The Kama Sutra: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Kama Sutra, credited to Mallanaga Vatsyayana, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana. Read by Mark F Smith. The Kama Sutra, or Aphorisms on Love, has survived at least 1400 years as a dominant text on sexual relations between men and women. Vatsyayana claimed to have written the Kama Sutra while a religious student, “in contemplation of the Deity” - but references to older works, shrewd disputations by Vatsyayana of those authors' recommendations, and careful cataloging of practices in various of the Indian states indicate much more emphasis on kama, or sensual gratification. Part of the book discusses the 64 arts of love employed by masters of coitus. Learning each of these and when and how to practice them, Vatsyayana affirms, not only leads to the best gratification, but makes the artist a person of great desirability. Once the means of sexual congress are discussed, the many types of male-female relationships and their proper prosecution are covered. Some of these have small relevance to the modern world, such as how to sneak into the King's harem, but are interesting nonetheless. Others, such as how to get money from a lover, will probably remain useful as long as there are humans in the world. The translator's concluding remarks call the book primitive; so might also modern women who are told that if their name ends in “l” or “r” they should not be married, because they are worthless. But in tackling the subject of human sexuality, Vatsyayana nevertheless will always attract readers (or, in this case, listeners!). (Summary by Mark F Smith)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Kama Sutra
• Author credits: Mallanaga Vatsyayana
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 20
• Listed recording duration: 6:15:58

Catalogue topics

• hinduism
• sex

Track guide

1. 01 - Introduction and Part 1, Chapter 1 — 17:36
2. 02 - Part 1, Chapter 2 — 11:12
3. 03 - Part 1, Chaps 3 & 4 — 27:09
4. 04 - Part 1, Chapter 5 — 10:30
5. 05 - Part 2, Chapters 1 & 2 — 22:18
6. 06 - Part 2, Chapters 3 & 4 — 13:49
7. 07 - Part 2, Chapters 5 & 6 — 15:30
8. 08 - Part 2, Chapters 7 & 8 — 13:57
9. 09 - Part 2, Chapters 9 & 10 — 17:51
10. 10 - Part 3, Chapters 1 & 2 — 16:20
11. 11 - Part 3, Chapters 3, 4, & 5 — 25:55
12. 12 - Part 4, Chapters 1 & 2 — 24:11
13. 13 - Part 5, Chapters 1 & 2 — 20:03
14. 14 - Part 5, Chapters 3 & 4 — 21:34
15. 15 - Part 5, Chapters 5 & 6 — 21:02
16. 16 - Part 6, Intro, Chap 1 & 2 — 22:30
17. 17 - Part 6, Chapters 3 & 4 — 18:43
18. 18 - Part 6, Chapters 5 & 6 — 22:47
19. 19 - Part 7, Chapter 1 — 13:27
20. 20 - Part 7, Chapter 2 & Concluding Remarks — 19:43

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.