"As long as lips shall kiss, and eyes shall see, So long lives This, and This gives life to Thee"

"Kama" is the name of the God of Love in the Hindu Mythology. Mallanaga Vatsyayana composed the original work of Kamasutra somewhere between 2nd - 5th Century AD. The three aims of life as per Hinduism are "Dharma", "Artha" and "Kama". "Dharma" meaning social duty. "Artha" the collection of wealth for the family. "Kama" the physical love-making.

"Kama Sutra" refers not only to the art of physical love making but also covers diverse topics such as the decoration of house, selection of wife, behavior between the husband and wife and a vast array of other subjects.

A lot of parallel references can be drawn between "Hatha-Yoga", "Tantra" and "Kamasutra". For example Vatsyayana cites Padamasana (lotus posture of yoga) as one of the position in Kama Sutra and a lot of other positions derived from Yoga. Tantra teaches breath control. The combination of Tantra, Yoga and Kamasutra enable the practitioner to unite with the ultimate Cosmic energy, Shakti which is symbolized by the Great Goddess.

The aim of Kama in Indian literature deals with pleasure and love. The best known of the Kama literature is Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra, which was written around the third century C.E. It is a technical account of the social structure dealing with manners, morals, sexology, and culture in the third century. In this treatise, Vatsyayana describes Kama as one of the three values of life along with virtue (dharma) and wealth (artha), which, is a departure from the traditional four stages of life, but it shows the separation of Kama with spirituality. He states that much of the condemnation of sexual practices is due to abnormal expressions and perversions rather than due to a healthy concern for it. Vatsyayana also maintains that “sexual satisfacion, [sic.] equally like food, is essential to the maintenance of bodily health” and “though evil effects may follow as a result of indulgence, passion has to be appeased” Therefore, he urges the study of the Kama literature in order to achieve the fullness of pleasure that humans solely can obtain in sexual union, which he believes can only result from following the procedure he describes.

Much of the later Kama literature such as the Ratirahasya of Kokkoka, the Nagarasarvasva of Padmasri, and the Jayamangala Commentary of Yasodhara, was written between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. These texts imitate Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra and show little new scientific knowledge of sexual behavior. It is hypothesized that this is primarily due to the development of a stricter social system, which sustained that logical arguments and free-thinking were criminal acts against the Dharmasastras. The later texts do occasionally follow a different tradition then Vatsyayana, but like Vatsyayana, the basis of Kama is purely physical, and pleasure is the ultimate goal in the patriarchal social structure.

Kama Traditions
In Indian mythology during the Vedic era, Kama was the cosmic desire, and the first-born of the primeval chaos that made all later creations possible. Later, Kama is depicted as a handsome youth who carried a bow entwined with flowers and shot arrows that produced love in their targets. In one Indian myth, the king of the gods, Indra ordered Kama to break the meditation of Siva, the master yogi and one of the major gods in the Indian pantheon, and cause him to fall in love with the goddess Parvati, daughter of the mountain king Himalaya and the incarnation of the supreme goddess, Kali-Durga-Sati. The supreme goddess was also Siva’s female counterpart and projected energy whom Indra wanted Siva to recognize and know in himself. Kama was able to hit Siva with an arrow, but this blow infuriated Siva, and he burned Kama to ashes with the fire of his third eye. Kama then became Ananga, or “bodiless.”

The Kamasutra in context
The literature of ancient India deals with a great number of scientific questions. Treatises and discourses on the themes of Astronomy, Geometry, Phonetics, Metrics, Grammar, Medicine, Politics, Morals and Eros were written under the motto: if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.According to ancient Indian Hindu-Wisdom, the life of a human serves a three-pronged goal (trivarga): The striving for

? a good dharma (the complete collection of virtuous, religious works as a basis for Families, Civilrights, Codex of Behaviour, Dharmashastra, written by Manu).
? the useful artha (material possessions, earthly well-being, Arthashastra, written by Kautilya).
? the pleasant kama (love and all its associated pleasures of the senses, Kamasutra, written by Vatsyayana).

According to the Kamasutra, all of these aspects of the life of a human being should be of equal importance, without any of these spheres taking precedence over the others. In order to attain a fulfilled and meaningful life, the striving after one goal shouldn’t hamper the striving after the others. Neglecting one of these areas leads to a diminished stability and to a dangerous imbalance in man. Practising dharma, artha and kama makes it possible to lead a meaningful and joyous life in this world and the next.

Sexuality and Erotic are seen as being important, integrated elements of the human existence - the same as eating - and apart from serving the sensual pleasures , also help mankind to propagate , just as eating keeps the body alive. The sensual pleasures of erotic and sexuality not only serve to increase the joy of life and maintain psychological balance, but also aid the further development of the mental-spiritual spheres. The senses are perceived as being a refinement of the physical on a higher plane of consciousness whereby, in conclusion, sexuality and erotic contain the secret of life within them.

The Origin of the Kamasutra
According to old Indian sources, Prjapati, an abstract deity who, for a long time, was regarded as the god of creation, announced the ten thousand chapters of the Kamasutra.

Mahadeva (the High-Deity Shiva) compiled the ten thousand chapters, which in turn were compressed into five hundred chapters by Shvetaketu, a teacher of philosophy and the son of Udalaka. Vatsyayana in the form of Sutras written in Sanskrit, the ancient Indian tongue, which even today is a living, academic language, transcribed the Kamasutra.

Sutras are directives or memory-jogs for adepts, which because they take the form of short, maxims in prose, which are difficult to understand without a commentary. We are dealing here most probably with predecessor of the teaching-books, which was handed down by word of mouth. The treatises of Shvetaketu on which the Kamasutra was based, have been lost. The translations from the Sanskrit, which we have today, refer to recognized commentaries made in later centuries.

About the Author
Hardly anything is known about the author. His real name is supposed to be Mallinaga or Mrillana, Vatsyayana being his family name. At the close of the work this is what he writes about himself:

‘After reading and considering the works of Babhravya and other ancient authors, and thinking over the meaning of the rules given by them, this treatise was composed, according to the precepts of the Holy Writ, for the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayana, while leading the life of a religious student at Benares, and wholly engaged in the contemplation of the Deity. This work is not to be used merely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted with the true principles of this science, who preserves his Dharma (virtue or religious merit), his Artha (worldly wealth) and his Kama (pleasure or sensual gratification), and who has regard to the customs of the people, is sure to obtain the mastery over his senses. In short, an intelligent and knowing person attending to Dharma and Artha and also to Kama, without becoming the slave of his passions, will obtain success in everything that he may do.’

Regarding the date, Sir Richard F. Burton (who in 1883 translated it in English) determined from internal evidence that the Kama Sutra was written sometime between the first and sixth centuries A.D. Many scholars now believe the Kama Sutra was written during, or shortly before, the Gupta period (320-540 A.D.), which has also been called the Classical Age of India. Regarding the writer Vatsyayana, Burton makes the following insightful remarks:

“...He [Vatsyayana] states that he wrote the work while leading the life of a religious student (probably at Benares) and while wholly engaged in the contemplation of the Deity. He must have arrived at a certain age at that time, for throughout he gives us the benefit of his experience, and of his opinions, and these bear the stamp of age rather than of youth; indeed the work could hardly have been written by a young man.”

Tag: Kama Sutra, book of Life