by Reena Daruwalla, guest writer for Nancy Hayssen.com

If you read my earlier post you will know that ancient India was very liberal in matters of sex, with temples having frescos and sculpture of various sex positions, even group sex and same sex scenes! I remember watching a film called Utsav some years back, which was set in the period of Vatsyayana (the author of the Kama sutra).

This film was about the renowned courtesan of the time, Vasantsena (played by Rekha in this picture), I still remember all the haunting, melodious songs of the film.

Courtesans were, in those days viewed with respect, insofar as sex was viewed as an art to be learned and taught!

Some parts of the film were very funny too, when Vatsayana is shown peering into various rooms of a brothel collecting material for his book.

In the west, the Kama Sutra is viewed as an ancient sex manual only, which is it, but it is much more than that. It is a how-to book about social values, etiquette, duties, economic obligations etc.

Understandably the sex manual part of this voluminous work is what has gained maximum popularity. Kama, simply put is sex, but more specifically it means enjoyment using all the five sense of touch, taste, smell, hearing and smell and enjoyment not just for the body but for the mind and spirit as well.

One part of the manual deals with sexual positions, how to embrace and kiss, foreplay (marking with nails is one chapter), role playing and even the appropriate sounds to be made! One entire segment is devoted to advice about how to acquire a wife, another segment is about other people’s wives! A full segment is allocated to courtesans, how they should earn money, how to live behave and conduct themselves, how to live as a man’s wife etc.

The final part of the text deals with personal adornment and love potions and other methods of making a person attractive. It also deals with methods of arousal and miscellaneous experiments.

All in all I would conclude that it was a book way ahead of its times!