Kama Sutra (Burton)/Illustrations

I. When "Each is Both"—Frontispiece

The monolithic Temple of the Kailas has been characterized as the most wonderful and interesting monument of architectural art in India. Certainly it is the most splendid of those representing Buddhist, Brahmanical, and Jain work near Ellora, a village of India in the State of Hyderabad and north-east of the city of Bombay. . . . This cave-temple is not a mere interior chamber cut in the rock. It is a model of a complete temple such as might have been erected on the plain. That is, a sloping hill has been hewn away externally as well as internally, leaving the temple a solid mass of trap-rock about a sunken, cloistered court measuring 276 by 154 feet. . . . Though Moslem zealots have striven to destroy the carved figures, and time and earthquakes have weathered and broken away parts here and there, this great temple is still one of the most perfect examples of Dravidian architecture. . . . It was built by Krishna I., Rashtrakuta, King of Malkhed in the incredibly short period of twenty-three years, between 760 and 783 A. D.

II. From the Temple of Surya—Page 1

With the exception of Number VI the remainder of the reproductions are of stone sculptures from the Temple to Surya (the Sun-God) at Konarak, a small village on the coast of Orissa, and 19 miles north-east of the city of Puri. All of this temple, except the Jagamohan or Audience Hall, is in unrecoverable ruin. Various suggestions as to why worship in it was given up have been offered. One is founded in a native legend that the priests deserted it after mariners had profaned it by stealing a great lode-stone which rumor had set in the Vimana, (tower over the sanctuary), alleging the lode-stone drew their vessels irresistibly toward the shore. Others have blamed earthquakes, lightning, sinking of the foundations in the sandy soil, etc. And, there is a record in the Temple at Puri of an attempt by invading vandals to destroy it. It is certain that its neglect began in the first half of the 17th Century when the tower, which was 174 feet high, gave way. Its deterioration continued unchecked until the opening of the 20th Century when the British Archaeological Survey came to it. They drove the snakes away, excavated, replaced what they could, cleaned off the overgrowing vegetation, and filled the Audience Hall with stones and sand, their method of preventing its threatened collapse. . . . It is from the Audience Hall that the subjects of these reproductions come. Though the interior was quite ​severe, the decoration of the exterior was amazingly elaborate. All who have seen it have lavished praise on it: "the noblest specimen of medieval art;" "the most exquisite memorial of sun-worship in India;" and, from Sir James Fergusson, "for its size, the most richly ornamented building—externally at least—in the whole world." It wrung unwilling tribute even from the Mohammedans. But it is difficult for the imagination to grasp from words the mere extent of the decoration that covers like an embroidered veil all of the structure that remains. To mention only one thing: the extant frieze work varying from a foot to a foot and a half broad amounts alone to nearly three thousand feet in length and must contain at least six thousand figures. The sculpture is remarkably free from that conventionalism which, to the Western eye, frequently mars Eastern art. In delicacy, power, breadth and appropriateness of treatment, it represents one of the highest points ever reached in stone sculpture. It demonstrates that there was a time when the Hindoo artist worked from nature, as did their gods themselves, in the enshrining of their dreams in matter. Much of the stone used was very hard (chlorite) , and has every appearance of having retained all its original clarity and strength of line. But, unfortunately for us, many of the figures are in a soft sandstone which has seriously suffered from the weather . . . . The date of the construction of this glorious monument to the religion that underlies all the religions of man is, according to the Annals of the temple itself, S'aka 1200, i.e., A. D. 1278, under the King Languliya Narasinka Deva. Moreover the seal of this king runs thus: "The lord of the earth, the tailed king Narasinka, erected a temple for the ray-garlanded god in the S'aka year 1200." Late research has fairly certainly set its construction between the years 1240 and 1280 A. D.

III. From the "Black Pagoda"—Page 29

The Jagamohan or Audience Hall of the Temple to Surya at Konarak has come to be more specifically known as the "Black Pagoda." This has probably come about through some association of the epithet kala, meaning "black," which the Hindoos apply to all deserted or desecrated religious edifices. The term is certainly not derived from the general color of the building, for the stone of which it is built is light. . . . The name Konarak or Konarka comes from the vernacularized forms of two Sanskrit, words (kona, "corner," and arka, "the sun"), implying "the corner of the sun," i.e., the corner of the world dedicated to the sun. It is thus to be surmised that this locality had for ages been associated in men's minds as especially blessed by the sun, and that long before this temple was built Konarak had been a prominent center of Sun-worship. . . . This probability is also supported by the legend of the founding of the temple. This legend, which is quite characteristic of the great imagination and pictur​esqueness of the Hindoo mind, is, according to the Samba Purana, as follows. Samba (one of the heroes of the Mahabharat) , the son of Krishna by Jambavati, is enjoying life in the heavenly home of his father. A handsome young man, full of spirit and given to the display of it, he has become the object of the displeasure of the sage, Narada, who believes him lacking in the respect due a learned man. So that, in spite, Narada maligns Samba to Krishna, insinuating that for a son Samba is over-familiar with his step-mothers, the 1,600 present wives of the god. Krishna, quite proof against this, disbelieves it. Narada does, however, soon after find the opportunity to his revenge. One fine, warm day the wives are all naked bathing in a great tub, and, moreover, flushed with wine, they are rather unrestrained in their dousing each other with water. The sage lures Samba to the scene; then, contriving the presence of Krishna, accuses Samba with his pernicious beauty of having too exciting an influence on the wives. Krishna, presented with the evidence of this spectacle, in an instant anger curses his son with the curse of leprosy. Although Samba later proves his complete innocence the curse cannot be revoked and the leprosy takes hold. Krishna then does the best he can for his unfortunate boy: instructs him how he can be cured. Samba is to go to earth, and by the river that runs through Konarak he is to lead the life of an ascetic and put himself upon the mercy of the one god, Surya, who can effect his cure. For twelve years Samba prosecutes his devotion to the Sun-god. In a vision Surya then appears to him in all his glory. Samba has learned the twenty-one laudatory epithets of the ray-garlanded One. He repeats them without fault. The god answers his prayer, and makes him whole. The next day, Samba, bathing with more than usual joy in the river, finds a marvellous image of the god to whom he is so much indebted. Of course, how the image came to be at the bottom of the river was another point that had to be explained. That went back to ages before that age, to the time when Surya was married to Sanjna, a daughter of the metal-worker Visvakarma. But so fierce and rough had the god seemed to her that in disgust she would not suffer his embraces. In dismay at this repulse Surya consulted Brahma, and on that divinity's advice went to the father of the girl, who evidently knew his daughter's likes and dislikes, to get himself made over more to the form she had been taught to appreciate. Visvakarma placed Surya on his lathe, and worked over all of the god except the feet. He pared off a full eighth of the body, and then smoothed him down properly, according to the traditions of the family. Unwilling to scrap the divine refuse Visvakarma fashioned out of it the discus of Vishnu, the trident of Siva, the club of Kuvera, the lance of Kartikeya. Of the great amount he still had left he made a likeness of Surya himself. Thus came the image that Samba recovered from the bed of the river and about which in gratitude he built a sanctuary. And thus was the beginning of the great temple at Konarak.

​IV. From the Temple of Surya— Page 69

This is another life-sized group of many in different sizes on this temple frankly depicting the sexual episode. Though this subject has here perhaps attained its most happy expression, it is the theme of many representations on many Indian temples. For the Hindoo mind openly faced the sexual function as the reality it is, one of the expressions of the divine mind. They held it as a peculiarly sacred and godlike function in themselves. The great number of their religious laws dealing with the sexual, the place it occupies in secular literature, show that its significance in the life of man was recognized by them at its inherent importance. And, as can be seen in these sculptures, they were not content to classify and elucidate its manifestations in writing alone. As though they would insure the uninitiate from any mistake they even illustrated the subject in stone. . . . One commentator on this work has been so hardy as to suggest it is merely an imaginative depiction of the heavenly joys awaiting the faithful believer. But, distinctive in Indian art as this work is, the Hindoos were too serious artists and too bound up in the legends of their theology to permit us to presume that these sculptures were other than illustrations of religious subjects taken from their mythology. One wonders, however, just why so much of the decorations on a temple to the sun should depict the sexual. Neither the sect of the Sauras (which had its origin in a Persian influence) nor that of Surya (the ancient Vedic divinity of the sun) has as a principal part of its mysteries those connected with the union of the sexes. There is, however, a sect, the Sahtas, worship of woman, which does emphasize the sexual element. Many of the figures on this Audience Hall suggest a fusion of the sect of Surya with that of Naga (or some other sect of serpent worshippers) as well as with that of Sahta.

V. Apsaras humbling an Ascetic— Page 89

The subject of this group suggests the influence of the ideas of a serpent cult. Serpent worship is still one of the religions of India. It was formerly very widespread, and influenced the decoration of many other monuments, especially the Buddhist stupas of Sanchi and Amravati. The intimate association of the serpent with woman in the minds of all primitive peoples is not as obvious as its association with the lingam (phallus). Here the substitution of the serpent for the male organ is suggested. . . . This group appears to illustrate a part of Brahmanical belief associated with the Apsaras. They were originally spirits of the clouds and waters, semi-divine nymphs said to have sprung from the churning of the ocean. In the Rig-Veda there is but one Apsaras, who, as the wife of Gandharva, gave birth to the first mortals Yama and Yami. In the heroic age there are many Apsaras and many Gandharvas who form part of the retinue of Indra, the first as dancers, the second as musicians. One of the uses the gods had for the beautiful Apsaras was a means of humbling the over-​pious ascetic. So strongly did the Hindoo believe in the efficacy of his ritual that he held a devotee could, through austere practices, develop supernatural powers that made him a rival and even a being superior to the gods. Obviously, the gods could not have this. To humble him through the symbolism of the sexual act was both pertinent and suggestive. . . . The figure behind the man may be another Apsaras who was sent along to make certain the reduction of an especially obdurate case, or it may have been intended to represent the god himself assisting at the rite. Or, again, the group may represent two proselytes accompanied by an instructor.

VI. A Naga from the Temple of Surya— Page 101

The Nagas were another of the Hindoo's many races of a semi-divine character who had the same standing in relation to the universe as human beings themselves. The details of life in their world were fully described as known. Their element was Water, as that of the Yakshas was Earth. The capital city of the Nagas was under the sea. and was called Bhogavati, "the city of enjoyment." The name is derived from naga meaning either a "snake" or an "elephant," and has the earlier connotations, a "tree" and a "mountain". . . . This figure shows more definitely the influence of serpent worship. The substitution or confusion of the serpent with the lingam is more obvious. There is substantiation of this conjecture by the suggestion in the upper part of the pedestal that the figure is standing on the horned head of a great reptile.

VII. Monolithic Pillar from a Stupa— Page 131

This stupa (burial mound of the ashes of some distinguished person) is at Bharahat, a village in the small State of Nagod. The excavations instigated by Alexander Cunningham in 1874 showed it to be one of the most important and handsome in India. The mound itself was found to be 70 feet in diameter, between 50 and 60 feet high, and was surmounted by an ornament shaped like the letter T. About this mound ran a circular balustrade, a hundred feet in diameter, the ground plan of which made a gigantic swastika. The whole of this stood toward the east side of a paved and walled quadrangle about 300 feet by 320 feet. . . . The pillar shown, which is 7 feet 1 inch high, came from the balustrade. The elaborate ornament and large number of inscriptions on this stupa have yielded valuable information in regard to the art and social conditions of the people of Buddhist India at that period. The subjects were taken from the Buddhist Sacred Books, more especially from the accounts given in them of the life of the Buddha in previous births. . . . The figure shown here (the motive is one very frequent in Hindoo art) has been taken for Maya, mother of the Buddha, awaiting his ​birth under the tree Sala. It is much more probable that it was intended to represent the guardian spirit of a Yakshini, the females of one of their semi-divine races, to which the nearest approach in Western thought is the fairy and gnome people. . . . This pillar is now in the Indian Museum at Calcutta. Villagers had already carried off the greater part of the stone and bricks with which to make cottages when the monument was first brought to Western notice. Only about half of the original eighty pillars and about a third of the cross-bars were recovered.

VIII. From the Temple of Surya— Page 163

One of the groups illustrating variant positions to be assumed in the sexual act. (See Chapter 6 of Part II.)