The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to the Kama Sutra

Author: Megan Harrison

Even today, negotiating the ups and downs of modern life, especially the transition from teen years into adulthood can be tricky for a young man. Perhaps what might be needed is some sort of guidebook to advise on subjects from managing a household to finding a wife, to pleasing a wife in bed.

At least, this is what Vatsyayana Mallanaga thought, somewhere around two thousand years ago in Ancient India, when he wrote what was essentially an instruction manual for the ‘young man about town’: the Kama Sutra.

What is the Kama Sutra?

• The Kama Sutra is best known as a manual of sex positions – and there is certainly a great deal of information about sexual acts and positions, and even how to attract the interest of a woman.
• The Kama Sutra is divided into five sections – only one or two which deal with sex and intimate matters.
• The others offer guidance on how to find and court a suitable wife, and how to socialize – what activities are recommended, and which are not, and even how to set a good work-life balance.

A Brief History of the Kama Sutra

The Kama Sutra was initially thought to have been written anything between 300 BC and 200 AD, and this understanding persisted for many years. However, a more recent translation – looking closely at tribes and events mentioned in the text – has allowed the work to be dated more precisely to having been written in the last half of the third century AD by Vatsyayana Mallanaga.

Earlier translations were undertaken by one Richard Francis Burton in 1883. Unfortunately, he was a Victorian and saw more merit in imposing his Victorian viewpoint and thus had all

mentions of female desire removed from the text, along with advice on how to ensure that the female partner enjoyed an orgasm.

The Kama Sutra opposed Victorian British values and was dismissed as ‘pagan nonsense’ and something to be actively stamped out. Burton, even had he wanted to accurately translate the text as it stands, would have most likely fallen afoul of anti-obscenity laws. As it was, his wildly inaccurate text had to be printed under the imprint of a publishing house that Burton himself set up for the purpose, and was designated ‘for private distribution only’.

Fortunately, later translations, in particular those by S. C. Uphadyaya, published in 1961, and Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, published in 2002, bestowed more respect onto the original teachings, and are more faithful reproductions of the author’s intentions.

The latest version, by Doniger and Kakar, is widely acclaimed as ‘the’ translation – although it, too, has some detractors. Some critics claim that Doniger inserts – as did Burton all those years ago – her own points of view and sometimes allows personal opinions to color phrasing and interpretations instead of fiercely clinging to the essence of the text.

What Does The Kama Sutra Detail?

• The first on acceptable social behavior in public – dealing with work, leisure, and how to meet women.
• The second on how to behave in private – dealing with sexual union and pleasing one’s lover. Let us have a look in more detail at some of the benefits of this ancient text’s wisdom:

Work and Play

The text is told from the point of view of an unnamed ‘man about town’, by which the writer is understood to mean a young man, just having come of age, who is looking to begin making his way in the world.