Ratirahasya
The Ratirahasya (Secrets of Love), also known as Koka Shastra , was written by Kokkoka (also Koka, Koka Pundit and Kalyan Mali). The Ratirahasya is one of the most important medieval texts on Indian Hindu eroticism and love . The descriptions written in Sanskrit are believed to have originated in the 11th or 12th century AD.
The work
In contrast to the Kama Sutra , the Ratirahasya is adapted to the customs of medieval Indian society. During the Middle Ages, India had become more conservative, women's freedom was restricted, and premarital and extramarital sex was frowned upon. Out of this context, the need arose for an up-to-date sex manual that took into account the medieval cultural climate, which the old, more permissive Kama Sutra text no longer lived up to.
The work contains about 800 verses in fifteen pachivedes (chapters), which deal with various topics: the aspects of the lunar calendar , the genitals , erogenous zones, characteristics of women of different ages and different types of embrace , sexual intercourse, sex positions, kissing techniques Etc.
Some of the topics in this work are not covered in the Kama Sutra, such as the four categories of women ( Padmini , Chitrini , Shankini, and Hastini ) or the listing of the days and hours when women in each of the four categories are most excitable. Depending on the size of the genitals, the text recommends nine different types of sexual intercourse and names suitable aphrodisiacs . The author notes that some views come from the teachings of Gonikaputra and Nandikeshwara . Both are also mentioned by Mallanaga Vatsyayana , but their works have not survived.
The Ratirahasya became very popular and translated into many languages, besides the Indian languages e.g. B. in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, English, German. In Hindi the author was called Koka and his work Koka Shastra ( teachings of coca ).
Alex Comfort , the author of The Joy of Sex , translated Ratirahasya into English in 1964 and published the work under the title The Koka Shashtra, Being the Ratirahasya of Kokkoka, and Other Medieval Indian Writings on Love (London: George Allen and Unwin).
Comments of the Ratirahasya
As for the Kama Sutra , commentaries have been written for the Ratirahasya . These are the Janavashya of Kallarasa (15th century AD), the Ananga Ranga of King Kalyanmalla (15th or 16th century AD), Panchasayaka of Jyotirisha (13th or 14th century AD) , Ratiratnapradipika of Praudha Devaraja, Maharaja of Vijayanagara (15th century AD).
content
The chapters in the German translation of the Ratirahasya by S. Lienhard are:
- Part 1 - Introduction
- Part 2 - Of the basic types of women
- Part 3 - About love affair in accordance with the phases of the moon
- Part 4 - Of the different types
- Part 5 - Of general traits
- Part 6 - From knowing the countries
- Part 7 - From the hugs
- Part 8 - From the kisses
- Part 9 - Of the nail painting
- Part 10 - Of the tooth marks
- Part 11 - The pleasure of sex
- Part 12 - How to Earn a Girl's Trust
- Part 13 - From the wife
- Part 14 - Of the strange women
- Part 15 - On making compliant
- Part 16 - Recipes and Practices
Expenses (selection)
- Alex Comfort, Pandit Kokkoka, WG Archer: The Koka Shastra [the scripture of Koka]; [the secret of the game of love] . Ballantine, New York 1966, OCLC 9564602 (English).
- Alex Comfort: The Illustrated Koka Shastra: Erotic Indian Writings, Based on the Kama Sutra . Simon & Schuster, New York 1997, ISBN 0-684-83981-4 (English).
- Alex Comfort: Koka Shastra. The tantra of love . Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-550-06975-8 .
- Koka Shastra: The Hindu Secrets of Love . DB Taraporevala, India 1981, ISBN 0-906654-99-8 (English).
- Koka Shastra . Ramboro Books PLC, 1999, ISBN 7-215-98867-8 (English).
- Julie Egli: Koka Shastra. El clásico hindú del sexo perfecto . 1998, ISBN 84-7901-281-1 (Spanish).
- Siegfried Lienhard: Kokkoka, secrets of the art of love. The ancient Indian art of love of Ratirahasya . Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-86539-096-X .
- Siegfried Lienhard: Ratirahasya from Kokkoka . Decker Verlag, Wiesbaden 1960.
Web links
Other sources
- ^ Suzanne G. Frayser, Thomas J. Whitby: Studies in Human Sexuality. A Selected Guide . Libraries Unlimited, Englewood 1995, ISBN 0-585-07138-1 , pp. 144 ( books.google.com ).
- ↑ Kar Nilamadhab, Gopal Chandra Kar: Comprehensive Textbook of Sexual Medicine . Jaypee Brothers, Medical Publishers, New Delhi 2005, ISBN 81-8061-405-0 , pp. 456 ( books.google.com ).