The Illustrated Kama Sutra : Ananga-Ranga and Perfumed Garden - The Classic Eastern Love Texts (Paperback)

~ Captain Sir Richard F. Burton (Translator), F. F. Arbuthnot (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Sex is a good way to begin understanding another culture, just as it is a good way to begin understanding another individual," writes Charles Fowkes in his introduction to Sir Richard Burton's classic translation of the Eastern love texts. As many of the devotees of this popular book can attest, reading about the ancient sexual traditions of India is also a good way for contemporary readers to understand sex. Sir Burton, who is well known as the translator of The 1001 Arabian Nights, condensed the three ancient love manuals of India (Kama Sutra, Ananga-Ranga, and Perfumed Garden) into one book. What makes this a favorite of all the Kama Sutra titles are the unabashedly erotic texts and color illustrations from India, which offer specific suggestions, such as how to "Milita" kiss (the after-fight reconciliation kiss) as well as how to link a former life into current lovemaking. --Gail Hudson

Product Description

Sexual frankness without a hint of guilt or prurience is the great legacy which the Eastern, and in particular Indian, traditions have given us. As an expression of human culture, and as a pillow book for the modern boudoir, the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana the most famous work on sex ever written the Ananga-Ranga of Kalyana Malla, and Sheikh Nefzai's Perfumed Garden, set forth the principles of sensual pleasure with poetry, wisdom, and humor, celebrating love as an ecstatic expression of life's beauty.

Here, for the first time, Sir Richard Burton's translations of the classic Eastern love texts have been published in one volume.

The first Kama Sutra to be illustrated in color with a dazzling and unique collection of Indian painting and sculpture.

These erotic treatises are not sex manuals in the modern sense clinical collections of coital postures but a broader and more humane exploration of Eastern sexual customs.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Park Street Press (August 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892814411
• ISBN-13: 978-0892814411
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #416,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful artwork, interesting positions, but impossible, July 16, 2000

By	Springfield (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Of course these positions aren't impossible for a human, but it would take a lifetime of stretching before the woman would be able to get into the positions described and depicted.

Don't buy this book if you are looking for a book filled with different sexual positions to try. If you are looking for a book that presents sexuality as a natural, healthy, fun part of life, this book contains the classics. The pages are filled with large, beautiful prints of paintings and pictures of sculptures showing people in seemingly every possible sexual position (though virtually all of them are impossible to anyone with joints and bones). The text of the three books is abridged, with only a very small fraction of the Kama Sutra reprinted in this book.

If you want a book that treats sexuality as the beautiful and natural part of life that it should still be, then consider buying this book. It has been around for centuries (the Kama Sutra for more than a millenium, if memory serves), and is well worth reading. But if you think you'll learn any practicable techniques, you'll be disappointed.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction, February 5, 2002

By	Lori Hinkle "Emerald" (Dongola, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are interested in Kama Sutra, Ananga Ranga or The Perfumed Garden or are not sure which you would like to study, this book is a great starting point. Although all the works are very similiar, this allows you a synopsis of each text and is helpful in determing which or all that you wish to persue further. The illustrations are beautifully done. Not for in-depth reading or review, but more an icebreaker.

4.0 out of 5 stars Karam Sutra, January 29, 2009

By	M.C. Paul (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

I enjoyed this, book, I am of indian heritage and have read other books on Kama Sutra.