"How delicious an instrument is woman, when artfully played upon; how capable is she of producing the most exquisite harmonies, of executing the most complicated of love, and of giving the most Divine of erotic pleasures." Ananga Ranga: 17th Century AD, India

India has a long and noble tradition of liberated sexuality. From the infamous Kama Sutra (1st century AD) to the blatantly sexual temples of Khajuraho (1000 AD), sex was considered an important and highly enjoyable activity. The ancient Indians were very aware that few are born great lovers and so they placed great emphasis on teaching both women and men how to fully explore their erotic potential. Many of those teachings are as valid and meaningful today as they were 2000 years ago.

Here we would like to share with you a few of our favorite passages from the Kama Sutra. So get your note pad ready to take some notes to try the next time you have an opporutnity, or just sit back and enjoy!

Catch hold of her two feet, raising them till they press upon her breasts and her legs form a rough circle. Clasp her neck and make love to her: this is "Ratisundara" (Aphrodite's Delight). Lift the lady's feet until her soles lie perfectly parallel, one to each side of her slender throat, cup her breasts and enjoy her: this technique is "Uthkanta" (Throat-high).

Your lovely wife, lying on the bed, grasps her own feet and draws them up until they reach her hair; you catch her breasts and make love: this is "Vyomapada" (Sky-foot). The round-thighed woman on the bed grasps her ankles and raises high her lotus feet; you strike her to the root, kissing and slapping open-palmed between her breasts: this is "Markata" (The Monkey). She lies flat on her back, you sit between her parted knees, raise them, hook her feet over your thighs, catch hold of her breasts, and enjoy her: this is "Manmathpriya" (Dear to Cupid).

Lesson 2

Indrani draws up both her knees until they nuzzle the curves of her breasts; her feet find her lover's armpits. Small girls love this posture, but becoming a goddess takes a lot of practice. She cups and lifts her buttocks with her palms, spreads wide her thighs, and digs in her heels besides her hips, while you caress her breasts: this is "Utphallaka" (The Flower in Bloom).
Grasping the ankles of the round hipped woman, whose buttocks are like two ripe gourds, raise her beautiful thighs and spread the thigh-joints widely. Full of desire, saying sweet words, approach her with your body stiff as a pole and drive straight forward to pierce her lotus and join your limbs: experts call it "Madandhvaja" (The Flag of Cupid).

Catch hold of her two feet, raising them till they press upon her breasts and her legs form a rough circle. Clasp her neck and make love to her: this is "Ratisundara" (Aphrodite's Delight). Lift the lady's feet until her soles lie perfectly parallel, one to each side of her slender throat, cup her breasts and enjoy her: this technique is "Uthkanta" (Throat-high).

Your lovely wife, lying on the bed, grasps her own feet and draws them up until they reach her hair; you catch her breasts and make love: this is "Vyomapada" (Sky-foot). The round-thighed woman on the bed grasps her ankles and raises high her lotus feet; you strike her to the root, kissing and slapping open-palmed between her breasts: this is "Markata" (The Monkey). She lies flat on her back, you sit between her parted knees, raise them, hook her feet over your thighs, catch hold of her breasts, and enjoy her: this is "Manmathpriya" (Dear to Cupid).

Lesson 3

When lovers, with legs stretched rigid and feet caressing feet, make love according to their hearts' desire, "tantra" scholars call it "Sampada" (Equal Feet) and agree it is a way to ecstasy.
Stiff as a pole in the bed's center, she lies making love, cooing and warbling like a woodpigeon, the jewel of her clitoris well-polished: this is Mausala" (the Pestle). When she lies on her back with her two thighs pressed tightly together and you make love to her, keeping your thighs outside hers, it is "Gramya" (the Rustic).

If, encircling and trapping her thighs with yours, you grip so hard that she cries out in pain, it is "Ratipasha" (Love's Noose), a device most charming to the ladies. Her limbs, entwined in yours like tendrils of fragrant jasmine creeper, draw taut and slowly relax in the gentle rhythm of linga and yoni: this is "Lataveshta" (the Clinging Creeper). She draws her limbs together, clasping her knees tightly to her breasts, her yoni, like an opening bud, offered up for pleasure: this is known as "Mukula" (the Bud).

When she draws up her knees and you clamp yours about her raised thighs, trapping them in a tight knot while riding saddle upon her buttocks and kissing her, it is "Shankha" (the Couch).

Lesson 4

When Seated, mouth to mouth, arms against arms, thighs against thighs: this is "Kaurma" The Tortoise). If the lovers' thighs, still joined, are raised, it is "Paravartita" (Turning).

If within the cave of her thighs you sit rotating your hips like a black bee, it is "Markata" (The Monkey). And if, in this pose, you turn away from her, it is "Marditaka" (Crushing Spices).

She sits with raised thighs, her feet placed either side of your waist; "linga" (penis) enters "yoni" (vagina); you rain hard blows upon her body: this is "Kshudgaga" (Striking). When your wife sits with both knees drawn tight to her body and you mirror this posture, it is known to experts in the art of love as "Yugmapada" (The Foot Yoke).

Seated erect, the lovely girl folds one leg to her body and stretches the other along the bed, while you mirror her actions: this is "Yugmapada" (The Feet Yoke).

If, with left leg extended, she encircles your waist with her right leg, laying its ankle across her left thigh, and you do the same, it is "Svastika" (The Swastika)*

*An ancient good-luck talisman based on the symbolism of a cross whirling sun-wise. The Nazis used it the wrong way round, whirling widdershins, and the Indian pundits always said this was sacrilegious and would doom them.

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