The love-making postures of Kamasutra from a Tantric perspective

The postures for making love that are mentioned in Kama Sutra and in Indian erotic texts from the Middle Age, such as Ananga-ranga, can be used in Tantric love-making, which brings their potential to a higher spiritual level. The physical and subtle effects that are described here have been verified by Tantric practitioners through their own experience. Just like the yoga asanas, the love-making positions represent certain postures that activate and stimulate various anatomical parts of the body in specific ways - parts that are connected to the subtle psyhchic structure of the human being.

There are numerous love-making postures and applications of those postures in the Indian texts, among them The Embraced Posture, The Union of the Sun and the Moon, The Pressed Posture, The Posture of the Tiger Walk, The Posture of the Turned Dragon, The Posture of the Butterfly Élan, The Posture of the Apes in the Third Month of the Spring, The Elephant Posture, The Erotic Carousel.

According to Kama Sutra, satisfaction and happiness are easy to achieve when the lover's proportions and similar and in balance. Unsatisfaction tends to increase when there is disproportion. Starting from this idea, the love-making postures are categorized in nine classes, out of which three are balanced and six are unbalanced. The balanced ones are man/hare, woman/deer, man/bull – woman/mare and man/horse – woman/elephant. The unbalanced ones are man/hare – woman/mare, man/hare – woman/elephant, man/bull – woman/deer, man/bull - woman/elephant, man/horse – woman/deer and man/horse - woman/mare. Accroding to Kama Sutra, there are never any problems in balanced postures.

 

 

Sources: Douglas, N & Slinger, P 1979. Sexual Secrets. The Alchemy of Ecstacy. Destiny Books.
Kama Sutra. Rakkauden ja rakastelun onnesta ja iloista. Suom. Mikko Kilpi. WSOY Porvoo 1991.