Sudhir Kakar, a psychoanalyst who redefined the study of culture and taboos

His evening ritual of the cigar and vodka in the beach a 10-minute drive from his palatial traditional old Goan home in Benaulim in South Goa was a signifier of his fine, aesthetic taste. For many years since he moved to Goa, this was his regular ritual whenever he was in town. For Sudhir Kakar, one of India’s leading psychoanalysts, was busy travelling across continents, writing residencies, and being felicitated both in India and abroad.

I knew Sudhir Kakar even before I met him. While doing my Phd on the androgynous manifestations of Shiva as Ardhanarisvara, I referred to his groundbreaking work, “Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality” (1990). Kakar was the first Indian psychoanalyst to pioneer the taboo subject of sexuality more than three decades ago. It was Kakar who delved into the history and cultural attitudes towards sexuality in Indian society. It was Kakar who, to a large extent, pioneered the influence of religion, social norms, and colonial legacies on intimate relationships and sexual expression in India.

Another important text I referred to was “The Inner World: A Psychoanalytic Study of Childhood and Society in India”. This work challenged traditional Western psychoanalytic perspectives and provided a unique lens into understanding the Indian psyche.

A Phd in Economics from the University of Vienna, many publications of his got prestigious awards and honours. But there was a particular segment of his work where we shared a common ground. And that was the Kamasutra, gender, and sexuality.

A towering presence in the world of psychoanalysis, he had his fair share of critics too. But with more than 20 non-fiction books and more than 10 in the genre of fiction, Kakar consistently held his own, and even won Goethe Medal and the order of merit, the highest award from Germany.

Of his works, The Crimson Throne and The Devil Take Love are my favourites, while Young Tagore: The Making of a Genius shed a new light on Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.

Over the years I started getting more familiar with him on a personal level because of his much younger wife Katharina Kakar, who had a Phd in Comparative religion but was an extremely talented artist.

My most recent meeting was with him and his wife in their house in Benaulim in the second week of February. I was aghast to see that Kakar – a man with a powerful frame, broad forehead and shock of thick curly hair who usually wore long kurtas over well-fitting churidars – seemed a shadow of himself.

His face was sharply chiseled and rather gaunt, though the sharpness of his features and his shock of curly hair made him look like a Roman patrician. He had become a couple of shades darker, and his kurta hung over his thin frame like a sack. Yet, he was calm, conducted a lively conversation, talking about the important set of manuscripts he was working upon. There was no trace of melancholy surrounding him, but there was no cigar being smoked and no vodka being drunk. He said he would get back after speaking to Wendy Doniger about some suggestions and inputs for my next book, which was also closely related to his work. But the strange thing was that he did not get back, which was so very unusual for someone who always got back and kept his word.

And I can now guess why. He probably got worse and did not have the time.

Kakar was an unusual mind. He thought differently about the ideas of love, longing, desire -- all part of the Kamasutra, a text he and I explored but in different ways. And that’s why when I was curated the exhibition “Kamasutra: The Spiritual and Erotic in Indian Art”, the first person I thought of to contribute to the catalogue was Kakar. In his inimitable style, he wrote a most evocative text titled: “What is the Kamasutra.”

Farewell my friend, I am glad I knew you, glad we had some precious conversations about taboos, sexuality, and the psychology of love. And most importantly, I salute the legacy you leave behind for generations of psychoanalysts, cultural theorists and academics who are looking at culture and society.