If you have never opened the Kama Sutra, you may be surprised by what you find there. It is shorter than most people expect, more systematic than most people expect, and much less graphic than most people expect. This page walks through the physical book, its parts, its scope, its style, and the best editions to read.
Length
The Kama Sutra is a modest volume. In modern printed editions, including introductions and commentary, it typically runs to two hundred or three hundred pages. The original Sanskrit text, without commentary, is considerably shorter than that.
Structure, seven books
Vatsyayana organises his material into seven books, and each book is broken into short chapters. In a rough summary:
- Book One — General. An introduction to the subject, the ideal life of the cultured townsperson, the daily routine of the nāgaraka, and the education of a cultivated adult.
- Book Two. On Sexual Union. The best-known part of the text. Types of union, positions, embraces, the pace and rhythm of intimacy, questions of compatibility between partners.
- Book Three. On the Acquisition of a Wife. Courtship, the ethics of choice, the customs of engagement, the psychology of a first meeting.
- Book Four. On the Wife. Married life, domestic arrangements, the responsibilities of both partners, and the running of a household.
- Book Five — On Other Men's Wives. A frank and much-debated section on infidelity, its causes and its consequences. Read today, it is largely a description rather than a recommendation.
- Book Six. On Courtesans. The professional life of the courtesans of the day, then a recognised social role in urban India.
- Book Seven. On the Means of Attracting Others. A short collection of practical, cosmetic and everyday recommendations.
The famous "positions" chapter
The positions for which the Kama Sutra is famous appear in Book Two. They are grouped by principle, by the physical compatibility of the partners, by the phase of a relationship, by the emotional tone of an encounter — rather than presented as a simple catalogue. Vatsyayana names positions such as the Lotus, the Congress of the Cow, and the Rising, and he analyses each briefly. Later medieval erotic literature (the Ratirahasya, the Ananga Ranga) enlarged the number of positions considerably; the classical Kama Sutra itself is more restrained than its reputation suggests.
Style
Vatsyayana writes in the classical Indian aphoristic style: short, dense verses of teaching, followed by prose commentary and elaboration. Vatsyayana's voice is calm, measured and often surprisingly modern. He is fond of enumerating cases, distinguishing types, and refusing simple rules. Where a modern relationship guide would give one recommendation, Vatsyayana typically gives four.
Which English translation to read
Three translations are worth naming:
- Burton and Arbuthnot, 1883. The historical translation. Still widely reprinted, still influential, but not always faithful. Best read as a Victorian document in its own right.
- Alain Daniélou, French 1994. A careful modern French rendering, with extensive apparatus.
- Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, Oxford World's Classics, 2002. The current standard English scholarly translation for the general reader.
How to read the Kama Sutra
Slowly, and out of order. The book does not build to a climax and has no plot; it is a reference work. Most readers get further beginning with the general introduction in Book One, then dipping into whichever later book interests them.
What it is not
Vatsyayana's book is not a devotional book, not a novel, not a memoir, and not, despite two centuries of popular treatment, a manual of exotic exercises. It is a serious classical treatise on a domestic subject.
Practical notes
A cheap paperback edition will do for a first reading. If you find yourself returning to the book, an annotated scholarly edition repays the investment, because much of the meaning is in the commentary tradition and the historical context that a good editor supplies.
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