CHAPTER I - Invocation.

At first, the Lord of creatures [ 4 ] gave to the men ( people ? ) and to the women, in hundred thousand chapters, rules to follow for their existence, as regards:

Dharma or religious duty [ 5 ];

Artha or wealth;

Kama or love.

The duration of the human life, when it is not abbreviated by accidents, is of century.

We have to share her ( it ? ) between Dharma, Artha and Kama, so that they do not encroach the one on the other one; the childhood must be dedicated to the study; the youth and the adulthood, in Artha and in Kama; the old age, in Dharma which gets to the man the final liberation, that is the end of the transmigrations.

[ Note 4: the Lord of creatures is a qualification often given to Siva. Vatsyayana was thus Sivaïste as all the brahmes of his ( her;its ? ) time.]

[ Note 5: for Brahmes, Dharma is the religious rite, the sacrifice, the offering, the cult, the obedience in the custom. For the Buddhists, it is the moral rule ( ruler ? ), the philosophic duty.]

Dharma is the fulfillment of certain acts, as the sacrifices which we omit because we do not perceive the result in this world, and the abstinence of some other, as to eat some meat, which we carry out because we try ( feel ? ) a good effect.

Artha includes the industry, the agriculture, the business, the social relations and of family; it is the political economy that have to learn ( teach ? ) the civil servants and the traders.

Kama is the enjoyment, by means of five senses ( directions ? ); he ( it ? ) is taught by Kama Soutra and practice.

When Dharma, Artha and Kama appear in competition, Dharma is generally preferred to Artha and Artha in Kama. But for king, Artha occupies the first row ( rank ? ), because he assures ( insures ? ) the means of support.

A whole school, very numerous, makes cross ( spend ? ) Artha above all, because, above all, it is necessary to assure ( insure ? ) the needs of the life.

In practice, all the classes which live on their work, and all the men ( people ? ) who desire the wealth, follow the feeling of this school.

Lokayatikas claims that he ( it ? ) does not there take place to observe Dharma, because he ( it ? ) has in mind only the future life in which we ignore if he ( it ? ) will carry ( wear ? ) or his ( its ? ) fruit.

According to them, it is silly thing that to put back ( to hand ? ) in other hands what we hold. Besides, it is better to have a pigeon today than a cock of peacock tomorrow, and a brass detail ( room ? ) which we give is better than a golden coin which we promise. »

Answer to the objection:

« 1 ° The holy book which prescribes the practices of Dharma leaves place with no doubt.

2 ° We see by experience ( experiment ? ) that the sacrifices offered to obtain the destruction of our enemies or the fall of the rain carry ( wear ? ) their fruit.

3 ° The sun, the moon, the stars and the other celestial bodies appear to work with interest for the good of the world.

4 ° The world remains only by the observance of rules concerning four castes and four periods of the life.

5 ° We sow ( scatter ? ) in the hope to harvest. »

We do not have to sacrifice Kama to Artha because the pleasure is also necessary as the food. Moderated and careful, he ( it ? ) joins to Dharma and to Artha. The one who practises three is happy in this life and in the future life. Any act which is bound at the same moment in three or only for two or even in the only one three can be carried out. Any act which, to satisfy the one three, sacrifices two others, _doit to be évité_ (for example, a man who ruins himself by the worship or the dissoluteness is insane and guilty) [6].

[ Note 6: in the time of Vatsyayana, the philosophy Sankia and the Buddhism had completely compromised, at least in the high castes, the practices of Dharma brahmanique; it was hardly than a popular superstition. We notice it in the poverty of the arguments which Vatsyayana sets against Lokayatikas.

We see that Dharma, I' Artha and Kama had each of the exclusive partisans whose preferences depended on their situation: someone chose only two of these three terms. Barthriari says (_Amour _, stanza 53): « the men ( people ? ) have to choose here low between two cults: that of the beautiful which aspire only to games and still renewed pleasures, or the one that we return in the forest to Be absolved to him ( her;it ? ). »]

A part ( party ? ) of hundred thousand commands, particularly those who relate to Dharma, form the law of Svayambha. Those relative to Artha were compiled by Brihaspati, and those who concern Kama or love were exposed ( explained ? ) in one thousand chapters by Nandi, the sect of Mahadéva or Civa [ 7 ].

[ Note 7: Vatsyayana, we see him ( it ? ) by the words in italic, claims that he restricts to reproduce rules promulgated by the divinity since the origin of things and consequently compulsory.]

Kama Shastras (codes of the love) of Nandi was successively abbreviated by different authors, then distributed between six treaties consisted by different authors, among whom the one, Dattaka, wrote his at the request of the public women of Patalipoutra; it is Shastra or Catechism of the courtesans [ 8 ].

[ Note 8: As well as Shastra of the courtesans of India was written in their request, the 3rd book of _l'Art Art of aimer_ consisted by Ovide, at the request of the courteous women of Rome: « and the young beauties, in turn, ask me to give them lessons. I am going to teach the women how they will be liked ( loved ? ). The man often deceives, the woman is much less misleading. The goddess of Cythère appeared to me and said to me: « that the unfortunates women thus made to be delivered defenseless as of weak crowds to well armed ( equipped ? ) men ( people ? ). Two songs of your poetries returned these skillful to the fights of the love. You also have to give lessons to the other sex. Your beautiful pupils, as their young lovers, will register on their trophies: « Ovide was our boss. »]

Having read and _médité_ the papers of Babhravya and the other former ( ancient ? ) authors, and having studied the motives for the rules which they drew, Vatsyayana, while he was student in religion (as in Europe studying in theology), completely delivered to the pondering over the divinity, composed Kama-Sutra, summarized six above Shastra, according to the rules of the holy Book, for the good of the world. This paper is not only intended to serve our carnal desires. The one who possesses the principles of the science of Kama and who, at the same time, observe Dharma and Artha, is sure to master his ( her;its ? ) senses ( directions ? ).