Bibliography:
69. Publications of the Kama Shastra Society.
Author. Translator.
1. The Kama Sutra. 1883 Vatsyayana. Bhagvanlal Indraji. 2. The Ananga
Ranga. 1885 Kullianmull. " 3. The Arabian Nights. 1885-1886. " Burton.
4. The Scented Garden ("My old version"). 1886. Nafzawi.
Burton and others.
5. The Beharistan. 1887. Jami. Rehatsek. 6. The Gulistan 1888. Sadi. "
or Rose Garden.
Works still in Manuscript.
Author. Translator
7. The Nigaristan Jawini. Rehatsek. 8. The Observances of the Zenanah "
9. Etiquette of eating and Drinking " (A Persian Essay).
10. Physiognomies (A Persian MS.) Al-R'azy " 11. Anecdotes from the
Nuzhat al Yaman. " (Persian).
12. The Merzuban Namah. (Persian). 13. Extracts from Al Mostatraf.
(Arabic). " 14. Extracts from Siraj-ul-moluk. (Arabic). " 15. Extracts
from Tuhfat al akhwan us Safa.* "
* For further particulars respecting these works see Appendix.
114. The Azure Apollo.
If Payne's translation had been met by the wind, Burton anticipated
that his own, with its blunt faithfulness to the original and its erotic
notes, would be met by whirlwind. Considering the temper of the public
[386] at the time he thought it not improbable that an action would be
brought against him, and in fancy he perceived himself standing at bay
with the Authorised Version of the Bible in one hand as a shield, and
Urquhart's Rabelais in the other as a missile.
But though a man of amazing courage, Burton was not one to jeopardise
himself unnecessarily. He was quite willing to take any reasonable
precautions. So he discussed the matter with his friend F. F. Arbuthnot,
who had recently returned from India, married, [387] and settled at a
charming place, Upper House Court, near Guildford. Mr. Arbuthnot,
who, as we have seen, had for years given his whole soul to Eastern
literature, had already published a group of Hindu stories [388] and was
projecting manuals of Persian [389] and Arabic [390] literature and
a series of translations of famous Eastern works, some of which were
purely erotic. He now suggested that this series and Burton's Arabian
Nights should be published nominally by a society to which might
be given the appropriate name, "The Kama Shastra"--that is the
cupid-gospel--Society, Kama being the Hindu god of love. This deity is
generally represented as a beautiful youth riding on an emerald-plumaged
lorry or parrot. In his hand he holds a bow of flowers and five
arrows--the five senses; and dancing girls attend him. His favourite
resort is the country round Agra, where Krishna [391] the azure Hindu
Apollo,
"Tunes harps immortal, and to strains divine
Dances by moonlight with the Gopia nine." [392]
The books were to be translated by Rehatsek and a Hindu pundit named
Bhagvanlal Indraji, Burton and Arbuthnot were to revise and annotate,
and Arbuthnot was to find the money. Burton fell in with the idea, as
did certain other members of Arbuthnot's circle, who had always been
keenly interested in Orientalism, and so was formed the famous Kama
Shastra Society. That none of the particulars relating to the history of
the Society has before been made public, is explained by the fact that
Burton and Arbuthnot, conversant with the temper of the public, took
pains to shroud their proceedings in mystery. It cannot, however, be too
strongly insisted upon that Arbuthnot's standpoint, like Burton's, was
solely for the student. "He wished," he said, "to remove the scales from
the eyes of Englishmen who are interested in Oriental literature." These
erotic books in one form or another are in the hands of 200,000,000 of
Orientals. Surely, argued Arbuthnot, a few genuine English students--a
few, grave, bald-headed, spectacled, happily married old gentlemen--may
read them without injury. [393] The modern student seeks his treasure
everywhere, and cares not into what midden he may probe so long as he
finds it. No writer on 18th century French History, for example, would
nowadays make half apologies, as Carlyle did, for having read Casanova.
Indeed, he would lay himself open to censure unless he admitted having
studied it carefully. Still, every genuine and right-minded student
regards it as a duty to keep books such as these, which are unsuited for
the general public, under lock and key--just as the medical man treats
his books of plates and other reference volumes. Then again it is
entirely a mistake to suppose that the works issued or contemplated by
the Kama Shastra Society were all of them erotic. Two out of the six
actually done: The Beharistan and The Gulistan, and the whole of the
nine still in manuscript, might, after a snip or two with the scissors,
be read aloud in almost any company.
We have the first hint of the Kama Shastra Society in a letter to Payne,
5th August 1882. "I hope," says Burton, "you will not forget my friend,
F. F. Arbuthnot, and benefit him by your advice about publishing when
he applies to you for it. He has undertaken a peculiar branch of
literature--the Hindu Erotic, which promises well." On Dec. 23th he
writes: "My friend Arbuthnot writes to me that he purposes calling upon
you. He has founded a society consisting of himself and myself." After
further reference to the idea he adds, "I hope that you will enjoy it."
A few days later Mr. Arbuthnot called on Mr. Payne. Mr. Payne did not
"enjoy" the unfolding of the Kama Shastra scheme, he took no interest in
it whatever; but, of course, he gave the information required as to cost
of production; and both then and subsequently assisted in other matters
of business. Moreover, to Mr. Arbuthnot himself, as a man of great
personal charm, Mr. Payne became sincerely attached, and a friendship
resulted that was severed only by death.
The arrangement about financing the books did not, of course, apply to
The Arabian Nights. That was Burton's own affair; for its success was
supposed to be assured from the first. Of the books other than The
Arabian Nights published by the Kama Shastra Society--each of which
purported, facetiously, to be printed at Behares, the name which Burton
chose to give to Stoke Newington, we shall now give a brief account.
Several, we said, are erotic. But it should be clearly understood what
is here meant by the term. The plays of Wycherley and other Caroline
dramatists are erotic in a bad sense. We admit their literary qualities,
but we cannot hide from ourselves the fact that they were written by
libertines and that an attempt is made to render vice attractive. The
injured husband, for example, is invariably ridiculed, the adulterer
glorified. The Hindu books, on the other hand, were written by
professedly religious men whose aim was "not to encourage chambering and
wantonness, but simply and in all sincerity to prevent the separation
of husband and wife"--not to make them a married couple look afield,
but "to lead them to love each other more by understanding each other
better." Vatsyayan and Kullianmull, [394] indeed, though they poetized
the pleasures of the flesh, would have been horrified could they
have read the plays of Wycherley and Etheridge. The erotic books that
Arbuthnot wished to be translated were the following--all by Hindu poets
more or less famous:--
The Kama Sutra (Book of Love) by Vatsyayana.
Ananga Ranga (Stage of Love) by Kullianmull.
Ratirahasya (Secrets of Love) by Kukkoka.
Panchasakya (The Five Arrows) by Jyotirisha.
Smara Pradipa (Light of Love) by Gunakara.
Ratimanjari (Garland of Love) by Jayadeva.
Rasmanjari (Sprout of Love) by Bhanudatta.
Of these seven books two only were issued, namely the Kama Sutra and the
Ananga Ranga or Lila Shastra. The precise share that Burton [395] had in
them will never be known. It is sufficient to say that he had a share in
both, and the second, according to the title page, was "translated from
the Sanskrit and annotated by A. F. F. and B. F. R.," that is F. F.
Arbuthnot and Richard Francis Bacon--the initials being purposely
reversed.
115. The Kama Sutra.
When commencing upon The Kama Sutra, Indraji--for he was the actual
translator--found his copy, which had been procured in Bombay, to be
defective, so he wrote to Benares, Calcutta and Jeypoor for copies of
the manuscripts preserved in the Sanskrit libraries of those places.
These having been obtained and compared with each other, a revised
copy of the entire work was compiled and from this Indraji made his
translation. "This work," he says, "is not to be used merely as an
instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted with the
true principles of this science, who preserved his Dharma (virtue or
religious merit), his Artha (worldly wealth) and his Kama (pleasure, or
sensual gratification), and who has regard to the customs of the people,
is sure to obtain the mastery over his senses. In short, an intelligent
and knowing person, attending to Dharma, and Artha and also to Kama,
without becoming the slave of his passions, will obtain success in
everything that he may do." According to Vatsyayana, Kama should be
taught just as is taught--say, hygiene or political economy. "A man
practising Dharma, Artha and Kama enjoys happiness both in this world
and in the world to come." It must not be supposed that the work
is entirely erotic. There are also directions for one's conduct at
religious festivals, especially that in honour of Saraswati, [396]
picnics, drinking parties and other social gatherings. Still, the erotic
preponderates. The work is mainly a handbook on Love. One is informed
respecting what women are or are not worthy of affection. There are full
instructions respecting kissing, an art which is not so easy to learn
as some persons think. Still, a man who could not kiss properly after
reading the Kama Sutra would be a dullard indeed. Some of the remarks
are quaint enough. Thus we are told that "nothing tends to increase love
so much as the effects of marking with the nails [397] and biting." Some
girls when asked in marriage are slow to make up their minds. With that
situation there are, it seems, several ways of dealing. The simplest is
the following: "When the girl goes to a garden, or to some village in
the neigbourhood, the man should, with his friends, fall on her guards,
and having killed them, or frightened them away, forcibly carry her
off." Sometime it is the man who is shy. In such cases the girl "should
bring him to her house under the pretence of seeing the fights of
quails, cocks and rams, of hearing the maina (a kind of starling)
talk.... she should also amuse him for a long time by telling him such
stories and doing such things as he may take most delight in."
For Edwin and Angelina when they get married there is also much
wholesome instruction. "The wife, whether she be a woman of noble family
or a virgin widow re-married, [398] should lead a chaste life." "When
the man sets out on a journey she should make him swear that he will
return quickly. [399]... When the man does return home she should
worship the God Kama." Ladies will be interested to learn that there are
twenty-seven artifices by which a woman can get money out of a man.
One is "Praising his intelligence to his face." Then there are useful
directions for the personal adornment of both sexes. "If the bone of a
peacock or of a hyena be covered with gold and tied to the right hand,
it makes a man lovely in the eyes of other people."
Of the essential portions of the book it is sufficient to say that they
are similar to those of the other avowedly erotic Eastern works, the
contents of the principal of which have been touched upon by Burton
in the Terminal Essay to his Arabian Nights and in some of his notes.
Finally we are told that the Kama Sutra was composed for the benefit of
the world by Vatsyayana, while leading the life of a religious student,
and wholly engaged in the contemplation of the Deity. At the same time,
the teaching of this holy man amounts to very much the same as that of
Maupassant, which is, to use Tolstoy's words, "that life consists in
pleasures of which woman with her love is the chief, and in the double,
again reflected delight of depicting this love and exciting it in
others." [400]
The work lets a flood of light on Hindu manners and customs; and it must
be borne in mind that the translation was issued privately at a high
price and intended only for "curious students." In the Preface, Burton
and Arbuthnot observe that after a perusal of the Hindoo work the reader
will understand the subject upon which it treats, "At all events from a
materialistic, realistic and practical point of view. If all science
is founded more or less on a stratum of facts, there can be no harm in
making known to mankind generally certain matters intimately connected
with their private, domestic and social life. Alas! complete ignorance
of them has unfortunately wrecked many a man and many a woman, while a
little knowledge of a subject generally ignored by the masses would have
enabled numbers of people to understand many things which they believed
to be quite incomprehensible, or which were not thought worthy of their
consideration."
Writing to Payne, 15th January, 1883, Burton says, "Has Arbuthnot sent
you his Vatsyayana? [401] He and I and the Printer have started a Hindu
Kama Shastra (Ars Amoris Society). It will make the Brit(ish) Pub(lis)
stare. Please encourage him." Later Arbuthnot, in reply to a question
put to him by a friend, said that the Society consisted practically of
himself, Sir Richard Burton and the late Lord Houghton. [402]