By Rami Sastri,

The ancient Sanskrit text of the Kamasutram, more commonly known in western culture as the Kama Sutra, was originally written by Mallanaga Vatsyayana and is believed to be a master work on the ways of Love in all its forms. The Kama Sutra is just one, though the most notable, of a larger collection of ancient Indian texts known as the Kama Shastra or Discipline of Kama. These texts were originally of a religious nature and common theology holds that the collection was handed down to mankind by Shiva’s doorkeeper, Nandi the sacred bull, after hearing the god, Shiva and Parvati, his wife having relations. The session so inspired the sacred bull to make utterance which was later recorded and passed down to mankind for their benefit. It is believed that the present form of the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was gathered at some point in the second century CE.

What is the Kama Sutra?

Etymologically speaking, Kama Sutra can be broken down into two Sanskrit words; the first being Kama, which is a reference to the Hindu god of Love, using the same name. In common language, it conveyed the ideas of desire, wish, intention, pleasure and love, especially in a sexual connotation. In chapter two of Richard Burton’s translation of the text, Kama is translated as “the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact is called Kama.”

The second word, Sutra refers to a discourse delivered on a set of concise rules. Thus Sutra has the connotation of a technical study or manual. Thus, the Sutra was intended to educate the reader in the field of its particular study.

Taken together, the words Kama Sutra imply a technical text on the aspects of properly enjoying the stimulation of the five senses and the demonstration of Love. Unfortunately, the simple wording of the title has led to many misconceptions regarding the text and it is to be noted that the Kama Sutra is nether a sex manual or a sacred religious text, though it does incorporate both aspects into its writing. While the text is explicit in details of a sexual nature and also intones highly religious themes, it was intended to put Kama in to context with the other two aims of ancient Hindu life, Dharma and Artha. This is evidenced by Vatsyayana’s opening discussion of these three aims at the beginning of the text.

These three terms are described as relating to Virtue (Dharma), Material Prosperity (Artha) and Pleasure (Kama) and they were to be pursued in that order. The first quality almost always took precedence over the secondary when two of these pursuits were at odds, though there were a few exceptions to this rule. Thus being virtuous was to be sought more than wealth but pleasure would fall secondary to the pursuit of material gain in the Hindu way of life. The Kama Sutra was intended as a guide to show how to properly achieve all three goals and their proper places so as to achieve Moksha, the liberation from the cycle of reincarnation.

If you would like to learn more about The Kama Sutra, including the latest news and reviews you can check out more of Rami’s articles at EzineArticles.com