Kamasutra    कामसूत्र

The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana is a treatise on the art of sensual pleasure and was translated into English for the first time by an Indian archaeologist called Bhagawanlal Indraji¹ and published by Sir Richard Burton in 1883. By his own admission, Sir Burton considered this work to be only a 'best efforts' translation from the original body of work but it is regarded in India as being a reliable one nevertheless. Our website contains the full text of this publication in a clickable version.

The term 'Kamasutra' is a combination of two Sanskrit words--'Kama' or sensual pleasure and 'sutra' which literally means 'string'. So the Kamasutra may be considered to be a 'string of aphorisms on sensual pleasure' or, more practically, a manual on the art of love-making. It is an important part of the broader body of work known as the Kamashastra, or 'the collection of knowledge (shastra) on sensual and sexual pleasure'.

Kama is widely considerd in Hinduism to be one of the goals of human life along with Dharma (living according to virtuous principles), Artha (acquiring and enjoying material wealth) and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of births and deaths). In order of importance, Kama is the lowest-level goal but a goal nevertheless. It is considered to be inferior to Artha, or building wealth, which in turn is inferior to Dharma or virtuous living, with the highest human goal being Moksha.

The Kamasutra (also commonly written as two words: Kama Sutra and sometimes misspelled as karma sutra) consists of 1,250 verses structured into 7 parts and 35 chapters as laid out in the Table of Contents that follow.

1. Wikipedia