Hindu poet, Kalyana Malla compiled. The Hindu Art of Love to promote overall physical pleasure in marriage. Adding to the great interest and appeal of this unique love treatise is its superb translation by Sir Richard Burton whose purpose in presenting this book was not to encourage "chambering and wantonness" but to enhance conjugal happiness between husband and wife. His translation is a sincere attempt to save the married couple from the monotony and satiety by varying their pleasures in every conceivable way, and by supplying them with a means of being physically pleasant to each other.
Sexual frankness without a sense of guilt or prurience is the great legacy which the Eastern, and in particular Indian traditions have given us. The Hindu Art of Love (or Ananga Ranga) of Kalyana Malla presents itself as an expression of human culture, and as a pillow book for the modern boudoir. It sets forth the principles of sensual pleasure with poetry, wisdom and humor, celebrating love as an ecstatic expression of life’s beauty.
Sir Richard F. Burton(1821-1890), was one of the greatest travel-explorers of history, whose life has been recently chronicled in biography-Captain Sir Richard Burton-and film, Mountains of the Moon. Orientalist, Prolific author and member of the Royal Geographic Society, he was one of the most remarkable and controversial men of his century who railed against ‘immodest modesty’, the cant, and hypocrisy of his era.
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