The permissive age that followed saw the first legal publication of Burton’s translation (sorry, Arbuthnot, Indragi and Bhide’s translation). Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Its publication – proper publication, that is, rather than private printing – was in fact only made possible following the historic ‘ Chatterley trial’ of 1960, when Penguin Books were cleared of the charge of obscenity for publishing D. The Kama Sutra was banned in Britain until 1963. In fact, although Burton usually gets the credit for the translation, it was largely the work of Burton’s friend and fellow orientalist, the wonderfully named Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot (1833-1901), working in collaboration with Indian archaeologist Bhagwan Lal Indraji and a student named Shivaram Parshuram Bhide.ĥ. It was printed in English in 1883 – we say ‘printed’ rather than ‘published’ because any publisher would have been charged with obscenity, so willing readers had to pay for a privately printed copy. So it’s perhaps little surprise that Burton, given his interest in both the exotic and the erotic, was instrumental in bringing about an English translation of the Kama Sutra. I thought it must be another click-bait headlines which talk about some weird sex positions that are doing rounds every day on the net and yet, I happened to click it (they win). Sir Richard Francis Burton (pictured right) also translated the Arabian Nights into English, adding helpful footnotes explaining some of the more unusual sexual practices outlined in the tales. An English translation of the Kama Sutra was produced by an eccentric Victorian explorer.
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