The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Part I: Introductory
Chapter I - Preface
Salutation to Dharma, Artha and Kama
IN the beginning, the Lord of Beings created men and women,
and in the form of commandments in one hundred thousand chapters laid down rules for regulating their existence
with regard to Dharma [right living], Artha [accumulation of material wealth], and Kama [fulfillment of desire].
Some of these commandments, namely those which treated of Dharma, were separately written by Swayambhu Manu;
those that related to Artha were compiled by Brihaspati; and those that referred to Kama were expounded by Nandi,
the follower of Mahadeva, in one thousand chapters.
Now these 'Kama Sutra' (Aphorisms on Love), written by Nandi in one thousand chapters, were reproduced by Shvetaketu,
the son of Uddvalaka, in an abbreviated form in five hundred chapters,
and this work was again similarly reproduced in an abridged form, in one hundred and fifty chapters, by Babhravya,
an inheritant of the Punchala (South of Delhi) country.
These one hundred and fifty chapters were then put together under seven heads or parts....
Thus the work being written in parts by different authors was almost unobtainable and,
as the parts which were expounded by Dattaka and the others treated only of the particular branches of the subject
to which each part related, and moreover as the original work of Babhravya was difficult to be mastered on account
of its length, Vatsyayana, therefore, composed his work in a small volume as an abstract of the whole of the works
of the above named authors.
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