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Perhaps no other work on the use of sex as a tool for recreation is as elaborate as the Indian author Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra. The Kamasutra is a detailed treatise on almost every aspect of sex. It aims at being a complete instruction manual for all aspects of the lovemaking, and also at the achievements of sex a man or woman must hope for. For this reason, the appeal of it has not dwindled down the centuries. Though it was written in the fourth century AD, it still maintains its relevance sixteen centuries later. Even today, sex gurus all over the world use the Kamasutra and its teachings to hone their and other’s sexual prowess. It is immensely interesting to see what has held the appeal of it for so long, and how it is still relevant in our modern world.
What does it contain?
The Kamasutra actually deals with the sexual development of a man. It provides precise instructions on sexual aspects of a man right from the age he attains puberty up to the age when he loses his sex drive. This is the primary reason why most young men all over the world look upon it as a guiding companion rather than just a literary work.
It is divided into seven books. A mere recital of what these seven books contain will illustrate how it touches every aspect of a man’s sexual life. These seven books are as follows:-
Book 1 deals with the preparation of the sexual life of the man. This period deals with late pre-puberty to early puberty ages of the man’s life. This portion is a voyage into man’s sexual discovery and the new enjoyments he gets from the same.
Book 2 deals with the early sexual encounters of the man. It tells that man needs to learn about the various tantras of lovemaking before actually sealing this bond with marriage. Various sexual positions are mentioned in this part of the book. These positions are the most popular modes of it even today.
Book 3 regards marriage as the consummation of sexual life of the young man. This is not as much a sexual treatise as an advice to man on how to achieve full happiness from his partner. Sex is an integral part of a new marriage, and the importance of it is fully brought across.
Book 4 is the only book that addresses women. It tells wives how they should comport themselves to retain the affections of their man. Not very sexual in nature, this short book tells women about things they should do and not do in a marriage.
Book 5 tells how every man eventually gets bored with his own wife. This book brings forward the solution that a bored man can then begin to covet other’s wives. In fact, there is a description of how a man can seduce other men’s wives. In a chauvinist fashion, it pardons man for this adultery, but not women.
Book 6 is about how a man who has seen almost all the sexual aspects of life, now begins to seek pleasure from professional sex women like courtesans and prostitutes in exchange for money. It tells of the different kind of pleasures that an experienced woman can provide to a man for whom sex is fast becoming a passing phase of life.
Book 7, the final book, is about the time when a man becomes old and loses his sexual drive. Such a man then resorts to other devices to boost his sexuality. This includes a number of herbs and sex toys. The final book delves more into the occult than in practical lovemaking.
Its Relevance Today
It is perhaps the most widely book of those ages. Despite its glaring outdated ideas, it is still widely recognized for its universal teachings of lovemaking.
Speaking quite offhandedly, it is considered as an encyclopedia of sexual positions. In fact, most people around the world still think that the it is just a book about sexual positions. The positions described in it are so universal in both place and time that people all over the world naturally use these positions, without even knowing that they are so widely explained in the it.
Another very important use of it is in its book 7. This portion of it describes Ayurveda as a potential method of boosting a man’s sexual virility. All the natural herbal supplements use today derive directly from the teachings of this section of the Kamasutra.
It also describes sexual exercises – especially penile massage that a woman can do for her man – in exquisite detail. These are the very exercises that are propounded even today, sans modification. It is perhaps the only book whose teachings have remained so untouched with time.
For this reason, it is quite correct to say that it will never become jaded or outdated. As long as the human’s sexual cravings remain, he or she will keep turning to the pages of it for guidance.
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