Kāmaśāstra
Kāmaśāstra (Skt., kāma, ‘love’, + śāstra, ‘teaching’). Any of a class of Skt. texts concerned with kāma—love, sexuality, and sensual enjoyment.
Bābhravya is said to have condensed the tradition of Kāmaśāstra into a work of 150 chapters in seven adhikaraṇa (sections), forming the basis of a school of sexology. The adhikaraṇa are: general principles; courtship; sexual union; marriage; how to steal other men's wives; prostitutes; and potions, spells, aphrodisiacs, mantras, and devices.
The most influential Kāmaśāstra texts are the Kāmasūtra of Vātsyāyana (c.450 CE), and the Anan̄ga-ran̄ga (Theatre of the Love God), attributed to Kalyāṇamalla (?1460–1530 CE). Other classic Kāmaśāstra texts include Dāmodaragupta's Kuṭṭanī-mata (Lessons of a Bawd), Kṣemendra's Samaya-māṭrikā (The Harlot's Breviary), Koka's Rati-rahasya (Mysteries of Passion), and Jyotirīśa's Pañcaśāyaka (Five Arrows). Hundreds of popular Kāmaśāstra texts exist, in which the Hindu deities enact the various sexual postures as paradigms for human performance.
Bābhravya is said to have condensed the tradition of Kāmaśāstra into a work of 150 chapters in seven adhikaraṇa (sections), forming the basis of a school of sexology. The adhikaraṇa are: general principles; courtship; sexual union; marriage; how to steal other men's wives; prostitutes; and potions, spells, aphrodisiacs, mantras, and devices.
The most influential Kāmaśāstra texts are the Kāmasūtra of Vātsyāyana (c.450 CE), and the Anan̄ga-ran̄ga (Theatre of the Love God), attributed to Kalyāṇamalla (?1460–1530 CE). Other classic Kāmaśāstra texts include Dāmodaragupta's Kuṭṭanī-mata (Lessons of a Bawd), Kṣemendra's Samaya-māṭrikā (The Harlot's Breviary), Koka's Rati-rahasya (Mysteries of Passion), and Jyotirīśa's Pañcaśāyaka (Five Arrows). Hundreds of popular Kāmaśāstra texts exist, in which the Hindu deities enact the various sexual postures as paradigms for human performance.
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Kāmaśāstra