Mandakini Gupta, New Delhi:  Vatsyayna's Kamasutra, believed to have been written between the 4th and 6th centuries, has been reinvented and reinterpreted a million times over.

The recently launched New Age Kamasutra for Women promises to be a celebration of the sensitivities of the 21st century woman through the gaze of a woman. "I have written the book through the gaze of a woman — a woman who has come of age and is empowered. She wears many hats and is independent to chose her man, chose her life," says author of The New Age Kamasutra for Women, Dr Alka Pande."It is also a must read for men. If they really want to be married, they must know the woman, they must get under her skin to realise what their woman is about," she adds.

The appeal of the Kamasutra lies in the fact that it is the world's oldest and most exhaustive treatise on the art of love-making. Illustrated lavishly with traditional art and a philosophy that captures ancient India at it's exotic best, it's no wonder that these books always remain on the top of all the international best sellers list.

The Kamasutra has become one of the largest exports to the West. Brijbasi, a publishing house that prints four Kamasutra coffee table books in India, sells over three lakh books in the foreign market and only 12,000 in the Indian market.

The popularity of the book in international markets can be adjudged from the fact that Brijbasi publishes the book in eight different languages including Polish, Czech and Russian. Interestingly, Spain, France and UK account for the largest market for the books. "Of course, I know about the Kamasutra, who doesn't? I'm from Estonia and everyone there knows about it. I know a lot of people who use it as well. It is very good," says Maurice, a tourist from Estonia.

Literary experts say the the Kamasutra is a rage in the West because it packages sex with the mystique of an old asian culture. "For them, sex has always been a guilt-ridden thing, where the strongest woman is a virgin. So, for them, this is hardly religion to see our sages, apsaras, Gods and Goddesses romping around. It's very exciting," says editor of Religion and Culture at Hindustan Times, Renuka Narayanan. Agrees Dr. Pande,"The West still has a cultural curiosity about the oriental exotic erotica."

So, while people in India might call it a dirty little book and furtively glance through it at bookstores, the Kamasutra is a book of choice to put on your coffee table in the West.