Part
1 - Chapter 1
Salutation to Dharma, Artha and Kama
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 for regulating
their existence with regard to Dharma,
Artha, and Kama. Some of these commandments,
namely those which treated of Dharma, were
separately written by Swayambhu Manu; those
that related to Artha were compiled by
Brihaspati; and those that referred to Kama
were expounded by Nandi, the follower of
Mahadeva, in one thousand chapters.
Now these `Kama Sutra' (Aphorisms on Love),
written by Nandi in one thousand chapters,
were reproduced by Shvetaketu, the son of
Uddvalaka, in an abbreviated form in five
hundred chapters, and this work was again
similarly reproduced in an abridged form, in
one hundred and fifty chapters, by Babhravya,
an inheritant of the Punchala (South of
Delhi) country. These one hundred and fifty
chapters were then put together under seven
heads or parts named severally
1. Sadharana
(general topics)
2. Samprayogika (embraces, etc.)
3. Kanya Samprayuktaka (union of males and
females)
4. Bharyadhikarika (on one's own wife)
5. Paradika (on the wives of other people)
6. Vaisika (on courtesans)
7. Aupamishadika (on the arts of seduction,
tonic medicines, etc.)
The
sixth part of this last work was separately
expounded by Dattaka at the request of the
public women of Pataliputra (Patna), and in
the same way Charayana explained the first
part of it. The remaining parts, viz. the
second, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh,
were each separately expounded by
Suvarnanabha (second part)
Ghotakamukha (third part)
Gonardiya (fourth part)
Gonikaputra (fifth part)
Kuchumara (seventh part), respectively.
Thus
the work being written in parts by different
authors was almost unobtainable and, as the
parts which were expounded by Dattaka and
the others treated only of the particular
branches of the subject to which each part
related, and moreover as the original work
of Babhravya was difficult to be mastered on
account of its length, Vatsyayana,
therefore, composed his work in a small
volume as an abstract of the whole of the
works of the above named authors.
PART
I: INTRODUCTORY
1.
Preface
2. Observations on the three worldly
attainments of Virtue, Wealth, and Love
3. On the study of the Sixty-four Arts
4. On the Arrangements of a House, and
Household Furniture; and about the Daily
Life of a Citizen, his Companions,
Amusements, etc.
5. About classes of Women fit and unfit for
Congress with the Citizen, and of Friends,
and Messengers
PART
II: ON SEXUAL UNION
1.
Kinds of Union according to Dimensions,
Force of Desire, and Time; and on the
different kinds of Love
2. Of the Embrace
3. On Kissing
4. On Pressing or Marking with the Nails
5. On
Biting, and the ways of Love to be employed
with regard to Women of different countries
6. On the various ways of Lying down, and
the different kinds of Congress
7. On the various ways of Striking, and of
the Sounds appropriate to them
8. About females acting the part of Males
Main
Menu