Complete Kama Sutra : The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text

"Danilou's new and complete translation of the Kama Sutra is one of his masterpieces. It is all enchantment, a world of refined sensation totally without humbug. Our debt to his scholarship and humanity is immeasurable."

--Times Literary Supplement

"Noted Indiologist Danilou provides a fluent and literal translation of the entire Sanskrit original. An important advance over Burton's Victorian abridgment."

--Library Journal

"Dildo was translated as 'medicine.' Lesbian was just 'corrupt woman.' No wonder we couldn't follow any of the instructions in the Kama Sutra. But now, there's a new translation of the oldest sex manual, the first since the Victorians brought it home and hid it under the mattress."

--The Guardian Weekend

"Alain Danielou is the foremost living interpreter of Hinduism. His books are remarkable for their clarity, scholarship, and uninhibited celebration of erotic and mystical ecstasy."

--Interview Magazine

"Danielou's elegant rendering includes not only the entire sutra, much of which is excluded in other versions, but two essential commentaries as well. More than just a pillow book, the Kama Sutra is a guide to the labyrinth of sexual etiquette, from how to bathe before meeting a lover to how lovers should entertain each other after making love."

--Amazon.com

Inner Traditions International Web Site, July, 2000

This definitive volume is the first modern translation of Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra to include two essential commentaries: the Jayamangala of Yashodhara and the modern Hindi commentary by Devadatta Shastri. Alain Danilou spent four years comparing versions of the Kama Sutra in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, and English, drawing on his intimate experience of India, to preserve the full explicitness of the original. I wanted to demystify India, he writes, to show that a period of great civilization, of high culture, is forcibly a period of great liberty.

Editor's Note
Introduction by Alain Danielou

Part One: General Remarks

1. Contents of the Book
2. The Three Aims of Life
3. The Acquisition of Knowledge
4. The Conduct of the Well-bred Townsman
5. Reflections on Intermediaries Who Assist the Lover in His Enterprises

Part Two: Amorous Advances

1. Stimulation of Erotic Desire
2. Embraces
3. Petting and Caresses
4. The Art of Scratching
5. Biting
6. On Copulation and Special Tastes
7. Blows and Sighs
8. Virile Behavior in Women
9. Superior Coition or Fellation
10. Preludes and Conclusions to the Game of Love

Part Three: Acquiring a Wife

1. Forms of Marriage
2. How to Relax the Girl
3. Ways of Obtaining the Girl
4. How to Manage Alone
5. Union by Marriage

Part Four: Duties and Privileges of the Wife

1. Conduct of the Only Wife
2. Conduct of the Chief Wife and Other Wives

Part Five: Other Men's Wives

1. Behavior of Woman and Man
2. Encounters to Get Acquainted
3. Examination of Sentiments
4. The Task of the Go-between
5. The King's Pleasures
6. Behavior in the Gynoecium

Part Six: About Courtesans

1. Advice of the Assistants on the Choice of Lovers
2. Looking for a Steady Lover
3. Ways of Making Money
4. Renewing Friendship with a Former Lover
5. Occasional Profits
6. Profits and Losses: Reflections on Doubts Concerning the

Advantages and Disadvantages of Relations

Part Seven: Occult Practices

1. Success in Love
2. Mythical and Historical Characters and Authors Mentioned in the Text
3. Works Consulted
4. Glossary I: Plants, Herbs, Spices, and Sundry Products
5. Glossary II: Special Terms

Index
About the Translator