I want to talk about an Indian term called
Antarvasna. The world Antarvasna relates to the inner desires and feelings
related to sex and sexuality. India is the country that has given birth to the 11th
century Kamasutra, the book of sexuality or sexology. However there has been no
mention of anatomy and physiology of different parts of reproductive organs
specially the female parts in any of these literary works. However texts of the
medieval period do mention the various female parts and the function of these
organs in the enjoyment of sex (Rao 2004). Some of the functions, role has been
mentioned in the Bhavaprakasa of ayurveda and Paururavamanasijasutra parts of
the Kamasutra. The text proves that Indians actually knew about these areas of
female anatomy and sexuality since the text has been shown to be from the third
century A.D. Other Indian texts of sexuality include; Jayamangala, Ratirahasya,
Smaradipika and Anangaranga.
The famous book of Kamasutra was introduced
to teach the readers about the science of sexuality. It was supposed to induce
antarvasna, the inner (antar) desires/sexuality (vasna). The word Vasna in
Hindi/Sanskrit denotes inner desire for sex while antar is the inner feelings.
The Kamasutra is an India book of desires. Hence the Kamasutra is all about
inducing antarvasna, the inner (antar) desires to engage in sex (vasna).
The Kamasutra (Kamasutra, comprising of the
word Kama, "the desire" and Sutra, "the aphorism" or
literally "the aphorisms of desire" is an Indian writing between the
fourth century and seventh century, attributed to Vatsyayana.
The Kamasutra is a standard treatment of
the Hinduism. It has been translated for the first time in English in 1876 by
Richard Francis Burton. But the book did not become legal in the United Kingdom
in 1963.
The central theme of the Kamasutra
The Kamasutra provides information on
privacy in ancient India. It evokes successively "the three goals of
life", "the advice of common sense", "the behavior of the
city", "the choice of a wife", "the duties and privileges
of the wife ", " the courtesans and methods occult " in addition
to all practices more directly related to sexuality. Like all pieces of the
India ancient structure can also be read as an allegory of the union (yoga) to
the Divine.
Often richly illustrated with miniatures,
he provides seduction advice for a harmonious life in the couple, including
through various intimate positions (although 64 positions have been the
popularity of the work they do, however, that a chapter of book itself) to the
origin to the Indian aristocracy.
The Kamasutra is not only devoted to intimacy, also a lifestyle that a person had grown to know. It covers for example the use of music, food, perfumes etc. In addition, the book also gives advice to women and couples and indicates that men were not held in the sexual relationship only, but should also control the kisses, caresses, bites and scratches. It describes a number of positions, but also the behavior to be performed by the partners in place to let their imagination.
Besides the treatise of Vatsyayana there
are other similar works on the same subject are India. These include;
1. The Ratirahasya, or secrets of love.
2. The Panchasakya, or the five arrows.
3. The Smara Pradipa, or the light of love.
4. The Ratimanjari, or the garland of love.
5. The Rasmanjari, or the sprout of love.
6. The Anunga Runga, or the stage of love;
also called Kamaledhiplava, or a boat in the ocean of love.
Rao BR. 2004. Influence of Tantra on
ayurveda and Kamasutra. Bull Indian Inst Hist Med Hyderabad. 34(1):41-9.