However, I took that portion as correct in which the majority of the copies agreed with each other." The 'Aphorisms on Love,' by Vatsyayana, contains about one thousand two hundred and fifty slokas or verses, and are divided into parts, parts into chapters, and chapters into paragraphs.

The whole consists of seven parts, thirty-six chapters, and sixty-four paragraphs.

Hardly anything is known about the author.

His real name is supposed to be Mallinaga or Mrillana, Vatsyayana being his family name.

At the close of the work this is what he writes about himself: "After reading and considering the works of Babhravya and other ancient authors, and thinking over the meaning of the rules given by them, this treatise was composed, according to the precepts of the Holy Writ, for the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayana, while leading the life of a religious student at Benares, and wholly engaged in the contemplation of the Deity.