What is Vatsyayana’s targeted demographic of readers when he wrote the Kama Sutra? Was it exclusive to the leisure class of the Indian society? Or did it also include the lower class? There is evidence that suggests that the text is biased for the aristocrats, as the practices described require time and money that the peasants don’t have. The fact that Vatsyayana is likely a member of the elite class, deduced from his sophisticated knowledge of Hinduism and what a nobleman’s day is like, could be another sign that his written work is biased towards the upper class. These facts lead to the question: if the Kama Sutra is partial to the aristocrats, did Vatsyayana retain the rudimentary principles of Hinduism throughout his work so that it could also be a valuable guideline for the lower class members? As much as the Kama Sutra seems to emphasize how extravagant a nobleman’s life should be, the essence of the book deeply intertwines its ideas with the three fundamental Hindu teachings that ultimately would be beneficial to the lower class too.
As a part of the Gupta Empire, Vatsyayana lived in a society that was heavily influenced by Hinduism, and this is portrayed by his stress on the basic teachings of Hinduism throughout the Kama Sutra. There is no doubt that he passionately values the ideas of dharma, kama, artha and moksha as shown in his writings, and urges all men to practice them, starting at a young age. Although he never deliberately points out whether the text is exclusively for the noble class or not, his writing shows traces of that confirms that it is all-class inclusive.
The teaching of dharma, as depicted in the Kama Sutra, also takes the lower caste into consideration. When answering to an objection as to why r...
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...n his text. He thinks of artha as a concept of investment and protection of your wealth, not necessarily as a matter of greed.
It is uncertain whether Vatsyayana may or may not be intentionally biased towards the more privileged class in his writings, but he unquestionably did not rule out the peasants from practicing the teachings within the Kama Sutra. Because the fundamental qualities of the Kama Sutra are derived from Hinduism, which stresses the principles of dharma, kama and artha, it could not exclude the lower class population. Vatsyayana has illustrated that wealth is not required for an individual to practice ideas that would help one to achieve moksha. Even with signs of disparity against the serfs, he still ultimately expresses the main three ideas of Hinduism so that the text would be a beneficial guideline for the lower class to practice as well.
In this paper, I will be explaining how Siddhartha had arrived at the Four Noble Truths. The first paragraph contains how Siddhartha’s life was full of suffering, pain, and sorrow. The second paragraph will be the cause of suffering is the desire for things that are really illusions in Siddhartha’s life. Following, in the third paragraph I will be explaining how the only way to cure suffering is to overcome desire. Finally, I will be explaining that the only way to overcome desire is to follow the Eightfold Path.
In his early life, he was born a Kshatriya. Until the age of twenty nine, Siddhartha lived a luxurious life as a prince. Siddhartha’s father, King Shuddodana consulted Asita, a well-known soothsayer, concerning the future of his son. Asita proclaimed that he would be one of two things: He could become a great king, even an emperor. Or he could become a great sage and savior of humanity. This made King Shuddodana wary of what his son may become, therefore he did anything in his power to surround his son Siddhartha with beauty and health to show Siddhartha that there is nothing to save humanity from since it is perfect. If Siddhartha was my son, I would let him see all the suffering in the world and allow him to take action instead of hiding it. It is selfish for the King to hide humanity’s flaws. One day, Siddhartha had seen two wandering, sick and old men. He also, for the first time, experienced death. Due to the sights he had seen, he escaped the palace and lived in a forest where he followed a spiritual life of meditation. After only six years, he achieved enlightenment under the famous Bodhi tree. Siddhartha claims that everyone is able to achieve enlightenment and we all possess
Nirvana for Sale by Rachelle M. Scott is an anthropological investigation into the intersection of wealth and piety in Thailand Theravada Buddhism. Through ethnographic methods, the book seeks to describe this relationship in a historically situated context. Thus, the book is concerned with cultural praxis within the context of religious discourses about wealth and piety.
In India, the religion of Hinduism in particular, provides two sources of support in regards to the social structure of the era. These sources are the Vedas and the Upanishads. According to The Rig Veda when Purusha’s body was divided “his mouth became the brāhman; his two arms were made into the rajanya; his two thighs the vaishyas; from his two feet the shūdra was born (Reilly, 92).” By splitting up the body in this way, there was a justification for the creation of the varna or caste system. The highest class or Brahmin’s were the priest class, who were also known as the most pure. In this role, they were the connecting figures between Purusha and his people, which is reflective of them being his mouth. The next upper division class was the Ksatriya or warrior/leader class. In the class, the role was to do the fighting which was reflective of them being Purusha’s arms. The artisan/farmer or middle class was known as the vaisyas. In this class, members represented the role of the thighs of Purusha, who were responsible for doing the brunt or tougher jobs in society. The nethermost social class was the sudra, who were serfs and servants. They represented the feet of Pursha, which is reflective of their status as the lowest class. Along with the Vedas, the Upanishads served as a written guideline for the varna. These works urged the concept of doin...
In Making Sex by Thomas Laqueur, the author analysis sexual differences throughout the 18th century reviewing physicians, scientist, biologist and how society understood the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Laqueur brig us two sex models; the one-sex model and the two-sex model. He explains who we transition from the one-sex model to the two-sex model. How this two models had impacted our society and created an impact in history had it to do with the fact that a lot of evidence was drawn from science. Laqueur also explains how society constructed sex. He takes this investigation in very detail as he explains and investigates sexual differences.
Irigaray, Luce. “That Sex Which is Not One.” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 1467-1471.
One of the major Hindu beliefs that Buddhism rejects is the Caste System, or “jati” in Sanskrit (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). The caste system is the social structure of Hinduism. It starts with the Brahmins, who are the priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya or warrior class. Next is the Vaishya, merchant class, and lastly the Shudras, the lowest caste designated to perform the impure and foul jobs the upper castes would never do. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The rules of the caste system are specific. Inter-marriages between castes are heavily discouraged and one can never change their caste during their current lifetime. Each caste has its own cosmic duties to fulfill, and not doing so could be detrimental to the world or an individuals karma. These distinct duties are referred to as one’s Dharma. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The Laws of Manu state “Better to do one’s own dharma badly than another caste’s dharma well” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). Through saṃsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, hopefully every soul will eventua...
The caste system in India has been dated back to approximately 1000 BC and still affects the lives of millions of people not only in India but also through South Asia. The determination of this system of social layer for 3000 years of changing economic and social environments is a confusing idea. The Hindu conception of social order is that people are different, and different people will fit into different aspects of society. Social order or class according to the Varna is that the framework of moral duties according to personal characteristics of individuals and not necessarily birth (Pruthi, 2004). Varna is the term used for the four groups into which the traditional Hindu society is divided. This essay will outline the main social and economical features of the caste system in India and how it fits within the ontological framework of Hinduism (Philosophy 312).
that it is "the love of money is the root of all evil", a powerful
Casual sex is very prevalent in today’s society. Raja Halwani writes that for casual sex to be morally permissible it must meet certain conditions. In this essay I will use the writing “Virtue Ethics, Casual Sex, and Objectification” written by Raja Halwani, to prove that most cases of casual sex are not morally permissible.
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
The Kama Sutra is a widely known work of literature; most people recognize this book for its erotic teaching of sexual positions. Although “sexual unions” are a small portion of the Kama Sutra, there are many other lessons to be learned from this doctrine in accordance to Hindu laws. This Ancient manuscript was written by a religious student and philosopher by the name of Vatsyayana; his ideas were based on old Hindu legends and lost texts that are prevalent in Indian culture. Although no one is quite certain of when Vatsyayana lived, it is said to be between fourth century BC and sixth century AD (Burton & Spellman, 1986, p.13). In 1838 a Sir Richard F. Burton translated the Kama Sutra for the Kama Sastra Society of London and Benares; this is the most well known translation and is the most commonly used (Burton & Spellman, 1986, p.50). Burton made his translation simple, but it is still difficult to apprehend the Kama Sutra with out some knowledge of the book’s organization and style as well as the common concepts of Indian and Hindu culture; by examining those first you can then appreciate the content of the Kama Sutra.
The Vedas, in general, provide the four social classes of Hindu society with the highest class being the Brahmans or the priests and then on down through the warriors and rulers then onto the merchants and finally at the bottom, the laborers. This social system becomes established in verse 10:90 which provides an account of
Hinduism has been a religion for a long time, the Buddha was a Hindu before seeing how terrible the world was, he then found the religion Buddhism. Since the creator of Buddhism was Hinduism as a child, it is only expected for the two religions to be similar. While the two religions are similar they are also quite different as seen by their creation stories. The creation stories are these religions way of explaining how the world started. With most religions the creation story gives the most basic beliefs of the religion as this is where their religion supposedly starts its life. The two stories this paper focuses on is no different, and since they technically have the same origin, it can be obvious as to how they would be similar. However, in the case of the idea of social order and moral decline, they can be different too.
In Hinduism, human life requires pursuit of four goals called Purusarthas. The first goal is kama, or pleasure. It refers to the human desire for passion and emotion for both body and the mind. Happiness through the exercise of desire and passion is regarded as part of a well-rounded spiritual life. The second goal, Artha, or wealth and power. Hinduism allows the pursuit of both since a person needs them in order to support a family and maintain a household. In fact, the pursuit of them is considered noble and includes traditional work as well as civic service. But fulfillment of the third goal is the most significant. Dharma, or duty, is the standards by which one should live in cooperation with fellow human beings. Dharma includes a comprehensive set of rules for living