India, for sure, is a country of strange contradictions. A 50-minute drive from the Silicon Valley of Bangalore will transport you back to the Stone Age. And it is here that the most globally authoritative handbook of practical advice on sex was crafted in ancient times although many in modern India are still not well read about the bees and the birds.
Now, this reference of Kamasutra is seriously intended to be an example, and not the reference point of this discussion. Vatsayana’s work and the sculptural specimens at Khajuraho and Konark don’t intend to allude that our ancestors were sexually more active than us.
Surely, it does take some doing to reach a 1.15-billion
population mark and there is no hint that we are stopping. One has to discount the scientific plausibility of the theories of Divine Origin and Immaculate Conception here, though I am sure some people still try to propagate the same with missionary zeal. Well, after all, it’s a free country and there is freedom of speech. Cutting three sentences back, these ancient examples rather mean that the old society was not in denial of the fact that sex was a part of their normal lives.
Let’s now scan ourselves. We boast of a modern education system; and yet, we don’t have reproductive health as a subject. This looks totally stupid in the light of the WHO warning that by 2030, India may witness an AIDS explosion. The government’s constant denial to legalise and thus regulate the professional sex trade contributes to the AIDS epidemic theory. In ancient India, kingdoms made money by taxing sex workers. That’s some policy contrast. The Indian judicial system has played the maverick when it refuted the government’s ‘moral’ refusal of the rights of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community. This has been a radical departure. For once, we are just not having sex. We are also talking about it.
Codes of morality all around the world have changed. The notions of traditional morality based on religious diktats and sexual abstinence have given way to a new code based on tolerance, peace, individual freedom and respect for human rights. In this light, it’s imperative that our policy makers, political leaders and religious heads take stock of the situation. If India is to shake off its quasi-feudal, semi-capitalistic image, the starting point has to be the mentality of controlling other people’s lives and thoughts. And that will be in line of the legacy of Kamasutra, which should be a well enough read, unless one is an admirer of Marquis de Sade. The pictures are enough descriptive. Honestly, I have not come across a single bloke who has read the text in full. And that is because it is astounding that a book considered to be the mother of all erotic literature can be as unreadable as a statistical hand-book.
Now, this reference of Kamasutra is seriously intended to be an example, and not the reference point of this discussion. Vatsayana’s work and the sculptural specimens at Khajuraho and Konark don’t intend to allude that our ancestors were sexually more active than us.
Surely, it does take some doing to reach a 1.15-billion
population mark and there is no hint that we are stopping. One has to discount the scientific plausibility of the theories of Divine Origin and Immaculate Conception here, though I am sure some people still try to propagate the same with missionary zeal. Well, after all, it’s a free country and there is freedom of speech. Cutting three sentences back, these ancient examples rather mean that the old society was not in denial of the fact that sex was a part of their normal lives.Let’s now scan ourselves. We boast of a modern education system; and yet, we don’t have reproductive health as a subject. This looks totally stupid in the light of the WHO warning that by 2030, India may witness an AIDS explosion. The government’s constant denial to legalise and thus regulate the professional sex trade contributes to the AIDS epidemic theory. In ancient India, kingdoms made money by taxing sex workers. That’s some policy contrast. The Indian judicial system has played the maverick when it refuted the government’s ‘moral’ refusal of the rights of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community. This has been a radical departure. For once, we are just not having sex. We are also talking about it.
Codes of morality all around the world have changed. The notions of traditional morality based on religious diktats and sexual abstinence have given way to a new code based on tolerance, peace, individual freedom and respect for human rights. In this light, it’s imperative that our policy makers, political leaders and religious heads take stock of the situation. If India is to shake off its quasi-feudal, semi-capitalistic image, the starting point has to be the mentality of controlling other people’s lives and thoughts. And that will be in line of the legacy of Kamasutra, which should be a well enough read, unless one is an admirer of Marquis de Sade. The pictures are enough descriptive. Honestly, I have not come across a single bloke who has read the text in full. And that is because it is astounding that a book considered to be the mother of all erotic literature can be as unreadable as a statistical hand-book.
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