Page:The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana.djvu/22

xx to the precepts of the Holy Writ, for the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayana, ''while leading the life of a religious student at Benares, and wholly engaged in the contemplation of the Deity. This work is not to be used merely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted with the true principles of this science, who preserves 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."''

It is impossible to fix the exact date either of the life of Vatsyayana ''or of his work. It is supposed that he must have lived between the first and sixth century of the Christian era, on the following grounds:—He mentions that Satkarni Satvahan, a king of Kuntal, killed Malayevati his wife with an instrument called kartari by striking her in the passion of love, and Vatsya quotes this case to warn people of the danger arising from some old customs of striking woman when under the influence of this passion. Now this king of Kuntal is believed to have lived and reigned during the first century A.D. and consequently Vatsya must have lived after him. On the other hand, Virahamihira, in the eighteenh [sic] chapter of his'' "Brihatsanhita." treats of the science of love, and appears to have borrowed largely from Vatsyayana ''on the subject. Now Virahamihira is said to have lived during the sixth century A.D., and as Vatsya must have written his works previously, therefore not earlier than the first century A.D., and not later than the sixth century A.D., must be considered as the approximate date of his existence.''

On the text of the "Aphorisms on Love," by Vatsyayana, ''only two commentaries have been found. One called "Jayamangla" or "Sutrabashya," and other other [sic]'' "Sutra vritti." The date of the "Jayamangla" is fixed between the tenth and thirteenth century A.D., because while treating of the sixty-four arts an example is taken from the "Kavyaprakasha." which was written about the tenth century A.D. Again, the copy of the commentary procured was evidently a transcript of a manuscript which once had a place in the library of a Chaulukyan king named Vishaladeva, a fact elicited from the following sentence at the end of it:—