ISBN: 9781862055193    Publisher: Anova Books Year of publishing: 2002     Format:  Hardback No of Pages: 256        Language: English

Not many people know that the Kama Sutra was written as one of the holy books of Hinduism and was intended as a social code book, instructing men and women in ancient India on appropriate behaviour throughout their lives. Vatsyayana Mallanaga's Kama Sutra, the third-century treatise on sexual and social conduct, has too often been misunderstood as a pornographic text. Without desexualising Vatsyayana's text this unexpurgated version acknowledges the social and cultural importance of the Kama Sutra and its value as a historical document. How should a man assess the degree of his love sickness? What types of advances do women generally appreciate? When is the right time to enlist a friend to plead your case with the woman you love? Gathering together a wealth of previously unpublished material and unseen art this is the definitive Kama Sutra. The first Kama Sutra to illustrate all 64 sexual positions this book is both visually captivating and an invaluable information source for those wanting to understand the thought and cultural framework behind the most influential sexual manual of all time.
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Andrea Marion Pinkney is a doctoral candidate in the religions and languages of North India at Columbia University. She has studied Sanskrit in Montreal, Honolulu, Varanasi, Pune, and New York, and is conducting research on pilgrimage and gift exchange in North Indian religion.
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