The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana: Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding RemarksVatsyayana
Philosophy
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana: Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding Remarks
Vatsyayana
Love; Sex
After her marriage she should live in the house of her husband like one
of the chief members of the family, but should treat the other ladies of
the family with kindness, the servants with generosity, and all the
friends of the house with familiarity and good temper. She should show
that she is better acquainted with the sixty-four arts than the other
ladies of the house, and in any quarrels with her husband she should not
rebuke him severely, but in private do everything that he wishes, and
make use of the sixty-four ways of enjoyment. She should be obliging to
the other wives of her husband, and to their children she should give
presents, behave as their mistress, and make ornaments and play things
for their use. In the friends and servants of her husband she should
confide more than in his other wives, and finally she should have a
liking for drinking parties, going to picnics, attending fairs and
festivals, and for carrying out all kinds of games and amusements.
Thus ends the conduct of a virgin widow re-married.
A woman who is disliked by her husband, and annoyed and distressed by
his other wives, should associate with the wife who is liked most by her
husband, and who serves him more than the others, and should teach her
all the arts with which she is acquainted. She should act as the nurse
of her husband's children, and having gained over his friends to her
side, should through them make him acquainted of her devotion to him. In
religious ceremonies she should be a leader, as also in vows and fasts,
and should not hold too good an opinion of herself. When her husband is
lying on his bed she should only go near him when it is agreeable to
him, and should never rebuke him, or show obstinacy in any way. If her
husband happens to quarrel with any of his other wives, she should
reconcile them to each other, and if he desires to see any woman
secretly, she should manage to bring about the meeting between them. She
should moreover make herself acquainted with the weak points of her
husband's character, but always keep them secret, and on the whole
behave herself in such an way as may lead him to look upon her as a good
and devoted wife.
Here ends the conduct of a wife disliked by her husband.
The above sections will show how all the women of the King's seraglio
are to behave, and therefore we shall now speak separately only about
the king.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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