Part
1 - Chapter 3
ON
THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO BE STUDIED
MAN should study the Kama Sutra and the arts
and sciences subordinate thereto, in
addition to the study of the arts and
sciences contained in Dharma and Artha. Even
young maids should study this
Kama Sutra along with its arts and sciences
before marriage, and after it they should
continue to do so with the consent of their
husbands.
Here some learned men object, and say that
females, not being allowed to study any
science, should not study the Kama Sutra.
But
Vatsyayana is of opinion that this objection
does not hold good, for women already know
the practice of Kama Sutra, and that
practice is derived from the Kama Shastra,
or the science of Kama itself. Moreover, it
is not only in this but in many other cases
that, though the practice of a science is
known to all, only a few persons are
acquainted with the rules and laws on which
the science is based. Thus the Yadnikas or
sacrificers, though ignorant of grammar,
make use of appropriate words when
addressing the different Deities, and do not
know how these words are framed. Again,
persons do the duties required of them on
auspicious days, which are fixed by
astrology, though they are not acquainted
with the science of astrology. In a like
manner riders of horses and elephants train
these animals without knowing the science of
training animals, but from practice only.
And similarly the people of the most distant
provinces obey the laws of the kingdom from
practice, and because there is a king over
them, and without further reason. And from
experience we find that some women, such as
daughters of princes and their ministers,
and public women, are actually versed in the
Kama Shastra.
A
female, therefore, should learn the Kama
Shastra, or at least a part of it, by
studying its practice from some confidential
friend. She should study alone in private
the sixty-four practices that form a part of
the Kama Shastra. Her teacher should be one
of the following persons: the daughter of a
nurse brought up with her and already
married, or a female friend who can be
trusted in everything, or the sister of her
mother (i.e. her aunt), or an old female
servant, or a female beggar who may have
formerly lived in the family, or her own
sister who can always be trusted. The
following are the arts to be studied,
together with the Kama Sutra:
*
Singing
* Playing on musical instruments
* Dancing
* Union of dancing, singing, and playing
instrumental music
* Writing and drawing
* Tattooing
* Arraying and adorning an idol with rice
and flowers
* Spreading and arranging beds or couches of
flowers, or flowers upon the ground
* Coloring the teeth, garments, hair, nails
and bodies, i.e. staining, dyeing, coloring
and painting the same
* Fixing stained glass into a floor
* The art of making beds, and spreading out
carpets and cushions for reclining
* Playing on musical glasses filled with
water
* Storing and accumulating water in
aqueducts, cisterns and reservoirs
* Picture making, trimming and decorating
* Stringing of rosaries, necklaces, garlands
and wreaths
* Binding of turbans and chaplets, and
making crests and top-knots of flowers
* Scenic representations, stage playing Art
of making ear ornaments Art of preparing
perfumes and odours
* Proper disposition of jewels and
decorations, and adornment in dress
* Magic or sorcery
* Quickness of hand or manual skill
* Culinary art, i.e. cooking and cookery
* Making lemonades, sherbets, acidulated
drinks, and spirituous extracts with proper
flavour and colour
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