman has eight times as much fluid as a man.* And so it is commonly said [see 14, Y]: ‘A fair-eyed woman cannot be sated by men.’

  37 She may be strongly stimulated externally, by kissing and so forth, and internally, by the work of the fingers. The implication is that these women have quick sexual energy, and that, in the opposite case, the women have average or long-lasting sexual energy. This applies to men, too.

  39 The people who know the science are those who know the Kamasutra.

  40 Hunting is an athletic art like dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument, and cutting shapes out of leaves.

  42 Oral sex means using the mouth as a vagina; the person on whom the act is performed experiences a physical love in response to the object of the senses, over and over again. Erotic arousal also comes from kissing, embracing, scratching, biting, slapping, and so forth; at the moment of sexual pleasure, the person performing these acts experiences a mental love, and the woman for whom they are done also experiences a mental, rather than merely physical, love, because of the imaginative power of passion directed to each spot that is being stimulated.

  43 When someone says, ‘This one is that one’, referring to some other man or woman who was always an object of desire in the past, the past love is transferred to some other man or woman. The idea is, ‘The qualities, the causes of love, in the person I loved in the past are also here in this one.’ And so they call this past love a transferred love. Thus V will say [at 6.1.17], ‘resemblance to someone loved is a reason for taking a lover.’

  44 Since this type of love is well known, there is no need to give signs by which it can be recognized. It is, moreover, the type of love intended in the discussion of the various occasions in the lifestyle of the man-about-town. The most important fruit is the enjoyment of the pleasures of visible sense-objects.

  45 When she inclines toward one of the four forms, arising from habit and so forth, he will work with that form, to achieve the love that comes from that form. If he uses that love in the wrong way, he will find a form of love he does not want, or no love at all.

  1 ‘Some people’ refers to scholars. The word ‘sixty-four’ applies to the whole text or to a part of the text, but in both cases it refers to the part about the sexual act.

  3 These are the sixty-four fine arts, singing and so forth, which are a part of sex as a whole. Or they may be the sixty-four arts of love described in one particular part of the text, about sex, for they are called ‘the sixty-four arts that come from Babhravya of Panchala’ [1.3.16]. A great sage from Panchala composed sixty-four hymns of the Rig Veda. And Babhravya of Panchala [1.1.10] spoke about embracing and so forth in the book about sex that he himself made. The Rig Veda, which is divided into ten ‘circles’, is called ‘the sixty-four’. In the case of the Kamasutra, too, in the part about sex, the number ‘sixty-four’ is connected with the ten circles of the Rig Veda, because the Kamasutra book about sex has ten sections, as the saying goes:

  They say there are ten parts:

  embracing, kissing, biting, scratching,

  moaning, slapping, sexual positions,

  a man’s sexual strokes,

  oral sex, and the woman playing the man’s part.

  7 This applies more generally, to things like kissing, as well.

  14 These four embraces are for a couple who have already become moist while making love.

  18 When the woman is lying on her left side, the man on his right side, he places his left thigh between her two thighs, and his left arm under her right armpit; and she does the same to the man. And the opposite, if they lie on the opposite sides.

  22 These are in addition to the eight forms of embracing according to Babhravya.

  28 Both partners engage in an embrace at the same time, without stopping; but a massage, whether done by a man or by a woman, is not shared in the same way.

  3 For, at the beginning, her passion is dull and her mind is indifferent, and she cannot bear much [20], and the technique should be suited to that condition. After the beginning, her passion grows greater and she has no regard for her body, and a different technique is suited to that condition.

  10 She brushes him with her mouth, touching him everywhere as she moves about.

  11 There are five ways of grasping the partner’s lower lip with the cup formed by the two lips. When the partners are face to face, that is the ‘equal grasping’. When one of them grasps the other by bending the cup of the lips sideways to make a circle, that is the ‘sideways grasping’. Whe
n one grasps the other by the chin and the head and turns the face around, so that they can grasp one another’s lower lips, that is the ‘turned-around grasping’. And in the fourth, unlike the first three, the lips are pressed hard together, which is why it is called the ‘pressing’. The ‘pressing’ kiss takes two forms: When both partners press hard, it is called ‘basic pressing’. When the tip of the tongue is also used, it is called ‘licking-and-pressing’. (This latter form has two other names: ‘sucking’ and ‘lip-drinking’.)

  12 So there are eight forms of lower-lip-kisses: three kisses for virgins and five grasping-kisses.

  17 Whoever is first to scratch, and so forth, is the winner.

  20 Now he tells how to kiss both lips at the same time. This can be done by a man to a woman, because her lips have no hair on them, and by a woman to a man who has not yet sprouted a beard. Otherwise, a mouthful of hair would destroy the pleasure.

  21 Now he describes how to kiss the inside of the mouth, within the category of the ‘bowl’.

  23 These kisses are for parts of the body other than the lips and the inside of the mouth. Kisses may be applied moderately, neither with pressure nor too gently, where the thighs join the torso, on the armpits, and on the chest; with pressure on the cheeks, the base of the armpits and the base of the navel; with curved lips on the forehead, chin, and around the armpits; and with just a gentle touch on the forehead and the eyes.

  24 Those same kisses take on other names according to the circumstances in which they are used.

  29 The kiss is transferred to a child, sitting on one’s own lap, or to a painted portrait or a statue made of clay, stone, wood, and so forth, in the image of the woman he wants. This is for two people who have not yet had an opportunity to touch one another, speak together, or meet. [cf. 3.3.28].

  2 If not all the time, then when should it be used? On their first time together and on the occasion of someone’s return, when passion is high because of their frustrated longing; on the occasion of a departure, as a memento; when she relents and her passion is great because of her joy; when she is drunk, which inflates her passion. The same applies to the man when he has just relented from his anger or is drunk.

  3 When passion mounts, lovers may also bite one another in the spirit of erotic friction. When passion is weak, they may just grasp their partners with the teeth, without biting. People who are not fiercely excitable by nature should not bite.

  7 For scratching, use the left hand, because, since the right hand is more generally used, the nails on that hand might have become broken. The two or three points form a shape like the teeth of a saw. If there are three points they break quickly. The implication is that two people whose sexual energy is average or dull should not trim their nails like this. Two people of average sexual energy should have their nails slightly trimmed at the tips like the beak of a parrot, while two people of dull sexual energy should have their nails trimmed at the tips like half moons. Thus there are three nail-shapings.

  10 They can make the shapes of half-moons and so forth.

  12 The thumbnail strikes the other nails.

  23 He may make scratches in the various forms of a bird, flower, water-pot, leaf, creeper, and so forth.

  28 The seats of passion are beauty, youth, and good qualities.

  31 There is no keener means in the world, not even making love.

  2 The teeth retain colours from chewing betel leaf and so forth.

  5 It is not too bloody because there is no wound; it is made with the tip of just one front tooth.

  9 This mark beautifies the left cheek just like an earring.

  10 The upper teeth (like a white jewel) and the lower lip (like red coral) press on the spot again and again without making a wound, but leaving a mark.

  11 One mark is made, and then another right next to it, until it becomes a garland.

  25 The other five rivers are the Vipash, Shatadru, Iravati, Chandrabhaga, and Vitasta.

  30 The women of the city are the daughters of Pataliputra.

  31 Before a man enters a woman of Karnataka, he stimulates her with embraces and so forth, both externally and internally. Then her limbs relax and she very slowly emits a very little bit of fluid, but she does not faint with sensual pleasure, for she never becomes intoxicated. But then, at the end, she is carried away by her sexual energy and ejaculates. And she spends her passion through just that one sexual act.

  36 The list of the six external actions is: embracing, kissing, scratching, biting, slapping and moaning. Unusual acts are twisted acts.

  41 She laughs, thinking, ‘This is a fitting punishment for that wicked man.’ She is unnoticed both by the others and by him.

  42 Pretending to wrinkle her face, she puckers up her mouth as if to give a kiss, but does not give it; pretending to rebuke the man, she gives a signal by raising her brows and rolling her eyes.

  1 At the moment of passion, when the penis is erect, she positions herself so that his penis and her sexual organ can join together.

  2 She contracts by squeezing her thighs together, to pucker up the mouth of her vagina.

  3 With no need either to contract or to extend, the back of her vagina remains flat.

  4 The ‘mare’, too, stretches when she makes love with a ‘stallion’ in the coupling with a larger man, contracts when she makes love with a ‘hare’, and remains the same in an equal coupling, with a ‘bull’.

  5 In all three sexual positions—contracting, extending, or flat on her back—she receives him when his penis is not yet inside her.

  6 In an equal coupling, the woman neither contracts nor expands to receive an artificial penis that resembles the penis itself, and even if it is larger than the penis, she can expand to receive it. If he is larger than she is, there is no need for sex tools.

  7 In an equal coupling, the general practice is learned from talk, not from texts. For people generally say that there is a difference between the way they do it in the country and in the city, two ways for the woman to position herself when she is flat on her back. And so it is said:

  The country way: the woman places her thighs

  on the thighs of her seated lover;

  the city way: the two lotus feet of the woman

  stand on the thighs of the man.

  9 When she is making love with the man’s penis inside her, she should slide back with her hips; or when the man is making love with her he should slide back little by little, so that they do not press together too tightly. For if he moves inside her too roughly, she can be injured, and the man’s foreskin can be torn off, which physicians call ‘ruptured foreskin.’

  11 She puts her thighs around his sides, so that her shins closely embrace his thighs, and places her knees around her own sides, on the area below her armpits. And in this way, grasping her thighs with her upper arms and keeping them in place, she opens more widely than before. This, too, must allow a way for him to slide back.

  12 A ‘doe’ can use the ‘Junoesque’ position not only with a ‘bull’, but also with a ‘stallion’. Moreover, in the ‘wide open’ and ‘yawning’ positions, too, a ‘doe’ can receive a ‘bull’, and with those same two positions a ‘mare’, too, can receive a ‘stallion’.

  13 With the ‘cup’, an ‘elephant cow’ can receive a ‘bull’.

  14 An ‘elephant cow’ can even receive a ‘hare’ and, as can be inferred from the previous passage, a ‘mare’ can also receive a ‘hare’.

  16 They stretch out in such a way that he can penetrate her.

  17 How does he penetrate her in this position? It is so easy that there is nothing to worry about!* But Katyayana describes the ‘cup’ somewhat differently:

  The man’s hips press on the thighs of the woman,

  whose breasts crush against him

  as he faces her, making a human triangle.

  This is what is traditionally called the ‘cup’.

  And so he says: Because the thighs are held tightly, the vagina does not contract. And so
it should not be used on an ‘elephant cow’, in a coupling where the man is smaller, but in equal couplings, as in the common practice in which the thighs are positioned naturally.

  18 In order to sleep, all women, ‘does’ and so forth, lie on their right side, and the man lies on his left side. But at the time of sexual pleasure, it is just the opposite: he lies down on his right side so that he can use his left hand to touch her hidden places.

  19 He does this with either the ‘cup lying on the side’ or the ‘cup supine’.

  21 She grasps his penis with the ‘cup’ formed by the lips of her vagina.

  23 These are the positions described by Suvarnanabha for an ‘elephant cow’.

  24 The woman, on her back, raises both thighs, pressed closely together. And the man, on his left knee, embraces her with his two thighs and moves inside her; her thighs are raised so that he does not slip out.

  25 He places the woman’s knees on his shoulders.

  26 The man places her two feet on his chest, and, encircling her neck with the noose made of his arms, he moves inside her. Her two feet, with the legs bent above them, remain on his chest and do not slip down.

  29 Placing her left leg on the man’s shoulder, after just a moment she lowers her right leg and stretches it out; this is the first position. Then, in alternation, she places her right leg on his shoulder and stretches out the left.

  30 The crab moves with its front feet bent like that.

  31 It is called the ‘squeeze’ because it squeezes her vagina.

  33 The man enters her and, without pulling out, turns around his upper body, turning his back to her while making love.

  37 The woman leans against a wall or a pillar, and her partner leans on her.

  42 This is sex with two women who trust one another and one man. On one bed, the man can make love simultaneously with a pair of women. For all the while he is quenching the passion of one woman by moving inside her, he awakens the passion of the other woman at the very same time, by kissing her and so forth. And then he slakes the passion of that woman and re-awakens the passion of the one whose passion he has just extinguished.