The Kama Sutra, a 3rd-century Sanskrit text by the Hindu sage Vatsyayana, set forth the principles of sensual pleasure with poetry, wisdom, and humor, celebrating love as an ecstatic expression of life's beauty. The most famous text on sex ever written, the Kama Sutra is an exceptionally popular work that has inspired artists over the centuries to create images depicting its explicit instructions for correct and incorrect sexual behavior during courtship and marriage. There are many Kama Sutras in print, but this lavishly produced, oversized volume is the first illustrated version that presents great works of art inspired by this classic text.

Reproduced in these pages are some 200 artworks-ranging from temple decoration and bronze sculpture to medieval court painting and cave frescoes-accompanied by excerpts from the Sir Richard Burton translation of the original text and a discussion of the historical context in which these images were created. Long treasured as an uninhibited exaltation of erotic and mystical bliss, the Kama Sutra, as illuminated here, is a sublime gift for lovers-and lovers of beautiful art