Vatsyayana

Vatsyayana | Briefly About Vatsyayana

Vātsyāyana, a brahmin was an ancient Indian philosopher, and is known for authoring the Kama Sutra. Vatsyayana lived in India during the second or third century CE, probably in Pataliputra (modern day Patna in Bihar).

As per Author Jaya Misra who wrote Kama: The Story of Kama Sutra,  “I would call him the first feminist of India. He wrote the Kama Sutra during barbaric times when women were treated as receptacles. He had a very contemporary thought process towards women and he wanted to explore that.”

Hardly anything is known about Vātsyāyana from sources outside the Kāmasūtra itself. Some believe that his disciples went at his instructions, at the request of the Hindu Kings in the Himalayan range, to influence the hill tribals to give up the pagan cult of sacrifices. Others have said that he created the legend of Tara among the hill tribes as a tantric goddess.

The Kama Sutra, or Aphorisms on Love, has survived at least 1400 years as a dominant text on sexual relations between men and women. Vatsyayana claimed to have written the Kama Sutra while a religious student, “in contemplation of the Deity”, but careful cataloging of practices in various of the Indian states indicate much more emphasis on kama, or sensual gratification.

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