Audiobooks by Mallanaga Vatsyayana

"We're featuring this audio book of the ancient Indian Hindu text on human sexuality, love, and spirituality: The Kama Sutra. Written in about 200 CE, this work of Sanskrit literature by Indian philosopher Vatsyayana consists of prose, poetry, and aphorisms. While most known for being a sexual manual, much of the work is a guide on the nature of love, family life, and other aspects of pleasure in human life. The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature. It is over 1,700 years old, yet it remains a best seller to this day. Part of the reason, of course, is its incredible advice and creativity in the art of loving. But it is much more than that. The book goes way beyond sexual advice in discussing how to achieve Dharma, the acquisition of religious merit; Artha, the acquisition of wealth and property; and, of course, Kama, or how to achieve pleasure and sensual gratification. In addition, the book is a fascinationg look at the customs and lifestyle of an ancient civilization. This unabridged editon of the famous Sir Richard Francis Burton translation of The Kama Sutra includes only the most essential translator's notes and comments, so that the words and thoughts of Vatsyayana may be easily understood. Public Domain (P)"

Mallanaga Vatsyayana (Author), Mark Smith (Narrator)

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The Kama Sutra

"The Kama Sutra (Sanskrit: कामसूत्र, Kāma-sūtra; lit. Principles of Lust) is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the Kama Sutra is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions, but 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. It is a sutra-genre text with terse aphoristic verses that have survived into the modern era with different bhāṣyas (exposition and commentaries). The text is a mix of prose and anustubh-meter poetry verses. The text acknowledges the Hindu concept of Purusharthas, and lists desire, sexuality, and emotional fulfillment as one of the proper goals of life. Its chapters discuss methods for courtship, training in the arts to be socially engaging, finding a partner, flirting, maintaining power in a married life, when and how to commit adultery, sexual positions, and other topics. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad. The text is one of many Indian texts on Kama Shastra. It is a much-translated work in Indian and non-Indian languages. The Kama Sutra has influenced many secondary texts that followed after the 4th-century CE, as well as the Indian arts as exemplified by the pervasive presence Kama-related reliefs and sculpture in old Hindu temples. Of these, the Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh is a UNESCO world heritage site. Among the surviving temples in north India, one in Rajasthan sculpts all the major chapters and sexual positions to illustrate the Kama Sutra. According to Wendy Doniger, the Kama Sutra became 'one of the most pirated books in English language' soon after it was published in 1883 by Richard Burton. This first European edition by Burton does not faithfully reflect much in the Kama Sutra because he revised the collaborative translation by Bhagavanlal Indrajit and Shivaram Parashuram Bhide with Forster Arbuthnot to suit 19th-century Victorian tastes."

Mallanaga Vatsyayana (Author), Mark F. Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

Kamasutra

Mallanaga Vatsyayana (Author), Mark F. Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

"The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vatsyayana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted poetry verses. 'Kama' which is one of the three goals of Hindu life, means sensual or sexual pleasure, and 'sutra' literally means a thread or line that holds things together, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Contrary to popular perception, especially in the western world, Kama Sutra is not just an exclusive sex manual; it presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family life and other aspects pertaining to pleasure oriented faculties of human life. Content Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. According to the Burton translation, the contents of the book are structured into 7 parts like the following: 1. General remarks Chapters on contents of the book, three aims and priorities of life, the acquisition of knowledge, conduct of the well-bred townsman, reflections on intermediaries who assist the lover in his enterprises ."

Mallanaga Vatsyayana (Author), Roy Morgan (Narrator)

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