Sudhir Kakar’s Ascetic of Desire

The Ascetic of Desire is a fictional portrayal of Vatsyayana, the fourth-century author of the Kamasutra. This is Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar’s first novel, and he transports us to an ancient culture, ponders the sensual wisdom of the Kamasutra, and recites a drama suffused with intense eroticism and psychopathology. The text opens with the thoughts of a young Brahman narrator describing his overwhelming confusion and panic over prostitutes, who are simultaneously seductive and threatening. He hopes to overcome his “dread of women,” but becomes impotent. In one page we have a protagonist who craves women yet fears and loathes them as predators, who cannot trust women, surrender to them, or maintain an erection inside them. It is this youth who seeks out the author of the Kamasutra, for enlightenment on the mysteries of sex.