Is the Original Translation of the Kama Sutra an Adequate Interpretation - Research Paper Example

Is the original translation of the Kama Sutra an adequate interpretation? Introduction This paper attempts to analyze the Kama Sutra by Sir Frances Burton, and investigate how it falls short in being able to transfer the sound and complete content of the actual Sanskrit text. In order to do this, I have consulted “The Kamasutra: It Isn’t All about Sex” by Wendy Doniger (2002) and “Translating /’The’ Kama Sutra” by Ben Grant (2005). By critically synthesizing these critiques I shall present a holistic picture of what is lacking in Burton’s version and refute the inferences that he has drawn in his rendering of the work, and how these lacks need to be filled for the contemporary American society. Background The Kama Sutra is well known in most of the modern world by now as being the east’s gift to the west. It is a manual on sexual techniques originated from ancient India. It is not perhaps the first of its kind (We know that China and even within India has been producing handbooks for courtesans long before), however, it is indeed the first of its kind to receive so much widespread recognition. The literal translation of “Kama Sutra” in English is "treatise on sexual pleasure." Its original creator can be traced back to roughly the fourth century BC named Vatsyayana Mallanaga. Not much is known about the author. What many critics do ascertain from the text and the writing style is that the creator must have been someone from the elite class. He talks of servants and gift giving which signifies that he must have had the means to experiment with such maneuvers before penning them down. These biographical anomalies only propose voids when experts attempt to interpret the work. However, the content and its cultural content needs to be explicated with equal integrity. The entire point is to allow American culture a raw visitation of what the Kama Sutra meant to the East, not simply how it can be superficially adopted to fit American pop culture references. And this lack of biographical details remains a major hindrance when attempting to convert the cultural currents of the text into a new language, especially one which has a very different history as to that of Ancient Orient East regarding the subject such as English. Or especially if the subject needs to be transferred to a totally different culture. For America, where only English reigns supreme and has since its British settlers, the complete transfer of the teachings are vital if a true cultural penetration are to take place. But the English language has a history of being associated with England, and thus the religious, social, and cultural beliefs of England throughout the ages. These views have always been orthodox Christian, i.e., up till the modern age. Sex was considered something sinful, something which needed to be done only to preserve mankind’s future. It was the reason for human disgust and was awarded upon mankind as a result of Eve’s fall. On the other hand, centuries before Hindu culture had already begun treating sex as an arbitrary pleasure act and fulfillment along with a spiritual purpose. The Kama Sutra, and the principles that it embodies are a part of a culture which does not negate sex rather includes it as a part of life along with religious piety (dharma) and material success (artha). Thus the Kama Sutra was only a part of a lifestyle, one that enumerated spirituality as vital in accordance with all the practices that it laid out. It Isn’t All About Sex Doniger’s condemnations of Burton’s translations are perhaps more damning then Grant’s. She argues that the Burton edition neglects a number of things other than spirituality, cultural validity, and fair presentation of an unknown and obscure foreign text. She claims that the actual text has “surprisingly modern ideas about gender and unexpectedly subtle stereotypes of feminine and masculine natures. It also reveals relatively liberal attitudes to women’s education and sexual freedom, and far more complex views of homosexual acts” (pg.18) She claims that these were all skimmed off for whatever reasons in the original text. This may have been accepted at the time the version was introduced, since Victorian Society was relatively reserved and unquestioning in such explicitly sexual matters. However, in light of modern Western society, we realize the importance of understanding texts from a number of angles, away from orthodox and propagandistic perspectives. We can no longer accept partial information in order to build ideas, views, and opinions about cultures other than our own. This leads to a wrongful absorption of ideas into cultural mainstreams. Some may argue that this is one of the reasons the sexual relations of the West are so promiscuous. They may have learned unknown love-making techniques but were unable hold onto, or perhaps grasp the underlying philosophical concepts and associations. Doniger tell us that “In the Burton translation, which we read now in the shadow of Edward Said, it seems to be about Orientalism, a simultaneously racist and romanticized European attitude towards colonized peoples.” (pg. 20) This is another problem when dealing with the translation, as already mentioned by Grant in his own thesis. Thus, the translation is filled with various loopholes created due to a prejudicial line between the Western tradition and its scholars and the Eastern vortex of information. Since Burton’s attempt does not breach this line, or at least render it arbitrary, the original translation is unable to provide sufficient insight for the modern Western reader, in light of new sources of knowledge which have come forward, such as the works of Michel Foucault. A feminist issue which Doniger raises is that Burton’s version does not shed any light whatsoever on the modern day values of feminine empowerment which were already present in the Ancient Hindu treatise. Though it may claim to be written for the sake of men, or at least for the purpose that men may avoid the wrong sort of women and thus avoid being cuckolded, it is actually addressed to women. Thus Doniger points out that at least some parts of the book are actually designed to be used by women (pg.21) Though the text does have places where there is a strong patriarchal value system, there is also a side which takes on pro-feminist voices. Doniger argues that “in numerous places, the Kama Sutra expresses points of view clearly favorable to women”. (pg.23) Thus the teachings of Kama Sutra are far more advanced then they are given credit for. Similarly, these teachings already exist in modern day American feminism and can be used to help propagate women’s rights in all parts of the world. Translating the Kama Sutra According to Grant, the version which we see in paperback stores all over the world today emerged from an exclusive group of men who shared a prohibited, if not peculiar interest in the erotic. These men, to whom Burton belonged, had the ability to attain and research what the ordinary public could not. He writes that “the library of erotica was, in the late Victorian period, a site from which the legally enshrined values of the society which prohibited it were challenged, in the name of a more enlightened approach to the subject of sexuality” (Pg 510) Hence the publication and dissemination of the text was instigated as a part of a rather rebellious social movement instead of a more objective or academic enterprise. This essentially leads to questioning the biases that must have been involved in introducing the text to the English public at the time. And of course, this tells us that the Kama Sutra was some of the earliest pornography to hit Western public on such scales. The study of this will further link the pornographic industry growth to what was the earliest erotica available, gathered from the eastern markets. The preface of the Burton version of the Kama Sutra justifies itself with the following statement: “If all science is founded more or less on a stratum of facts, there can be no harm in making known to mankind generally certain matters intimately connected with their private, domestic and social life (Arbuthnot, 1973)” Grant takes this as more proof that the texts semination was done with a conscious effort to bring about an advancement of certain ideals in the English society. Instead of presenting the text as it was, it was used to support a number of agendas that were already circulating England, namely scientific advancement in biological and procreation studies. The spirituality of the Eastern text was done away with and sidelined since it had little to do with the English culture’s needs, or perhaps we can say the needs of the group in charge of the text’s circulation. This spirituality is now needed as the American culture seeks new spiritual insights in Western thought through eastern tradition. The Victorian Era was very strict in regards with sexual matters and the legalities concerning them. Though some influential individuals were able to pursue taboo hobbies, the general public was not given such privileges or allowed openness. The introduction of this text was done with great maneuvering. Its availability was set in a way that it could be subtly accessible to all. Grant states the reason for allowing the text legitimacy was “because it could on the face of it be characterized as a sacred book of the East, it could both be claimed as a legitimate work of Orientalist tradition, throwing light on the Indian character, and usurp the authority of that status to challenge the essence of the West, against which the East was defined” (pg.511) This two-faceted project served multiple purposes for the English society, however, at the cost of some of the main teachings of the text. A final condemning point that Grant makes is the pre-existing biases relating to the East and Orient that were present in the minds of Burton. For instance, Grant tells us “the word ‘harem’ in fact occurs several times within The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, though it could not have been present in the original.” (pg. 512) Thus conceptions of the East were inserted into the original text in order to throw light on a culture that Burton believed he knew. This is a paradox, explaining something completely unknown by substituting it with whatever available information, validated or invalidated. What has then happened is that “we find, then, that the East is grafted onto the West as the location of an erotic culture.” (Grant, pg.514) The true spiritual teachings of the text which are most pertinent to modern day civilization are left behind. Conclusion The aim of this paper was to critically examine the Eastern text of The Kama Sutra in light of its multifunctional teachings as a sound text. The two peer-review articles which were used basically refuted Burton’s claims that The Kama Sutra, and the Kama Sutra as he conceived it to be, was not indeed a prime and foremost manual of sexual relations only. Instead, it had many more aspects to it, as all great literary and historical documents do, which were neglected in the original interpretations. These sidelined aspects are just as crucial to the understanding of The Kama Sutra, especially in modern times, as the sexual elements of it. Thus, the Kama Sutra explicates a number of modern ideals and needs to be considered in that light, not simply as a sex manual. References Burton, R F. (1883) The Kama Sutra of Vatsayayana, Aphorisms on Love: Arbuthnot, FF. (1973) ‘Preface to the original Burton [sic] translation’, in Vatsyayana, Vatsyayana’s KamaSutra: A Complete and Unexpurgated Version of this Celebrated Treatise on the Hindu Art of Love as Translated by Sir Richard Burton and FF Arbuthnot with Introduction and Illustrations: London: Luxor, pp xii – xiii. Grant, B. (2002) Translating/’The’ KamaSutra: Third World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp 509 – 516 Doniger, W. (2002) The KamaSutra: It Isn’t All About Sex: The Kenyon Review. Vol. 25, Winter Read More