Scan barcode
inept_scholar's review
3.0
I have been interested in reading this historical treatise by Vatsyayana for sometime now. Though often mistook as a pornographic book (Thank you Orientalism!), it is actually intended as a behavioral guide for a civilized and refined citizen who is expected to be trained in the ways of the erotics, the arts as well as the art of making money.
Unfortunately the translation by Alain Danielou isn't up to par and also because he takes too much liberty in translation of the original text.
Still it is a very eclectic text and does give you an idea of the social and cultural makeup of the period in which it was originally written. But it is also important to remember who the ideal audience for such a treatise would be. In the case of the Kamasutra, that would be almost always be an upper caste bourgeois male.
Unfortunately the translation by Alain Danielou isn't up to par and also because he takes too much liberty in translation of the original text.
Still it is a very eclectic text and does give you an idea of the social and cultural makeup of the period in which it was originally written. But it is also important to remember who the ideal audience for such a treatise would be. In the case of the Kamasutra, that would be almost always be an upper caste bourgeois male.
More...