Kama is defined by Vatsyayana in Kamasutra (KS 1.

2 11-12) as
consciousness that rises from the contact between various sense organs (ear,
skin, eye, tongue, nose) and their respective sense-objects as directed by the
mind along with the soul; but particularly when, during sensation of touch, there
is a clear delight in some object which bears fruit and is permeated by the
pleasure of arousal.
Kama referred primarily to sexual pleasure. But the Kamasutra devotes only
one of the seven sections to sex techniques. Thus Kamasutra itself perceived sex
as an overwhelming 'social art'. The largest part of Kamasutra is concerned with
how men and women were to manage their liaisons.
The knowledge recommended by Kamasutra constituted much more than
simply knowing how to execute diverse sex techniques. The heroes were
routinely compared with the god of love, Kamadeva in Kamasutra and Murugan
Tamil poetry, in beauty and singled sexual prowess.
In the Kamasutra, the sexual art was itself accompanied by a vast array of
material, verbal and gestural which were thought to be integral to its enjoyment.
These were deemed so important that a number of them were considered to be
'determinative' of the very emotion of sexual pleasure. Vatsyayana called these
'fine arts' and lists 64 of them.
The sexual relations for the people were a part of wide aestheticised lifestyle.
It is perhaps no surprise that the major discourses which expanded much of the
knowledge of the Kamasutra were increasingly treatises in drama and poetry.
The later handbooks or treatises on erotics focus more on sexual techniques.

The most famous Gupta period treatise by Vatsyayana, the Kamasutra,

purports to advice men on proper pursuit of sexual pleasure. Its advice covers a
number of topics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

the general lifestyle and attributes of paramours;

the sexual compatibility of lovers;
the specific phases and activities of the sex act itself;
the ways and means of winning and acquiring a virgin;
the conduct and management of sexual relations;
with liaisons with wives of other men;
dealing with courtesans; and
esoteric formulas for whining one's serial goals.

Besides Kamasutra, there is also a vast body of poetic writings in various

genres on courtship, love and sex. There are, for example, numerous plays.
There are story cycles of famous lovers. There are literary texts which deal with
love affairs of courtesans. Finally and importantly, there are larger number of
anthologies and free floating independent verses commenting on, or sketching
scenarios between lovers. These verses, stretching from the sublime to the
vulgar, are typically populated by anonymous and generic 'lovers.
Completing the picture is an extensive technical literature on poetics,
beginning with the Natysastra, and continuing throughout medieval India, which
instructs poets and readers on the conventions for writing and appreciating love
poetry. It sets out the qualities, scenarios and behaviours appropriate to the male
and female lovers/ characters, as well as a cast of supporting characters who
appeared in connection with their affairs. The literature is in many aspects
crucial, for in setting out the conventions of literary representation, it makes

reference to and shares terminology with the presumptive literature on erotic

proper.
There are, of course, important differences of perspective and subject matter
between various poetic genres and, further, between those texts which advised
poets how to write about love.
Some poems, for example, present rustic, village or even pastoral, scenes. In
general, poetic discourses are far less explicit with regard to sexual act itself
then erotological, being more concerned with various aspect of wider process of
courtship from wooing, seduction and symptoms of desire, to sexual longing and
lovers quarrels. Poetic discourses divided the experience of erotic love into the
categories of 'union' and 'separation' and became increasingly pre-occupied with
the experience of love-in-separation -- the effective world of the lover longing for
the beloved. This pre-occupation was not only a clever poetic technique, it also
allowed and contributed to investing erotic love with wider social concerns.
Kamasutra was written for a pleasure-seeking playboy -- for 'nagarka' (lit. tr.
'he of the city'). According to Kamasutra, sex with a peasant' was the lowest type
of lovemaking. The lowest castes were relegated to satellite villages beyond the
city while the more prosperous city-dwellers built their homes in sturdy brick with
fine porches and balconied roofs where lovers lingered after sex.
Kamasutra declares itself to be written by Nandi, the servant of bird Shiva. IA
declares itself to be written by Shiva himself.
Kamasutra begins by defining 'Kama' in general.....

On the phrase 'bears fruit' hangs an entire debate for how Kamasutra should
be understood. Is sex for procreation or pleasure? Kamasutra is unequivocally on
the side of pleasure.
Kama was -- and still is -- ranked as one of the three fundamental goals of
human existence with artha and dharma. It is the triple path rather then kama
alone, that Vat declares to be the subject of his text. He opens his book by
saluting the trio. They are in mutual agreement. Together they define all human
life. Study of dharma and artha were flourishing by the time kamsutra was
written. Authoritative works on dharma and artha had already become
standards. Vat copied the Arthasartha's structure. Their forms are very close.

The first of its seven books, 'General Observations' puts kama in its
philosophical perspective and
describes how the hero should set himself up for a life of pleasure. The
second book 'Sex' treats our hero how actually to do it. Kamasutra describes
sixty-four Kama-kalas, or ways to make love. These are not sixty four positions
they are often made out to be but simply a grand total of different modes and
moods of lovemaking. Kamasutra's next from books define all the different types
of women. Virgins, other men's wives, courtesans are graded according to
desirability, beauty and sophistication. Few ancient books have described the
social and sexual lines in such intimate details.

Vat says that by distinguishing herself in sixty-four silpa-Kalas (not kamakalas) will allow a woman to successfully keep her husband under her
thumb,'even if he his a thousand women in his harem'. But Kamasutra was
something more ambitious than just a 'sex handbook'. It was far more ambitious
and profound. It was wedded to the Brahmin traditions of the past. It reflected
those traditions.

The Kamasutra was intended to be a study of all aspects of human behavior

and understanding. At around the same time, Bharat had finished his Natysastra,
a definite treatise of dance and theatre. Patanjali had composed Mahabhasya,
ancient science of grammar. Aho Athasashe and other....

'Sex' does not even begin to cover what Kama really meant. Dharma could be
called 'rules and religion'. Artha - 'wealth and worldly affairs' kamasutra gives
probably the best defintion of Dharma and Artha. It is the triple path, rather than
Kama alone, that vat describes to be the subject of his text. Kama-kala are not
just tools of successful love-making; they lie at the heart of what constitutes an
educated man.

Natysastra and Kamasutra were very close. Not only in age (both were
cotemporary -- give or take a century), or in their obsession with classification

and categorization (kamasutra's coital positions need to introduction while

Natysastra describes thirty-two types of gait, but in their shared sense of erotic.
Love making in the kamasutra is gilded with layers of meaning. Take, for
instance, 'the twining vine', in which 'as the vine twines around a great dammar
tree; so she twines around him 'and bends his face down to her to kiss him'. Or
'climbing the tree', in which she rests one of her feet on her lover's foot and
other on his thigh and acts as if she were climbing his body in order to claim a
kiss. As the lovers engage in sex, she uses the cries of doe, cuckoo, pigeon,
parrot, bee. [compare this with flora and fauna in Akam poet]. Natyasastra also
takes the performer how to mimic movement of birds and animals and how to
produce delicious coos and cries.

In Akam poetry, the hero meets the heroine for the first time in the millet
field. The scene follows kamasutra like a rulebook. When a young girl is attracted
to a man, Vat says ...

The heroine obeys Vat to the letter, she ...

Bharta's Natyasastra offers nine rasas, each of which corresponds to a basic

human emotion. The greatest of all rasas was sringara, the rasa of the erotic.

Despite the unabashed eroticism of classical era literature, India's culture was
still trobled by sex as it had ever had been.
page 44.