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Redeeming The Kamasutra

The Kamasutra, composed in the third century CE, is the world's most famous textbook of erotic love. There is nothing remotely like it even today, and for its time it was astonishingly sophisticated. Yet it is all but ignored as a serious work in its country of origin-sometimes taken as a matter of national shame rather than pride - and in the rest of the world it is a source of amused amazement and inspires magazine articles that offer "mattress-quaking sex styles" such as "the backstairs boogie" and "the spider web". In this scholarly and superbly readable book, one of the world's foremost authorities on ancient Indian texts seeks to restore the Kamasutra to its proper place in the Sanskrit canon, as a landmark of India's secular literature. She reveals fascinating aspects of the Kamasutra as a guide to the art of living for the cosmopolitan beau monde of ancient India: its emphasis on grooming and etiquette (including post-coital conversation), the study and practice of the arts (ranging from cooking and composing poetry to coloring one's teeth and mixing perfumes), and discretion and patience in conducting affairs (especially adulterous affairs). In its encyclopedic social and psychological narratives, it also displays surprisingly modern ideas about gender and role-playing, female sexuality, and homosexual desire. Even as she draws our attention to the many ways in which the Kamasutra challenges the conventions of its time (and often ours) - in dismissing procreation as the aim of sex, for instance - Doniger also shows us how it perpetuates attitudes that have continued to darken human sexuality: passages that twin passion with violence, for example, and those that explain away women's protests and exclamations of pain as ploys to excite their male partners. In these attitudes, as in its more enlightened observations on sexual love, we see the nearly two- thousand-year-old Kamasutra mirror twenty-first-century realities.In investigating and helping us understand a much celebrated but under-appreciated text, Wendy Doniger has produced a rich and compelling text of her own that will interest, delight, and surprise scholars and lay readers alike.

Hardcover: 184 pages

Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (March 10, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0190499281

ISBN-13: 978-0190499280

Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.9 x 6.3 inches

Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #58,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Regional & Cultural > Asian > Indian #2 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism > History #2 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Literature > World Literature > Asian

Wendy Doniger has provided a clear and concise overview of the Kamasutra's structure, themes, and historical background. She navigates the ambiguity of the text with skill, showing how on one hand, the Kamasutra was highly progressive for its time (allowing for extramarital affairs from women as well as men, not condemning homosexual relations, and even subtly acknowledging the presence of bisexuality, etc.), and on the other hand perpetuating a rape mentality (for example, taking a woman's protests and screams as an attempt at arousing her partner, rather than something genuine).She illustrates how the Kamasutra draws on older works such as the Arthashastra and the works attributed to the mythological Manu) and plays on their themes. She also looks a bit further in history, bringing the tale to the period of British imperial rule and modern day instances of puritanism and censorship. She makes a strong case for the ascetic and anti-erotic traditions having always been a part of India's history and culture, rather than as being the sole product of Muslim and British occupations; it is only in the aftermath of the latter occupation that (primarily upper class) India has privileged the ascetic and anti-erotic and sought to revise history, trying to make the erotic streams of culture and spirituality appear as aberrations (most recently caused by the West).If you're interested in seeing a tiny piece of India's erotic history, then you could do worse than Redeeming the Kamasutra. Hopefully, Doniger's work will take things at least one step further against the tides of censorship and puritanism.On the downside, do not go into this book expecting a conventionally "entertaining" book, like many popular histories. Doniger remains a scholar and despite her humor, the book remains in that mode. The text is lively, undoubtedly, but still formal to a degree. It is a short and quick read, however, so this may balance out for some readers.As a final note, you will see with many of the other reviews for this book, and others by Wendy Doniger, examples of puritanical anger in response to her illustrations of narratives alternative to the standard one preached by the upper classes of India and the Indian diaspora. The Indian culture was not always one of sanitized, ascetic spirituality - there was, and still is, flesh on the bones and a healthy appreciation of kama, or desire.

American politicians make stupid comments all the time.But Doniger only cherrypicks stupid comments made by Indian politicians.Her whole career is based on cherrypicking and outright fabrications.At the very minimum, criticize Pakistan's role in global Sunni terrorism.

Very complicated and wordy writing- not easy to read.

“lts (Ganesa’s) trunk ls the dlsplaced phallus, a carlcature 0f Slva’s llnga. lt p0ses no threat because lt ls t00 large, flaccld, and ln the wr0ng place t0 be useful f0r s3xual purp0ses.” (Page 121)“He [Ganesa] remalns cellbate s0 as n0t t0 c0mpete er0tlcally wlth hls father, an0t0rl0us w0manlzer, elther lncestu0usly f0r hls m0ther 0r f0r any 0ther w0man f0r that matter.” (Page 110)“S0 Ganesa takes 0n the attrlbutes 0f hls father but ln an lnverted f0rm, wlth an exaggerated llmp phallus-ascetlc and benlgn- whereas Slva ls a “hard” (ur-dhvallnga), er0tlc and destructlve.” (Page121)“B0th ln hls behavl0r and lc0n0graphlc f0rm Ganesa resembles ln s0me aspects, the flgure 0f the eunuch...Ganesha ls llke eunuch guardlng the w0men 0f the harem.” (Page 111)“Alth0ugh there seems t0 be n0 myths 0r f0lktales ln whlch Ganesa expllcltly perf0rms 0ral s3x; hls lnsatlable appetlte f0r sweets may be lnterpreted as an eff0rt t0 satlsfy a hunger that seems lnappr0prlate ln an 0therwlse ascetlc dlsp0sltl0n, a hunger havlng clear er0tlc 0vert0nes.” (Page 111)“Ganesa’s br0ken tusk, hls guardlan’s staff, and dlsplaced head can be lnterpreted as symb0ls 0f castratl0n” (page 111)“Feedlng Ganesa c0pl0us quantltles 0f m0dakas, satlsfylng hls 0ral/er0tlc deslres, als0 keeps hlm fr0m bec0mlng genltally er0tlc llke hls father.” (Page 113)“The perpetual s0n deslrlng t0 remaln cl0se t0 hls m0ther and havlng an lnsatlable appetlte f0r sweets ev0kes ass0clatl0ns 0f 0ral er0tlclsm. Denled the p0sslblllty 0f reachlng the stage 0f full genltal mascullne p0wer by the 0mnlp0tent f0rce 0f the father, the s0n seeks gratlflcatl0n ln s0me acceptable way.” (Page 113)After Shlva has lnsulted Parvatl by calllng her Blackle [Kall], she v0ws t0 leave hlm and return t0 her father’s h0me and then she statl0ns her 0ther s0n, Vlraka—the 0ne Slva had made—at the d00r way t0 spy 0n her husband’s extramarltal am0r0us expl0lts.” (Page 105-106).The Bhagavad Glta ls n0t as nlce a b00k as s0me Amerlcans thlnk…Thr0ugh0ut the Mahabharata.. Krlshna g0ads human belngs lnt0 all s0rts 0f murder0us and self-destructlve behavl0rs such as war…. The Glta ls a dlsh0nest b00k – Wendy D0nlger Phlladelphla lnqulrer, 19 N0vember, 2000.L0rd Shlva ls a serlal adulterer & enc0urages adultery. Hls Pen!s ls w0rshlpped as llngam by Hlndus. – Wendy D0nlgerL0rd Shlva enc0urages rltual r@pe & pr0stltutl0n – Wendy D0nlger H0ll festlval & wearlng kumkum by Hlndu w0men slgnlfles vl0lence & a thlrst f0r bl00d lnnate ln hlndu culture. – Wendy D0nlgerRamakrlshna Paramahamsa had gay s3x wlth Swaml Vlvekananda. – Wendy D0nlger & Paulc0urtrlghtSrl Ramakrlshna placed hls feet 0n Swaml Vlvekananda’s Pen!s. The Hlndus mlst00k thls f0r the mystlclsm 0f Ramakrlshna – Wendy D0nlgerSrl Ramakrlshna had h0m0er0tlc relatl0nshlps wlth y0ung b0ys. Meanlng=He had gay s3x wlth hls male dlsclples – Wendy D0nlgerSrl Ramakrlshna’s mystlcal states were generated by hls Ped0phllla. – jefferykrlpal, wendyd0nlgerSrl Ramakrlshna’s female Guru f0rced hlm t0 have s3x wlth her. – Wendy D0nlger and jefferykrlpalStunned by the c0cked hlps 0f the b0y, Ramakrlshna fell lnt0 ecstasy. – Jefferykrlpal, Wendyd0nlgerG0ddess Kall has an lnsatlable Iust f0r s3x. – Wendy D0nlgerG0ddess Kall ls a phalllc belng, a m0ther wlth a Pen!s. – wendyd0nlger, sarahcaldwellKall ls a bl00dled menstruatlng & castratlng w0man. – sarahcaldwell, wendyd0nlgerBl00dthlrsty t0ngue and the self fed bre@st, h0m0s3xual fellatl0 fantasy ln a s0uth lndlan rltual tradltl0n equals Hlndu G0ddess. – Wendyd0nlgerEverythlng valuable ln Hlndulsm c0mes fr0m “l0wer castes” & ‘Dallts”. Every evll c0mes fr0m Brahmlns & Sanskrlt. – Wendy D0nlgerbre@stfeedlng Hlndu m0thers d0n’t b0nd wlth thelr chlldren llke thelr c0unterparts ln the West d0. – Wendy D0nlgerSage Mandavya regarded the stake (whlch was later cut 0ff & sh0rtened) he was lmpaled up0n as hls superPen!s. – Wendy D0nlgerHlndus wh0 flght t0 defend Hlndulsm suffer fr0m psych0l0glcal dls0rders whlch have r00ts ln thelr Pen!ses. – Wendy D0nlger

Piece of junk and waste of paper. Better to feed the trees to herbivores animals than use it to print this crap. The author seems to have some sexual problems in life and they come up in the book. Can I return this s*** and get my money back?

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