Kama Sutra: The Ancient Indian Art of Love, Explained

The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text on the art of living well, written in Sanskrit and attributed to the philosopher Vatsyayana, usually dated to around the third century CE. Only a small part of it deals with sex. Most of the book is about courtship, marriage, friendship, the arts and the pursuit of pleasure as part of a cultured, balanced life. In the West it is known almost entirely for its positions, which is rather like judging a cookery book by its dessert chapter.

At Indian Angels we have a natural fondness for it. This guide explains what the Kama Sutra actually is, where it came from, what each of its seven parts covers and which popular ideas about it miss the mark, with a short and tasteful look at the classic positions towards the end.

What is the Kama Sutra?

The title joins two Sanskrit words. Kama means desire, love or pleasure in the widest sense: the enjoyment of beauty, music, food, conversation and affection, as well as physical love. Sutra means a thread, and by extension a compact collection of teachings strung together. So the Kama Sutra is, roughly, a set of threads on the subject of pleasure.

In classical Indian thought, a good life rested on four aims: dharma (duty and virtue), artha (prosperity and worldly success), kama (love and pleasure) and moksha (spiritual liberation). Vatsyayana wrote for people who took all four seriously. His argument is calm and practical. Pleasure is a proper part of life, he says, as long as it is pursued with knowledge, good manners and balance, and never at the expense of virtue or livelihood.

Who wrote it, and when?

Very little is known about Vatsyayana himself. He presents his work as a summary of older writings on kama, which he says had grown too long and scattered to be useful. Scholars generally place the book in the first few centuries CE, most often around the third century, probably in northern India. It was written for the urban gentleman of its day, the nagaraka: educated and comfortably off, fond of gardens, music, poetry and good company.

The text became famous in English through a translation printed privately in 1883 by the Kama Shastra Society, a venture led by the explorer Sir Richard Burton and the civil servant Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot. Victorian obscenity laws meant it circulated quietly for decades. Later translations, including a well-regarded modern version by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, give a fuller and more faithful picture of what Vatsyayana wrote.

The seven parts of the Kama Sutra

The book is divided into seven parts, each with its own chapters. Seen together, they show how much ground it covers.

1. General remarks. The aims of life, why the study of pleasure is worthwhile, the arts a cultured person should learn, and the daily routine of the refined man about town.
2. Love and intimacy. The only part chiefly about physical love: embraces, kisses, caresses, positions, and how lovers should read and respond to each other.
3. Courtship and marriage. How to choose a partner and win her trust gently, with a striking emphasis on patience and her comfort.
4. The wife. Running a household, the conduct of a wife, and life in homes with more than one wife.
5. Other men’s wives. A frank and often cautionary look at affairs, their motives and their risks.
6. Courtesans. The lives, skills and business sense of the courtesans of ancient India, who were often highly educated and much admired.
7. Attraction. Ways to make oneself more attractive, from dress and grooming to the recipes and remedies of the time.

Part six is especially interesting to modern readers. The courtesans Vatsyayana describes were accomplished in music, poetry and conversation, and were valued as companions as much as anything else. The idea that good company is a skill in its own right is very old indeed.

The 64 arts: more than the bedroom

One of the loveliest passages in the Kama Sutra is its list of 64 arts, the kalas, that a cultivated man or woman was expected to learn. They include singing, playing instruments, dancing, painting, arranging flowers, making garlands, cooking, preparing drinks, composing verse, solving riddles, teaching parrots to talk and, above all, the art of conversation. The point still holds: attraction grows from a full and interesting life, not from technique alone. It’s the same idea behind our guide to intimacy and connection.

Kama Sutra myths vs reality

• Myth: it’s a sex manual. In reality it’s a guide to a cultured life in which love and pleasure have their place. Most of its pages have nothing to do with the bedroom.
• Myth: it’s full of acrobatic positions. The original describes positions briefly and plainly. Many of the gymnastic illustrations sold under its name are modern inventions.
• Myth: it’s all about men’s pleasure. Vatsyayana returns again and again to a woman’s pleasure, her willingness and her comfort, and warns that rushing or forcing affection ruins it.
• Myth: it’s a religious text. It belongs to Hindu culture and its idea of the aims of life, but it’s a worldly, practical book rather than scripture. Tantra is a separate tradition altogether, explained in our guide to tantric sex.

Kama Sutra positions: a few of the classics

Part two describes many ways of embracing and lying together, often with charming poetic names. A few of the best known, described gently:

• The twining of a creeper. An embrace in which one partner holds the other close, the way a vine wraps around a tree.
• Climbing a tree. A standing embrace, one partner reaching up as if to climb into the other’s arms for a kiss.
• Milk and water. An embrace so close and absorbed that the two lovers seem to blend into one.
• The clasping position. Lying face to face, legs gently entwined, still and unhurried.
• The lotus. A seated, face-to-face position named after the yoga posture, good for eye contact and slow breathing together.

What runs through all of them is attentiveness: watching your partner, adjusting, taking your time. Vatsyayana even admits that once passion is under way, the rules of the textbook matter far less than the mood between two people. Anything intimate is, of course, a private matter between consenting adults.

Reading the Kama Sutra today

Parts of the book belong firmly to their century, especially on marriage and social rank. Yet its central ideas wear well. Pleasure deserves care and learning. Courtesy and patience are attractive. A lover should pay attention to the other person’s wishes, and an evening of music, food and conversation is part of romance, not a delay before it. If that appeals, our guides on how to flirt and aphrodisiac foods carry the same spirit into the present day, and our pick of romantic restaurants in London covers where to enjoy it.

Escortship in the spirit of the Kama Sutra

Many people who book an escort are looking for something closer to the Kama Sutra’s ideal than to the clichés: warmth, conversation and an unhurried evening. Ladies who list GFE (the girlfriend experience, explained in our GFE meaning guide) or tantric massage suit that mood well, and our Indian escorts are a natural choice for anyone drawn to the culture the text came from. Rates are for time and escortship; anything else is between two consenting adults, and she can decline anything she isn’t comfortable with.

Browse all our London escorts, then call or WhatsApp from the booking page. We usually confirm within 15 minutes.