The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana (Paperback)

~ Sir Richard Francis Burton (Author) "In the beginning, the Lord of Beings created men and women, and in the form of commandments in one hundred thousand chapters laid down rules..." (more)
Key Phrases: mouth congress, attendant gains, female messengers, Kama Sutra, Holy Writ, Kama Shastra (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Including a comprehensive detail on the practical aspects of sex, "The Kama Sutra" is a classic guide to the art and skills of sex and love. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

The classic Indian guide to the art and skills of sex and love in the best English translation available. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (May 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425095932
• ISBN-13: 978-0425095935
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,051,517 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most misunderstood book ever, September 3, 2004

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Kama Sutra of Vatsayana (Paperback)

This book has a wide reputation among English-speaking readers, especially among those who haven't read it. That explains why its reputation is so completely mistaken.

Vatsyayana's reputation for describing couples' gymnastics comes from just a few pages out of 200 or so. The rest of this book is about all the other social aspects of men and women in each others' company. It emphasizes the "64 arts", a liberal education including literacy and literary games, as well as carpentry, cooking, and other domestic skills. It talks about courtship and courtesanship, monogamy and polygamy, brides and widows, and suasion and seduction. It discusses the dark side of human passion, including capturing the object of one's love by main force. There are even love-charms and potions for ensuring faithfulness.

I'm not forgetting the discussion physical affection. Yes, there are the many ways for a man and woman to come together. A few are familiar, others acrobatically improbable. Vatsyayana pays attention to many kinds of caresses as well. Some, including love-bites, seem suited only to the most passionate of lovers seeking the strongest sensations. Such acts may not appeal to some readers, but the author keeps coming back to the precept that what's right is what's right for the people involved and for their time and place.

Vatsyayana mentions oral sexuality, by and for men, by and for women. He addresses all combinations, but same-sex couples get very little attention. He discusses, in passing, limited use of toys. He also mentions relations with 'eunuchs', apparently a euphemism for homosexual men. I suspect that this confusing usage was introduced by the Victorian translator, sir Richard Burton. I also suspect that the medicinal recipes have lost something in translation. There may be no English words for some plants, but the latin names probably indicate a lot more certainty about species identification than may be justified.

The author has a relatively egalitarian view of women, especially when compared to the Arabic "Perfumed Garden" written over 1000 years later. Still, it's written my a male author for a mostly-male audience. The modern reader must remember that book comes from about the 4th century AD and was translated during the prudish 19th century. It's an historical document; reading it in a modern framework will only cause confusion and detract from the work.

After 1700 years, the Kama Sutra has a lot to say to a modern reader. It reminds us that the best lover is man or woman who has many other skills as well. Parts of the advice are obsolete. Even those parts remind us that relations between men and women are endlessly complex, and that the complexity is part of the joy.

//wiredweird

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent information on sex and relationships, but get another translation, July 11, 2005

By	Gagewyn (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Kama Sutra of Vatsayana (Paperback)

The Kama Sutra has a huge reputation based on only one of its five sections. The positions would be Part 2 and only one chapter of the ten in that section. Most books with Kama Sutra in the title are just going to be some porn structured around that chapter. The entire book is not so much useful in describing the physics of sex as for describing the psychology of sex. (It is good for physical stuff too. At one point it gives a method to get to the G-spot with the fingers, so I have to give Indian medicine props there.)

The five sections are as follows:
Part 1 - Describes how to be attractive. You should bathe before you will be meeting the opposite sex and do something to get your breath smelling better. Also clean your apartment. People call it ritual, but it is excellent advice on not being a slob. For women it gives a listing of the 64 arts which will let you be the favorite in the harem. They are fun. Who wouldn't love a woman who does yoga, can inlay a marble table and knows how to design and build irrigation systems? Much more fun to try to be than the Proverbs 31 woman, but on the other hand kind of a strange laundry list of talents.
Part 2 - The positions, hugging, kissing, scratching and oral. Size of the man and the woman and which positions are better to even thing out in that regard.
Part 3 - How to negotiate an arranged marriage (not so useful now). How to devirginize your bride. You won't be sexing her until about two weeks into the marriage. Its all about gaining her trust and her being comfortable so she won't have hang ups about men, and sadly it doesn't apply to most marriages or devirginizations today.
Part 4 - Handling your harem. How the harem women should treat one another and how to keep them one big happy family.
Part 5 - Other men's wives/concubines and how to sneak around with them.
Part 6 - Courtesans. Kind of like etiquette for prostitutes, except courtesans aren't prostitutes. For example there is some etiquette on how to handle the courtesan living with you and your wives.
Part 7 - Being a hottie. How to make some aprodisiacs and some nice little tricks. This section is probably better advice for the sex life than the positions in that the anatomy is here.

I highly recommend the Kama Sutra but not to people who are looking for the book by reputation as sex sex sex. The book is very much about sex, but more about the whole world of etiquette surrounding male female relations. Virgin marriages (virgin women anyway) are taken for granted and one whole section is about devirginizing the woman AFTER THE MARRIAGE. The advice is very good because it tells how to go about building relationships not how to have one night stands.

Get this book to study and think about and view it as relationship advice and not physical sex advice. So much of the book is about communication and is dead on that it is no wonder it is a classic and likewise shows how important communication is to good sex. In terms of this specific translation, just go for a modern translation of the whole book. The Richard Burton translation is very stilted. He calls the section on oral sex "On holding the lingam in the mouth" So you will be doing a bit of translating of your own as you read prim Victorian descriptions of acts that the Victorians were unlikely to ever mention around company. It seems that the Alain Daniélou translation is good, but I have not read that specific one.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting glimpse into Indian society, June 25, 2000

By A Customer

Though the KS is infamous as a how-to manual on sex, the section on intercourse is actually quite a small portion of the book. Interesting, but not very scandalous at all; a catalogue of some of the most minor things, down to different kinds of shapes that your teeth leave when you bite your lover. Makes you wonder how some people have this much time. The rest of the KS is a great look into the social and cultural thought of India back then, and is also worth a read.