Sex, Drugs & Rock-n-Roll

The latest issue of Outlook is about sex in India these days. They undertook a survey and concluded that Indians are now "making whoopee." While this is about today, let me take my reader back to ancient times, when the Kamasutra was written. The following is from AL Basham's The Wonder That Was India, from the section "Sexual relations":

Of all legitimate pleasures sexual pleasure was thought to be the best.

The literature of Hindu India, both religious and secular, is full of sexual allusions, sexual symbolism, and passages of frank eroticism. The preoccupation with such themes increased in the Middle Ages, when the process of cosmic creation was figured as the union of god and goddess, and images of closely embracing couples (maithuna) were carved on the walls of temples. Some religious sects even introduced ritual intercourse as part of their cult and a potent aid to salvation. But the exaggerated sexual religiosity of the later Middle Ages was only an expression of the vigorous sexuality which was to be found in Indian social life at all times....

The Indian passion for classification, though it did not result in the emergence of experimental science, led to the development of rather pedantic schools on many aspects of human activity, including sexual relations. On this topic, a number of textbooks survive, the most important and earliest of which is the Kamasutra, attributed to the sage Vatsyayana.... This remarkable work gives, as may be imagined, detailed instructions on erotic technique, aphrodisiac recipes and charms, and incidentally much valuable information about the life of the ancient Indian. From texts such as this, and from many passages in courtly literature, we may learn much about the sexual life of the upper classes.

Sexuality was not looked on as a mere vent for the animal passions of the male, but as a refined mutual relationship for the satisfaction of both parties. The sophisticated townsman for whom the Kamasutra was written was advised to consider the satisfaction of his mistress as well as his own, for she was as passionate as himself, and it was even said by some that her pleasure in sex was greater than his. Loveplay was manifold and thoroughly classified; thus, the Kamasutra defines no less than sixteen types of kiss. There was much tenderness in lovemaking, though it often culminated in very violent embraces; it was a favourite poetic convention to describe lovers of both sexes, whether married or single, as displaying the tokens of their passion to their confidential friends, in the form of the marks of nails and teeth.

So they were making whoopee too! As Leonard Cohen puts it, "Many loved before us, I know that we are not new."

In the "free India" ruled by the CONgress, it was their The State that also clamped upon society a huge amount of sexual repression. Whereas, as Basham notes with due wonder, the Kamasutra defines no less than sixteen types of kiss," no kissing is allowed in Indian films! The nautch girl is banned - so let's forget about nudity. Playboy is also  banned here.

It is not that in ancient India sex was everything. Kama came third - after dharma and artha. Modern India is all about a spurious sexual morality that ignores the more important "economic morality." It is all a very ugly kind of hypocrisy: an utterly immoral and depraved power elite who resent all the happy humpers. In ancient India, the courtesan was respected, even honoured. Today, if you visit the red-light district of any Indian city, you feel nothing but deep sorrow for those who work there. The State calls prostitution "immoral traffic" - but they cannot manage road traffic, and over 2,00,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed on our unsafe streets every year.

In modern India, because of our The State, there is no chudai, only khudai. They dig everywhere. Dig dig dig. Every city is dug up. To the Bengali, for many decades now, KMDA stands for khurchi mati, dekhbe esho - that is, "come and watch us digging mud" - and not Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. With the NREGA, the villages are all dug up too. Fucking hell!

Let us now turn to drugs. In ancient India, people enjoyed getting high - and there were many highs. The soma of the ancients was a drink prepared from cannabis. Not that alcohol was not in use: In the Arthashastra, there is a long list of alcoholic drinks - and a further list of alcoholic drinks that were imported. This was no Old Monk(ey) country. As for opium use, it was sacred among the warriors - they used it ceremonially before battle because of its anesthetising effects, which protected them from pain in case of injury.

The Brits "studied the happiness" of their Indian subjects. A Royal Hemp Drug Commission was appointed in the late 19th century to look into our usage of ganja, charas and bhang. These were unknown in Britain, while in India their use was "widespread." The Commission looked into three aspects of hemp drug use: whether they damaged the health, whether they damaged the mind, and whether they caused criminality. On all three counts they voted "not guilty" - and we were left free to get stoned. Not so our own countrymen - these kallus who took over from the goras. The possession, cultivation and sale of ganja, charas and bhang are now "non bailable offences" carrying a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison! Fucking hell, once again.

Finally, let us turn to rock-n-roll. These days, very big stars occasionally hold concerts in Indian cities. Roger Waters played here some years ago. Bryan Adams is coming soon. But what about our own rockers? They have no places to perform live before local audiences. There are so many State-imposed restrictions on nightlife that extremely talented musicians live dirt poor - or take up other jobs to survive. The amount of talent in this area is truly phenomenal - we now have an Indian edition of Rolling Stone magazine, with many pages devoted to local rock bands. It is The State that is killing all the music.

So that's modern India: No Sex, No Drugs, No Rock-n-Roll - only repression, legislation, corruption, and lots and lots of digging.

Run, rabbit, run,

Dig that hole,

Forget the sun,

When at last your work is done,

Don't stop,

It's time to dig another one.

Fucking hell.