Kamasutra in Modern Times - Book Report/Review Example

Kamasutra in Modern Times XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX Summary Kamasutra is the most read ancient book about sexual practices. It is said to be written about eighteen hundred years ago by Vatsyayan, an Indian sage. The popularity of this book is not only because of its ground breaking techniques about sex positions, the book also teaches about other aspects of life such as marriage, seduction, beauty and even homosexuality. The first page of the book is about the contents inside. For the purpose of this book review, I won’t merely repeat the content list but describe the things that I have read and understood. Since all the names in the book are Indian, there may be lack of familiarity with them. But that shouldn’t deter the reader from experiencing the marvels of this book called Kamasutra. The book describes ancient India as a country where sex was treated as means to spiritual attainment. This is the reason why apart from Kamasutra there are many other books such as – 1- The Ratirahasya, or secrets of love 2- The Panchasakya, or the five arrows 3- The Smara Pradipa, or the light of love 4- The Ratimanjari, or the garland of love 5- The Rasmanjari, or the sprout of love 6- The Anunga Runga, or the stage of love The real book by Vatsyayana comprises of one thousand two hundred and fifty verses. These are then divided and subdivided into numerous chapters and paragraphs respectively. Despite such immense popularity of the book, nothing much is known about the author. But Vatsyayana has provided the reasons for his motivation of writing such a book. He says that after the completion of the student life and starting of a life as a household, a man should have a fulfilling sex life. It is because of this reason that he wrote Kamasutra. But Vatsyayana exhorts that over-indulgence in sex can lead to self-destruction. One should practice sex only to eliminate the desires over a gradual period of time. The books chapters are enlisted in the following way – 1- Sadharana (general topics) 2- Samprayogika (embraces, etc.) 3- Kanya Samprayuktaka (union of males and females) 4- Bharyadhikarika (on ones own wife) 5- Paradika (on the wives of other people) 6- Vaisika (on courtesans) 7- Aupamishadika (on the arts of seduction, tonic medicines, etc.) General Topics The practice of love making, according to the book, doesn’t start and end with sex only. The book emphasizes on the other arts such as singing, playing musical instruments and dancing. It also deals with the decoration of the house. There has to be a build-up for the sex and for this purpose where steps are taken to beautify the place for sex. The details entail everything from where couches should be, what perfumes to use and what flowers can be put in the flower stands. Then comes the section which deals with the daily activities of a man. The book suggests that a man should bathe daily and anoint oil every other day. The head and faced should be shaved every four days and the sweat of the armpit should be removed. After this comes the seduction part. The book says that at night, while conversing with a female friend, hints should be made towards sex and she should be invited inside the decorated house. India is a country that is plagued by the downside of caste system. But at Vatsyayana’s time this system hadn’t degraded so much. He says that one shouldn’t have sex with women of higher castes or women who have been ‘enjoyed’ by other people. Man is then categorized into three class according to the size of their penis. The categories are – 1- The hare man 2- The bull man 3- The horse man Similarly Women are divided into three categories on the basis of size of their vagina. Their three categories are – 1- Female deer 2- Female mare 3- Female elephant Embraces The next chapter in the book is about embraces. The writer says that embraces is an important part of the build-up for sex. It is also a very efficient way of showing affection. There are four kinds of embraces mentioned in the book. They are touching, rubbing, piercing and pressing. Apart from embraces there are other features described in detail such as scratching, biting and striking. Although the writer doesn’t suggest any particular sequence, he prefers all these activities to take place before sex. But then in the end he says that where there is true love, anything can be done in any order. When the love intensifies between lovers then pressing and scratching can be done on the following occasions – 1- On the first visit 2- Return from a journey 3- When an angry lover is reconciled 4- When the woman is intoxicated The union of males and females The biting that can be inflicted by lovers on each other are also of various kinds. They can be hidden, swollen, point, line of points, coral and the jewel, line of jewels, broken cloud and biting of the boar. The book then talks about what people should do after sex. They should go to the washroom separately. For freshening the mouth they should eat some betel leaves. Then the man should apply pure sandal wood ointment to the woman’s body. After that the man can embrace her with his left arm and offer her a drink held in his right hand. On one’s own wife The book also offers on the techniques of acquiring a bride. The man should approach the parents of the girls directly and talk about marriage. The friend of the man should disguise himself as an astrologer and extol the fine planets in the prospective groom’s horoscope. The book not only deals with the aesthetics but also the psychological aspect of lovers. It can be said to be the first book in the history of mankind that dealt with female psychology. The book tells that women are tender emotionally and so the beginning should be tender. If sex is forced on women then she may even hate sex for a very long time in the future. A man should keep her newlywed women happy and if she doesn’t lower her defenses then the man should kneel on his feet. Vatsyayana says that even a bashful or angry woman never disregards a man kneeling at her feet. The Arts of seduction The next topic the book discusses is seduction. If a boy is interested in a girl then he should spend time with her. He should amuse her with various games and diversions that are appropriate for their age. There are many activities that are mentioned which can help in the seduction. They are – 1- Making garlands 2- Cooking food 3- Playing dice 4- Finding out the middle finger 5- Blindman’s bluff 6- Games with the female attendants The writer believes that ‘though a man loves a girl ever so much, he never succeeds in winning her without a great deal of talking’. The book mentions how to know about a woman’s character. In India at that time there may have been many methods such as looking at the body forms, marks and signs of women. But Vatsyayana is of opinion that women should be judged by their conduct, by the outward expression of their thoughts, and by the movements of their bodies. The book also deals with a lot detail on the sexual positions that should be employed by ‘citizens’. These positions explain the postures of women in order to increase or decrease their vaginal opening. The positions also ensure maximum penetration of the man’s lingam (penis) into the vagina. There are 64 of these positions which can help couples in enjoying sex. Of course these positions can also be complemented by scratching and biting. Most of the people focus on this part of the book because it gives them what they are looking for. Other sections deal with the issues that would have been important at that time. For example how does a king satisfier his desire without anyone else knowing. The book tells that king’s favorite woman should be approached by a royal household maid known to her. Then she can be showed the kings palace, his wealth etc so that she is interested in having sex with the king. The book also mentions some interesting facts such as unsatisfied woman of king used to use penis shaped roots and fruits to satisfy themselves. Or they would lie down upon the statue of a male figure whose penis was visible and erect. Tonic medicines The book then talks about beautification of the body. Various ointments are suggested such as tabernamontata coronaria, the costus speciosus and the flacourtia cataphracta for the purpose of adornment. The eyes could be made beautiful by applying the lamp black produced from the wick of the lamp. There are pages which deal with the inability of a man to satisfy a female. For the Female elephant category or Hastini, the man should rub her vagina with his hand or fingers, and not begin to have intercourse with her until she becomes excited, or experiences pleasure. This is one way of exciting a woman. The book also gives glimpses of what can be the ancient dildos used to give women pleasure. The man can put around the penis shaped dildo around his waist. This dildo can be made of gold, silver, copper, iron or buffalo’s horn. There are even more instruments prescribed. They are – 1- `The armlet (Valaya) . 2- `The couple (Sanghati) is formed of two armlets. 3- `The bracelet (Chudaka) l `The single bracelet is formed by wrapping a single wire around the lingam As it can be seen from the above review, the book covers a very wide area in the subject of sexuality. Hence, this book has been widely referred to as a literary classic which is still appealing to its readers. In the next section of this book review an attempt shall be made on critically analyzing the book. The main theme of the analysis will be the usefulness of this book in the current times. Critique The book is groundbreaking and has an iconic status. Many people who haven’t even heard of the country India, they know about Kamasutra. This book has been reproduced many times in many ways. Many eastern and western authors have provided their commentaries on this subject. In any bookshop there are many books named Kamasutra and the original Kamasutra seems to be dwarfed by the new ones whose pages are illustrated with very erotic pictures. The lessening of popularity of the original Kamasutra is a very important thing. This shows that many parts of this book aren’t considered to be useful in current times. This is not a surprise because this book was written about eighteen hundred years ago. A lot has changed in these years. Although the basic need of sexual satisfaction has remained same, there are new methods and techniques which are used by people throughout the world. The first major problem which I have about the book is the amount of prejudice against women. They are mentioned as something that has to be ‘enjoyed’ by men. There are many rules and regulations for women whereas nothing of this sort exists for men. This shows a lot about hypocrisy of Indian culture at that time. A women is supposed to be bashful and submitting. This is a forced behavior as some women are quite opposite of being shy. In current times, women know a lot about their sexual needs. This book can’t be used very effectively by today’s women because of its bias towards males. But there are many sections which deal with how to make one more beautiful. The herbs and plants that are mentioned are available today also. They may be much better than the make-up material that is used by women in current times because plant products usually don’t have any side effects. There is also an element of lying in the book. At one point it is mentioned that the man should disguise one of his friend as an astrologer. This astrologer would then extol the virtues of this man. This is outright lying. In the real world, there are instances when people lie to get favors. But to prescribe them in a book is not appropriate. If there becomes a culture of incessant lying then what place will truth have in one’s life? Despite all these inadequacies, the book is phenomenal in prescribing sex postures for lovers. These positions have been experimented upon and now are widely used. There are many kamasutra positions which have helped obese people conceive child. Kamasutra can be said to be one of the sources of tantric sex. This tantric sex was promoted by Guru Osho in India which was a phenomenal success. People from all around the world came there to meditate and experiment with sex. The sex positions have been explained with clarity. But there is lack of clarity on the subject of classification of male on the basis of size of their penis. A great deal of emphasis is made on the size of penis in the pleasure of the women. But various studies, as highlighted by Simone de Beauvoir in her book Second Sex, have come up with the results that size of penis isn’t that significant for the pleasure of women. A woman’s vagina is sensitive only for three inches. The cells from there on are not sensitive. Hence a penis as big as three inches is sufficient enough to satisfy a woman. Two major things give women their pleasure. First is the rubbing of the penis inside the sensitive part of vagina, the second is the acknowledgement of the woman’s body about the penis inside her vagina. In the light of above facts, many things about Kamasutra can be questioned. Not only the importance of penis questionable but also the use of penis shaped instruments as supplement for small penis size. These things show that writer of this book has made a few assumptions about sex without investigating them thoroughly. As said earlier in the previous part, the book can be said to be one of the first books to deal with female psychology. There are many things said about their feelings and behaviors. For example one paragraph says that if a woman truly loves a man than she will do love him without any logic. At another time, the writer says that there needs to be a lot of talking on the part of a man if he wants to seduce her. All these things are firmly supported by literature throughout the ages. The seduction chapter of the book prescribes many techniques. The techniques such as garland making and hide and seek may have become less significant. But the essence of the chapter remains same. The methods used by people in current times are – 1- Sharing music interests 2- Movies, theatre and sports 3- Dining outside in hotels and restaurants 4- Books The book is very practical and has an aesthetic value. It has been used throughout the generations for sexual purposes. But at the same time there are many sections which can be objectionable in today’s environment. Women nowadays have much more freedom than earlier times. They are not submissive or waiting to be dominated by their sexual partners. They also have a huge range of objects at their disposal for the purpose of their sexual satisfaction. In such a context, many contents of the book are outdated. In the conclusion it can be said that while most of the parts of book are useful. Many taboos such as widow marriage are now defunct. There are many sections which are not applicable to the western countries. For example, there is a mention of a man not having sex with a female of lower caste. This caste system does not exist in the western countries. There is no question of ‘defiling’ of a man or being ostracized by the society. It is because of the above mentioned reasons; this book is appreciated for its sexual content and also its seduction chapters. But as far as other values are concerned, the reader should conduct research and exercise his own discretion. References Vatsyayana (2004) The Kamsutra of Vatsyayana: Manoj Publications. Read More