Don't hear many people talk about this book anymore. There are variations of the translation out there in multitude, but this one I enjoy the most. It is clear that the strong, sensual, even pornographic, content of the Nights can be paralleled elsewhere in Arabic literature”, writes scholar Robert Irwin in his 2010 commentary on the One Thousand and One Nights. Indeed, beyond the garden and the nights of Shahrzad, one can point to other works dealing with erotica, such as the writings of Abbasid scholar Al-Jahiz on the ways of young men and women, Al-Katib’s 10th-Century Encyclopaedia of Pleasure, and even the Assemblies of al-Hariri, a text from the Seljuk empire with passages on homosexuality. In addition, while Persian and not Arab, the 13th-Century polymath Nasireddin Tusi’s Arabic-language writings on sexual stimulants and various positions have recently become available to English readers as The Sultan’s Sex Potions.

Miniature painting, mid-18th century, Deogarh, Rajasthan. A well-bred townsman, the nayaka , should dress in rich clothes and sparkling jewels. There is guidance about finding a life partner, ways of courting a woman for marriage along with some concepts that modern couples might find very out of date, including duties expected of wives (cooking, cleaning, etc) and the use of courtesans to build sexual confidence before marriage. The Kama Sutra, Aphorisms on Love, written by Nandikeshvara in one thousand parts, was reproduced in an abbreviated form in five hundred canons, by Shvetaketu, the son of Uddalaka. This work was again similarly reproduced in an abridged form, in one hundred and fifty canons, by Babhravya, an inhabitant of Panchala, south of Delhi. The aphorisms were then put together under seven heads: It would also talk about how best to cheat on your spouse, and how you could tell if someone was cheating on you. He carries on a conversation that seems to be about something else but has a double meaning, about her . . .

Instead of a "sex manual" it is more of an insight to the sexuality of middle-ages India - there are entire chapters on biting, scratching, sexual positions, courting, seduction, quarrels and fights, "emergency cures and potions," as well as whole sections on homosexual behavior. The commentary (which was originally written a century or so after the original text) gives further advice, stating that certain behavior is not "suitable" for people of certain castes, or that women of certain regions prefer certain behaviors but shun others, etc. Note: The passage that Y cites from Vasishtha is at 12.23, where the ancestors of the man who copulates in the mouth of his wife do not starve for fifteen years but, rather, are forced to eat nothing but his semen for a month.] Kama is a handsome youth who, armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows, tipped with flowers, pursues his quarry of young loves. His thirst for love is shared and dispensed with his wife, Rati Devi. Book 1 General Principles

When the man arrives, she gives him a love-gift, something that will arouse his love or erotic curiosity, saying, “This is for you alone, and no one else, to enjoy.” He cooks the heart of a mongoose, the fruits of a fenugreek plant and a long gourd, and snake eyes, over a fire that does not smoke. Then he rubs into this the same measure of the collegium used as eye make-up. When he has smeared his eyes with this, he can move about without a shadow or a body. On reflection, it appears that all of human life is permeated by sexuality . . . That is why the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says, ‘Man is sexual.’ Sexuality is the semen of the mind. —Devadatta Shastri, Jaya Commentary

Rati Devi, wife of Kama takes aim with her arrow of love. Such wood sculpture was used for decorative purposes in temple rathas , chariots.