Some Writings & Books
It turns out I've done quite a bit of professional writing in life thus far, although my archives and records are almost non-existent.
And, I am still open to accepting new writing assignments and commissions.
My published writings have ranged from features and advertising copy, through satirical and 'nonsense' pieces, essays, book chapters, brochures, research papers, reports, and photography critiques, to the texts of three illustrated books released in several different international languages with my name on their covers.
I have served 2 publishing houses as Assistant Editor (and also Manager-PR in both instances), and worked on 2 magazine launches (one of which eventually did not reach publication).
As a playful stylist, my 2 favourite works are probably, I. the full-length 're-write' of The Kamasutra (see below) that I did entirely in a formal pseudo-classical mein, and, 2. the short piece I wrote almost entirely as a series of questions for Vislumbres (page 43).
Periodicals that have carried my works include all of the major English-language newspapers published out of New Delhi, and perhaps all of the travel magazines of India through the 1980s.
The texts appended below - about just my 3 books - are reproduced here only because I'd already written them a long time ago, for the first website I ever made about myself, in the mid-1990s.
And, I am still open to accepting new writing assignments and commissions.
My published writings have ranged from features and advertising copy, through satirical and 'nonsense' pieces, essays, book chapters, brochures, research papers, reports, and photography critiques, to the texts of three illustrated books released in several different international languages with my name on their covers.
I have served 2 publishing houses as Assistant Editor (and also Manager-PR in both instances), and worked on 2 magazine launches (one of which eventually did not reach publication).
As a playful stylist, my 2 favourite works are probably, I. the full-length 're-write' of The Kamasutra (see below) that I did entirely in a formal pseudo-classical mein, and, 2. the short piece I wrote almost entirely as a series of questions for Vislumbres (page 43).
Periodicals that have carried my works include all of the major English-language newspapers published out of New Delhi, and perhaps all of the travel magazines of India through the 1980s.
The texts appended below - about just my 3 books - are reproduced here only because I'd already written them a long time ago, for the first website I ever made about myself, in the mid-1990s.
The Himalayas ~ Lustre Press / Rolli Books / India
Kishore Singh was executive editor at Cross Section Publications in Delhi when I first worked for him on assignment as an independent writer & photographer in the late 1980s. Coincidentally, this was the same company I'd first joined (as asst. editor & manager-PR) after earning my diploma of journalism about a decade earlier.
Sometime in the early-90s, Kishore shifted over to the post of group editor at Rolli Books,.. and fondly remembered me when it came time to assign someone to write the text for a 'coffee-table' book they wanted to do through Rolli's 'Lustre Press' division, on the Himalayas.
So he called up one morning and put it to me straight ~ would/could I write him a 20,000 word text on the Himalayas for this book in 45 days? Of course, I jumped at it!
Soon after signing the contract a couple of days later, I zipped out to share the good news and celebrate with my good friend Hemen Sanghvi (the incredible photo-documentarist, teacher and practitioner of vernacular Indian architecture), who solemnly first retreated into his library to emerge in a few moments with 13 book he handed over to me (on loan, of course) with the advice that I "might find them handy",.. before proceeding to pour a round of wine and and loosening up to enjoy my good fortune with me.
Handy? Boy ~ regardless of how much I'd personally travelled in the Himalayas before then, those books of Hemen's eventually yeilded me up much of the meat of my finished 20,000 words in less than a month from when I first got them. After reading them through, taking notes all the way, all I had to do was put it together with what I already knew, to figure out what exactly I wanted to do, and then directly hammer out the final draft in double-space on a typewriter (!!) with two fingers, just like I'd done all of my other writing till then. A quick once-over to jot in corrections and minor changers here and there, and the manuscript was delivered.
The finished book carries this text almost entirely unchanged and unedited except for one crucialword. I'd therefore like to put on record here that I have never, and would never, use the word "absurdest" to describe anything about any human subject of my writings,.. unless I really wanted to wallop someone, which was clearly not the case here.
The book also carries the fascinating background that for several very good reasons I pegged the whole thing substantially around Ladakh, which I personally visited for the first time only three years later. For the record, again: it was exactly as I had described it to be, thanks to Hemen's books!
The Himalayas went on to be translated, published and sold very well in 3-4 international languages around the world.
My favourite review of the book in India, was by Bill Aitken, an almost legendary travel-writer on the sub-continent. My favourite line from it?
"... The author makes a confident swing across the spectrum of cultural provinces that reminds one of Madanjeet Singh's UNESCO classic now in great demand that the Buddhist border areas are beginning to shed their inner line restrictions...."
note: a lot of folks congratulate me for the photographs in The Himalayas, but they're clearly credited in the book to more than 30 photographers, not including me. My own photo-stock on the subject was long gone by then.
Kishore Singh was executive editor at Cross Section Publications in Delhi when I first worked for him on assignment as an independent writer & photographer in the late 1980s. Coincidentally, this was the same company I'd first joined (as asst. editor & manager-PR) after earning my diploma of journalism about a decade earlier.
Sometime in the early-90s, Kishore shifted over to the post of group editor at Rolli Books,.. and fondly remembered me when it came time to assign someone to write the text for a 'coffee-table' book they wanted to do through Rolli's 'Lustre Press' division, on the Himalayas.
So he called up one morning and put it to me straight ~ would/could I write him a 20,000 word text on the Himalayas for this book in 45 days? Of course, I jumped at it!
Soon after signing the contract a couple of days later, I zipped out to share the good news and celebrate with my good friend Hemen Sanghvi (the incredible photo-documentarist, teacher and practitioner of vernacular Indian architecture), who solemnly first retreated into his library to emerge in a few moments with 13 book he handed over to me (on loan, of course) with the advice that I "might find them handy",.. before proceeding to pour a round of wine and and loosening up to enjoy my good fortune with me.
Handy? Boy ~ regardless of how much I'd personally travelled in the Himalayas before then, those books of Hemen's eventually yeilded me up much of the meat of my finished 20,000 words in less than a month from when I first got them. After reading them through, taking notes all the way, all I had to do was put it together with what I already knew, to figure out what exactly I wanted to do, and then directly hammer out the final draft in double-space on a typewriter (!!) with two fingers, just like I'd done all of my other writing till then. A quick once-over to jot in corrections and minor changers here and there, and the manuscript was delivered.
The finished book carries this text almost entirely unchanged and unedited except for one crucialword. I'd therefore like to put on record here that I have never, and would never, use the word "absurdest" to describe anything about any human subject of my writings,.. unless I really wanted to wallop someone, which was clearly not the case here.
The book also carries the fascinating background that for several very good reasons I pegged the whole thing substantially around Ladakh, which I personally visited for the first time only three years later. For the record, again: it was exactly as I had described it to be, thanks to Hemen's books!
The Himalayas went on to be translated, published and sold very well in 3-4 international languages around the world.
My favourite review of the book in India, was by Bill Aitken, an almost legendary travel-writer on the sub-continent. My favourite line from it?
"... The author makes a confident swing across the spectrum of cultural provinces that reminds one of Madanjeet Singh's UNESCO classic now in great demand that the Buddhist border areas are beginning to shed their inner line restrictions...."
note: a lot of folks congratulate me for the photographs in The Himalayas, but they're clearly credited in the book to more than 30 photographers, not including me. My own photo-stock on the subject was long gone by then.
The Art of Kamasutra ~ Lustre Press / Rolli Books / India
[Read 'The Lost Chapter Reinvented' below]
Kishore called me over to his office one day and proposed that I do him the text for a humourous Kamasutra they'd been planning to publish. I agreed to give the idea a good think and carried off several earlier (serious) versions by other writers and publishers, which he'd kept handy for me to begin my research with.
Two days later, I got back to him with the counter-proposition that I would instead do a dead-serious rewrite for him, and that I would allow Rolli Books/Lustre Press the right to publish only one edition,.. for double what I'd been paid for The Himalayas.
The position I was taking here was that what little had come down to us of the original Kamasutra of Vatsyayana in the english language was essentially a quaint and very old translation of a very-very old vernacular indian text by a britisher!!,.. and so there certainly was space and some little need indeed for a serious re-rendering (even though I did the final text in a very formal and sort of quaint english).
Surprisingly, my counter-proposition was taken on pretty quick, even though Pramod Kapoor (owner/publisher of Rolli) tried to slip out of the "one edition only" part in all sorts of ways. In the end however, I even managed to educate him that he should gift each of his authors a fine pen to sign each of their book-contracts with,.. and accordingly took home for myself the trophy of one of the cheapest he could find in his desk-top collection at such an inconvenient spur of the moment ~ a "Rotring Artpen".
I should have suspected from the beginning that there something fishy about how easily Pramod took aboard my counter-proposition when it ran so counter to what had been proposed to me, as a book carefully 'planned'. After all, he was generally spoken of as a pretty slippery customer on several counts amongst a good part of the community of photographers and writers he fed off in Delhi.
So, what's to say?
Well, to begin with, I have good reason to believe that Pramod had in fact pre-sold a duplicate edition of this book with a different person's name on the cover,.. but in any case, he published it in at least 4 verifiable independent editions, as The Art of Kama Sutra (ISBN: 8174361766), The Art of Kamasutra (ISBN: 8174370072), The Art Of Kamasutra,. Bind : Hardback No. of Pages : 95 Date of Publication : 1995. Publisher : Richard Blady Publishing [ISBN : 1-898367-65-5],Die Kunst des Kamasutra (ISBN: 8174370145) and L'art du Kama Sutra ~ Publisher: G. Trédaniel, 2001 (Who is this?!?!) (ISBN 2-84445-312-0),.. and possibly a Spanish edition I've been told of!!
What do I do?
Well ~ this is India, where courts are choked up for years into the future!!
On a separate note: the diverse collection of illustrations originally meant for this book were all lost in transit to London for scanning/processing. The illustrations eventually used were desperately commissioned specifically for the book after this.
My favorite lines from reviews of the text:
[Read 'The Lost Chapter Reinvented' below]
Kishore called me over to his office one day and proposed that I do him the text for a humourous Kamasutra they'd been planning to publish. I agreed to give the idea a good think and carried off several earlier (serious) versions by other writers and publishers, which he'd kept handy for me to begin my research with.
Two days later, I got back to him with the counter-proposition that I would instead do a dead-serious rewrite for him, and that I would allow Rolli Books/Lustre Press the right to publish only one edition,.. for double what I'd been paid for The Himalayas.
The position I was taking here was that what little had come down to us of the original Kamasutra of Vatsyayana in the english language was essentially a quaint and very old translation of a very-very old vernacular indian text by a britisher!!,.. and so there certainly was space and some little need indeed for a serious re-rendering (even though I did the final text in a very formal and sort of quaint english).
Surprisingly, my counter-proposition was taken on pretty quick, even though Pramod Kapoor (owner/publisher of Rolli) tried to slip out of the "one edition only" part in all sorts of ways. In the end however, I even managed to educate him that he should gift each of his authors a fine pen to sign each of their book-contracts with,.. and accordingly took home for myself the trophy of one of the cheapest he could find in his desk-top collection at such an inconvenient spur of the moment ~ a "Rotring Artpen".
I should have suspected from the beginning that there something fishy about how easily Pramod took aboard my counter-proposition when it ran so counter to what had been proposed to me, as a book carefully 'planned'. After all, he was generally spoken of as a pretty slippery customer on several counts amongst a good part of the community of photographers and writers he fed off in Delhi.
So, what's to say?
Well, to begin with, I have good reason to believe that Pramod had in fact pre-sold a duplicate edition of this book with a different person's name on the cover,.. but in any case, he published it in at least 4 verifiable independent editions, as The Art of Kama Sutra (ISBN: 8174361766), The Art of Kamasutra (ISBN: 8174370072), The Art Of Kamasutra,. Bind : Hardback No. of Pages : 95 Date of Publication : 1995. Publisher : Richard Blady Publishing [ISBN : 1-898367-65-5],Die Kunst des Kamasutra (ISBN: 8174370145) and L'art du Kama Sutra ~ Publisher: G. Trédaniel, 2001 (Who is this?!?!) (ISBN 2-84445-312-0),.. and possibly a Spanish edition I've been told of!!
What do I do?
Well ~ this is India, where courts are choked up for years into the future!!
On a separate note: the diverse collection of illustrations originally meant for this book were all lost in transit to London for scanning/processing. The illustrations eventually used were desperately commissioned specifically for the book after this.
My favorite lines from reviews of the text:
- "... interwoven with practical and informed text, retells the celebrated work in a jaunty, pragmatic style, and analyses the gamut of sexual relationships and modes - ranging from tender romantic love to conjugal concord."
- "Shankar Barua's retelling of Vatsyayana's The Kamasutra is both jaunty and pragmatic, its analysis of sexual politics often chillingly realistic. The intention of this work was to provide instruction as well as enjoyment."
'THE LOST CHAPTER REINVENTED'
from The Art of Kamasutra, by Shankar Barua (mid-1990s)
§
Being the first chapter of my text for the coffee-table books variously and repeatedly published in at least three international languages, as "Art of Kamasutra" (and other names), by the Lustre Press division of Rolli Books (New Delhi, India), to whom I signed over the rights for actually just one edition, but who preferred to chance my deep aversion for the oft-twisted and always tiresome judicial systems of India to rip me off~ successfully and for many years thus far. Sadly, I do also not have an actual copy of our contract, which I might have been able to just hand over to somebody else to deal with this.
In any case, whereas the entire text of the book was essentially just a thorough reinterpretation and rewrite (which I believe should actually be published without pornographic illustrations), this chapter was entirely invented by me to serve as an entry-point into the actual Sutras, notionally taking the place of a chapter said to have been lost from the original.
Interestingly, at least one later version of The Kamasutra, by another author, actually used some lines from this invented chapter as though from the original.
~
Here's the chapter:
It is an ancient golden rule that the actions of good men and women shall always be guided by their own enlightened interpretations of what is right and what is wrong. In this, allowance is always made for variation in prevailing circumstances, mores, norms, traditions and values of the heritage and society the individual is sprung from, and that which he or she lives in.
The most sacred ancient texts of India propose the simple exaltation, based on Knowledge, of all being as the purest exercise of logic in life and worship. It is an irresistible argument to the initiated, for the only goals thus are humility, harmony and happiness; the outward manifestations of what we refer to as good Dharma, Artha and Kama. All seem irreproachably virtuous and dependent upon no sacrifice, thus standing firmly as the universal measuring rods of all men and all women.
However, most interrelationships among sentient individuals emerge from encounters between essentially independent, separate and inescapably varying perspectives and compulsions. Good relationships thus formed are thereby always dependent upon mutual negotiation, adjustment, acceptance, trust, sacrifice and happiness, in a sort of reciprocal exaltation between individual beings.
Beyond this, it has always been seen fit among all communities to define those relationships attending the circumstances of ones birth in non-negotiable terms. Thus, rights, responsibilities and a basic hierarchy in the structure of individual family-units are expected to conform to some shared code of basic honourable conduct in every society. Likewise, broad social codes in the larger structure of individual communities are also dictated, for in the harmony of these lies the foundation of societies and civilizations.
The only two classes of adult interrelationship never socially dictated to -their being left almost entirely instead to negotiation between the individuals concerned- are that between friends, and that between lovers. In these, it would seem that nothing much need be said, for all the drives of Dharma, Artha and Kama are in any case to attend upon the actions and relationships of all good men and all good women.
On the other hand, it can be observed that although each is always unique, every good friendship rests upon some perceived equality in the joint pursuit of pleasures and common purpose, without profound mutual agreement or commitment. True friendship always remains open to multiplicity, and free from any great adjustment or interdependence. It contains very limited potential for causing harm and damage to the psyche of either party and is therefore a free, light, and pleasant pursuit for everybody. Of course, the proximity between individuals that attends all friendship allows for harsh damage from treachery, but this is a matter of individual cases in the betrayal of friendship rather than a matter of friendship itself, and is restricted to the actions of dishonourable individuals, subtle lunatics, and plain fools.
Now, although there is much common foundation in the relationships between friends and those between lovers, the most seminal joint pursuit of pleasures and common purpose between lovers is the altogether unique adventure of sexual intercourse with each other. In the simplest terms, this is a mating of physical and psychological differentials between individuals, as epitomized in the invasive nature of the eventual penetration of woman by man; a symbolically perfect union of opposites. There is stoutness expected of men, while there is softness and accommodation expected of women; an implicit aggression matched to an explicit accommodation.
While the primary drives of both lovers must obviously converge to initiate good sex, even the most basic conceptual implications immediately diverge. In the natural state for example, whereas the man is physically free to reject all responsibility for any consequences of the act and move on, the woman may very well have already entered into the long chain of obligations, responsibilities and reduced freedoms implicit in a pregnancy (for no 'safe' birth-control technique is one hundred percent proof, or 'natural'). In fact, the animal-drive and genetic urge towards procreation -or just plain survival of the species- which lies at the deepest root of all sexual union, rests upon an inescapable physical interdependence across huge differentials for its fulfillment in the natural course. Sociobiologists call it simply 'the cost of reproduction', wherein the huge cost to a woman inhibits promiscuity in the natural state while yielding 'Maternity Certainty' with regard to offspring, and the corresponding cost to a man is potential 'Paternity Uncertainty', promoting relative promiscuity. To cap all this, there are historically widespread social codes that -some would say consequently- reward the sexually adventurous man with honour, and the sexually adventurous woman with dishonour and disrepute.
In the essentially unequal sexual encounter between lovers, it is only a foundation of faith, trust and ethical sexual acumen that will allow transcending the elementary rutting of beasts, into a domain of mutual respect, love, and consequently profound pleasure. The truly joyous sexual act then becomes sacramental to a relationship, "the outward sign of an inner grace" worth aspiring for. Those deeply fulfilling relationships which achieve this are impossible to sustain between a multiplicity of partners, and the interdependency of spirit thus manifested introduces a potential for very grievous emotional and psychological injury from even the ignorance or plain idiocy of either or both the lovers. With the basic foundation essentially all about procreation and progeny, the stakes are therefore too high to allow much concession for even 'innocence' beyond a very early point of time in the evolution and progression of a relationship between lovers.
Societies all over the world responded to these potential dangers in the game of love by establishing institutions of marriage in the distant mists of prehistory. In time, marriages came to be celebrated as one of the first logical goals in a 'respectable' and 'safe' relationship between lovers. It was only within marriage after all, that the individual long-term roles and responsibilities of lovers could finally be delineated according to the values of a society, thus reducing the risk-potentials of their interdependence to a very great degree. Such social institutions have therefore survived almost intact to our day.
Beyond outlining rules in the institution of marriage however, the ancient sages of India realized that individual sexual relationships between lovers were too unique and too private to ever be dictated to, although very many societies have attempted in very many ways to do so throughout history. They also understood that the absence of sexual happiness in an otherwise 'perfect' marriage could often reduce the institution to serving up a terrible bondage to unhappiness and even suffering. Accumulated wisdom could not generally adjudicate in these matters, but it could (as every good parent should attempt for his, or her, children) share the simple knowledge that may avert such tragedy, before the event.
Along these lines, the first Kamashastra is ascribed to Nandi, companion of Shiva -Lord of Destruction- who is always joined with his consort Parvati as the supreme symbol of perfection in the unity of contrasts.
Nandi's original 1,000 chapters were condensed down to 500 by Shvetaketu. Then Babhravya rendered this in 150 chapters under seven heads. Of these, the general topics were expounded by Charanya; embraces, squeezes, scratching, biting, etc., were collated by Suvarnanabha; Ghotakamukha addressed sexual union; Gonardiya spoke on one's wife, Gonikaputra on the wives of others, and Dattaka addressed the public women of Pataliputra, at their request, on courtesans. The knowledge of sex-aids, tonics, elixirs, medicine and magic, was compiled by Kuchumara, and all of these seven parts were then gathered into thirty-six chapters (of which the first is lost), by Vatsyayan.
Vatsyayan's Kamasutra has been in Indian circulation as an educational treatise for some eighteen hundred years now, but in the last one hundred, archaic translations have been reproduced and sold all over the world to merely titillate tastes that approach sex as something surreptitious and lewd; to be hidden beneath covers, or peeped at in others.
Today, The Art of Kamasutra takes up the old wisdoms on the pleasures of enlightened indulgence, to remould them by the norms, needs, and a language, of new days. This chapter has been concocted to fill in for the lost one of the original, but the rest is rewritten with varied modification, straightforward appropriation, some addition, and selective omission, from the translation of F. F. Arbuthnot and Sir Richard Burton. It is therefore fitting that we now begin from a very slightly rewritten version of their original rendition of Vatsyayan's conclusion:
"Thus have I written in a few words these Aphorisms on Love, after reading ancient texts and following in the ways of enjoyment taught in them.
"One acquainted with the true principles of this science pays regard to Dharma, Artha, Kama, past experience, and the teachings of others, never acting simply by the dictates of ones own desire. As for errors in the science of love contained in this work, I have acted on my own authority as author, to immediately censure and prohibit them.
"An action is never indulged simply because it is recognized by the science, and should be acted upon only when appropriate. This Kamasutra has been composed after reading, considering and thinking over the meaning of guidance contained in the works of Babhravya and other ancient authors, according to the precepts of Holy Writ, for the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayan, while leading the life of a religious student wholly engaged in contemplation of the deity.
'This work is not intended for use merely as an instrument to satisfy ones desires. Rather, a person acquainted with the true principles of this science, and who preserves his Dharma, Artha, and Kama, has regard for the practices of the people, and is sure to have a mastery of his senses.
'In short, an intelligent and prudent person, attending to Dharma and Artha, and attending also to Kama, without becoming a slave to his passions, obtains success in everything he may undertake."
from The Art of Kamasutra, by Shankar Barua (mid-1990s)
§
Being the first chapter of my text for the coffee-table books variously and repeatedly published in at least three international languages, as "Art of Kamasutra" (and other names), by the Lustre Press division of Rolli Books (New Delhi, India), to whom I signed over the rights for actually just one edition, but who preferred to chance my deep aversion for the oft-twisted and always tiresome judicial systems of India to rip me off~ successfully and for many years thus far. Sadly, I do also not have an actual copy of our contract, which I might have been able to just hand over to somebody else to deal with this.
In any case, whereas the entire text of the book was essentially just a thorough reinterpretation and rewrite (which I believe should actually be published without pornographic illustrations), this chapter was entirely invented by me to serve as an entry-point into the actual Sutras, notionally taking the place of a chapter said to have been lost from the original.
Interestingly, at least one later version of The Kamasutra, by another author, actually used some lines from this invented chapter as though from the original.
~
Here's the chapter:
It is an ancient golden rule that the actions of good men and women shall always be guided by their own enlightened interpretations of what is right and what is wrong. In this, allowance is always made for variation in prevailing circumstances, mores, norms, traditions and values of the heritage and society the individual is sprung from, and that which he or she lives in.
The most sacred ancient texts of India propose the simple exaltation, based on Knowledge, of all being as the purest exercise of logic in life and worship. It is an irresistible argument to the initiated, for the only goals thus are humility, harmony and happiness; the outward manifestations of what we refer to as good Dharma, Artha and Kama. All seem irreproachably virtuous and dependent upon no sacrifice, thus standing firmly as the universal measuring rods of all men and all women.
However, most interrelationships among sentient individuals emerge from encounters between essentially independent, separate and inescapably varying perspectives and compulsions. Good relationships thus formed are thereby always dependent upon mutual negotiation, adjustment, acceptance, trust, sacrifice and happiness, in a sort of reciprocal exaltation between individual beings.
Beyond this, it has always been seen fit among all communities to define those relationships attending the circumstances of ones birth in non-negotiable terms. Thus, rights, responsibilities and a basic hierarchy in the structure of individual family-units are expected to conform to some shared code of basic honourable conduct in every society. Likewise, broad social codes in the larger structure of individual communities are also dictated, for in the harmony of these lies the foundation of societies and civilizations.
The only two classes of adult interrelationship never socially dictated to -their being left almost entirely instead to negotiation between the individuals concerned- are that between friends, and that between lovers. In these, it would seem that nothing much need be said, for all the drives of Dharma, Artha and Kama are in any case to attend upon the actions and relationships of all good men and all good women.
On the other hand, it can be observed that although each is always unique, every good friendship rests upon some perceived equality in the joint pursuit of pleasures and common purpose, without profound mutual agreement or commitment. True friendship always remains open to multiplicity, and free from any great adjustment or interdependence. It contains very limited potential for causing harm and damage to the psyche of either party and is therefore a free, light, and pleasant pursuit for everybody. Of course, the proximity between individuals that attends all friendship allows for harsh damage from treachery, but this is a matter of individual cases in the betrayal of friendship rather than a matter of friendship itself, and is restricted to the actions of dishonourable individuals, subtle lunatics, and plain fools.
Now, although there is much common foundation in the relationships between friends and those between lovers, the most seminal joint pursuit of pleasures and common purpose between lovers is the altogether unique adventure of sexual intercourse with each other. In the simplest terms, this is a mating of physical and psychological differentials between individuals, as epitomized in the invasive nature of the eventual penetration of woman by man; a symbolically perfect union of opposites. There is stoutness expected of men, while there is softness and accommodation expected of women; an implicit aggression matched to an explicit accommodation.
While the primary drives of both lovers must obviously converge to initiate good sex, even the most basic conceptual implications immediately diverge. In the natural state for example, whereas the man is physically free to reject all responsibility for any consequences of the act and move on, the woman may very well have already entered into the long chain of obligations, responsibilities and reduced freedoms implicit in a pregnancy (for no 'safe' birth-control technique is one hundred percent proof, or 'natural'). In fact, the animal-drive and genetic urge towards procreation -or just plain survival of the species- which lies at the deepest root of all sexual union, rests upon an inescapable physical interdependence across huge differentials for its fulfillment in the natural course. Sociobiologists call it simply 'the cost of reproduction', wherein the huge cost to a woman inhibits promiscuity in the natural state while yielding 'Maternity Certainty' with regard to offspring, and the corresponding cost to a man is potential 'Paternity Uncertainty', promoting relative promiscuity. To cap all this, there are historically widespread social codes that -some would say consequently- reward the sexually adventurous man with honour, and the sexually adventurous woman with dishonour and disrepute.
In the essentially unequal sexual encounter between lovers, it is only a foundation of faith, trust and ethical sexual acumen that will allow transcending the elementary rutting of beasts, into a domain of mutual respect, love, and consequently profound pleasure. The truly joyous sexual act then becomes sacramental to a relationship, "the outward sign of an inner grace" worth aspiring for. Those deeply fulfilling relationships which achieve this are impossible to sustain between a multiplicity of partners, and the interdependency of spirit thus manifested introduces a potential for very grievous emotional and psychological injury from even the ignorance or plain idiocy of either or both the lovers. With the basic foundation essentially all about procreation and progeny, the stakes are therefore too high to allow much concession for even 'innocence' beyond a very early point of time in the evolution and progression of a relationship between lovers.
Societies all over the world responded to these potential dangers in the game of love by establishing institutions of marriage in the distant mists of prehistory. In time, marriages came to be celebrated as one of the first logical goals in a 'respectable' and 'safe' relationship between lovers. It was only within marriage after all, that the individual long-term roles and responsibilities of lovers could finally be delineated according to the values of a society, thus reducing the risk-potentials of their interdependence to a very great degree. Such social institutions have therefore survived almost intact to our day.
Beyond outlining rules in the institution of marriage however, the ancient sages of India realized that individual sexual relationships between lovers were too unique and too private to ever be dictated to, although very many societies have attempted in very many ways to do so throughout history. They also understood that the absence of sexual happiness in an otherwise 'perfect' marriage could often reduce the institution to serving up a terrible bondage to unhappiness and even suffering. Accumulated wisdom could not generally adjudicate in these matters, but it could (as every good parent should attempt for his, or her, children) share the simple knowledge that may avert such tragedy, before the event.
Along these lines, the first Kamashastra is ascribed to Nandi, companion of Shiva -Lord of Destruction- who is always joined with his consort Parvati as the supreme symbol of perfection in the unity of contrasts.
Nandi's original 1,000 chapters were condensed down to 500 by Shvetaketu. Then Babhravya rendered this in 150 chapters under seven heads. Of these, the general topics were expounded by Charanya; embraces, squeezes, scratching, biting, etc., were collated by Suvarnanabha; Ghotakamukha addressed sexual union; Gonardiya spoke on one's wife, Gonikaputra on the wives of others, and Dattaka addressed the public women of Pataliputra, at their request, on courtesans. The knowledge of sex-aids, tonics, elixirs, medicine and magic, was compiled by Kuchumara, and all of these seven parts were then gathered into thirty-six chapters (of which the first is lost), by Vatsyayan.
Vatsyayan's Kamasutra has been in Indian circulation as an educational treatise for some eighteen hundred years now, but in the last one hundred, archaic translations have been reproduced and sold all over the world to merely titillate tastes that approach sex as something surreptitious and lewd; to be hidden beneath covers, or peeped at in others.
Today, The Art of Kamasutra takes up the old wisdoms on the pleasures of enlightened indulgence, to remould them by the norms, needs, and a language, of new days. This chapter has been concocted to fill in for the lost one of the original, but the rest is rewritten with varied modification, straightforward appropriation, some addition, and selective omission, from the translation of F. F. Arbuthnot and Sir Richard Burton. It is therefore fitting that we now begin from a very slightly rewritten version of their original rendition of Vatsyayan's conclusion:
"Thus have I written in a few words these Aphorisms on Love, after reading ancient texts and following in the ways of enjoyment taught in them.
"One acquainted with the true principles of this science pays regard to Dharma, Artha, Kama, past experience, and the teachings of others, never acting simply by the dictates of ones own desire. As for errors in the science of love contained in this work, I have acted on my own authority as author, to immediately censure and prohibit them.
"An action is never indulged simply because it is recognized by the science, and should be acted upon only when appropriate. This Kamasutra has been composed after reading, considering and thinking over the meaning of guidance contained in the works of Babhravya and other ancient authors, according to the precepts of Holy Writ, for the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayan, while leading the life of a religious student wholly engaged in contemplation of the deity.
'This work is not intended for use merely as an instrument to satisfy ones desires. Rather, a person acquainted with the true principles of this science, and who preserves his Dharma, Artha, and Kama, has regard for the practices of the people, and is sure to have a mastery of his senses.
'In short, an intelligent and prudent person, attending to Dharma and Artha, and attending also to Kama, without becoming a slave to his passions, obtains success in everything he may undertake."
Pushkar ~ Lustre Press / Rolli Books / India
While I put this book on record here, it is not one I like to remember. And so I'm glad my name's not on it's cover.
What happenned?
Well, this was after Kishore had left Rolli. So it was Pramod who assigned me to do the text of this book according to a specific format, as it was to be part of a series on different places by different writers.
After I submitted the text, Pramod called me up and asked me to pad it up with an extra chapter or two that he had in mind. I refused, and instead asked him to do it himself,.. if he really felt it to be so necessary, and even had such a clear pre-visualization of what he wanted.
.... and that's exactly what the funny little fellow went and did, in addition to some pretty roughneck editing!
SO ~ the text of this book contains very subtantial inputs and alterations by Pramod Kapoor, and is put on record here only as a disclaimer of responsibility for any part of the finished text that resulted.
While I put this book on record here, it is not one I like to remember. And so I'm glad my name's not on it's cover.
What happenned?
Well, this was after Kishore had left Rolli. So it was Pramod who assigned me to do the text of this book according to a specific format, as it was to be part of a series on different places by different writers.
After I submitted the text, Pramod called me up and asked me to pad it up with an extra chapter or two that he had in mind. I refused, and instead asked him to do it himself,.. if he really felt it to be so necessary, and even had such a clear pre-visualization of what he wanted.
.... and that's exactly what the funny little fellow went and did, in addition to some pretty roughneck editing!
SO ~ the text of this book contains very subtantial inputs and alterations by Pramod Kapoor, and is put on record here only as a disclaimer of responsibility for any part of the finished text that resulted.
*** Not surprisingly, I avoided doing and have therefore not done any further assignments for this very interesting segment of the writer's market in India. Luckily enough at the time, I was also very substantially and most coveniently diverted away towards helping my wife Poonam launch and operate PAM, so these three are about all the books I've done.
H-o-w-e-v-e-r,... I did do one more manuscript on a back-burner, which I have not seriously ever put up to a publisher so far.
It is called "The Book of Rudra", and the position it takes off from is that:
[a] the Purans are the fount of all ancient Indian mythology from the Hindu stream, which traces all life, matter, time, the universe and everything up to the ultimate trinity and cycle of Creation, Continuance and Destruction, represented by Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva respectively,.. who in turn are just parts of the all-encompassing but utterly indescribable cosmic whole we refer to as 'Brahman'
[b] a third of the Puranas each hold one Lord of the trinity respectively to be paramount over the others
[c] stories in the Puranas are therefore often repeated from book to book,.. with characters changed around,.. and there is often very little semblance of sequence, order or continuum from story to story, after the similar ritual beginnings of each book
SO ~ my manuscript just draws out a select series of stories from only the Tamasik Purans (which hold Shiva to be paramount), and spins them into a sort of sequence stretched from the beginning of creation in our epoch, through to when Shiva gets fed up of all the goings-on on earth and departs to live in Shivaloka instead.
The text has been done in a very studied and somewhat dry manner which conforms to my vision of the finished book, in terms of layout, paper, illustrations (approx.), cover material, size, etc.
As you'd guess, Rudra is just another name of Shiva, amongst whose 1,000 names one also finds Shankar ~ my own name.
My plan for this manuscript is to eventually partner with a real good illustrtaor who gets turned on enough by the whole idea, to develop it with me into a finished book-package which I would like to only then put up to publishers (and bulk-buyers),.. from what would be a much better negotiating position. Needless to say, I may actually even try to develop the illustrations myself from original photographs and images in the public domain.
Lets see,... Till then, it's just fine on that ole back-burner.
H-o-w-e-v-e-r,... I did do one more manuscript on a back-burner, which I have not seriously ever put up to a publisher so far.
It is called "The Book of Rudra", and the position it takes off from is that:
[a] the Purans are the fount of all ancient Indian mythology from the Hindu stream, which traces all life, matter, time, the universe and everything up to the ultimate trinity and cycle of Creation, Continuance and Destruction, represented by Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva respectively,.. who in turn are just parts of the all-encompassing but utterly indescribable cosmic whole we refer to as 'Brahman'
[b] a third of the Puranas each hold one Lord of the trinity respectively to be paramount over the others
[c] stories in the Puranas are therefore often repeated from book to book,.. with characters changed around,.. and there is often very little semblance of sequence, order or continuum from story to story, after the similar ritual beginnings of each book
SO ~ my manuscript just draws out a select series of stories from only the Tamasik Purans (which hold Shiva to be paramount), and spins them into a sort of sequence stretched from the beginning of creation in our epoch, through to when Shiva gets fed up of all the goings-on on earth and departs to live in Shivaloka instead.
The text has been done in a very studied and somewhat dry manner which conforms to my vision of the finished book, in terms of layout, paper, illustrations (approx.), cover material, size, etc.
As you'd guess, Rudra is just another name of Shiva, amongst whose 1,000 names one also finds Shankar ~ my own name.
My plan for this manuscript is to eventually partner with a real good illustrtaor who gets turned on enough by the whole idea, to develop it with me into a finished book-package which I would like to only then put up to publishers (and bulk-buyers),.. from what would be a much better negotiating position. Needless to say, I may actually even try to develop the illustrations myself from original photographs and images in the public domain.
Lets see,... Till then, it's just fine on that ole back-burner.