Summary
If one cannot find love through the methods laid out in the Kama Sutra, one must resort to other methods. These include beautifying the body and using charms, aphrodisiacs, or artificial membranes. One can also beautify the eyes with makeup, enhance the texture of the skin, or drink potions to smooth the complexion. The author also explains a number of ways in which a man or woman can enhance their genitals with pastes and creams in order to make them more sexually attractive - even irresistible. (One odd suggestion is to take the remains of a kite that has fallen out of use, grind it into powder, mix it with cowdung and honey, and apply it to the body before bathing.)
The author offers a number of aphrodisiac recipes that will allow a man to stay virile (milk with sugar; liqorice), vigorous (milk with sugar; the crushed testicles of a ram or a goat), or increase his stamina (vidari and kshrika fruit boiled in milk). A man can become stimulated with sugarcane roots mixed with milk, or onion powder mixed with sugar and ghee. Sexual ability can be enhanced by mixing rice with the eggs of a sparrow and then boiling the potion in milk. Other mixtures will help a man enjoy more women, preserve his life, help him recuperate from sex, or strengthen his body.
A man unable to relieve the sexual urges of a passionate woman can use his hands or even an "apadravyas" (a phallus-shaped artificial member) to stimulate orgasm. A man who is suffering sexual deficiency can be induced to orgasm by oral sex, manually, or even by inserting a finger (either the man's own or his partner's) into his anus.
Some cultures argue that a man's penis canal has to be enlarged early in pubescence. The author points specifically to Southern India, where a young male's penis is perforated with a pointed shaft to engorge the canal. A grown man can enlarge the aperture of his penis by penetrating the canal with a long wedge, provided he can stop the bleeding afterwards and sterilize the wound. Over time, he can make his penis opening larger and larger, so that it will be stronger and more powerful.
The author suggests that a man's lingam can be enlarged by the application of various pastes, by massaging the penis, or even by rubbing it with the seeds of pomegranates, cucumbers, and eggplants. The author also cites various other food combinations that can be used to alleviate different problems, such as an over-attentive man, a woman who has lost affection, a vagina that needs to be contracted or expanded, hair loss, and excessively pale lips.
Thus conclude the seven books of Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra, which the author suggests should be considered a treatise on men and women, their relationship to one another, life, and love. The book should be studied by old and young, by those who have gathered experience and those who are brand-new, and by anyone who is curious about the true methods for achieving fulfillment in love.
Analysis
The final book of the Kama Sutra is more concerned with tying up loose ends than with introducing core elements of the philosophy. The basic principle here involves making sure that those who cannot find sexual fulfillment and love using the other techniques in the book still have some recourse for improving their seduction and lovemaking skills. These can be divided into a few main categories - bodily improvements, sexual performance enhancements, and genital modifications.
The bodily improvements fall into line with the other aphrodisiacs mentioned in the Kama Sutra - recipes to increase stamina, vigor, ability, etc. One wonders how many of these are almost metaphorical in their nature (the potion that involves the remains of a failed kite quite obviously produces a placebo effect, if any), and whether they are directed at mothers, fathers, and other relatives who might use the placebo promise of these drinks to dupe the drinkers into truly believing in their powers.
A few of the recipes suggest that if a man or woman applies certain pastes to their genitals, there is no way a member of the opposite sex will be able to resist them. It's rather antithetical to offer miracle cures in the Kama Sutra, since so much of the book discusses the sheer amount of work necessary to perfect the art of seduction. Again, these pastes and creams can be taken as ways to build confidence in those who are uncertain of the strength of their natural powers.
The section on genital enhancement is particularly disturbing, since it appears to encourage men to use objects to pry open their penis shafts in order to increase the power of their ejaculations. This practice is not only incredibly painful, but seems likely to have a high rate of infection. The author offers a number of recipes and potions to avoid infection, but we can only assume that most readers would bypass these recommendations.
The Kama Sutra ends with this odd collection of last resorts, but we are nonetheless left with a clean arc between the books, one that centers around the theme of confidence. Indeed, the book begins with a male's responsibility to create confidence in the female, then turns to discuss a courtesan's ability to create confidence in men, and finally closes with suggestions for how both males and females can find self-confidence using a variety of remedies. This manual for sexual fulfillment, then, describes a path towards self-realization using kama, a path that will ultimately intersect with that of dharma and karma.
