Kama Sutra Chronicles I
Sexual India

The Kama Sutra in a way speaks of some thing very important in the Indian attitude. That Indians did not shrink from the physical fact of sex, and that it is to them, to say the very least, ecstatically enjoyable. They knew that sex with any one or every one was not possible. They conceded that that other considerations must some times operate. They recognized morals. But this did not affect their main contention that sex was life at it's most intense, and confronted by this intensity, other values lost much of their force, shall we say in comparison with the supreme delight of sex.

In ancient India, the ideal citizen was supposed to dedicate his life to the achievement of the following goals:
Dharma (the acquisition of religious merit)
Artha (acquisition of worldly wealth)
Kama (acquisition of love or sensual pleasure)
Moksha (union with the cosmic self)

"In short, an intelligent person , attending to Dharma and Artha, and also attending to Kama also, without becoming the slave of his passions, obtains success in every thing he undertakes". We understand that Kama or the life of the senses is considered by Hindus as a necessary and integral part of man's life, and entitled to study as all other aspects of life.

Three personalities and their works stand out in history. Manu in the literature of Dhrma. Kautilya in the literature of Artha, and Vatsayana in the literature of Kama.

The dates of Vatsayans Kama Sutra are variously given from about 1 to 4 th century AD. In the Hindu view sex is not only considered normal and necessary but but almost sacramental. Sex is conceived as the human counter point of creation; and at the cosmic level, it is the union of Purusha (or matter) and Prakruti (or energy) from which this manifest universe was born. It is the union of Shiva and Shakti, whose symbols are the Lingam and the Yoni. It is for this reason that every god head in Hinduism is represented with a female counter point, and this logic came to conclusion in the "Ardhnarishwara". As early as the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda, mantras cover every aspect of cosmic and human sexual relation ships.

In the Chandyoga Upanishad, the sexual act is compared to a sacred sacrifice.

"The women is the fire, her womb the fuel, the invitation of man the smoke. The door is the flame, entering the ember, pleasure the spark. In this fire Gods form the offering. From this offering springs forth the child."

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it states:

" In the embrace of his beloved a man forgets the whole world- every thing both within and without"

The Hindu view of salvation being that of union of the individual and universal souls, the union of man and women in which the duality is lost becomes the perfect symbol of liberation.

The development of the Tantric religion in which the females procreating abilities were considered most important further boosted this issue. Even the Great Shankracharya says that Shiva is capable of creation only when united with Shakti. And Lord Krishna states in the Gita "I am the kama that procreates". Kama thus became a subject of regular study and though many came before and after Vatsayana, his, Kama Sutra became a classic and remains an authoritative text on Sex till today.

It is to the Nagrik (city dweller), a man of leisure and culture, that Vatsayan addressed himself to, i.e, a cultivated man of leisure. The counter point of the nagrik is the nayikas which are the twice married women, courtesans, and maidens. These women are much freer than wives, accompanied men to Public places, took part in sports and amusements. They were also much better educated.

Ancient India, especially Vatsayana took adultery for granted. It was one of the many modes of loving, and although Vatsayana had several reservations he discussed it with rational calm. It should, he thought, never be under taken lightly, and with wives of Brahmins, relations and Kings. Yet certain circumstances presented o difficulties. If adultery might lead the women to influence her husband, and if , for business or other reasons, the lover needed to influence the husband, it was the obvious thing to do. At least 13 such circumstances existed and Vatsayana explained all of them with patient care. " For these and similar other reasons", he said, the wives of other men may be resorted to."

Seductions of this kind were nothing if not calculated. Indeed, there is a sense in which Vatsayana is rational almost to the point of chilly detachment. Yet even as he pleads for a logical approach, he abandons it. He sees that passionate, frantic desire may over ride prudence. In such factors intensity was the deciding factor. When "passion love" was so great that the lover was beside himself with longing, nothing short of adultery might save his life.

Normal, marital, happy love has no history. It is only the risky love, fatal and doomed by life it self that gives birth to eternal Romance, made more thrilling by the misfortune. It is not in the fruitful contentment of settled couples and not the satisfaction of love that is inspiring. It is the thrill, the passion, the risk, the inevitable death attached with love, the idealized escape, the pain beyond the delight even today the most passionate love takes the form of adultery, the forbidden fruit.

"Congress having once commenced passion alone gives birth to all the acts of the parties"

In the Kama sutra , Vatsayana, returns again and again to love and sex as something amoral, something which transcends ethics and has its own justifications. Such a philosophy of love and sex - which might almost be described as rapturous opportunism - was a uniqueness of Kama sutras.

"How often when the rage and tumult of my senses had
subsided after the melting flow, have I, in a tender meditation,
ask'd myself coolly the question, if it was in nature for any of it's
creatures to be so happy as I was? Or, what were all fears of
consequence, put in the scale of one night's enjoyment of a thing
so transcendently the taste of my eyes and heart, as that delicious,
fond, matchless youth?"

It is this conception which makes the Kama Sutra so essential a part of the Indian tradition, and so great a classic of Indian writing. Writing in the eve of his life, Vatsayan records life, as a look back, as he has known it. He is a kind of camera neither praising, not blaming but surveying the whole field of sex. Vatsayans angle constantly shifts. It is not for nothing that he commences with "the man about town", and describes the elegant routine of cultured life. Sex at this point is something extra marital- to be entered into with total abandonment, the most enjoyed when the most free. In a similar vein he describes the ways and means to seduce and please women. His angle shifts and now he records the behavior of courtesans.

Sometimes the Kama sutra is dismissed as merely an ancient book on erotics. Hardly the case. The book covers the whole range of man - women relationship, education, courtship, marriage and conjugal life. In fact the first part of the Kama sutra does not deal with matters of sex at all, but about the ideals and accomplishments of a nagrik (city dweller), and about characteristics of different women. Part II no doubt deals with sexual unions and amazing , some times acrobatic but, inspiring positions of love making. Part III again is involved with the acquisition of a suitable wife and part IV deals with family life. It is a misconception to think that Vatsayana is writing only to male readers. He devotes a good portion of his book for women, on their social relations with other women (other wives and female relatives), on their duties, etc. The emphasis on the characteristics and customs of different places is unique to Vatsayana. He explains in detail that what is normal and considered permissible in one area may be considered a vice in another.

The temples of Khajuraho and the Sun temple of Konark symbolize and remind us of a gay and liberated people who worshipped their Gods, performed their rituals, but enjoyed life with all it's refinements to the full. The ecstasy of coition, man becomes god like; release through art and release through women. Sexual energy enduring in art.

Of the rigidity which came to be a feature of Indian society in later times, there is no evidence in the Kama Sutra..

If this has sparked some shock, some excitement, some resolve: I wish my readers happy researching and experimenting. May we all discover and enjoy our sexual selves.