"More than just a pillow book, the Kama Sutra is a guide to the labyrinth of sexual etiquette, from how to bathe before meeting a lover to how lovers should entertain each other after making love. . . . Take from this encyclopedia of amour what you will and let it keep you moving down the path of spiritual practice."

Autorentext
Alain Danilou (1907-1994) was without question a Renaissance man. Following his early years as an artist, dancer, and musician in Paris (Cocteau, Diaghilev, and Stravinsky were among his friends), Danilou settled in India, where he spent fifteen years in the study of Sanskrit, philosophy, and music. After numerous university appointments in India, he returned in 1963 to Europe, establishing the Institute of Comparative Music Studies in Berlin for the reevaluation of Asian music. Danilou wrote more than thirty books about the philosophy, religion, history, and arts of India, including Gods of Love and Ecstasy; Myths and Gods of India; Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation; While the Gods Play; The Phallus; and Music and the Power of Sound.

Klappentext

The world's oldest and most widely read guide to the pleasures and techniques of sex, the Kama Sutrawas compiled in the fourth century A.D. by a Brahmin and religious scholar name Vatsyayana, who worked from texts dating back to the fourth century B.C. Until the present, the only English translation of his Hindu love classic was that of the famous English explorer Sir Richard Burton, published in 1883. Unlike Burton's version, Alain Daniélou's new translation preserves the numbered verse divisions of the original and includes two essential commentaries: the Fayamangalacommentary, written in Sanskrit by Yashodhara during the Middle Ages, and a modern Hindi commentary by Devadatta Shastri. Whereas Burton's Victorian reluctance to translate certain terms obscured our understanding of the philosophy and techniques of the Kama Sutra, Daniélou has preserved the full explicitness of the original, dealing with everything from the art of scratching to relations with the wives of others. Realistic and pragmatic in its approach, the Kama Sutradeals without ambiguity or hypocrisy with all aspects of sexual life--including marriage, adultery, prostitution, group sex, sadomasochism, male and female homosexuality, and transvestism. The text paints a fascinating portrait of an India whose openness to sexuality gave rise to a highly developed expression of the erotic.

Inhalt
**
Editor's Note

Introduction by Alain Danielou**
**

Part One: General Remarks**

1. Contents of the Book
2. The Three Aims of Life
3. The Acquisition of Knowledge
4. The Conduct of the Well-bred Townsman
5. Reflections on Intermediaries Who Assist the Lover in His Enterprises
   **
   Part Two: Amorous Advances**
6. Stimulation of Erotic Desire
7. Embraces
8. Petting and Caresses
9. The Art of Scratching
10. Biting
11. On Copulation and Special Tastes
12. Blows and Sighs
13. Virile Behavior in Women
14. Superior Coition or Fellation
15. Preludes and Conclusions to the Game of Love
    **
    Part Three: Acquiring a Wife**
16. Forms of Marriage
17. How to Relax the Girl
18. Ways of Obtaining the Girl
19. How to Manage Alone
20. Union by Marriage
    **
    Part Four: Duties and Privileges of the Wife**
21. Conduct of the Only Wife
22. Conduct of the Chief Wife and Other Wives
    **
    Part Five: Other Men's Wives**
23. Behavior of Woman and Man
24. Encounters to Get Acquainted
25. Examination of Sentiments
26. The Task of the Go-between
27. The King's Pleasures
28. Behavior in the Gynoecium
    **
    Part Six: About Courtesans**
29. Advice of the Assistants on the Choice of Lovers
30. Looking for a Steady Lover
31. Ways of Making Money
32. Renewing Friendship with a Former Lover
33. Occasional Profits
34. Profits and Losses: Reflections on Doubts Concerning the
    Advantages and Disadvantages of Relations
    **
    Part Seven: Occult Practices**
35. Success in Love
36. Arousing a Weakened Sexual Power

Appendices

1. Texts Quoted
2. Mythical and Historical Characters and Authors Mentioned in the Text
3. Works Consulted
4. Glossary I: Plants, Herbs, Spices, and Sundry Products
5. Glossary II: Special Terms

**Index

About the Translator**