Kamasutra — Mallanaga Vatsyayana

The Kamasutra is the oldest extant Hindu textbook of erotic love It is about the art of living about finding a partner maintaining power in a marriage committing adultery living as or with a courtesan using drugs and also about the positions in sexual intercourse It was composed in Sanskrit the literary language of ancient India sometime in the third century CE It combines an encyclopaedic coverage of all imaginable aspects of sex with a closely observed sexual psychology and a dramatic novelistic narrative of seduction consummation and disentanglement Best known in English through the highly mannered padded and inaccurate nineteenth century translation of Sir Richard Burton the text is presented here in an entirely new translation into clear vivid sexually frank English together with three commentaries translated excerpts from the earliest and most famous Sanskrit commentary 13th century and from a twentieth century Hindi commentary and explanatory notes by the two translators ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford s commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up to date bibliographies for further study and much more