Vatsyayana is the author of the Kama Sutra, according to legend.
This work is sometimes associated with a comprehensive list of sexual positions and pleasures, which it does include, but it extends well beyond that.
Vatsyayana was fascinated with desire in all of its forms, thus the work opens with a discussion of the four purposes of life (purushartha):
Because desire was one of the established objectives ofhuman existence, Vatsyayana reasoned that pursuing it was a desirable thing as
long as it did not interfere with the other ends.
After establishing the legality of desire, Vatsyayana discusses how to nurture it.
The second book of the Kama Sutra comprises the text's most well-known material:
- A description and classification of many sorts of sexual connection.
- It starts by defining several varieties of sexual endowment, both male and female.
- Before moving on to discuss various types of embracing, kissing, scratching, and biting as symbols of passion, sexual positions, and oral sex.
- This is followed by chapters on finding a bride, courtesans, and general observations on attraction (which the book opposes, save in circumstances when one's affection is "extremely intense").
The book serves as a guide to all aspects of sensual life,
demonstrating how sex may be developed into a vehicle for both aesthetic and
sheer carnal pleasure.
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