Friday, October 3, 2008

The Kama Sutra—now with extra naughty bits!

by Sophie Mouette

Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration, may we present a new anthology: The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra: The Fullest Ever Illustrated Collection of the Kama Sutra and Its Variants, edited by the illustrious Maxim Jakubowski.

There have been many published versions of the Kama Sutra. Translations. Illustrated versions, with lush pictures or cartoon how-to’s. There’s even a Complete Idiots Guide to it. It has fascinated us for centuries. So why yet another version?

Well, this one’s different. No, really, it is. Yes, there’s some history and discussion, some lovely black-and-white illustrations, all the usual. This one, though, has stories.

Contributors were challenged to pick a position and spin a tale of how that position came to be named what it was. What fun! It’s like writing a history lesson combined with a fairy tale, only with sex!

Teresa

“The Tale of the Playing Elephant” was inspired by the “herd of cows,” a three-or-moresome involving one man several women. It’s more than a position, it’s a party—and I love a party! What truly intrigued me, though, was this snippet: “It is also interesting to imitate the elephants’ water games, the behavior of the he-goat, etc. One can amuse oneself with the women by imitating the water play of the elephant and cow-elephant, the bleatings of the he-goat with the nanny goat, or the behavior of a stag…The imitation of elephants’ water play is considered as being one of the amusements of the herd of cows.” (Quoted from The Complete Kama Sutra, translated by Alain Danielou, Park Street Press, 1994)

For me, great sex can involve laughter as well as intensity. (Okay, I admit it. We sometimes quote Loony Toons at each other in bed) What’s more intense than group sex? And what’s sillier than goofy animal imitations? How brilliant that the Kama Sutra recommends the combination! But what could have led those wise ancient Indians to this conclusion? It begged a story.

In my tale, three lonely, stressed-out women meet up with a playful younger man down by the river, and one sort of fun leads to another:

The fire of Jaimala’s lust cooled a bit in the face of the more immediate need for playful revenge. Older than Vikram or not, she was not so old that she’d forgotten the cardinal rule of water-fights: Keep them going until everyone involved is wet, laughing, and gasping for breath. “Ladies,” she said, “get him!”

And they did.

At first they were just splashing.

Then Vikram dunked Jaimala.

Adarna had resolved there would be no touching, but some things were not to be borne, so the three women ganged up and dunked him.

And it was all innocent and playful, and yet it wasn’t, because every time Vikram looked at the women, his eyes were full of desire as well as mischief, and every time the women looked at him—or at each other, for that matter—it was the same. And when they touched, even in jest, they all felt the heat.

Then, somehow, they fell into to doing elephant imitations—spraying each other and trumpeting and laughing like children. “If we’re all elephants,” Vikram said between bouts of laughter, “that makes me the bull elephant and you the cows. And you know what that means.”

“You protect us fiercely from hunters and tigers?” Adarna suggested, trying desperately to lead them back to safer territory. Vikram snorted.

“In any case,” Jaimala said, drawing closer, “You’re not a calf anymore, but I’m not sure you’re the lead bull yet. One of the young ones around the fringes of the herd, perhaps, waiting his turn with the females.”

“That’s not very kind.”

“Answer me honestly,” Jaimala asked. “Do you know what to do with one woman, let alone three?”

He sputtered. Looked away and then looked back again, meeting each women’s eyes before he answered. “One woman, yes, although I’m sure I still have much to learn from the right teacher—or teachers. Three women would be a challenge, but it would be a challenge I’m willing to die trying to meet.”


Dayle (writing as Andrea Dale)

When I saw the call for submission for this anthology, I knew immediately which position I wanted to write about: the Tigress (sometimes also called the Tiger). See, Teresa and I have been working on and off on an alternate-Victorian-England/India paranormal erotica project, and the heroine of the novel is an Indian demi-goddess, being the product of a union between Budhi Pallien, goddess of the northern forests, and a human man.

What led Budhi Pallien to lie with a human? Okay, maybe he was just too delectable to pass up—that’s perfectly understandable. But why would she go so far as to bear his child? It was a story that needed to be told.

Even a goddess can lose her heart.

But first, she’ll take her pleasure….

It is one thing to be brave—it is another to be overconfident.

She was the goddess of the forest, and thus she had dominion over it. At her unspoken commands, thick vines twined their way in beneath the archways and down along the columns. They reached into the air and wrapped around Duranjaya’s wrists, drawing his arms above his head.

Anchoring him in place. Leaving him stretched and vulnerable to the deity’s whims.

He had heard of such games before, but never played them, and indeed he had only briefly considered them with the thought that the woman would be at his mercy.

Now he was helpless, and to his surprise, it was not an unwelcome sensation at all, even as he knew Budhi Pallien would not be gentle and was unlikely to be truly merciful.

She stalked him still, sizing up her prey, and yet all he could think of was that even if he died in the end, his last moments would be in ecstasy.

Her hand cupped the fullness of his sac, measuring, considering. She trailed a single nail along the underside of his cock, from base to tip.
He bit back a moan, but the twitching of his member revealed all he felt. Budhi Pallien laughed, low and sultry, almost a tiger’s rumbling purr.

“I am glad my lingam pleases you,” Duranjaya said, although the throbbing of his blood in his veins and the need for relief made it hard for him to speak. “It is but yours to use as you see fit.”

He hoped that would be soon.

She laughed again. “Foolish man,” she said. “You are mine to use as I see fit—all of you….”


The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra also contains stories by Nikki Magennis (another beloved ex-Lustie), who spins for us The “Tale of the Thunderbolt”; friend-of-Lusties Michael Crawley, who enthralls us with “The Tale of Dvitala,” and 20 other fine and inventive writers.

Enjoy!

18 comments:

Janine Ashbless said...

Mmm... these sound like fun, especially if you like fairy-tales and Indian settings, which I rather do!

Mr Ashbless has been in Bangalore this week for work and is returning with a stack of Bollywood DVDs for me.
:-)

Megan Kerr said...

Just So Stories meets Kama Sutra! Sounds lovely - sexy and playful.

I've always been entranced by the "cry of the parrot" in the Kama Sutra - ERWAARK! GERRAAARWK!

The cry of the dove sounds far more romantic, but I secretly suspect that in extremis, what most of us actually perform is the cry of the parrot.

Madeline Moore said...

This is a really gorgeous book. I have a cold so I'm up at the crack of dawn drinking neo-citran, fuzzy head and scratchy throat, so let me bleat, like a goat or a parrot - erwaark...terrific book....bweat.

Vincent Copsey said...

Sounds fascinating, and pretty. Congrats on the release.

TeresaNoelleRoberts said...

What I love about the Kama Sutra is the elaborate categorizing of everything, from "arts every gentleman should know" to "ways to bite your lover so she'll show it off to her friends later" to, yes, "wacky yet sexy sounds people make in bed."

I've known exactly one person, in my wild and crazy life, who made what I'd describe as the cry of the dove. Otherwise: parrots, wild cats, and other loud, squawky critters. And then there's the couple who visit us occasionally; I swear one of 'em trumpets like an elephant! (Which must mean the other is doing something right. Or they're in the guest room with the "Crazy Sounds of Nature" CD and laughing their butts off.)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the 'shout out' Dayle! Maxim did a bang-up job on this one, don't you think?
The call for entries came at a remarkably fortuitous time, for me. I was researching Burton for The Persian Girl,(A Felix Baron novel, in which he's the protagonist) so I was already steeped in appropriate research. I actually had both the Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra open on my desk when I got Maxim's e-mail.

Warmest to all Lusties,

Michael Crawley

JamiSings said...

Maybe I've worked in a library too long. But all I can think is "great, something else for teenagers to hide under the shelves and uptight people to complain about." Then again, and no offense, but maybe it's the selection of stories chosen to be shown. I've never understood younger men/older women things. (I've always only been attracted to men much older then me. And no, it's not a father figure thing. I just don't get along with guys my own age or younger. I've never met one who can stimulate me mentally like an older man can.) Nor am I fond of men in bondage. Now if the goddess had been the one tied up - a powerful woman, for once free of the responsiblities of power, instead made submissive to the whims of her body. A man teaching her that to be free a woman sometimes has to give up control.... *fans herself*

I'm just saying - I mean, not everything has to be "that's so hot" type praise, does it?

BTW - The second image is showing up as a broken image on my computer. I don't know if that's true for anyone else though.

Janine Ashbless said...

Uh ... I'm taking a guess that whichever stories had been excerpted from this collection, with whatever gender/power dynamic, they would have been something for "teenagers to hide under the desk and uptight people to complain about".

JamiSings said...

Oh that's not the complaint. I'm just a bitter single 32 year old. That's why THAT thought. I'm just saying those paticular excerpts don't turn me on. That's all.

And I'm on a different computer and the 2nd image is still broken and now it's got me all uber curious as to what it is.

Anonymous said...

Wow-lots of great inspiration here!
Thanks for sharing!

Madeline Moore said...

The second image is a strong female type - looks to be a goddess - ensnared in vines while a smaller but powerfully built male, judging by his wrinkled brow perhaps an older male, probably a human or demi-God, with a giant phallus, which he is prodding non-too-gently between her bound, spread legs...

does that help, jamisings?

Dayle A. Dermatis said...

Well, I popped the image into our Photobucket account and linked from there--now we have the image, but it's blurry. ::scowls::

Hope it gives enough of an illustration to make everyone hor- er, happy! :-)

Dayle A. Dermatis said...

JamiSings, please don't let these two excerpts turn you off to the whole book. There's a wide variety of stories in there! Nikki's story is beautiful and romantic, about a newly married couple, for example.

I don't reguarly write about dominant women, but this story called for it. Budhi Pallien is a goddess; human beings are her playthings. Or so she thinks...as I said, she chooses to have a child with him... I think my story's pretty romantic, all told--but I'd love to know if others agree!

I also had a certain constraint because one of our novels-in-progress stars the child of Budhi Pallien and Duranjaya's union. She has an interesting view of humanity that she learned from her parents, so I had to set up her parents' story to fit what happens later. :-)

Janine Ashbless said...

Oh yes - I can see the 2nd image now too, blurry though it is.

Of course Photobucket is liable to censor it within days. Anyone know of an equivalent hosting site without the Sunday-school sense of sexual propriety?

Nikki Magennis said...

Oh, I just got back from a wee trip away - thanks so much Dayle for mentioning my story!

I was really bowled over by this collection. It's beautifully bound and illustrated, (with eggshell and gloss cover - ooh, I am a cover freak) and the stories I've read all seem so well researched and beautifully written. I'm very pleased to be sharing covers with all the other writers!

EllaRegina said...

I am also most thrilled to be in this unusual book and in such illustrious company! The stories I've read so far have been stunningly beautiful and well-researched, as Nikki said.

(My contribution is "The Tale of Kakali and the Climbing Tree," describing the origins of the position "Climbing a Tree." The heroine is a strong independent loner who has a special relationship with things arboreal).

Janine, Fotki is an open-minded image hosting site. They are quite amenable to nipples and other fleshy bits.

http://www.fotki.com/

Janine Ashbless said...

Thanks Ellaregina!

Lisa Whitefern said...

Oooh I wish I'd seen this earlier. I wrote "The Tale of The Elephant" which is a different story from "The Tale of the Playing Elephant. Wow Janine Ashbless commented! I love your writing! OMG!