Vedas, and the four organizational
groups of the Dashanami Sanyasis
themselves. The number four symbol-
izes completion and totality, which
makes a fifth sacred center problem-
atic. Despite their possible merit,
these contentions have not diminished
Kamakotipith’s status. It has a long his-
tory as an asceticcenter, and its head
monk is routinely considered one of the
Shankaracharyas, the most important
modern Hindu religious leaders.
Kamakotipith’s importance probably
reflects the importance of Kanchipuram
itself, which was such a significant
sacred and political hub that any ascetic
center located there could gain consid-
erable authority.
Kamalakanta
(d. 1820) Bengali poet, devotee (bhakta)
of the goddess Kali, and teacher and
practitioner of the secret, ritually-based
religious practice known as tantra.
Kamalakanta spent most of his life as
the guruand learned adviser (pundit) of
the king of Burdwan, a region northwest
of modern Calcutta, whose capital is
also named Burdwan.
Kamandalu
A water pot traditionally used by
ascetics, usually having a removable lid
for ease in filling and a spout for pour-
ing. Kamandalus may be made from
various materials, such as gourds, wood,
metal, or baked clay. They are generally
wider than they are tall, making them
stable and less likely to tip over. In
India’s climate, water is an obvious
necessity. Even ascetics with very few
possessions will generally have some
means to carry and store it. Aside from
satisfying their physical needs, water is
an important element in ascetic reli-
gious life, since it is often an offering
used in worshipas well as the preferred
medium for bathing (snana) and other
rites of purification. This religious
importance makes the kamandalu a
powerful object in its own right. A
kamandalu is considered especially sig-
nificant when it has been used for years
by a noted ascetic—objects kept in close
proximity to such a person are believed
to be charged with their spiritual power.
In modern times, kamandalus are still
important ritual objects, but their prac-
tical function has largely been replaced
by screw-top plastic vessels.Kama Sutra
(“manual on desire”) By far the most
famous of the ancient eroticmanuals,
traditionally attributed to the sage
Vatsyayana. This text is usually associated
with an exhaustive catalog of sexual
positions and pleasures, but in fact it
goes far beyond this stereotype.
Vatsyayana was interested in exploring
desire in all its manifestations. The text
begins with a consideration of the four
aims of life (purushartha): worldly
goods (artha), desire (kama), religious
duty (dharma), and liberation of the
soul (moksha). Vatsyayana argued that
since desire was one of the established
goals of human life, its pursuit was thus
a good thing, as long as this pursuit did
not interfere with the others.
Having established the legitimacy of
desire, Vatsyayana then discussed how
to foster it. The Kama Sutra’s second
book contains the text’s best-known
material, the discussion and categoriza-
tion of various types of sexual union. It
begins by characterizing types of sexual
endowment, both male and female.
Next it describes different sorts of
embracing, kissing, scratching, and bit-
ing as symbols of passion, along with
sexual positions and oral sex. This is fol-
lowed by chapters on gaining a wife,
attracting other men’s wives (which the
text discourages, except in cases where
one’s passion is “too strong”), courte-
sans, and general remarks on the nature
of attraction.
The text is a manual for all phases of
erotic life in which sex can be refined
into a vehicle for aesthetic experience as
well as pure carnal pleasure. The Kama
Sutrais also notable for its perspectiveKamalakanta