Text: E. Lamairesse and Vatsayana (extracts)
Translation: Edward Freeman
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“In bed, the lovers will not let their hands lie idle; their fingers will find what will arouse those parts where love’s dart is dipped in secrecy.”
– Ovid, The Art of Love, Book II
Which is that powerful divinity who, from the hedges and fields west of Agra, soars into the upper airs where reigns the purest light, while from all around the flowers’ drooping stems, brought back to life in the sun’s first rays, entwine themselves into cradles, sweet refuges of harmony, where gentle breezes playfully steal from them their most ravishing perfumes?
Hail, oh unknown power… For at the merest gesture of your gracious head, the valleys and the woods hasten to adorn their sweet-smelling bosoms, and every blossoming flower, smiling, decks her tresses of musk with dazzling pearls of dew.
I can feel, yes, I feel your divine fire pierce my heart, I adore you and rapturously I kiss your altars.
And could you misknow me?
No, son of Maya, no, I know your flower-tipped arrows, the doughty rod of which your bow is made, your standard shining with pearly scales, the mysterious weapons you own. I have felt all your sufferings, I have savoured all your pleasures. All-powerful Kama, or, if you would have it so, dazzling Smara, majestic Ananya!
Wherever should lie the seat of your glory, by whatever name you are invoked, the seas, the earth and air proclaim your power; all pay homage to you, all recognise in you the King of the Universe.
Piercing Champaca, like perfumed gold;
Warm Amra, filled with celestial ambrosia;
Drying Kessara, with silvery foliage;
Burning Ketassa, which brings disorder to the senses;
Dazzling Bilva, which instils the veins with a voracious ardour.
What mortal, oh powerful God, could resist your power, when Krishna himself is your slave? Yes, Krishna, who, in constant raptures of delight in the blessed plains of Malhura, calls forth sound from beneath his divine fingers from the pastoral flute, and to the melodious chords of a celestial harmony, and with the choir of gopis, lovestruck by his charms, devises voluptuous dances by the sweet light of Lunus, the mysterious lantern of the night.
Oh God, beguiling God, born before creation, God eternally young! May the song of your Brahmins, captivated by your laws, resound forever on Ganges’ sacred banks! And at the hour when your favourite bird, spreading its emerald wings, carries you through space in its rapid flight; when, in the middle of the silent light, the trembling rays of Ma (the moon) peek into the mysterious retreats of lovers fortunate and unfortunate, may the sweetest influence be the sharing of your devoted bard, and may his heart be voluptuously warmed by your divine fire without being consumed!
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INTRODUCTION
The principles of what is fair and just and what is not are the same at all times and in all places: they add up to absolute morality. Principles concerning sexual mores, however, vary from age to age and from country to country. |
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Conversation “What is the most beautiful sight to see? A girl’s face glowing with love.” |
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From the unrestrained promiscuity of violent tribes to the absolute ban on the ways of the flesh outside marriage, how many different degrees of freedom are accorded to sexual relations by public opinion, and by social and religious law! With the exception of certain peoples, the whole ancient world considered the act of sex as permissible,
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Conversation “What is the sweetest of perfumes? Her sweet breath. What is the most pleasant of sounds? The voice of the beloved.” |
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on the condition that it did not infringe upon anyone else’s rights, such as, for example, intercourse with a widow, or with any other woman who might not be completely mistress of her own person… Nevertheless, China, Greece and Rome honoured virgins, and India honoured ascetics, members of society who took vows of abstinence as sacrifice.
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Conversation “What is the most exquisite of tastes? The dew upon her lips. What is the sweetest sensation to the touch? That of her body.” |
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Looked at from the point of view of mere reason or of egoistical awareness, the tolerance of the Indians and ancient civilisations appears natural, whereas the strict rule of the Persians seems motivated by social or political interest; this is why rules concerning sexual behaviour could be imposed only in the name of a revelation, whether by Zoroaster or by Moses.
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Conversation “What is the most pleasant image on which thought can dwell? Her charms. Everything in a girl is replete with attraction.” |
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Thus there are two great camps that divide people in terms of erotic mores: for some, monogamy is compulsory; for the others, polygamy is acceptable, in any of the forms which it may take, including cohabitation and casual fornication. In studying Antiquity, amongst peoples who did not accept revelation,
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Embraces “Embraces to show each other that love is mutual are of four sorts: by touch, by penetration, by rubbing or friction, by pressing.” |
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one must distinguish between the sexual mores of India’s Aryans, on the one hand, for whom religion and superstition intimately and actively affected everything to do with eroticism, and on the other hand, the Aryans of the West, the Greeks and Romans for whom the cult surrounding sexual relations was only the outward manifestation of sexual mores,
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Embraces “The embrace by penetration occurs when, in a solitary place, a woman bends down to pick up an object and, with her breasts penetrates, to put it thus, the man, who in his turn, takes hold of her and presses her to him.” |
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without any directions or prescriptions for behaviour, and the artistic spirit that idealised and dominated all. Thus, the naturalism of the Brahmins of India, pagan Antiquity and the principles of Persia or Israel, which Christianity inherited,
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Embraces “The third embrace takes place when two people who are walking, slowly, in the dark, or in a solitary place, rub their bodies against one another.” |
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are three subjects for studies of sexual mores to be reconciled and for which we must highlight the contrasts. The matter for study for the first lies with the scholars and poets of Brahmanism; for the second, in Classical literature, principally in the Latin poets under the twelve Caesars; for the third, with modern authors who write about sexual mores, specialists and theologians.
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Embraces “When, in those same circumstances, one of the lovers presses the body of the other against a wall or pillar, that is an embrace with pressure.” |
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THE IRANIANS (PERSIANS)
It has been established that Mazdaism appeared between the nineteenth century and the eighth century B.C., during the Vedic era, and from this we can conclude that the author of the Avesta came before the Law of Manu (son of Brahma, father of humankind, |
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Embraces “At a meeting, partial embraces take place, face to face, breast to breast, Jadgana to Jadgana, […], the woman allowing wisps of hair to escape.” |
