Introduction

Contents
Introduction....................................................................................... 1
Meaning of Kama in Kamasutra and in the Tamil Love Poetry...3
Katal and Kamam........................................................................3
Comparison of Kamasutra and Tamil Love Poetry.......................4
Later works focus more on techniques.......................................6
How is TLP different from vast body of post-kamasutra writings 6
KS, NS and TLP............................................................................... 7
'Sex' does not even begin to cover what Kama really meant.. . . .8
Necessary Introduction to Tamil Poetry..........................................9

The famous Sanskrit treatise by Vatsyayana, the 3rd C. A.D.

Kamasutra, has dominated the erotic love traditions of India.
The ancient Tamil love poetry, and a grammar, written and compiled
between 1st and 5th C. A.D., offer a study of pre-marital and postmarital sexual love.
Like Kamasutra, Tamil love poetry purports to advice men on sexual
pleasure. Both cover similar topics: the general lifestyle and
attributes of lovers; the compatibility of lovers; the specific phases
and activities of the sex act itself; the ways and means of winning
and acquiring a wife; the conduct and management of sexual
relations; with liaisons with other women; dealing with courtesans;
and esoteric formulas for whining one's serial goals.
Meaning of Kama in Kamasutra and in the Tamil Love
Poetry
Vatsyayana starts the Kamasutra by defining Kama as
consciousness that rises from the contact between various sense
organs (ear, skin, eye, tongue, nose) and their respective senseobjects as directed by the mind along with the soul; but particularly
when, during sensation of touch, there is a clear delight in some
object which bears fruit and is permeated by the pleasure of arousal
(KS 1.2 11-12).
Like Kamasutra, Tamil Love poetry is unequivocally on the side of
pleasure. Sexual love is the fundamental human element on which
Tamil Love poetry is based. Love is a compound of two distinct
elements for Tamil poetry katal meaning attachment and
kamam meaning passion.

Katal and Kamam

Ktal has been employed in Tamil poetry, to denote the kindness
between all sorts of relatives including the husband and wife. (Ain
195, Nar 241, 237, An 275, 310) Now its meaning has gradually
enlarged to express all kinds of love, like love of God, love of
language, love of country and love of humanity. "Ktal" implied the
mental attachment between the being that loves and the object of
love. This word relates merely to mind, irrespective of physical
contact. This is plain from the use of 'ktalan' and 'ktali' for the
hero and heroine. The use of these terms to denote lovers is very
appropriate, as mental union is the chief characteristic of Ahattinai.
Kmam, which is now understood to mean a reckless indulgence of
the sexual impulse implied normal physical passion in the ancient
Tamil poetry (An 23). It was during the Kalabari rule, 6 th C. A.D.,
'kmam' came to denote a sense of degradation.
Finding no word to express the two essentials of akam theme, Tamil
love poetry coined a new phrase 'katalkamam' (Pari 6, Nar 389), by
combining the two related words 'ktal' and kmam', meaning
bodily union based on mutual liking.
Tamil love poems do not treat directly of the mental union of lovers,
for it is the play of destiny, but they fully describe the sexual
aspects of those who are united in hearts. The stress in Akam
poetry that the hero and heroine should unite in heart has a motive
behind it -- only then, their sexual life will be happy and perfect.
Comparison of Kamasutra and Tamil Love Poetry
Both refer primarily to sexual pleasure.

Kamasutra famously describes sex techniques but only one of the

seven sections is devoted to sex techniques. Thus Kamasutra, like
Tamil love poetry, perceived sex as an overwhelming 'social art'.
The largest parts of both Kamasutra and TLP are concerned with
how men and women were to manage their liaisons.
Like the first of Kamasutras seven books (or sections), 'General
Observations', Tamil love poetry puts kama (kamam in Tamil) in its
philosophical perspective and describes how the hero should set
himself up for a life of pleasure.
The second book, 'Sex', treats our hero how actually to do it.
Kamasutra describes sixty-four Kama-kalas, or ways to make love.
These are not sixty four positions they are often made out to be but
simply a grand total of different modes and moods of lovemaking.
TLP discusses in details moods of love-making.
Kamasutra's next four books define all the different types of women.
Virgins, other men's wives, courtesans are graded according to
desirability, beauty and sophistication. TLP talks about wives and
courtesan. Few ancient books have described the social and sexual
lines in such intimate details.
But Kamasutra was something more ambitious than just a 'sex
handbook'. It was far more ambitious and profound. It was wedded
to the Brahmin traditions of the past. It reflected those traditions.
The knowledge recommended by Kamasutra constituted much more
than simply knowing how to execute diverse sex techniques. The
heroes were routinely compared with the god of love, Kamadeva in

Kamasutra and Murugan in Tamil poetry, in beauty and singled

sexual prowess.
In the Kamasutra, the sexual art was itself accompanied by a vast
array of material, verbal and gestural which were thought to be
integral to its enjoyment. These were deemed so important that a
number of them were considered to be 'determinative' of the very
emotion of sexual pleasure. Vatsyayana called these 'fine arts' and
lists 64 of them.
Vatsyayana says that by distinguishing herself in sixty-four silpaKalas (not kama-kalas) will allow a woman to successfully keep her
husband under her thumb,'even if he has a thousand women in his
harem'.
The sexual relations for the people were a part of wide aestheticised
lifestyle. It is perhaps no surprise that the major discourses which
expanded much of the knowledge of the Kamasutra were
increasingly treatises in drama and poetry.
Later works focus more on techniques
The later handbooks or treatises on erotics focus more on sexual
techniques.
More ..
How is TLP different from vast body of post-kamasutra
writings
Besides Kamasutra, there is also a vast body of poetic writings in
various genres on courtship, love and sex. There are, for example,
numerous plays. There are story cycles of famous lovers. There are
literary texts which deal with love affairs of courtesans. Finally and
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importantly, there are larger number of anthologies and free

floating independent verses commenting on, or sketching scenarios
between lovers. These verses, stretching from the sublime to the
vulgar, are typically populated by anonymous and generic 'lovers.
Completing the picture is an extensive technical literature on
poetics, beginning with the Natysastra, and continuing throughout
medieval India, which instructs poets and readers on the
conventions for writing and appreciating love poetry. It sets out the
qualities, scenarios and behaviours appropriate to the male and
female lovers/ characters, as well as a cast of supporting characters
who appeared in connection with their affairs. The literature is in
many aspects crucial, for in setting out the conventions of literary
representation, it makes reference to and shares terminology with
the presumptive literature on erotic proper.
There are, of course, important differences of perspective and
subject matter between various poetic genres and, further, between
those texts which advised poets how to write about love.
Some poems, for example, present rustic, village or even pastoral,
scenes. In general, poetic discourses are far less explicit with regard
to sexual act itself then erotological, being more concerned with
various aspect of wider process of courtship from wooing, seduction
and symptoms of desire, to sexual longing and lovers quarrels.
Poetic discourses divided the experience of erotic love into the
categories of 'union' and 'separation' and became increasingly preoccupied with the experience of love-in-separation -- the effective
world of the lover longing for the beloved. This pre-occupation was

not only a clever poetic technique, it also allowed and contributed

to investing erotic love with wider social concerns.
Kamasutra was written for a pleasure-seeking playboy -- for
'nagarka' (lit. tr. 'he of the city'). According to Kamasutra, sex with a
peasant' was the lowest type of lovemaking. The lowest castes were
relegated to satellite villages beyond the city while the more
prosperous city-dwellers built their homes in sturdy brick with fine
porches and balconied roofs where lovers lingered after sex.
Kamasutra declares itself to be written by Nandi, the servant of bird
Shiva. IA declares itself to be written by Shiva himself.

KS, NS and TLP

Kama was -- and still is -- ranked as one of the three fundamental
goals of human existence with artha and dharma. It is the triple
path rather then kama alone, that Vat declares to be the subject of
his text. He opens his book by saluting the trio. They are in mutual
agreement. Together they define all human life. Study of dharma
and artha were flourishing by the time Kamasutra was written.
Authoritative works on dharma and artha had already become
standards. Vat copied the Arthasartha's structure. Their forms are
very close.
The Kamasutra was intended to be a study of all aspects of human
behavior and understanding. At around the same time, Bharat had
finished his Natysastra, a definite treatise of dance and theatre.
Patanjali had composed Mahabhasya, ancient science of grammar.
Aho Athasashe and other....

'Sex' does not even begin to cover what Kama really meant.
Dharma could be called 'rules and religion'. Artha - 'wealth and
worldly affairs' kamasutra gives probably the best defintion of
Dharma and Artha. It is the triple path, rather than Kama alone,
that vat describes to be the subject of his text. Kama-kala are not
just tools of successful love-making; they lie at the heart of what
constitutes an educated man.
Natysastra and Kamasutra were very close. Not only in age (both
were cotemporary -- give or take a century), or in their obsession
with classification and categorization (kamasutra's coital positions
need to introduction while Natysastra describes thirty-two types of
gait, but in their shared sense of erotic.
Love making in the kamasutra is gilded with layers of meaning.
Take, for instance, 'the twining vine', in which 'as the vine twines
around a great dammar tree; so she twines around him 'and bends
his face down to her to kiss him'. Or 'climbing the tree', in which she
rests one of her feet on her lover's foot and other on his thigh and
acts as if she were climbing his body in order to claim a kiss. As the
lovers engage in sex, she uses the cries of doe, cuckoo, pigeon,
parrot, bee. [compare this with flora and fauna in Akam poet].
Natyasastra also takes the performer how to mimic movement of
birds and animals and how to produce delicious coos and cries.
In Akam poetry, the hero meets the heroine for the first time in the
millet field. The scene follows kamasutra like a rulebook. When a
young girl is attracted to a man, Vat says ...
The heroine obeys Vat to the letter, she ...

Bharta's Natyasastra offers nine rasas, each of which corresponds to

a basic human emotion. The greatest of all rasas was sringara, the
rasa of the erotic.
Despite the unabashed eroticism of classical era literature, India's
culture was still troubled by sex as it had ever had been.
page 44.

Necessary Introduction to Tamil Poetry

We know of 2380 ancient poems from the Ettuttokai (Eight
anthologies) and Pattuppatu (Ten Songs).
Ettuttokai (Eight Anthologies):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Narrinai
Kuruntokai
Ainkurunaru
Pattirruppattu
Akanandru
Purananaru
Kalittokai
Paripatal

Pattuppatu (Ten Songs):

1. Porunarar ruppatai
2. Cirupavarruppatai
3. Perumpatiarruppatai
4. Mullaippattu
5. Maturaikkanci
6. Netunalvatai
7. Kuricippattu
8. Pattinappalai
9. Malaipatukatam
10.Tirumurukarruppatai
Akam and Puram
The subject matter of poetry is divided in two main categories
akam and puram. Akam deals with love between man and woman.

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Puram deals with war, heroism, etc. Three quarters of the total
corpus of classical Tamil poetry may be classified as akam.
Chronology of the Ancient Tamil (akam) Poetry
Most scholars agree that the chronology of the texts of classical
Tamil poetry and poetics is as follows:
1-3 C. A.D. The earliest corpus of akam poetry (compiled in Kur,
Nar and Ak); the old layer of TP (Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5);
4 C. A.D. Anthologization of Kur, Nar and Ak; the oldest body of the
colophons; the composition of the poems in Ain;
5 C. A.D. Composition of the poems in Kal; the new layer of TP and
its final redaction
5-6 C. A.D. Composition of IA; the main corpus of the colophons.
8 C. A.D. Nakkirars commentary on IA

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