Vatsyayana takes care to mention earlier authorities. The list in the Kama Sutra (1.1.8–12) begins with Nandi, the mythical servant of the great god Shiva. The nine names which follow his are of more mundane figures, probably with some historical basis as in several cases they are also mentioned in other works. These are the teachers Shvetaketu, Babhravya, Dattaka, Charayana, Suvarnanabha, Ghotakamukha, Gonardiya, Gonikaputra and Kuchumara.
Shvetaketu is a Vedic sage. He features in a number of episodes in the literature of the Upanishads, composed from c. sixth century BCE or earlier, though the dating is still uncertain. The best-known story is in the Chhandogya Upanishad (6.12.1–3 and 6.13.1–3). In it he is the earnest young son of the hermit Uddalaka Aruni, who explains to him the unity of all existence (tat tvam asi or ‘that thou art’) with dramatic examples of the seed of a tree and salt dissolved in water.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (6.2.13) Shvetaketu is mentioned incidentally as sending his father to a king, who compares offerings in the sacred fire with sexual intercourse. In the later epic Mahabharata (1.113.9–20) he is depicted as a sage involved in originating the institution of marriage in a promiscuous society, having seen his own mother led away by a man other than his father. In the Kama Sutra his views are cited on various subjects: on female orgasm (2.1.10–15); on the go-between’s role (5.4.32); and on calculating gains and losses (6.6.34–35). He is mostly mentioned with his patronymic Auddalaki.
Babhravya is the only teacher identified in the Kama Sutra with a place, in this instance Panchala, the old name for the land between the Rivers Ganga and Yamuna in the north Indian plains. While he is cited only once (2.10.34–39), the Kama Sutra’s text has numerous references to his followers (1.5.30, 2.1.18, 2.2.4–5, 2.2.21–22, 2.6.19–22, 5.4.32–35, 5.4.42–44, 5.6.43–45, 6.3.36–40, 7.2.4–7). It would appear that he founded a school and remained well known in succeeding centuries. His own work is quoted by Yashodhara, the thirteenth-century CE commentator on the Kama Sutra (5.6.42); and the fourteenth-century work on erotics, Panchasayaka, mentions him as an authority on the subject.
Commenting on the Kama Sutra (6.3.20), Yashodhara also quotes from the work of Dattaka, who is further mentioned as an authority in the Kuttanimatam (vv. 77 and 123), the eighth-century account of courtesans written in Kashmir. A legend has him adopted as a child by a courtesan, and Vatsyayana says that he wrote his work at the behest of the courtesans of Pataliputra. He cites Dattaka on lovers’ quarrels (2.10.51) and on methods of dispensing with a lover (6.3.43–44).
Kama Sutra cites Charayana (1.4.7–8, 1.5.22–27) on a gentleman’s life and on permissible women. Suvarnanabha is cited (1.5.22–27, 2.4.4–6, 2.5.34–35, 2.6.23–35, 2.8.14–16) mainly on sexual union. Charayana is also named in the fourth-century BCE Artha Shastra, together with the teacher Ghotakamukha. The latter is often cited in the Kama Sutra (1.5.22–27, 3.1.3, 3.1.8–13, 3.2.13–17, 3.3.3–5, 3.4.26–31), mainly on choosing a bride and the first night after marriage.
The names of Gonardiya and Gonikaputra are also found in the c. first-century BCE work on grammar, Mahabhashya of Patanjali. The former is cited in the Kama Sutra (1.5.22–27, 4.1.1–5, 4.2.28–30, 4.2.33–35), chiefly on the roles of wives. He is also quoted in the fourteenth-century commentary by Mallinatha on descriptions of debauchery in Kalidasa’s poem Raghuvamsha (19.16 and 19.29). Gonikaputra is cited in the Kama Sutra on permissible and avoidable women (1.5.4–7, 1.5.30–31), on wives of other men (5.1.8–12, 5.4.9–12, 5.4.42–44) and on guarding the harem (5.6.39–42). He is also mentioned as an authority in the twelfth-century work on erotics Ratirahasya (2.1–17). There are no specific citations for Kuchumara, who is named as the author of a separate work on esoteric subjects.
It is thus clear that some of these personages are known both from works predating the Kama Sutra and from others which followed it. Some of their writings were also available in the following centuries. This points to their historicity, though little else is known about them.