The Kama Sutra is one of the most popular ancient Indian texts today, known widely for its erotic content and plethora of sexual positions. Contrary to western popular perception, the Kama Sutra is not exclusively a sex manual; it presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family, life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. The Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text compiled by Vatsyayana, is a guide to all aspects of pleasure in the human life, and empowers women while showing the socio-political situation of India during the time.
The historical setting the Kama Sutra was written in plays a large factor in the content and methods the text uses. The Kama …show more content…
Contrary to popular belief, the ‘sex manual’ does not see love as a holy act of union that requires patience and endurance. Instead, the Kama Sutra sees it as an art of manipulation, pride, and even deceit. At the root of it all is political and social power. Pleasure, or kama, is derived from relationships, women, and sex. Those three things come from marriages - marriage alliances are what create social and political ties that extend dynasties. The Kama Sutra showed there is a vast and complex socio-political structure going on in India during this time. The text is worked to establish order during this time period. It said men can enjoy a woman who is of his own class or lower class, but pleasure with a woman of a higher class is forbidden. This structure is the beginning of a hierarchal system that India will come to be known for. The text has rules governing the very specific details governing how men and women should act and interact. This message is extremely explicit, and aims to gain complete controls over the ways of life.
The Kama Sutra was a revolutionary text for its time that provides much insight to how Indian society was shaped during the reign of the Gupta dynasty. The book is more than a mere sex guide, it provides specific details into all aspects of pleasure a man will experience during his life, and in many aspects women too. Women are empowered through this text to seek their own pleasure and given the right to be with men they choose. The text underlines the politico-social order that was during the era, where class and marriage alliances made or broke your
The historical setting the Kama Sutra was written in plays a large factor in the content and methods the text uses. The Kama …show more content…
Contrary to popular belief, the ‘sex manual’ does not see love as a holy act of union that requires patience and endurance. Instead, the Kama Sutra sees it as an art of manipulation, pride, and even deceit. At the root of it all is political and social power. Pleasure, or kama, is derived from relationships, women, and sex. Those three things come from marriages - marriage alliances are what create social and political ties that extend dynasties. The Kama Sutra showed there is a vast and complex socio-political structure going on in India during this time. The text is worked to establish order during this time period. It said men can enjoy a woman who is of his own class or lower class, but pleasure with a woman of a higher class is forbidden. This structure is the beginning of a hierarchal system that India will come to be known for. The text has rules governing the very specific details governing how men and women should act and interact. This message is extremely explicit, and aims to gain complete controls over the ways of life.
The Kama Sutra was a revolutionary text for its time that provides much insight to how Indian society was shaped during the reign of the Gupta dynasty. The book is more than a mere sex guide, it provides specific details into all aspects of pleasure a man will experience during his life, and in many aspects women too. Women are empowered through this text to seek their own pleasure and given the right to be with men they choose. The text underlines the politico-social order that was during the era, where class and marriage alliances made or broke your