# कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/kamashastra

कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra) is a Sanskrit word meaning a treatise on pleasure or sexual love, the title of several erotic works, manual of love or pleasure, the science of love and erotics, a treatise on love, a treatise on erotics. Its 6 recorded definitions are grouped into 2 contexts, among them Kāmaśāstra as a Genre/Field of Study, Specific Kāmaśāstra Works or Applications.

- **SLP1:** `kAmaSAstra`  **IAST:** kāmaśāstra  **Devanagari:** कामशास्त्र
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamashastra
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/kamashastra/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### Kāmaśāstra as a Genre/Field of Study (4 definitions)
- a treatise on pleasure or sexual love  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H3) [Printed book page 272,3] काम (kāma) — शास्त्र (—śāstra) n. a treatise on pleasure or sexual love, Mahābhārata (Title) [ ID=48199 ]
- the science of love and erotics  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra) [Printed book page 180-28 ] काम - शास्त्र (kāma-śāstra) n. the erotical science, Mall. on K.S. vii.94. [ ID=8997 ]
- manual of love or pleasure  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra) [Printed book page 117 ] कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra) n. manual of pleasure or of love. [ ID=7529 ]
- a treatise on love  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra) [Printed book page 378-2 ] kāmaśāstra (“treatise on love”): I, 646 (i.e. Mhbhr.); XII, 9123. [ ID=5226 ]

### Specific Kāmaśāstra Works or Applications (2 definitions)
- the title of several erotic works  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > = - सूत्र (-sūtra) N. of several erotic works. [ ID=48200 ]
- a treatise on erotics  
  *The Purana Index*
  > कामशास्त्र (kāmaśāstra) [Printed book page 1-352 ] Kāmaśāstra — In Sairandhri's house there were pictures drawn according to prescriptions of Kāmaśāstra: 1 a treatise by Bābhravya, a Pāñcāla. 2 [ Footnote: 1) Bhā. X. 48. [2]; M. 220. 2.] [ Footnote: 2) M. 21. 30.] [ ID=2824 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Index to the Names in the Mahabharata; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); The Purana Index; Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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