How the West Reduced ‘The Kama Sutra’ to Sex

In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, as he tries to woo his friend Sheldon’s hot sister, Missy, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) clumsily asks her if she’s ever heard of The Kama Sutra. She responds, “The sex book?” In return, he purrs, “The Indian sex book. In other words, if you ever wondered who wrote the book of love… It was us.” Groan. 

That’s probably not the first time you’ve heard The Kama Sutra serve as a salacious punchline. Composed in Sanskrit sometime around the third century, The Kama Sutra is one of the most widely circulated ancient Indian texts in the world. Over the years, largely due to the British, it’s become reduced to an encyclopedia of sex and, specifically, sex positions. But The Kama Sutra was never a guide for just sex — it’s also about love and the art of living.