Kamashastra Discourse (Life in Ancient India)
by Nidheesh Kannan B. | 2018 | 52,434 words
This page relates ‘Scope of the Study’ of the study on Kamashastra representing the discipline of Kama (i.e., ‘sensual pleasure’). The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana from the 4th century is one of the most authoratitive Sanskrit texts belonging this genre. This study focusses on the vision of life of ancient India reflected in Kamashastra.
Scope of the Study
The Kāmaśāstra is a discipline that generally comes under the area of technical literature in Sanskrit. The earliest authoritative text which is now available in this genre is the Kāmasūtra of Vātsyāyana of 4th century CE. Depending upon Kāmasūtra, many major and minor works were composed by various authors in the succeeding periods. The present thesis entitled ‘Kāmaśāstra Discourse: An Alternative Vision of Life in Ancient India’ is a study focussed on the vision of life in Kāmaśāstra. The intense love of life has been the life breath of ancient India. But serious studies on Kāmaśāstra genre are not so many. An analytical approach underscoring the significance of the philosophy of material life in Kāmaśāstra literature seems to be the need of the present situation. Analytical as well as descriptive methods of modern research have been used in the thesis in tune with a sense of propriety.