Overview of Texts

Contents
List of Medieval and modern texts...........................................................2
The Kamasutra: The Treatise on Pleasure.............................................4
Yasodhara................................................................................................. 5
The Nagarasarvasva: The Complete Cosmopolitan................................5
The Ratirahasya: The Secrets of Passion..................................................6
The Pancasayaka: The Five Arrows......................................................6
The Anaingarainga: The Stage/Colour of the Bodiless One......................7
Kandarpacud:aman:i: The Crest-jewel of the God of Passion................7
Ratimanjar: The Blossom of Erotic Delight...........................................7
Pururava................................................................................................... 8
Natya Sastra by Bharat Muni....................................................................8
Kama Samuha by Ananta.........................................................................9
Janavashya of Kallarasa........................................................................... 9
Yosidupabhoga in Mansollasa of Somadeva............................................9

List of Medieval and modern texts

Anangaranga, by Kalyanmalla -- done

Dattakastra, by King Mdhava II of the Ganga dynasty of Mysore -na

Janavashya by Kallarasa: based on Kakkoka's Ratirahasya

Jayamangala or Jayamangla, by Yashodhara: important commentary

on the Kama Sutra

Jaya, by Devadatta Shstr: a twentieth-century Hindi commentary

on the Kama Sutra

Kmasamuha, by Ananta (fifteenth century) got it

Kama Sutra

Kandarpacudamani

Kuchopanishad or Kuchumra Tantra, by Kuchumra

Kuchopanishad by Kuchumara (tenth century)

Kuttanimata, by the eighth-century Kashmiri poet Damodaragupta

(Dmodaragupta's Ku anmata,
though often included in lists of this

sort, is really a novel written in Sanskrit verse, in which an aged

bawd [ku an]
named Vikarl gives advice to a young, beautiful,

but as yet unsuccessful courtesan of Benares; most of the advice

comes in the form of two long moral tales, one about a heartless
and therefore successful courtesan, Majar, and the other about a
tender-hearted and therefore foolish girl, Hralat, who makes the
mistake of falling in love with a client and eventually dies of a
broken heart.)

Mnasollsa or Abhilashitartha Chintmani by King Someshvara or

Somadeva III of the Chlukya dynasty by Kalyni A part of this
encyclopedia, the Yoshidupabhoga, is devoted to the Kamashastra.
(Manasolasa or Abhilashitachintamani) [1] [2]

Nagarasarvasva or Nagarsarvasva, by Bhikshu Padmashr, a tenthor eleventh-century Buddhist

Panchashyaka, Panchasakya, or Panchsayaka, by Jyotirshvara

Kavishekhara (fourteenth century)

Rasamanjari or Rasmanjari, by the poet Bhnudatta

Ratikallolini by Dikshita Samaraja

Ratirahasya, by Kokkoka

Ratimanjari, by the poet Jayadeva: a synthesis of the Smaradpika

by Minanatha

Ratiratnapradpika, by Praudha Devarja, fifteenth-century Maharaja

of Vijayanagara

Shringararasaprabandhadpika, by Kumara Harihara

Smaradpika, by Minanatha

Samayamatrka, by Ksemendra

Shrngaradipika, by Harihar

Smarapradpika or Smara Pradipa, by Gunkara (son of Vachaspati)

Stravritti by Naringha Shastri: eighteenth-century commentary on

the Kama Sutra

Vtsyyanastrasara, by the Kashmiri Kshemendra: eleventhcentury commentary on the Kama Sutra

An Overview of Cited Kamasastric Texts

Only a handful of kamasastric texts have been edited and published,
none critically. These texts and their commentaries refer to numerous
other kamasastras, some of which are, at present, lost, others of which
exist in manuscript form in various archival locations. Richard Schmidts
Beitrge zur Indischen Erotik contains colophon materials and other
descriptions for a great number of kamasastric works that exist in
manuscript form, or that are referred to by other Sanskrit texts; his work,
now nearly 100 years old, has not been updated. Therefore, any
generalizations about kamasastra must be made in recognition that a
great deal more work must be done before the true contours of the
discipline are revealed. Nevertheless,
I have included below short descriptions of the major kamasastric
works cited in this article.

The Kamasutra: The Treatise on Pleasure

The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana was likely composed around the third to
fourth centuries C.E., and is the earliest extant kamasastra. Written in
Sanskrit prose and verse, the text incorporates the now lost work of earlier
specialists in the field of erotic science, who are frequently cited by name,
though it often departs from the theories of those specialists or outright
disagrees with them. 60 In turn, later works of erotic science frequently
defer to the authority of the Kamasutra, explicitly modeling themselves
upon it or citing it in their treatments of various aspects of the subject.
The Kamasutras 1492 verses 61 are divided among seven chapters,
each subdivided into sections, with a grand total of 64 sections. 62 The
seven books are devoted to the following subjects: (1) general remarks
(including a discussion of the trivarga, the 64 arts, the lifestyle of the
cosmopolitan man, the reasons for taking another mans wife, and the
activities of the mans helpers and messengers); (2) intercourse (including
a typology of sex acts, embraces, kisses, nailmarks, teethmarks, regional
customs, sex positions, unusual sex acts, striking and making noises, sex
with the woman on top, the sexual strokes of a man, fellatio, the beginning
and end of sex, different kinds of sex, and love-spats); (3) maidens
(including courtship practices, reading signs and signals, and the varieties
of marriage); (4) wives (conduct of an only wife and of the wives in a
many-wived household); (5) other mens wives (procedures for
determining a course of action and for bringing it about, the various types
of messengers, the special circumstances of men in power and of their
wives); (6) prostitutes (the reasons for taking a lover,
60 Interestingly, later kamasastras often cite these same authorities,
but with reference to materials not found in the Kamasutra. Either
Vatsyayana rejected those materials, but later scholars resuscitated
them, or the authorities are more legendary than scholarly. A clear

example is the case of the fourfold classification of women into padmin,

citrin:, sankhin and hastin, said by the Ratirahasya (at 1.1.9) to be
based upon Gon:ikaputra; this typology is absent from the Kamasutra,
which claims to know the work of Gon:ikaputra (at 1.1.12) and which
quotes his work on several occasions (1.5.4; 1.5.31; 5.1.8; 5.4.9). All of the
citations of Gon:ikaputra found in the Kamasutra are on the subject of
adultery, and the text indicates that this was his area of specialization. I
am inclined to believe that there was a Gon:ikaputra, and that the
Kamasutras citations of his work are legitimate. Because later kamas
astras frequently ascribe to Vatsyayana opinions that are to be found
nowhere in the extant Kamasutra there may be grounds for skepticism
about their other textual references; nevertheless, I recognize the
possibility that other versions of the texts in question, including the
Kamasutra, may have been in use at different times and in different
places.
61 In the Sastri edition, the enumeration of which has been followed for
most modern translations of the text; Goswamis edition has 1,683
sutras, and the Kamasutra itself (at 1.1.23) indicates that it has 1,250
verses.
62 An alternate organizing principle divides the entire text into 36 units.
how to get him, how to keep him, how to get his money, how to get rid of
him, how to get an ex-lover back, how to calculate various types of gains
vs. various types of losses); (7) esoterica (sex-related recipes and bodymodification practices).

Yasodhara
The Jayaman_gala of Yasodhara, a thirteenth century commentary on
the Kamasutra, deserves consideration as kamasastra in its own
right. It is an extremely erudite and thoughtful commentary, thoroughly
engaged with the difficult text of the Kamasutra. Rather than providing
simple glosses, the Jayaman_gala attempts to explain the base text, not
only with reference to authorities inside and outside the field of kamas
astra, but also with a willingness to explore several different angles of
interpretation. Interestingly, Yasodhara makes no reference to other
kamasastric texts now available to us, such as the Ratirahasya or the
Nagarasarvasva.63
As noted in my article, there is a palpable difference between the
Kamasutra and later works of kamasastra, in both subject matter and
style. The Kamasutra describes a cosmopolitan social world that almost
disappears from later kamasastras, in which the dominant elements are
the physical requirements necessary for successful sex. 64 Subsequent
kamasastras are written in verse, whereas the Kamasutra is
predominantly prose with occasional verse citations or summaries; the
terminology of the later texts is much more poetic.

The Nagarasarvasva: The Complete Cosmopolitan

This work was composed sometime prior to the early fourteenth century
by an apparently Buddhist author, Padmasrijnana alias Padmapan:d:ita;
who was possibly a Nepalese Vajracarya.65 Unlike the prose
Kamasutra, it is written entirely in verse, yet it bears greater similarity in
outlook to the Kamasutra than any later kamasastra, especially in its
attention to skill in the arts and to reading signs and signals in a complex
social world.
Its 38 short chapters (in some cases, only a single verse in length) address
the following subjects: (1) the trivarga; (2) the nagaraka and his home;
(3) gemology; (4) perfumery; (5) signs using words; (6) signs using the
body; (7) signs using various objects; (8) signs using clothing; (9) signs
using tambula (betel preparations); (10) signs using flower-garlands; (11)
summary of use of signs; (12) recipes for love-magic; (13) typology of
womens erotic charms (havas, as per poetics); (14) types of sex acts,
based upon threefold classification of men and women; (15) means for
attaining another mans wife, and for protecting ones own; (16) typology
of women by age and the means of conquering them; (17) sites of
pleasure on a womans body and their order; (18) agitation of the nad:s
(nodes and channels of
63 Raghavan (1943) claims that the Jayaman_gala quotes Ratirahasya
3.8. The citation is given in the commentary on Kamasutra 2.1.11,
though it is not attributed. While the quote is nearly verbatim, it seems
quite possible that both texts may have drawn upon on some common
source, particularly as the Ratirahasya frequently cites other texts without
attribution. Perhaps the editing and publication of further commentaries
on the Ratirahasya will shed light on the question.
64 The only exception to this generalization is the Nagarasarvasvam, for
which a somewhat different but no less elaborate social world provides the
context for its prescriptions.
65 Lienhard (1979, pp. 9899). For extensive discussion of the date and
authorship of this text, see Ali (this volume).
female sexual response) using the penis, the fingers, or the mouth; (19)
the nature and function of the nad:s; (20) women of different regions;
(21) kisses with noise; (22) nailmarks; (23) teethmarks; (24) embraces;
(25) kisses without noise; (26) use of the tongue in the lovers mouth; (27)
sucking; (28) supine sex postures; (29) sidewise sex postures; (30) seated
sex postures; (31) upside-down sex postures; (32) standing sex postures;
(33) striking; (34) pressing and rubbing; (35) grasping the lovers body;
(36) use of the fingers; (37) the conduct of women of three classes (soft,
sharp, and middling); (38) the production of offspring.

The Ratirahasya: The Secrets of Passion

The date of the Ratirahasya of Kokkoka, alternatively referred to as the

Kokasastra, is, like the Nagarasarvasva, uncertain (see Ali, this volume).
The text, written in Sanskrit verse, refers to numerous scholars of kamas
astra, as well as to a text called the Gun:apataka, the existence of
which is attested elsewhere; for the section on love-magic, the
Ratirahasya draws upon a medical text called the Haramekhala, a
compendium of charms called the Ud:d:satantra, and the work of the
alchemist Nagarjuna.66 This verse treatise contains 15 chapters on the
following subjects: (1) the fourfold classification of women; (2) sites of
pleasure as influenced by the moon;
(3) the varieties of sex based upon the threefold classification of men and
women;
(4) classification of women by age, humour, and disposition (sattva); (5)
women of different countries; (6) embraces; (7) kisses; (8) nailmarks; (9)
external sex acts; (10) sex acts; (11) selection of maidens; (12) wives; (13)
the wives of others; (14) love-magic; and (15) aphrodisiacs and other sexrelated recipes.

The Pancasayaka: The Five Arrows

Composed in the thirteenth century by Jyotirisvara, this work (the title of
which refers to the five arrows of Kamadeva, the god of pleasure and
love) is comprised of five chapters (called arrows) on the following
subjects: (1) introduction, description of the nayaka and his companions,
the fourfold typology of women, the times for sex, the moon-influenced
sites of passion, typology of women by disposition (sattva); (2) typologies
of sex, types of men and women, of women by region, of women by
vaginal type, types of love, various recipes for perfume and cosmetics; (3)
love-magic recipes and mantras and further recipes for cosmetics and
beautification; (4) physiognomical practices with respect to prospective
brides and bridegrooms, varieties of marriage, reasons for taking or not
taking another mans wife, the characteristics of messengers, various sex
acts (embraces, kisses, nailmarks, teethmarks, grasping the hair); (5)
more sex acts (including manipulation of the female genitalia, various sex
postures, making noises) and the 8 varieties of heroine (as per poetics).67
66 Upadhyaya (1965, p. 1) has compiled the textual references to other
works and authors.
67 I take this description of the textual divisions from Schmidt (1911), as
the only currently available printed edition of the text, and the one I have
used for my citations, divides the text into seven rather than five chapters.

The Anaingarainga: The Stage/Colour of the Bodiless

One

Composed in the sixteenth century by Kalyan:amalla for a Muslim

nobleman Ladakhana, son of king Ahmad of the Lodi dynasty, this verse
kamasastra is divided into 10 chapters on the following subjects: (1)
fourfold typology of women, their sites of pleasure, pleasure-variations by
day and time; (2) moon-based calendar of pleasure-sites for the four types
of women; (3) threefold division of men and women by size, by duration
and by passion and the resultant permutations of intercourse (following
the Kamasutra), and an elaboration of the 3 varieties of men and
women; (4) further typologies of women (by age, humour, disposition
(sattva), seducibility or non-seducibility, vaginal-type); (5) women of
various countries; (6) various sex- and beauty-related recipes; (7) recipes
and charms for attracting others; (8) physiognomy as it pertains to
selection of a bride or bridegroom, seduction of other mens wives, use of
messengers, prohibited and recommended places for adultery; (9)
external sex acts (embraces, kisses, nailmarks, teethmarks, grasping the
hair); (10) sex acts (various postures, striking, making sounds), and the 8
types of heroines.

Kandarpacud:aman:i: The Crest-jewel of the God of

Passion
This is a verse rendition of the Kamasutra, composed by one
Virabhadradeva in the sixteenth century. It offers almost nothing in the
way of new content, except for an alternative, fivefold physiological
classification of sex actors (at 2.1.22).

Ratimanjar: The Blossom of Erotic Delight

A composition of 60 verses by Jayadeva sometime between the fourteenth
and sixteenth centuries. While this kamasastra is extremely short and
limited in content, it contains several novel data: the assertion (at verse
17) that the system of the candrakalas might be applied to men, and a
division (at verse 34) of the penis into two types, the club and the
bamboo-flute, the only description of the penis in any kamasastric
text with which I am familiar.

Pururava
Pururava can be seen an early pre-V author on Kama Sastra who authored
Manasija Sutra and Kadambara Sweekarana Sutras. These works have 52
and 33 Sutras respectively. Their small size and the contents of MS
depicting the core subject of sexual union and Kadambara Sweekarana
Sutra dealing in initiation of young girls to drinking wine followed by
copulation go in favour of our conjecture. These do not betray any
knowledge of Bahravya or Vatsynyana.

For Pururava it is said that he practiced sexology and its application with
Urvashi for 86000 years. The vedic period reference to their love dalliance
has been mentioned earlier.
The story of Puntrava and Urvashi was very popular from the vedic period
and it was immortalised in Kalidasas Vikramorvashiyam.
This sequence of styles of writing also points to the fact that Punirava's
works were written prior to Babhravya's & Vartyayana's works. There
appear quotations from Varsvayana & Bharata in the commentaries on MS
& KSS.
On both these sets of places Pururava lays down his observations and
does not seek support or similarity of news with other authors nor does he
betray any knowledge of older works. It is the commentary writers who
quote parallels from Vatsyayana & Bharata.
The commentary on KSS was written by Rajarshi Bharata who ca not be
the author of Natya Sashtra who is called Barata Muni instead.

Natya Sastra by Bharat Muni

As for Natya Sastra writer Bharata Muni, he seems to follow a different
school of Kama Shashta. The date of NS is somewhere between 2 nd Cen,
BC to 2nd Cen. AD. There are subjects which are common in Kama Sutra &
NS viz categorisation of Nayikas.
Bharata classifies them under Bahya, Abhyantcma &: Bnilyabhycuitara.
This terminology and these concepts do not find place in KS of
Vatsyclyana, Vntsynyana also does not deal with eight types of Vastika
mentioned by Bharata. Bharata's enumeration of types of men under
chatura, Uttarma, Madhya, Neech, and Pravrttakal does not appear in
Kama sutra. Vatsyayan instead speaks of Bhadra, Datta, Krinchirmara &
Panchal. Similarly Bharata's classification of females as Pa mini Chitrini
Shakhini & Hastini in Natya Shashtrn (XXII) is ignored by Vatsyayana
although Kokkoka and Kalyanarmalla had taken this into account. When
Bharata is a predecessor and an eminent author on overlapping subjects it
was natural that Vatiorayana should have acknowledged him as he did in
case or the others.

Kama Samuha by Ananta

Ananta was a Nagar brahmin living in Ahmedabad (Ahmedabad as we
know was built by Ahmad Shah the ruler of Gujarat during 1410-1441 A.D.
which matches with the date of Ananta. In writing Kama Samuha, Ananta
made extensive use of verses of others, so much so that half the book is
accounted for by borrowing's from other authors and poets. But for the
fact that it was written on subjects related to Kama it could as well be
treated as an anthology.

There are 799 verses. The work starts with description of seasons and
covers many topics of Kama Shastra viz. description of each and every
limb of female body, initiation of of young girl in love, pangs of separation
from beloved, lover's quarrel, erogenous zones of female body,
errogeneously relevant dates of the month, classification of women in
love, woman with no such emotion, chaste women, wanton women et al.
before closing the work with 'detachment from worldly pleasure'.
Many core topics of Kama Sastra have been passed by in Kama Samuha.

Janavashya of Kallarasa
Janavashya or Janavasya ascribed to Kallarasa, is a Kannada work of 15th
century. It is based more on Ratirahasya of Kakkoka than on Kamasutra.
Kallarasa tried to make 'Ratirahasya' more homely. The inquisitive young
wife asks her husband to teach her lessons in love. The husband responds
to query in a methodical way.
The work is divided into thirteen chapters. The classification of women is
into four categories. Kallarasa describes twelve ways of hugging and
twelve ways of kissing. Description of an ideal bedroom and requirements
are mentioned. A section on courtesans is included.

Yosidupabhoga in Mansollasa of Somadeva

Manasollasa, written by King Somadeva III (1127-1138 A.D.), is a Sanskrit
encyclopedia, divided into five books. The section on erotica,
Yosidupabhoga (enjoyment of women), classifies women into six types:
Chitrini, Padmini, Hastini, Sankhini, Mrugi, and Vadava.
He says, " ... a virtuous woman is one who is beautiful, youthful, is a
musician and a dancer. However, it is extremely difficult to find a woman
who is excellent in every accomplishment of life. Therefore one has to try
to get a woman as best as physically possible."
He further warns about the physical incompatibility of "Linga" and "Yoni",
the male and female organs. He insists that they should be complimentary
each other. However, if linga is slightly larger it could be adjusted. But
an extra large linga should be avoided at all costs as it may rupture yoni
itself. Similarly a woman with too small or very large yoni should not be
selected for bhoga (union) as she fails to satisfy the man.