Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s9.14

c8.s9.14

In the next place, we gather from the philosophical literature of the age in which Vātsyāyana lived, that it was one of intense philosophical speculation. Nāgārjuna in the second century A. D. had established his *Śūnyavāda* or Philosophic Nihilism and he was followed by a string of great logicians of his school. His success roused to activity all the orthodox schools of philosophy the representatives of which proceeded to compose new works, to write extensive commentaries on the already existing texts, or at any rate to bring their systems up to date by fresh additions calculated to combat successfully the new school that was gradually acquiring strength and volume. Whether we do or do not accept the conclusion of Prof. Jacobi that the *Nyāyadarśana* and the *Brahmasūtra* were originally composed between 200 and 450 A.D., we have less reason to doubt him when he assigns to this period the old commentators, Vātsyāyana, Upavarṣa and Baudhāyana (the *Vṛttikāra*) who were all working to bring their respective systems in line with the new ideas originated by Buddhist thinkers. Even the author oft he Kāmasūtra has shown the prevailing tendency of the time by defining his general concepts and discussing the current theories about them in the approved philosophical method, and he has approached his subject with the detachment of a scientific observer and the analytic skill of a subtle logician. Moreover, we must not forget that in the period embraced by the first four centuries of the Christian era, the Mahābhārata was receiving the final form in which we possess it now.¹