Kama Sutra gets modern makeover

Melbourne (ANTARA News/AAP) - The Kama Sutra is getting a modern makeover, with the new edition set to be more of a lifestyle guide to love and relationships than a "pornographic sex book".

The erotic drawings and sexual illustrations that have accompanied various translations of the ancient Hindu text are gone from the new Kama Sutra published by Penguin, Britain`s Sunday Telegraph reports.

Instead, the Kama Sutra will be a text-only, pocket-sized classy manual presented as a "lifestyle guide for the modern man and woman".

"Until now the Kama Sutra has always been presented as a scandalous, `60s, hippie-influenced pornographic sex book," said Alexis Kirschbaum, the editorial director at Penguin Books.

"But it was originally written as advice to a courtly gentleman on how to live a well-rounded life, not just a passionate life."

The Kama Sutra is believed to have been written in the third century by Indian sage Vatsyayana.
Previous English versions of the Kama Sutra have been widely based on the 19th century translation by explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton, often featuring erotic
illustrations to accompany the old-fashioned language.

The new edition, written by AND Haksar, an Indian scholar and translator of Sanskrit texts, will include updated chapter headings such as Making A Pass, Why Women Get Turned Off, Girls To Avoid, Is He Worthwhile, Getting Rid of Him, Easy Women, Moves Towards Sex and Some Dos and Don`ts.

"The common perception of the Kama Sutra is that it is only about sex, but any honest reading of the book shows that it is about lifestyle and social relations between human beings," Haksar said.

"My effort with the new translation has been to stay as close as possible to the original text but to present it in a contemporary language which reflects the contemporary issues within the book."

The new edition will be published by Penguin in February next year.