The Kama-Sutra. Erotic figures in Indian art

text by Marc de Smedt

Käma-Sūtra-the very name is laden with erotic associations. Even those who have never read
it know, or believe, that it is a treatise on the numerous posturesof love described in Indian tradition. It is true that the Käma-Sūtra is a treatise on love written about the 3rd century AD by a Brahman, Vatsyayana, who presented, in a condensed form, a much older body of learning which was already to be found in the ancient sacred and esoteric texts of India.
However, in that country which gave rise to one of the great civilizations of the world, the
notion of love was not confined merely to the few dozen movements and contorsions which may
be observed in amorous behavior. The erotic gestures are actually nothing more than the culmination of an entire climate, of a veritable parade of love in which eyes, hands, perfumes, colors, jewels, poetry, music and an assortment of signs all convey the fine variations of feeling, and all the tonalities of desire and subtle differences of approach.
Quite as much as a new editionof the Käma-Sûtra, this book is an album of the most remarkable erotic and amorous illustrations from Indian art. An often extreme realism, which sheds an
astonishing light on the texts, is combined with an enchanting decorative quality which reveals much of the genius peculiar to a great people.
Here the sexual act is not relegated to the shadows of the unconscious and its phantoms; instead it is magnified, and illuminated with a light which properly displays all its countless facets. The Käma-Sūtra is therefore an educational manual which, though written for one particular type of society, carries a message of great relevance to our modern world: its refined sentiments, gentle preliminary voluptuousness and a variety of shared postures amount to a set of esthetic precepts conducive to pleasure. This is a romanticism of enjoyment which acquires its full meaning when interwoven with the superb miniatures offered in this book.
This is a Kāma-Sūtra such as has never been published before : a tribute to the magic of love, a pratical guide, a virtuoso display of the art of seduction, an introduction to the fairyland of an ancient culture, a study in morality and a hymn to life.