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“Thus a man practicing Dharma, Artha and Kama enjoys happiness both in this world and in the world to come”
(I. p. 20).Vatsyayana confirms that none of the goals of a good life—duty, wealth, and pleasure—interferes with each other. A person need not worry that the pursuit of pleasure will threaten the welfare of his or her soul. -
“The man who is ingenious and wise, who is accompanied by a friend, and who knows the intentions of others, as also the proper time and place for doing everything, can gain over, very easily, even a woman who is very hard to be obtained”
(I. p. 35).Vatsyayana quotes a verse to prove his point that a man who knows the arts of love and employs friends and messengers to help him win his lady, will be successful. -
“ A man should gather from the actions of the woman of what disposition she is, and in what way she likes to be enjoyed”
(II. p. 65).Men should please women during love making and not pursue their own pleasure without thinking of theirs. -
“Moreover, a girl forcibly enjoyed by one who does not understand the hearts of girls becomes nervous, uneasy, and dejected, and suddenly begins to hate the man who has taken advantage of her”
(III. p.79).Young women should be treated gently until they are ready to enjoy being with the man voluntarily. Vatsyayana is speaking primarily of taking time with a young bride, who in many cases, was just entering puberty. -
“Though a man loves a girl ever so much, he never succeeds in winning her without a great deal of talking”
(III. p. 83).Vatsyayana quotes another scholar, Ghotakamukha, on the art of conversation, which is pleasing to women. -
“Whatever things may be done by one of the lovers to the other, the same should be returned by the other”
(II. p. 49).The author speaks of the mutuality of sexual activity. The woman is not passive but should return kisses, scratches, and passion. -
“Vatsyayana is of opinion that the semen of the female falls in the same way as that of the male”
(II. p. 40).In the argument on female sexuality, Vatsyayana affirms women have orgasms, ejaculations, and as much pleasure as men do. The sexual response of both sexes is the same. -
“In short, nothing tends to increase love so much as the effects of marking with the nails, and biting”
(II. p. 52). The author adds such aggressive activities as biting and marking with nails, by both lovers, because these marks of mock battle increase passion during love making. -
“Women are hardly ever known in their true light, though they may love men, or become indifferent towards them, may give them delight, or abandon them, or may extract from them all the wealth that they possess”
(VI. p. 136).In the section on the lives of courtesans, Vatsyayana quotes some verses to prove that women are unpredictable and unknowable. This is an interesting admission since he has been trying in the whole treatise to explain how women feel and how to win their love. -
“Vatsyayana says, that as variety is necessary in love, so love is to be produced by means of variety”
(II. p. 51).Vatsyayana enumerates types of kisses, embraces, postures, and such things as marks with the nails because knowing different arts of love and using a variety of them increases love and pleasure.
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