Cover of The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana: Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With P

Literary Fiction

The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With P

Vatsyayana
  • 4 hr 55 min · 36 chapters
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Rather than being exclusively a sex manual, it is a guide on the art of living well, the nature of love, finding partners, and maintaining a relationship, mixing prose with terse aphoristic verse.

Inside the book

36 chapters · 4 hr 55 min

The opening

Being the Index to or Contents of the Work

Being The Index To Or Contents Of The Work.

Chapter II. Observations on the three worldly attainments of Virtue, Wealth and Love.

" III. On the study of the Sixty-four Arts.

" IV. On the Arrangements of a House, and Household Furniture; and about the Daily Life of a Citizen, his Companions, Amusements, &c.

" V. About classes of Women fit and unfit for Congress with the Citizen, and of Friends, and Messengers.

PART II.

ON SEXUAL UNION.

Chapter I. Kinds of Union according to Dimensions, Force of Desire, and Time; and on the different kinds of Love.

" II. Of the Embrace.

" III. On Kissing.

" IV. On Pressing or Marking with the Nails.

" V. On Biting, and the ways of Love to be employed with regard to Women of different countries.

" VI. On the various ways of Lying Down, and the different kinds of Congress.

" VII. On the various ways of Striking, and of the Sounds appropriate to them.

" VIII. About females acting the part of Males.

" IX. On holding the Lingam in the Mouth.

" X. How to begin and how to end the Congress. Different kinds of Congress, and Love Quarrels.

PART III.

ABOUT THE ACQUISITION OF A WIFE.

Chapter I. Observations on Betrothal and Marriage.

" II. About creating Confidence in the Girl.

" III. Courtship, and the manifestations of the feelings by outward signs and deeds.

" IV. On things to be done only by the Man, and the acquisition of the Girl thereby. Also what to be done by a Girl to gain over a Man and subject him to her.

" V. On the different Forms of Marriage.

PART IV.

ABOUT A WIFE.

Chapter I. On the manner of living of a virtuous Woman, and of her behaviour during the absence of her Husband.

" II. On the conduct of the eldest Wife towards the other Wives of her husband, and of the younger Wife towards the elder ones. Also on the conduct of a Virgin Widow re-married; of a Wife disliked by her Husband; of the Women in the King's Harem; and of a Husband who has more than one Wife.

PART V.

ABOUT THE WIVES OF OTHER PEOPLE.

Chapter I. On the Characteristics of Men and Women, and the reason why Women reject the Addresses of Men. About Men who have Success with Women, and about Women who are easily gained over.

" II. About making Acquaintance with the Woman, and of the efforts to gain her over.

" III. Examination of the State of a Woman's mind.

" IV. The business of a Go-between.

" V. On the Love of Persons in authority with the Wives of other People.

" VI. About the Women of the Royal Harem, and of the keeping of one's own Wife.

PART VI.

ABOUT COURTESANS.

Chapter I. Of the Causes of a Courtesan resorting to Men; of the means of Attaching to herself the Man desired, and the kind of Man that it is desirable to be acquainted with.

" II. Of a Courtesan living with a Man as his Wife.

" III. Of the means of getting Money; of the Signs of a Lover who is beginning to be weary, and of the way to get rid of him.

" IV. About a Re-union with a former Lover.

" V. Of different kinds of Gain.

" VI. Of Gains and Losses, attendant Gains and Losses, and Doubts; and lastly, the different kinds of Courtesans.

PART VII.

ON THE MEANS OF ATTRACTING OTHERS TO ONE'S SELF.

Chapter I. On Personal Adornment, subjugating the hearts of others, and of tonic medicines.

" II. Of the Means of exciting Desire, and of the ways of enlarging the Lingam. Miscellaneous Experiments and Receipts.

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About the author

Vatsyayana

Indian logician, author of Kama Sutra

Mallanāga Vātsyāyana was an ancient Indian philosopher, known for authoring the Kama Sutra. He lived in India during the second or third century CE, probably in Pataliputra.

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