THE KAMA SUTRA

Ah, the Kama Sutra... an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Written as a guide to the "art-of-living" well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life.

According to sexpositions.club:

The Kamasutra is a scientific treatise about experience of true love,aimed to settle and harmonize a multi-level relationship a woman and a man may have, starting from every day’s life to intimate and inwardness of their match, providing the reaching of Kama (sensual satisfaction). According to the literal translation from Sanskrit, “Kama Sutra” stands for “the Rule Book of Kama” or “Theory of Kama”. Therefore a question appears, what does the Kama mean to us and what is the purpose of it? Kama is a sensual part of life that consists of physical and emotional pleasure. The point is that Indian culture emphasizes four main virtues, e.g. four main life goals which an average Indian should gain:

• Kama represents a sensuous aspect of life that unveils a physical and emotional enjoyment.

• Artha stands for cognition, competence, material prosperity, glory and power.

• Dharma means morality and wisdom.

• Moksha gives liberation.

These virtues are of equal importance and are essential for every human being. Thus, “Kama” that is responsible for a sensual pleasure, is the first step in one’s way to perception of his or her divine origins. That’s why the book is called “The Kamasutra” or “The Kama Sutra”. The Kama Sutra is made up of seven books, each discussing and describing a different form of pleasure through which one can achieve kama. A common misconception is that the length of the Kama Sutra 's seven books dictates sexual intercourse; in truth, only one chapter in one of these seven books talks about sexual positions.

When Indian philosopher Vatsyayana was writing the text that would be known as the Kama Sutra a few thousand years ago, there's no way he could have anticipated the impact his work would have on the world. Nowadays, the words "Kama Sutra" are a synonym for sex. If it seems strange that a 2,000-year-old text continues to carry such impact on our erotic imaginations, it gets even stranger when you realize that most of the Kama Sutra isn’t actually about sex.

Unlike the many hot-and-heavy sex manuals that bear its name, the original Kama Sutra is a philosophical text offering musings on how to have a rewarding life and fruitful relationships; to the extent that it’s a sex manual, it’s mostly because it doesn’t shy away from the notion that sex (and interesting sex positions) is a healthy and normal part of life. (Of course, given that this is a 2,000-year-old text, it’s very heteronormative — while queer sex and non-normative gender identities do make appearances in the text, the general assumption is that the reader’s primary sexual relationship will be a heterosexual one.)

But somewhere down the line (and probably due to more than a little orientalism), the non-sex parts of the Kama Sutra got forgotten, and the sex parts got expanded upon — and, in some cases, totally reinvented (shocking as it may seem, Vatsyayana did not write about sex acts involving detachable shower heads). So what’s actually in the original Kama Sutra? A wide variety of stuff — including, yes, lots of sex positions. Let’s take a look at the sex positions endorsed by the ancient tome.

DISCLAIMER: in the Kama Sutra, there is mention of vaginas and pensises of all different sizes, shapes, and lengths. They are categorized as hare, bull, or stallion or a doe, mare, or cow-elephant. I'd like to point out with this that there is no such thing as the perfect sized penis or perfect sized vagina. Everyones genitals comes in different shapes, sizes, and colors and you shouldn't be ashamed of that!!!

(Images taken from refinery29.com)

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Blossoming (utphallaka)

“The blossoming is realized by lowering the woman’s head and raising her vagina,” writes Vatsyayana of a position that’s somewhere between a Pilates bridge and missionary. What’s the point of elevating your vulva over your head (aside from getting a sweet core workout mid-sex)?

To understand, it helps to learn a little bit more about one of the Kama Sutra’sobsessions: relative penis and vagina size. According to the text, penises and vaginas both come in three variations. A penis might be a hare, a bull, or a stallion, while a vagina might be a doe, a mare, or a cow-elephant. If a penis and vagina aren’t well matched in size, that can spell doom — though positions like “blossoming” are intended to help a smaller vagina open up to accommodate a larger member. Fascinating, right?!

Queen of Heaven (Indranika)

Another entrant into the catalog of positions intended to ease a vagina open and expand its capacity, the "Queen of Heaven" (which, the text notes, requires practice) involves a man wrapping his thighs around his female partner and forcefully opening the vagina with his hands. The name is apparently an ode to the wife of Indra, the King of Heaven, who is credited with inventing this position.

Envelopment (veshititaka)

But the Kama Sutra isn’t just concerned with helping wee little vaginas stretch to encompass massive penises; it also takes very seriously the task of helping more "roomy vaginas" and smaller penises find pleasure when paired together. There are a number of ways to do this, but one of the most interesting is "envelopment," which involves the woman crossing her legs, one over the other, while being penetrated.

Expanding (vijrimbhitaka)

If you’ve ever taken a pilates class and thought to yourself mid-leg lift, Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if I were getting railed right now?, then this position is definitely for you. Another strategy in the catalogue of ways to help a vagina increase its capacity in anticipation of an extra package, expanding seems like it would get exhausting pretty quick. But maybe that’s why you’re doing all those leg lifts in the first place?

Mare (vadavaka)

Turns out "mare" isn’t just a term for average-sized vaginas: It’s also a complex sex position (one, the Kama Sutra commentary notes, that’s vulgar and mostly used by sex workers) wherein the vagina seizes the penis “without moving.” Confused? The commentary expands upon this description to note that, like a mare with a stallion, this position involves sliding the penis into the vagina without any kissing or embracing, apparently in cowgirl style.

The broken flute (venudaritaka)

After its lengthy exploration of how to have good sex (even if you’re struggling with a supposedly mismatched penis-and-vagina set), the Kama Sutra turns to a different realm of positions — one that might align a little bit more with the popular vision of wild and crazy Kama Sutra sex. The "broken flute," involves a woman lying down, putting her foot on her male partner’s shoulder, and then taking it off and putting the other foot on his other shoulder, like some sort of mid-coital Rockette.

Lotus (padmasana)

Think of a yoga lotus position. Now imagine pulling off that bodily contortion and simultaneously inserting a penis into a vagina. Finally, a new flexibility goal to work towards!

While you’re debating whether you’re flexible enough to pull off that sex act, consider this interesting tidbit: The Kama Sutra does not endorse oral sex, unless you happen to be a “corrupt woman” (read: promiscuous lady) or a lesbian, servant, or sanvahika, which is a woman who does arduous work. Among the tome’s anti-oral prohibitions are lines noting that “one is defiled by the contact of the sex with the face” and “embracing the vulva as one embraces the mouth is not recommended” — though interestingly, these prohibitions don’t prevent the book from detailing a handful of blow-job techniques.

The spin (paravrittaka)

Delving further into the territory of “Wait, what?” sex positions is "the spin," which involves perching backwards over your seated paramour, then getting spun around 180 degrees, penis still inside you. If you’re starting to think that maybe female pleasure wasn’t the primary goal of the Kama Sutra, you wouldn’t be wrong. Early in the text, commentary notes that “only lesbians have no problems” — and while this is technically referring to the idea that heterosexual women supposedly didn’t have time to study religion, economy, erotic science, and music (because they’re too busy catering to their husbands’ needs), it seems like an apt response to some of these sex positions, too.

Peasant

India’s long been a class conscious society, so it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Kama Sutra commentary divides sex into city and country styles. In the countrified version of sex, a woman sits on her lover’s lap and opens her thighs. Why is this the way peasants do it? I’ll let you decide.

Bent (bhagnaka)

Raise your thighs in the air like you just don’t care! Then clasp them with your arms, because holding your thighs up can get pretty tiring. From here, the male partner in this position is supposed to lift his knees, grip his partner, and go to town on her. Sounds good to me!

High pressure (utpiditaka)

High pressure — a position that’s apparently an exploration of the erotic side of chest compression — involves a woman folding her legs into her chest while her partner presses his body on top of hers and wraps his arms around her neck. “The latter, crushing her with his chest, possesses her,” the commentary notes, never afraid to veer into ominous sounding territory. Left unsaid: how, exactly, a couple manages to have enough energy to actually have sex after they’ve successfully crushed all the air out of one another’s lungs. The world may never know...

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The Kama Sutra has documented hundreds of different sex positions, but I don't think I need to cover them all in this blog post. If you'd like to read more about Kama Sutra sex positions head over to this website https://www.netmums.com/life/100-kamasutra-sex-positions to check out over 100 different sex positions with images included!