In the course of its descriptions of regional characteristics and customs the Kama Sutra mentions people from different places (for example at 1.1.8–10, 2.3.4–6, 2.4.9–11, 2.5.21–33, 2.6.22, 2.9.27–32, 2.10.10–13, 5.5.28–29, 5.5.30–35 and 5.6.29–38). Some of these place names are still in use, though the areas or the inhabitants to which they refer may no longer be in the same location. The following identification is based mainly on information derived from the glosses on relevant Kama Sutra passages (indicated within brackets) in the commentary Jayamangala (J) and from the appendix on geographical names in Apte’s Sanskrit–English Dictionary (Delhi, 1965). The names are given in alphabetical order.
Abhira J (2.5.21) identifies it with the land of Kurukshetra near modern Delhi. The area is placed in the Vindhya Hills in central India, too. The name is also used for a people or tribe mainly of dairy farmers.
Ahichhatra A city possibly in the area of Kurukshetra.
Andhra A region south of the Vindhya Hills, now the name of a state in southern India and its people.
Anga Identified with present north Bihar. J (5.6.37) places it to the east of the River Mahanadi.
Aparanta The coastal land between the Western Ghat hills and the Arabian Sea.
Avanti The area north of the River Narmada in present western Madhya Pradesh. Its capital was Ujjayini at the site of modern Ujjain.
Bahlika Identified with the region of Balkh in northern Afghanistan or with people from there.
Dravida Placed by J (2.5.31) to the south of Karnataka. This would correspond to present Tamilnadu. The name is still in use in cultural terms.
Gauda Present northern Bengal.
Kalinga The southern part of the present state of Orissa in eastern India.
Kashi An ancient city on the River Ganga in the present state of Uttar Pradesh, on the site of modern Varanasi. The name is still in use.
Kosala Corresponds to the eastern part of present Uttar Pradesh.
Kotta J (5.5.29) names it as a place in the present state of Gujarat.
Lata An area to the west of the River Narmada in present Gujarat.
Madhya Desha Literally, the central region. Described in J (2.5.21) as the land between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas. Corresponds to the bulk of the Gangetic plain in north India.
Maharashtra A part of the present state of this name in west and central India. J (2.5.29) places it between the River Narmada and the land of Karnataka.
Malava The region of present Malwa in central India adjacent to Avanti.
Panchala Identified with the land between the Rivers Ganga and Yamuna in north India.
Saketa A city in Kosala. J (2.9.30) identifies it with Ayodhya, a name still current.
Saurashtra The region of the same name in present Gujarat.
Sindhu The region of Sindh in southern Pakistan.
Stri Rajya Literally, the kingdom of women. Refers perhaps to an area with a matriarchal society in a location still to be identified.
Surasena J (2.9.32) places it to the south of Kaushambi, a city which existed close to present Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. It has also been placed in the western part of the same state in the area around present Mathura.
Vanavasa Literally, a forest habitation. Placed by J (2.5.32) to the east of the Konkan region of present Maharashtra.
Vanga Present eastern Bengal.
Vatsagulma It has been suggested (A.K. Warder, Indian Kavya Literature, vol.3, Delhi, 1990, 1265) that this was the capital of Vidarbha during the c. fourth-century Vakataka empire, but the location remains unidentified.
Vidarbha An area between the Rivers Krishna and Narmada corresponding to the region of Berar. The name is still in use.
The Kama Sutra also mentions (2.5.30 and 2.9.31) women and men of nagara, that is ‘The City’. This is identified in J with Pataliputra, which was long an imperial capital in ancient India, situated near present Patna in the state of Bihar. Vatsyayana’s references to the people and the practices of ‘the south’ and ‘the east’ most probably indicate areas in these directions beyond the Madhya Desha.