Penn Lightbulb Café Presents ‘A Medieval Buddhist Treatise on Love and Sex’
WHO: Daud Ali
Associate Professor
Department of South Asia Studies
WHAT: Penn Lightbulb Café: “A Medieval Buddhist Treatise on Love and Sex”
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6-7 p.m.
WHERE: World Cafe Live Upstairs, 3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia
Sometime in the 10th century C.E., a Buddhist monk named Padmaśrījñāna composed a unique manual on erotics in Sanskrit entitled The Complete Courtier or Nāgarasarvasva. This short work is perhaps the first medieval manual to continue the tradition of the more famous Kāmasūtra, composed in the fourth century C.E. It holds intrinsic interest for the history of the field of thinking on sex and love in ancient India, but more generally it raises important questions about change in this intellectual tradition, as it introduces new conceptions of the body, techniques of physical manipulation and ideas about society and the cosmos. It also draws distinctively from other intellectual and religious currents, particularly Buddhist and Śaiva tantric orders. Professor Ali’s talk, based on an extensive study and translation of the Nāgarasarvasva, will introduce the text and its main features and clarify its important place both in the history of treatises on erotics in early India as well as its relationship with medieval esoteric spiritual traditions.
The talk is part of the Penn Lightbulb Café free public-lecture series presented by Penn Arts & Sciences and the Office of University Communications that takes arts, humanities and social-sciences scholarship out of the classroom for a night on the town. Each talk begins at 6 p.m. and is followed by an audience Q&A session. Café events are free and open to the public. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Seating is limited.
