Redeeming the Kamasutra

In a book that will change how some view the Kama Sutra, Doniger (The Hindus) reveals the classic Indian text as far more than a sex manual, calling it a handbook for sensuous living. Doniger places The Kama Sutra in the context of earlier Indian classics: the writings of Manu, who focused on the spiritual life, and the Arthashastra, a book about money and power that Doniger asserts makes “Machievelli look like Mother Teresa.” In emphasizing the sensual, the Kama Sutra completes the triad of religion, power, and pleasure. Doniger explains that Burton’s late 19th-century Kama Sutra translation, the most common one available, mistranslates key passages in ways that downplay women’s agency. She illustrates the Kama Sutra’s openness to sexually fluid identities, and the ways that ancient Indian sexuality may seem both strange and strangely familiar to present-day Western readers. This ancient text’s celebration of the sensual works against the puritanical Hinduism that arose in 19th-century India and that remains prevalent in India today. Doniger’s prose cuts to the chase, and her book delights and informs the lay reader. Erudite, entertaining, and to the point, this work demonstrates her talent for clear thinking and clear writing. (Apr.)