Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
Genre: Indology / Literary Criticism / Cultural Studies

Book Review:
Wendy Doniger's ''Redeeming the Kamasutra'' is a brilliant and necessary book that rescues one of the world's most misunderstood texts from centuries of prurient misinterpretation. The Kamasutra is widely known in the West as a kind of erotic manual, but as Doniger shows, it is much more than that: a sophisticated treatise on the art of living, grounded in a deep understanding of human psychology, social relations, and the politics of desire.

Doniger, one of the world's foremost scholars of Indian religions and literature, brings her formidable learning and wit to this task. She places the Kamasutra in its historical context, showing how it emerged from the same intellectual world as Kautilya's Arthashastra (a treatise on politics) and the Dharmashastras (treatises on duty). The Kamasutra, she argues, is not a book about sex in isolation but about how pleasure fits into a well-lived life, alongside duty and power.

The scholarly endorsements on the back cover speak to the book's importance. Gavin Flood, Professor of Hindu Studies at Oxford, calls it ''a must-read for everyone interested in the history of Indian civilization or the broader history of human desire.'' John Stratton Hawley praises Doniger's ''seasoned wisdom'' and her ability to show the Kamasutra as ''wide-ranging, astute about love's politics, and deeply committed not just to good sex but to all aspects of the good life.'' Richard Gombrich, a legendary figure in Buddhist studies, describes Doniger as ''a Horace of our age, finding nothing human to which she feels no kinship.''

Doniger's prose is elegant and accessible. She writes for general readers as well as scholars, making complex ideas clear without oversimplifying. The book is a pleasure to read, as befits its subject.

For anyone interested in Indian culture, this book is essential. It illuminates a classic text and shows why it still matters. For students of literature and philosophy, it offers a model of how to read ancient texts with fresh eyes. And for general readers, it's a fascinating exploration of one of the world's great books about love and life.

''Redeeming the Kamasutra'' does exactly what its title promises: it redeems the Kamasutra from cliché and misunderstanding, revealing it as the wise, subtle, and deeply humane work it is. Highly recommended.