The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra
By Vatasyayana
Source: "The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra"
(Translated by Indra Sinha)
* Lying Down Positions:
* Lying-down Positions - Samputa Group:
* Positions From The Medieval Texts:
* Sitting Positions:
* Rear-Entry Positions:
* Standing Positions:
* Oral Pleasures -- Fellatio Techniques:
* Oral Pleasures -- Cunnilingus Techniques:
* Role Reversal:
* Love Potions and Sex Aids
o To Enslave a Lover:
o To Increase Potency:
o To Cope With Impotence:
Lying Down Positions:
Indrani draws up both her knees
until they nuzzle the curves of her breasts;
her feet find her lover's armpits.
Small girls love this posture,
but becoming a goddess takes a lot of practice.
She cups and lifts her buttocks with her palms,
spreads wide her thighs,
and digs in her heels besides her hips,
while you caress her breasts:
this is "Utphallaka" (The Flower in Bloom).
Grasping the ankles
of the round hipped woman, whose buttocks
are like two ripe gourds,
raise her beautiful thighs
and spread the thigh-joints widely.
Full of desire, saying sweet words,
approach her with your body stiff as a pole
and drive straight forward
to pierce her lotus and join your limbs:
experts call it "Madandhvaja" (The Flag of Cupid).
Catch hold of her two feet,
raising them till they press upon her breasts
and her legs form a rough circle.
Clasp her neck and make love to her:
this is "Ratisundara" (Aphrodite's Delight).
Lift the lady's feet until her soles
lie perfectly parallel,
one to each side of her slender throat,
cup her breasts and enjoy her:
this technique is "Uthkanta" (Throat-high).
Your lovely wife, lying on the bed,
grasps her own feet
and draws them up until they reach her hair;
you catch her breasts and make love:
this is "Vyomapada" (Sky-foot).
The round-thighed woman on the bed
grasps her ankles and raises high her lotus feet;
you strike her to the root, kissing
and slapping open-palmed between her breasts:
this is "Markata" (The Monkey).
She lies flat on her back,
you sit between her parted knees, raise them,
hook her feet over your thighs,
catch hold of her breasts, and enjoy her:
this is "Manmathpriya" (Dear to Cupid).
Lying-down Positions - Samputa Group:
If your penis is too small for a woman,
the "Samputa" group of postures should be used:
"Samputa" (the Jewel Case),
"Pidita" (the Squeeze), "Veshtita (the Entwined)
and "Vadavaka" (the Mare's Trick).
In Samputa your legs lie along hers
caressing their whole length from toes to thighs.
Your lover may be below you,
or you may both lie on your sides,
in which case she should always be on your left.
In Pidita the lovers' thighs
are interlaced and squeeze each other in rhythm.
In Veshtita she crosses her thighs
or rolls each one inward,
thus greatly strengthening her yoni's grip.
When, like a mare cruelly gripping
a stallion, your lover
traps and milks your penis with her vagina,
it is "Vadavaka" (the Mare's Trick),
which can only be perfected with long practice.
When she uses it, a woman
should cease to kiss her lover
and simply hold the lock.
Courtesans are adept at Vadavaka,
and it's a speciality with ladies from Andhra(*).
*The South-Eastern state of India.
Positions From The Medieval Texts:
When lovers, with legs stretched rigid
and feet caressing feet,
make love according to their hearts' desire,
"tantra" scholars call it "Sampada" (Equal Feet)
and agree it is a way to ecstasy.
Stiff as a pole in the bed's center,
she lies making love,
cooing and warbling like a woodpigeon,
the jewel of her clitoris well-polished:
this is Mausala" (the Pestle).
When she lies on her back
with her two thighs pressed tightly together
and you make love to her,
keeping your thighs outside hers,
it is "Gramya" (the Rustic).
If, encircling and trapping
her thighs with yours,
you grip so hard that she cries out in pain,
it is "Ratipasha" (Love's Noose),
a device most charming to the ladies.
Her limbs, entwined in yours
like tendrils of fragrant jasmine creeper,
draw taut and slowly relax
in the gentle rhythm of linga and yoni:
this is "Lataveshta" (the Clinging Creeper).
She draws her limbs together,
clasping her knees tightly to her breasts,
her yoni, like an opening bud,
offered up for pleasure:
this is known as "Mukula" (the Bud).
When she draws up her knees
and you clamp yours about her raised thighs,
trapping them in a tight knot
while riding saddle upon her buttocks
and kissing her, it is "Shankha" (the Couch).
Sitting Positions:
Seated, mouth to mouth,
arms against arms, thighs against thighs:
this is "Kaurma" The Tortoise).
If the lovers' thighs, still joined, are raised,
it is "Paravartita" (Turning).
If within the cave of her thighs
you sit rotating your hips like a black bee,
it is "Markata" (The Monkey).
And if, in this pose, you turn away from her,
it is "Marditaka" (Crushing Spices).
She sits with raised thighs,
her feet placed either side of your waist;
"linga" (penis) enters "yoni" (vagina);
you rain hard blows upon her body:
this is "Kshudgaga" (Striking).
When your wife sits
with both knees drawn tight to her body
and you mirror this posture,
it is known to experts in the art of love
as "Yugmapada" (The Foot Yoke).
Seated erect, the lovely girl
folds one leg to her body
and stretches the other along the bed,
while you mirror her actions:
this is "Yugmapada" (The Feet Yoke).
If, with left leg extended,
she encircles your waist with her right leg,
laying its ankle across her left thigh,
and you do the same,
it is "Svastika" (The Swastika)*.
*An ancient good-luck talisman based on the symbolism of a
cross whirling sun-wise. The Nazis used it the wrong way
round, whirling widdershins, and the Indian pundits
always said this was sacrilegious and would doom them.
Sitting face to face in bed,
her breasts pressed tight against your chest,
let each of you lock heels
behind the other's waist,
and lean back clasping one another's wrists.
Now, set the swing gently in motion,
your beloved, in pretended fear,
clinging to your body with her flawless limbs,
cooing and moaning with pleasure:
this is "Dolita" (The Swing).
If, seated face to face,
your toes caress the lovely woman's nipples,
her feet press your chest
and you make love holding each other's hands
it is "Kaurma" (The Tortoise).
Seated, the lady raises
one foot to point vertically over her head
and steadies it with her hands,
offering up her "yoni" for lovemaking:
this is "Mayura" (the Peacock).
If, sitting facing her,
you grasp her ankles and fasten them like a chain
behind your neck, and she
grips her toes as you make love,
it is the delightful "Padma" (the Lotus).
Sitting erect, grip your lover's waist
and pull her on to you,
your loins continuously leaping together
with a sound like the flapping of elephants' ears:
this is "Kirtibandha" (the Knot of Fame).
Kneeling between her thighs,
tickle her breasts and under her arms,
call her 'my lovely darling'
and print deep nailmarks around her nipples:
thus "Jaya" (Victory) is expounded.
Rear-Entry Positions:
She bends well forward and grips
the bedstead, her buttocks raised high;
cup your hands to serpents' hoods
and squeeze her jar-shaped (sic) breasts together:
this is "Dhenuka" (the Milch Cow).
If you mount her like a dog,
gripping her waist,
and she twists round to gaze into your face,
experts in the art of love say
it is "Svanaka" (the Dog).
If the lady, eager for love,
goes on all fours, humping her back like a doe,
and you enjoy her from behind,
rutting as though you'd lost all human nature,
it is "Hirana" (the Deer).
When, with lotus-feet
set well-apart on the ground, she bends,
placing a hand upon each thigh,
and you take her from the rear,
it is "Gardabha" (the Ass).
If she lies on her stomach
and you seize her ankles in one hand,
lift them high and make love,
tilting her chin back with your other hand,
it is "Marjara" (the Cat).
She lies on her front,
grasping her ankles in her own hands
and pulling them up behind her:
this difficult posture is known to experts
as "Mallaka" (the Wrestler).
When your mistress lays
breasts, arms and forehead to the carpet,
raising her buttocks high,
and you guide your penis into her yoni,
it is "Aibha" (the Elephant).
You lift her ankles high;
she draws up
and extends her legs as though she were
crawling through the air:
this is "Hastika" (the Elephant).
She stands on palms and feet;
you stand behind her
and lift one of her feet to your shoulder,
enjoying the lovely girl:
this is "Traivikrama" (the Stride).
Seize her feet and lift them high
(like a wheel barrow),
drive your penis into her yoni
and pleasure her with vigorous strokes:
this is "Kulisha" (the Thunderbolt).
You kneel, as in archery,
take her on your lap
and bend her forward till her breasts
are pressed to her thighs:
this is "Ekabandha" (One Knot).
Lying on her side, facing away,
the fawn-eyed girl
offers you her buttocks
and your penis penetrates the house of love:
this is "Nagabandha" (the Elephant).
Standing Positions:
And now for the love postures
with which sculptors adorn our temple walls.
When a couple make love standing,
or leaning against a wall or a pillar,
it is called "Sthita" (Steadied).
When the woman sits in her lover's
cradled hands, her arms around his neck,
thighs gripping his waist,
her feet pushing back and forth against a wall,
it is "Avalambitaka" (Suspended).
When, catching and crushing your lover
in the cage of your arms,
you force her knees apart with yours
and sink slowly into her,
it is "Dadhyayataka" (Churning Curds).
When she leans against a wall,
planting her feet as widely apart as possible,
and you enter the cave
between her thighs, eager for lovemaking,
it is "Sammukha" (Face-to-face).
If, as you lean against the wall,
your lady twines her thighs around yours,
locks her feet to your knees,
and clasps your neck, making love
very passionately, it is "Dola" (the Swing).
When your lover draws up one leg,
allowing the heel
to nestle just behind your knee,
and you make love, embracing her forcefully,
it is "Traivikrama" (the Stride).
If you catch one of her knees
firmly in your hand
and stand making love with her
while her hands explore and caress your body,
it is "Tripadam" (the Tripod).
If she raises one leg
and you catch hold of her little foot,
caressing her breasts
and telling her how much you love her,
it is "Ekapada" (One Foot).
Her foot pressed to your heart,
your arms encircling and supporting her,
lean back against the wall
and enjoy the lovely girl:
this is "Veshta" (the Encircling).
She stands against the wall,
lotus-hands on hips,
long, lovely fingers reaching to her navel.
Cup her foot in your palm
and let your free hand caress your angel's limbs.
Put your arm around her neck
and enjoy her as she leans there at her ease.
Vatsyayana (the author) answer others
who knew the art of love in its great days
called this posture "Tala" (the Palm).
If you lean back to a wall
and your lover, clinging to your neck,
places both her feet
in your palms and thus makes love,
this is "Dvitala" (Two Palms).
If you lift your lover
by passing your elbows under her knees
and gripping her buttocks
while she hangs fearfully from your neck,
it is "Janukurpara" (the Knee Elbow).
Your wife grips your neck
and locks her legs around your waist:
this is "Kirti" (Fame) - a posture
not described in "Kama Sutra" or "Ratirahasya".
Never try it with heavy girls.
Oral Pleasures -- Fellatio Techniques:
When your lover catches your penis
in her hand and, shaping
her lips to an 'O', lays them lightly to its tip,
moving her head in tiny circles,
this first step is called "Nimitta" (Touching).
Next, grasping its head in her hand,
she clamps her lips tightly about the shaft,
first on one side then the other,
taking great care that her teeth don't hurt you:
this is "Parshvatoddashta" (Biting at the Sides).
Now she takes the head of your penis
gently between her lips,
by turns pressing, kissing it tenderly
and pulling at its soft skin:
this is "Bahiha-samdansha" (the Outer Pincers).
If next she allows the head to slide
completely into her mouth
and presses the shaft firmly between her lips,
holding a moment before pulling away,
it is "Antaha-samdansha" (the Inner Pincers).
When, taking your penis in her hand
and making her lips very round,
she presses fierce kisses along its whole length,
sucking as she would at your lower lip,
it is called "Chumbitaka" (Kissing).
If, while kissing, she lets her tongue
flick all over your penis
and then, pointing it, strikes repeatedly
at the sensitive glans-tip,
it becomes "Parimrshtaka" (Striking at the Tip).
And now, fired by passion, she takes
your penis deep into her mouth,
pulling upon it and sucking as vigorously
as though she were stripping clean a mango-stone:
this is "Amrachushita" (Sucking a Mango).
When she senses that your orgasm
is imminent she swallows up the whole penis,
sucking and working upon it
with lips and tongue until you spend:
this is "Sangara" (Swallowed Whole).
Oral Pleasures -- Cunnilingus Techniques:
With delicate fingertips,
pinch the arched lips of her house of love
very very slowly together,
and kiss them as though you kissed her lower lip:
this is "Adhara-sphuritam" (the Quivering Kiss).
Now spread, indeed cleave asunder,
that archway with your nose and let your tongue
gently probe her "yoni" (vagina),
with your nose, lips and chin slowly circling:
it becomes "Jihva-bhramanaka" (the Circling Tongue).
Let your tongue rest for a moment
in the archway to the flower-bowed Lord's temple
before entering to worship vigorously,
causing her seed to flow:
this is "Jihva-mardita" (the Tongue Massage).
Next, fasten your lips to hers
and take deep kisses
from this lovely one, your beloved,
nibbling at her and sucking hard at her clitoris:
this is called "Chushita" (Sucked).
Cup, lift her young buttocks,
let your tongue-tip probe her navel, slither down
to rotate skilfully in the archway
of the love-god's dwelling and lap her love-water:
this is "Uchchushita" (Sucked Up).
Stirring the root of her thighs,
which her own hands
are gripping and holding widely apart,
your fluted tongue drinks at her sacred spring:
this is "Kshobhaka" (Stirring).
Place your darling on a couch,
set her feet to your shoulders, clasp her waist,
suck hard and let your tongue stir
her overflowing love-temple:
this is called "Bahuchushita" (Sucked Hard).
If the pair of you lie side by side,
facing opposite ways,
and kiss each other's secret parts
using the fifteen techniques described above,
it is known as "Kakila" (the Crow).
Role Reversal:
During lovemaking, ten types of blows
may be struck with the penis,
but of these only "Upasripta" (Natural),
which is instinctive even to untutored cowherds,
results in full clitoral stimulation.
It is a gentle forward stroke
which may be varied for depth and speed,
allowing a subtlety, rhythm
and spontaneity which
the other nine each lack to some degree.
If you grasp your penis and move it
in circles inside her yoni,
it is "Manthana" (Churning).
When you strike sharply down into the yoni,
it is "Hula" (the Double-edged Knife).
If, when her hips are raised by a pillow,
you strike a rising blow,
it is "Avamardana" (Rubbing).
If you hold your penis pressed breathlessly
to her womb it is "Piditaka" (Pressing).
If you withdraw completely
and then strike her violently to the womb,
it is "Nirghata" (the Buffet).
Continuous pressure on one side of her yoni
is "Varahaghata" (the Boar's Blow).
If you thrust wildly in every direction,
like a bull tossing its horns,
it is "Vrishaghata" (the Bull's Blow).
Quivering in her yoni is "Chatakavilasa" (Sparrow Sport),
which usually heralds orgasm.
The involuntary shuddering of orgasm
is called "Samputa" (the Jewel Case).
But no two women make love quite the same way,
so orchestrate your rhythms
to the moods and colors of each lover's "raga" (emotions).
If long lovemaking exhausts you
before your lover has reached her orgasm,
you should allow her
to roll you over your back
and sit astride you, taking initiative.
If the posture gives her deep pleasure,
or you enjoy its novelty,
she may transpose into it as a matter of course,
taking great care, however,
not to expel the linga from the temple of love.
Consider: she climbs upon you,
the flowers dropping from her tousled hair,
her giggles turning to gasps;
every time she bends to kiss your lips
her nipples pierce your chest.
As her hips begin to churn,
her head, flung back, bobs ever faster;
she scratches, pummels you with small fists,
fastens her teeth in your neck,
doing unto you what you've often done unto her.
When she takes the man's role,
your lady has the choice
of three famous lovemaking techniques:
"Samdamsha (the Tongs),
"Bhramara" (the Bee) and "Prenkholita" (the Swing).
If she uses the Mare's Trick,
gripping your penis with her yoni's vice,
squeezing and stroking it,
holding it inside her for a hundred heart-beats,
it is known as "Samdamsha" (the Tongs).
If, drawing up her feet,
she revolves her hips so that your penis
circles deep within her yoni,
you arching your body to help her,
it is "Bhramara" (the Bee).
If she now swings her hips
in wide circles and makes figures-of-eight,
swaying upon your body
as though she were riding on a seesaw,
it is "Prenkholita" (the Swing).
When her passion has ebbed,
she should rest, bending forward to lay
her forehead upon yours
without disturbing your yoked bodies:
it won't be long before desire stirs again.
Catching your penis, the lady
with dark eyes like upturned lotus petals
guides it into her yoni,
clings to you and shakes her buttocks:
this is "Charunarikshita" (Lovely Lady in Control).
Enthroned on your penis,
she places both hands on the bed
and makes love, while you
press your two hands to her thudding heart:
this is "Lilasana" (Seat of Sport).
She sits upright upon you,
her head thrown back like a rearing mare,
bringing her feet together
on the bed to one side of your body:
this is "Hansabandha" (the Swan).
The young woman has one foot
on your heart and the other on the bed.
Bold, saucy women adore this posture,
which is known to the world
as "Upavitika" (the Sacred thread).
If, with one of her feet
clasped in your hand
and the second placed upon your shoulder,
your young lady enjoys you,
it is "Viparitaka" (Reversed).
If your lover, seated above you
with feet lotus-crossed
and her body held erect and still
makes love to you,
it is known as "Yugmapada" (the Foot Yoke).
If she strides you,
facing your feet,
brings both her feet up to your thighs,
and works her hips frantically,
it is known as "Hansa-lila" (Swan Sport).
Your lover places one foot
on your ankle, lodges
her other foot just above your knee,
and rides you, swinging and rotating her hips:
this is "Garuda" (Garuda).
If you lie flat on your back
with legs stretched out
and your lover sits astride you, facing away
and grasping your feet,
it is called "Virsha" (the Bull).
Clasping each other's hands,
you lie sprawled like two starfish making love,
her breasts stabbing your chest,
her thighs stretched out along yours:
this is "Devabandha" (the Coitus of the Gods).
Lying upon you, your beloved
moves round like a wheel,
pressing hands one after the other on the bed,
kissing your body as she circles:
experts call this "Chakrabandha" (the Wheel).
If, by means of some contraption,
your lover suspends herself above you,
places your linga in her yoni
and pulleys herself up and down upon it,
it is "Utkalita" (the Orissan).
Love Potions and Sex Aids
To Enslave a Lover:
Anoint your penis, before lovemaking,
with honey into which
you have powdered black pepper,
long pepper and "datura" (the green thorn apple) -
it will utterly devastate your lady.
Leaves caught as they fall from trees
and powdered with peacock-bone
and fragments of a corpse's winding-sheet
will, when dusted lightly
on the penis, bewitch any woman living.
If you crush milky chunks of cactus
with sulphur and realgar,
dry the mixture seven times, powder it
and apply it to your penis,
you'll satisfy the most demanding lover.
And if, to these powerful ingredients,
you add a monkey's turd,
grind them together and sprinkle the powder
on your unsuspecting lover's head,
she will be your devoted slave for life.
To Increase Potency:
Honey-sweetened milk in which
the testicles of a ram
or a goat have been simmered
has the effect, when drunk,
of making a man as powerful as a bull.
Pumkin seeds ground with almonds
and sugarcane root,
or with cowhage root and strips of bamboo,
and stirred into honeyed milk,
have the same arousing effect.
The sages say that wheat-flour cakes
baked with honey and sugar
and sprinkled with the powdered seeds
of pumpkin and cowhage
give one strength for a thousand women.
The yolk of a single sparrow's egg
stirred into rice pudding
that has been thickened with cream,
wild-honey and "ghee" (clarified butter)
has the same invigorating effect.
To Cope With Impotence:
A man who climaxes too swiftly
should arouse his lady
by caressing her clitoris with his fingers
and flooding the well
of her yoni before he enters her.
If, during lovemaking, the erection
cannot be sustained because
the man is old, or simply exhausted
he should use the delicate
oral techniques given in an earlier chapter.
The man who is utterly unable
to achieve an erection
should pleasure his wife/lover with a phallus
crafted from materials like
gold, silver, copper, iron (!!), ivory or horn.
The artificial phallus should be shaped
to your natural proportions.
It will be more arousing for the lady
if the outside is studded
with a profusion of large, smooth nodules.
