Kama Sutra
THE HINDU ART OF LOVE

Maharshi Vatsyayana (Малланага Ватьсьяяна)

английский

Kiran Books

Древний трактат о искусстве жизни и любви в гармонии духовного развития и желания получать безграничное удовольствие от жизни.

Умы древней индийской цивилизации привлекают историков своим рациональным подходом к почти каждому предмету окружающего их мира. Затронутая в произведении тема секса, также исчерпывающе описана автором во всех ее аспектах — физическом, эмоциональном, психологическом и социальном.

Несмотря на представления современного человека, Камасутра, а точнее Кама-Сутра, это не только инструкция по занятию сексом, это прежде всего философские размышления автора о отношениях между полами и даже о том, как быть хорошим гражданином.

Автор также включает религиозное и нравственное послание к читателю, и настаивает на том, что чувственная страсть не должна поглощать до краев разум человека. В книге описываются методы, как объединяя духовный мир и удовольствия, можно достигнуть счастья в этой и последующих жизнях.

Малланага Ватьсьяяна воплотил в своем труде, написанном около двух тысяч лет назад, исследования его предшественников, чьи работы не дошли до наших дней. Он показывает как общество принимало право каждого на любовь и близость, именно поэтому, в числе прочего, Камасутра является ценным историческим документом.

Существующая книга - хотя и несколько сокращена в процессе адаптации на английский язык, является копией оригинального санскрита. Здесь сохранен стиль и дух с которым писал текст Ватьсьяяна.

Оригинальный труд автора никогда не имел иллюстраций, здесь их нет также.

LOVE IN ANCIENT INDIA WAS A SCIENCE AND AN ART - practised with true scientific approach by all fashionable ladies and gentlemen. The customs, festivals, rituals and beliefs concerning marriage, morals, women, art and science of love and sex had reached a wonderful stage of advancement outshining even the most forward sections of modern society.

Sages of the olden days did not consider It immoral to write and preach on sex and love. They gave their earnest attention to these socially important themes. The greatest work that has persisted the outrages of history is the Kama Sutra written sometime between 300 to 500 A.D. by Vatsyayana.

To any discerning student of ancient Indian civilisation, the most appealing feature is its scientific and rational approach to almost every living subject under the sun. From the highest reaches of thought in the realm of religion and philosophy down to the most ordinary business of daily life, the ancient Indians showed a remarkable faculty of taking nothing for granted but discussing everything in a dispassionate and logical manner and arriving at conclusions after the fullest consideration of all aspects and points of view. It should not therefore be a matter of surprise when we find the ancient Indians giving the greatest amount of scientific thought to the all-important sociological subject of relations between the sexes. The researches which they conducted in this field anticipate in a startling manner by several millennia the work of modern authorities on this subject. In fact, the recent scientific study of the subject in the West appears in a large measure as the result of the impact which the study of the ancient Indian authors made on European students of psychology and sociology. In India there has been a very long tradition of such writers as treated the subject exhaustively in all its aspects—physical, emotional, psychological and sociological. The last great name in this long tradition is that of Vatsyayana, the author of the celebrated 'Kamasutra' The real importance of this work lies in the fact that besides treating the subject in a most comprehensive and exhaustive manner, it is also an epitome of researches by his predecessors in this, field, many of whose works are now lost to us. This work is, therefore, an invaluable document for the study of ancient Indian social organisation and is an incontrovertible testimony to the healthy foundation on which this organisation rests. While it makes no attempt either to hide or to exaggerate social abuses of the time it indicates in very clear terms how society expected its members to live, love and behave among themselves. And these indications are such as will gain an ungrudging admiration from any modem sociologist. Vatsyayana's magnum opus is, therefore, a work which deserves scientific study on the part of all serious students of human psychology in any age ortlime.

The present book is a faithful, though abridged, English rendering of the original Sanskrit text The translator has succeeded to a considerable extent in reflecting the true spirit in which Vatsyayana wrote his treatise Both the diction and the style of the translation are commendable. Interest in the subject is consistently maintained and the book will serve as an excellent stepping stone to the study of the original text.