The Kamasutra & Ancient Indian Homosexuality (feat. Ruth Vanita)

Honey, I'm sure you've heard of the Kamasutra. But did you know it's not just a sex manual for hipster white couples who are ready to graduate to doggy?

This episode goes past the schoolboy giggles the Kamasutra typically provokes to investigate what this fascinating compendium of erotic philosophy can tell us about ancient Indian queer life (and perhaps our own!).

The real Kamasutra was not just a sex manual. It is a Sanskrit treatise on kama ("desire") – which includes sexual desire, yes, but also means desire for friendship, art, music, play. All the things that make life sexy and fun, and have the potential to make you desirable to others.

Written by Vatsyayana during the Gupta empire, the text treats desire as one of life's four core aims. Kama, along with dharma (duty/morality) and artha (wealth), was seen as one of the chief aims of a well-lived life. A life that was lived in the hope of eventually achieving moksha (liberation) from the endless cycle of reincarnation.

For ancient Indians, there was no concept of "sin" – and therefore relatively little interest in policing hetero, homo, or gender-nonconforming behaviour. Certainly there was no consensus that anything their medieval compatriots in Europe were burning people at the stake for was "unnatural" or contrary to fixed laws of sexual behaviour.

This episode is a fascinating dip into what our sexual ancestors knew and did in the sack, but it's also a reminder that homosexuality has not only been around for millennia, it's been theorised over, philosophised, and incorporated into profound systems of thought that are still teaching us how to live.

So here's what you can expect:

• A dramatic reading of the text's 8-step guide to a good gay blowjob (spoiler alert: mango-sucking is a transferable skill!)
• A 14th-century doctor's explanation of female orgasms, which had a LOT to teach Bash about the clitoris and something called the "G Spot"...
• An examination of the Victorian English response to the Kamasutra (more complicated and potentially less hateful than you'd expect!)
• And, of course, our eminent scholarly guest's recommendations for how we might want to look at desire, sex, and gender in our own lives given what the Kamasutra has to say about them

Our guest this week is Ruth Vanita, eminent scholar of India's queer history and author of Love's Rite, on same-sex marriage in India.

Stay tuned for our next episode in 2 weeks, with a surprise appearance from everyone's favourite lesbian American poetess. Not telling you which one.

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Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash

Produced by Dani Henion

Edited by Alex Toskas

Guest: Ruth Vanita

© Sebastian Hendra 2026

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