According to legend, the Kamasutra was created by the Indian god Shiva who, overwhelmed by the joys of sexual experience, wrote a servant a treatise on erotic art. Inspired by the original Kamasutra, this deck is meant to aid seekers in their own quest for enlightenment through the senses.
Publisher Review:
I feel I have to start this review by stating that this deck is filled with very explicit illustrations of couples involved in sexual relations. If that alone is a "deal breaker," you have no reason to continue with this review.
Next, I’d like to look at the source text for this deck, the Kama Sutra. Many people talk of this book as having great spiritual value. They approach it as a key Tantric (a small part of Tantra involves spiritualized sexuality) text. Neither concept it true. It is far closer to what might be called a rule book for marriage. It is composed of seven sections, of which sections 3–6 are about how to get a wife, how a chief wife should act, how other wives should act and advice on how to become a courtesan. Section seven is about how to attract a partner and includes the closest thing to instructions on sexual magick found in the entire book. Section one, the introduction, introduces various Vedic spiritual concepts and may simply be slapped onto the book in order to give it some legitimacy. Indeed, at least one historian claims the entire book was a collection of other texts.
The remaining section is the part of the book that is most famous. It includes numerous legalistic and dogmatic concepts on how to have sexual relations, some of which require a great deal of physical strength and agility. It also describes 64 types of sexual acts. I vividly remember getting a copy of this book when I was about 14 years old on a vacation in Palm Springs. I eagerly tried reading it and no matter how much I skipped, I couldn’t help but find it stultifying, dated, and silly.
That brings us to an overview of the art in this deck. As described in the deck attributes below, the Art School Vijai & Ram of Rajastan have done an absolutely magnificent job of producing sexually explicit modern art in the style and character of of 17th and 18th century Indian art (heavily influenced by Mughal-style art) often found in published editions of the Kama Sutra. You’ll instantly recognize the style. . . read more.
