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We Loved
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Kama Sutra
Tanra
Shakti and Shâkta
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The Kama Sutra of Vatsayayana
Sir Richard Burton, translator
1883
PREFACE
IN the literature of all countries there will be found a certain number of works
treating especially of love. Everywhere the subject is dealt with differently,
and from various points of view. In the present publication it is proposed to
give a complete translation of what is considered the standard work on love in
Sanscrit literature, and which is called the 'Vatsyayana Kama Sutra', or
Aphorisms on Love, by Vatsyayana.
While the introduction will deal with the evidence concerning the date of the
writing, and the commentaries written upon it, the chapters following the
introduction will give a translation of the work itself. It is, however,
advisable to furnish here a brief analysis of works of the same nature, prepared
by authors who lived and wrote years after Vatsyayana had passed away, but who
still considered him as the great authority, and always quoted him as the chief
guide to Hindoo erotic literature.
Besides the treatise of Vatsyayana the following works on the same subject are
procurable in India:
The Ratirahasya, or secrets of love
The Panchasakya, or the five arrows
The Smara Pradipa, or the light of love
The Ratimanjari, or the garland of love
The Rasmanjari, or the sprout of love
The Anunga Runga, or the stage of love; also called Kamaledhiplava, or a boat in
the ocean of love.
The author of the 'Secrets of Love' was a poet named Kukkoka. He composed his
work to please one Venudutta, who was perhaps a king. When writing his own name
at the end of each chapter he calls himself 'Siddha patiya pandita', i.e. an
ingenious man among learned men. The work was translated into Hindi years ago,
and in this the author's name was written as Koka. And as the same name crept
into all the translations into other languages in India, the book became
generally known, and the subject was popularly called Koka Shastra, or doctrines
of Koka, which is identical with the Kama Shastra, or doctrines of love, and the
words Koka Shastra and Kama Shastra are used indiscriminately.
The work contains nearly eight hundred verses, and is divided into ten chapters,
which are called Pachivedas. Some of the things treated of in this work are not
to be found in the Vatsyayana, such as the four classes of women, the Padmini,
Chitrini, Shankini and Hastini, as also the enumeration of the days and hours on
which the women of the different classes become subject to love, The author adds
that he wrote these things from the opinions of Gonikaputra and Nandikeshwara,
both of whom are mentioned by Vatsyayana, but their works are not now extant. It
is difficult to give any approximate idea as to the year in which the work was
composed. It is only to be presumed that it was written after that of Vatsyayana,
and previous to the other works on this subject that are still extant.
Vatsyayana gives the names of ten authors on the subject, all of whose works he
had consulted, but none of which are extant, and does not mention this one. This
would tend to show that Kukkoka wrote after Vatsya, otherwise Vatsya would
assuredly have mentioned him as an author in this branch of literature along
with the others.
The author of the 'Five Arrows' was one Jyotirisha. He is called the chief
ornament of poets, the treasure of the sixty-four arts, and the best teacher of
the rules of music. He says that he composed the work after reflecting on the
aphorisms of love as revealed by the gods, and studying the opinions of
Gonikaputra, Muladeva, Babhravya, Ramtideva, Nundikeshwara and Kshemandra. It is
impossible to say whether he had perused all the works of these authors, or had
only heard about them; anyhow, none of them appear to be in existence now. This
work contains nearly six hundred verses, and is divided into five chapters,
called Sayakas or Arrows.
The author of the 'Light of Love' was the poet Gunakara, the son of Vechapati.
The work contains four hundred verses, and gives only a short account of the
doctrines of love, dealing more with other matters.
'The Garland of Love' is the work of the famous poet Jayadeva, who said about
himself that he is a writer on all subjects. This treatise is, however, very
short, containing only one hundred and twenty-five verses.
The author of the 'Sprout of Love' was a poet called Bhanudatta. It appears from
the last verse of the manuscript that he was a resident of the province of
Tirhoot, and son of a Brahman named Ganeshwar, who was also a poet. The work,
written in Sanscrit, gives the descriptions of different classes of men and
women, their classes being made out from their age, description, conduct, etc.
It contains three chapters, and its date is not known, and cannot be
ascertained.
'The Stage of Love' was composed by the poet Kullianmull, for the amusement of
Ladkhan, the son of Ahmed Lodi, the same Ladkhan being in some places spoken of
as Ladana Mull, and in others as Ladanaballa. He is supposed to have been a
relation or connection of the house of Lodi, which reigned in Hindostan from
A.D. 1450-1526. The work would, therefore, have been written in the fifteenth or
sixteenth century. It contains ten chapters, and has been translated into
English but only six copies were printed for private circulation. This is
supposed to be the latest of the Sanscrit works on the subject, and the ideas in
it were evidently taken from previous writings of the same nature.
The contents of these works are in themselves a literary curiosity. There are to
be found both in Sanscrit poetry and in the Sanscrit drama a certain amount of
poetical sentiment and romance, which have, in every country and in every
language, thrown an immortal halo round the subject. But here it is treated in a
plain, simple, matter of fact sort of way. Men and women are divided into
classes and divisions in the same way that Buffon and other writers on natural
history have classified and divided the animal world. As Venus was represented
by the Greeks to stand forth as the type of the beauty of woman, so the Hindoos
describe the Padmini or Lotus woman as the type of most perfect feminine
excellence, as follows:
She in whom the following signs and symptoms appear is called a Padmini. Her
face is pleasing as the full moon; her body, well clothed with flesh, is soft as
the Shiras or mustard flower, her skin is fine, tender and fair as the yellow
lotus, never dark coloured. Her eyes are bright and beautiful as the orbs of the
fawn, well cut, and with reddish corners. Her bosom is hard, full and high; she
has a good neck; her nose is straight and lovely, and three folds or wrinkles
cross her middle - about the umbilical region. Her yoni resembles the opening
lotus bud, and her love seed (Kama salila) is perfumed like the lily that has
newly burst. She walks with swan-like gait, and her voice is low and musical as
the note of the Kokila bird, she delights in white raiments, in fine jewels, and
in rich dresses. She eats little, sleeps lightly, and being as respectful and
religious as she is clever and courteous, she is ever anxious to worship the
gods, and to enjoy the conversation of Brahmans. Such, then, is the Padmini or
Lotus woman.
Detailed descriptions then follow of the Chitrini or Art woman; the Shankhini or
Conch woman, and the Hastini or Elephant woman, their days of enjoyment, their
various seats of passion, the manner in which they should be manipulated and
treated in sexual intercourse, along with the characteristics of the men and
women of the various countries in Hindostan. The details are so numerous, and
the subjects so seriously dealt with, and at such length, that neither time nor
space will permit of their being given here.
One work in the English language is somewhat similar to these works of the
Hindoos. It is called 'Kalogynomia: or the Laws of Female Beauty', being the
elementary principles of that science, by T. Bell, M.D., with twenty-four
plates, and printed in London in 1821. It treats of Beauty, of Love, of Sexual
Intercourse, of the Laws regulating that Intercourse, of Monogamy and Polygamy,
of Prostitution, of Infidelity, ending with a catalogue raisonnée of the defects
of female beauty.
Other works in English also enter into great details of private and domestic
life: The Elements of Social Science, or Physical, Sexual and Natural Religion,
by a Doctor of Medicine, London, 1880, and Every Woman's Book, by Dr Waters,
1826. To persons interested in the above subjects these works will be found to
contain such details as have been seldom before published, and which ought to be
thoroughly understood by all philanthropists and benefactors of society.
After a perusal of the Hindoo work, and of the English books above mentioned,
the reader will understand the subject, at all events from a materialistic,
realistic and practical point of view. If all science is founded more or less on
a stratum of facts, there can be no harm in making known to mankind generally
certain matters intimately connected with their private, domestic, and social
life.
Alas! complete ignorance of them has unfortunately wrecked many a man and many a
woman, while a little knowledge of a subject generally ignored by the masses
would have enabled numbers of people to have understood many things which they
believed to be quite incomprehensible, or which were not thought worthy of their
consideration.
INTRODUCTION
IT may be interesting to some persons to learn how it came about that
Vatsyayana was first brought to light and translated into the English language.
It happened thus. While translating with the pundits the 'Anunga Runga, or the
stage of love', reference was frequently found to be made to one Vatsya. The
sage Vatsya was of this opinion, or of that opinion. The sage Vatsya said this,
and so on. Naturally questions were asked who the sage was, and the pundits
replied that Vatsya was the author of the standard work on love in Sanscrit
literature, that no Sanscrit library was complete without his work, and that it
was most difficult now to obtain in its entire state. The copy of the manuscript
obtained in Bombay was defective, and so the pundits wrote to Benares, Calcutta
and Jeypoor for copies of the manuscript from Sanscrit libraries in those
places. Copies having been obtained, they were then compared with each other,
and with the aid of a Commentary called 'Jayamangla' a revised copy of the
entire manuscript was prepared, and from this copy the English translation was
made. The following is the certificate of the chief pundit:
'The accompanying manuscript is corrected by me after comparing four
different copies of the work. I had the assistance of a Commentary called
"Jayamangla" for correcting the portion in the first five parts, but found great
difficulty in correcting the remaining portion, because, with the exception of
one copy thereof which was tolerably correct, all the other copies I had were
far too incorrect. However, I took that portion as correct in which the majority
of the copies agreed with each other.'
The 'Aphorisms on Love' by Vatsyayana contain about one thousand two hundred
and fifty slokas or verses, and are divided into parts, parts into chapters, and
chapters into paragraphs. The whole consists of seven parts, thirty-six
chapters, and sixty-four paragraphs. Hardly anything is known about the author.
His real name is supposed to be Mallinaga or Mrillana, Vatsyayana being his
family name. At the close of the work this is what he writes about himself:
'After reading and considering the works of Babhravya and other ancient
authors, and thinking over the meaning of the rules given by them, this treatise
was composed, according to the precepts of the Holy Writ, for the benefit of the
world, by Vatsyayana, while leading the life of a religious student at Benares,
and wholly engaged in the contemplation of the Deity. This work is not to be
used merely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted
with the true principles of this science, who preserves his Dharma (virtue or
religious merit), his Artha (worldly wealth) and his Kama (pleasure or sensual
gratification), and who has regard to the customs of the people, is sure to
obtain the mastery over his senses. In short, an intelligent and knowing person
attending to Dharma and Artha and also to Kama, without becoming the slave of
his passions, will obtain success in everything that he may do.'
It is impossible to fix the exact date either of the life of Vatsyayana or of
his work. It is supposed that he must have lived between the first and sixth
century of the Christian era, on the following grounds. He mentions that
Satakarni Satavahana, a king of Kuntal, killed Malayevati his wife with an
instrument called kartari by striking her in the passion of love, and Vatsya
quotes this case to warn people of the danger arising from some old customs of
striking women when under the influence of this passion. Now this king of Kuntal
is believed to have lived and reigned during the first century A.D., and
consequently Vatsya must have lived after him. On the other hand, Virahamihira,
in the eighteenth chapter of his 'Brihatsanhita', treats of the science of love,
and appears to have borrowed largely from Vatsyayana on the subject. Now
Virahamihira is said to have lived during the sixth century A.D., and as Vatsya
must have written his works previously, therefore not earlier than the first
century A.D., and not later than the sixth century A.D., must be considered as
the approximate date of his existence.
On the text of the 'Aphorisms on Love', by Vatsyayana, only two commentaries
have been found. One called 'Jayamangla' or 'Sutrabashya', and the other 'Sutra
vritti'. The date of the 'Jayamangla' is fixed between the tenth and thirteenth
century A.D., because while treating of the sixty-four arts an example is taken
from the 'Kavyaprakasha' which was written about the tenth century A.D. Again,
the copy of the commentary procured was evidently a transcript of a manuscript
which once had a place in the library of a Chaulukyan king named Vishaladeva, a
fact elicited from the following sentence at the end of it.
'Here ends the part relating to the art of love in the commentary on the "Vatsyayana
Kama Sutra", a copy from the library of the king of kings, Vishaladeva, who was
a powerful hero, as it were a second Arjuna, and head jewel of the Chaulukya
family.'
Now it is well known that this king ruled in Guzerat from 1244 to 1262 A.D.,
and founded a city called Visalnagur. The date, therefore, of the commentary is
taken to be not earlier than the tenth and not later than the thirteenth
century. The author of it is supposed to be one Yashodhara, the name given him
by his preceptor being Indrapada. He seems to have written it during the time of
affliction caused by his separation from a clever and shrewd woman, at least
that is what lie himself says at the end of each chapter. It is presumed that he
called his work after the name of his absent mistress, or the word may have some
connection with the meaning of her name.
This commentary was most useful in explaining the true meaning of Vatsyayana,
for the commentator appears to have had a considerable knowledge of the times of
the older author, and gives in some places very minute information. This cannot
be said of the other commentary, called 'Sutra vritti', which was written about
A.D. 1789, by Narsing Shastri, a pupil of a Sarveshwar Shastri; the latter was a
descendant of Bhaskur, and so also was our author, for at the conclusion of
every part he calls himself Bhaskur Narsing Shastri. He was induced to write the
work by order of the learned Raja Vrijalala, while he was residing in Benares,
but as to the merits of this commentary it does not deserve much commendation.
In many cases the writer does not appear to have understood the meaning of the
original author, and has changed the text in many places to fit in with his own
explanations.
A complete translation of the original work now follows. It has been prepared
in complete accordance with the text of the manuscript, and is given, without
further comments, as made from it.
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Meaning of Love
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