The Kama Sutra of Vatsayayana | Page 8

be followed with moderation and caution.
No one refrains from cooking food because there are beggars to ask for
it, or from sowing seed because there are deer to destroy the corn when
it is grown up.
Thus a man practising Dharma, Artha and Kama enjoys happiness both
in this world and in the world to come. The good perform those actions
in which there is no fear as to what is to result from them in the next
world, and in which there is no danger to their welfare. Any action
which conduces to the practice of Dharma, Artha and Kama together,
or of any two, or even one of them, should be performed, but an action
which conduces to the practice of one of them at the expense of the
remaining two should not be performed.

Footnotes

1 These were certainly materialists who seemed to think that a bird in
the hand was worth two in the bush.
2 Among the Hindoos the four classes of men are the Brahmans or
priestly class, the Kshutrya or warlike class, the Vaishya or agricultural
and mercantile class, and the Shoodra or menial class. The four stages
of life are, the life of a religious student, the life of a householder, the
life of a hermit, and the life of a Sunyasi or devotee.
3 Bali was a demon who had conquered Indra and gained his throne,
but was afterwards overcome by Vishnu at the time of his fifth
incarnation.
4 Dandakya is said to have abducted from the forest the daughter of a
Brahman, named Bhargava, and, being cursed by the Brahman, was
buried with his kingdom under a shower of dust. The place was called
after his name the Dandaka forest, celebrated in the Bamayana, but now
unknown.
Ahalya was the wife of the sage Gautama. Indra caused her to believe
that he was Gautama, and thus enjoyed her. He was cursed by Gautama
and subsequently afflicted with a thousand ulcers on his body.
Kichaka was the brother-in-law of King Virata, with whom the
Pandavas had taken refuge for one year. Kichaka was killed by Bhima,
who assumed the disguise of Draupadi. For this story the Mahabarata
should be referred to.
The story of Ravana is told in the Ramayana, which with the
Mahabarata form the two great epic poems of the Hindoos; the latter
was written by Vyasa, and the former by Valmiki.
CHAPTER III
ON THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO BE STUDIED
MAN should study the Kama Sutra and the arts and sciences
subordinate thereto, in addition to the study of the arts and sciences

contained in Dharma and Artha. Even young maids should study this
Kama Sutra along with its arts and sciences before marriage, and after
it they should continue to do so with the consent of their husbands.
Here some learned men object, and say that females, not being allowed
to study any science, should not study the Kama Sutra.
But Vatsyayana is of opinion that this objection does not hold good, for
women already know the practice of Kama Sutra, and that practice is
derived from the Kama Shastra, or the science of Kama itself.
Moreover, it is not only in this but in many other cases that, though the
practice of a science is known to all, only a few persons are acquainted
with the rules and laws on which the science is based. Thus the
Yadnikas or sacrificers, though ignorant of grammar, make use of
appropriate words when addressing the different Deities, and do not
know how these words are framed. Again, persons do the duties
required of them on auspicious days, which are fixed by astrology,
though they are not acquainted with the science of astrology. In a like
manner riders of horses and elephants train these animals without
knowing the science of training animals, but from practice only. And
similarly the people of the most distant provinces obey the laws of the
kingdom from practice, and because there is a king over them, and
without further reason. 1 And from experience we find that some
women, such as daughters of princes and their ministers, and public
women, are actually versed in the Kama Shastra.

A female, therefore, should learn the Kama Shastra, or at least a part of
it, by studying its practice from some confidential friend. She should
study alone in private the sixty-four practices that form a part of the
Kama Shastra. Her teacher should be one of the following persons: the
daughter of a nurse brought up with her and already married, 2 or a
female friend who can be trusted in everything, or the sister of her
mother (i.e. her aunt), or an old female servant, or a female beggar who
may have formerly lived