Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c5.s2.84

c5.s2.84

The author of the Kāmasūtra is mentioned by name in the *Vāsavadattā* of Subandhu who is supposed to have flourished about the same time as Chandragupta Vikramāditya, viz., at the beginning of the fifth century A.C.² While describing the Vindhya mountains, Subandhu says: "It was filled with elephants and was fragrant from the perfume of its jungles, just as the Kāmasūtra was written by Mallanāga and contains the delight and enjoyment of mistresses."³ Thus from the evidence offered by Kālidāsa and Subandhu we can feel definitely certain that the Kāmasūtra was written before 400 A.C.