ABSTRACT
From the vast literary output of classical India one work alone has attained nearly universal recognition: Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra (KS). Its fame, of course, rests on its treatment of sex in its more mechanical aspects, although that actually forms only a part of its subject matter. It is the only source for most people's knowledge of classical India; imagine if, conversely, modern Euro-American civilization were to be known in Asia only through The Joy of Sex. The insatiable thirst of the modern West for sex knowledge from the mystic and lubricious East has resulted in the publication of hundreds of versions of the KS including translations, recastings, expositions, and specially illustrated versions ranging from the coffee-table book with its glossy pictures of Indian erotic statuary to pornographic videos, not to speak of cards, lotions, massage oils of all flavors (who can forget the “Kama Sutra Love Oil” of the 1960s?), tapestries, and even bottle openers. While the reception and especially the commodification of the KS and other Indian exotica such as Tantra is a subject worthy of an extended inquiry, I confine myself here to an examination of one aspect in the West's encounter with Vatsyayana's classic—namely, its elements of “queerness” as denied, interpreted, and hallucinated by Orientalists, sexologists, and the proponents of a gay liberation ideology who have sometimes refashioned this text according to their own wishes.
