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Wisdom from the Kama Sutra

Everyone knows that the Kama Sutra is a sex manual, but did you also know that it’s an ancient etiquette manual, as well?

When I was writing How To Woo… A Reluctant Bride, I did some research and discovered that The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana is almost 2,000 years old. Written in Sanskrit, it wasn’t translated into English until 1883 by the famous explorer, Sir Richard Burton. The book was privately and quietly published, no doubt shipped in plain brown paper.

Once I’d decided to set a story in 1885, I found a copy of his translation and started reading. It’s a fascinating mix of sexual instruction and advice on courtship, combined with superstitions of the period in which it was written. In addition to listing various sexual positions, some with quaint names such as “splitting of a bamboo” and “fixing of a nail”, it also covers biting, scratching and striking, as well as “mouth congress”, i.e. oral sex, and threesomes.

Hindu society of the time was patriarchal and some of the advice is ridiculous by today’s standards. People also married very young at the time, so I suppose it’s no wonder that the advice for how the woman should behave sounds very juvenile by today’s standards. In one section, Vatsyayana, who was a monk, actually recommends kidnapping the prospective bride if all else fails! Something my civilized English hero would never do. Still, some of the courtship advice is timeless, and shows a basic understanding of the differences between men and women.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“Women, being of tender nature, want tender beginnings.”

“At the first time of sexual union the passion of the male is intense, and his time is short, but in subsequent unions on the same day the reverse of this is the case. With the female however it is the contrary, for at the first time her passion is weak, and then her time is long, but on subsequent occasions on the same day, her passion is intense and her time short, until her passion is satisfied.”

“… the man should do whatever the girl takes most delight in, and he should get for her whatever she may have a desire to possess.”

“Says Ghotakamukha, Though a man loves a girl ever so much, he never succeeds in winning her without a great deal of talking.”

“In Gramaneri many young men enjoy a woman that may be married to one of them, either one after the other or at the same time.  Thus one of them holds her, another enjoys her. . . and in this they go on enjoying her several parts alternatively.”

The same things can be done when several men are sitting in company with one courtesan, or when one courtesan is alone with many men. In the same way this can be done by the women of the King’s harem when they accidentally get hold of a man.”

Makes you wonder how often the women of the harem “accidentally” got hold of a man! And where they found him, in the first place. This quote may have been the inspiration for the Victorian erotic novel Three Nights in a Moorish Harem, by the prolific author Anonymous.

Even though he was a monk, Vatsyayana had a romantic streak: “If men and women act according to each other’s liking, their love for each other will not be lessened even in one hundred years.”

Last December, I reissued my short story, How To Woo… A Reluctant Bride, in which Victorian sensibilities collide with the sensual wisdom of the Kama Sutra. This was a fun story to write and to research, since I did, indeed, have to read the above-mentioned sex manual. It was the perfect way to spice up an arranged Victorian marriage.

How To Woo… A Reluctant Bride
(Romantic Historical Short Story)
by Lyndi Lamont
Rating: Spicy

A marriage contract, nothing more…until darkly handsome Evan Channing and demure Lydia Blatchford meet. Yet the rules are simple for an arrangement such as theirs. There should be no misunderstanding, no illusions of anything more.

But the rules are about to change when Evan is gifted with an intriguing copy of the Kama Sutra.  He sets out to win his high-born bride, blending seductive heat with exotic lessons in lovemaking. With a little help from Sir Richard Burton’s new, provocative translation of ancient wisdom on seduction and arousal, the cold marriage bed of an arranged union is about to combust into a blazing flame of desire

(Previously published under the title Love… By the Book)

4 Angels…” a scintillating mix of lust and sexual exploration… Ms. Lamont has done a very nice job of bringing a bit of the exotic into her writing.” – Dawnie, Fallen Angel Reviews

Available for 99 cents from:
Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble/Nook, Kobo Books, and Smashwords

Lyndi Lamont is the racy alter ego of romance author Linda McLaughlin. Since becoming Lyndi, she has discovered that writing sexy romance is a license to be naughty, at least between the pages of her books! Lyndi has written numerous short stories and novellas, including male/male erotica.

You can find her online at: http://www.lyndilamont.com/
Blog: Lyndi’s Love Notes: http://www.lyndilamont.com/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LyndiLamont
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/LyndiLamont