Ancient India played a pioneering role in the history of sex by being the first to produce literature that treated sexual intercourse as a science. Kama Sutra – composed between 400 BC and 200 AD – was a philosophical treatise on kama shastra or the science of love. It was intended to be an exploration of human desire as well as a technical guide to pleasing one’s partner within marriage.

As opposed to the notion of original sin, in Indic religions, the sexual act was not one of transgression. Sex and fertility were exhalted through architecture (Konark, Khajurao), cultural festivals (Holi), literature (Kama Sutra and various 16th century texts) and even sacred iconography (the Shiva lingam).

In fact, Kama (desire) was celebrated as one of the four principal goals of life – besides Dharma (religion/order), Artha (wealth/prosperity) and Moksha (salvation). However, with the advent of colonialism, such liberalism was severely curtailed. And well into the 20th century, the country remained under such prudish Victorian influence, when the Sexual Revolution was taking Western nations by storm.

However, today, things are changing again. Cosmopolitan urban centres serve as liberals pockets where Indians rewrite and re-explore ideas about sex (that were theirs, to begin with).