The Ananga Ranga — Part 2 (156–182), Mapped
Twenty-seven more positions from Kalyana Malla's manual — grouped into four families, each rated for intensity, closing with six positions where she leads entirely.
Where Part 1 Left Off
Part 1 covers positions 131–155, dominated by seated congress. This second section broadens considerably — and reveals two things about Kalyana Malla worth naming.
First, he writes for real bodies. Cushions under the hips, a block to lean over, a wall for back support: these practical notes recur throughout and remain the most immediately usable advice in the whole manual. A cushion changes an angle at no cost in strength or flexibility.
Second, the catalogue closes with her. The final six positions — 177 through 182 — all hand her complete control, ending with a motion no other position in the book uses. For a text written to keep marriages alive, that placement reads as deliberate.
The Position That Is the Book's Thesis
The Binding Contract (175) exists, in Kalyana Malla's own framing, for emotional bonding rather than physical intensity. Since he wrote the Ananga Ranga specifically to stop married couples drifting apart, that single entry is the argument of the whole book compressed into one posture. Worth reading even if you read nothing else here.
The Kneeling Family
Six deep-contact kneeling arrangements. Kalyana Malla favours the kneeling posture because knee leverage lets him work without arm strain — and because it leaves her free to steer.
She arches back holding his hands for support while stretching her legs behind him; he kneels and holds her hands as the counterweight. The mutual hand-hold is structural here rather than affectionate — it lets her commit to the arch without losing balance. One of the deeper-contact kneeling arrangements in this half of the catalogue.
📖 Read Ananga Ranga Part 1 (131–155) →
Both partners kneel close, then arch backwards onto their hands so both faces point skyward. Kalyana Malla recommends it explicitly for outdoors — a terrace, a hilltop — where the position's namesake view is the point. It isn't built for intensity; movement is limited and both partners are supporting themselves. It's built for laughing and talking while connected.
Both sit facing each other, hands braced behind for support, moving slowly from the groin. The text places it after several earlier sessions — this is what you do when urgency is gone and time isn't. Kalyana Malla recommends it for honeymoons and holidays specifically, when intimacy is the only item on the day's agenda.
Her legs are held wide and pressed close to her body while he kneels with hands braced near her shoulders, using his body weight to hold the fold. Among the most intense arrangements in the Ananga Ranga, and the text associates it with reunion after separation. Depth should be found gradually here rather than assumed at the start.
📖 Explore Perfumed Garden Part 1 →
She folds her legs against his chest while he kneels and holds her thighs. What the text singles out is that she controls the thrust — by adjusting the fold of her legs and pushing slightly back, she sets both depth and rhythm from underneath. That's a meaningful reversal in a posture that looks, superficially, like he's in charge.
📖 Read Perfumed Garden Part 2 →
He kneels and lifts her hips clear of the bed; she folds her legs behind his back and holds his thighs for balance. The lift is what defines it, and the text notes she can adjust her torso continuously to find the contact she wants. A cushion under her lower back makes it sustainable for far longer than arms alone allow.
📖 See the Tao positions guide →
Seated & Supported
Eleven positions built on sitting, blocks, cushions and props. This is the Ananga Ranga's signature territory, including the manual's one non-penetrative entry.
He sits with legs spread; she settles between them and stretches her legs behind his back while he supports her back and she holds his hands. Named for the wheel the two bodies form. The text describes an alternating rhythm — he moves for a while, then she takes over — which makes it one of the more genuinely mutual entries in the catalogue.
He kneels and lifts her torso clear of the ground, holding her hips; she grips his hips with her thighs and raises herself to meet him. Kneeling positions let him use knee leverage rather than arm strength, which is why this family recurs so often in the text. Leaning forward slightly is what produces the clitoral contact the text mentions.
She rests on her shoulders and lifts her hips, holding his hands; he kneels with hands braced near her shoulders. What distinguishes it is that she controls penetration by moving her torso — he provides a fixed frame and she does the adjusting. The text recommends finishing in a simpler posture afterward.
📖 Browse Congress of the Mouth →
He kneels and draws her close; she spreads her legs and places them behind his hips. The face-to-face arrangement is what the text emphasises — despite the depth this posture achieves, both partners can see each other and talk throughout, and his hands stay free for touch elsewhere. That combination is rarer than it sounds.
📖 Read the Passion Builders guide →
She positions herself over a low stool or firm cushion block, stretching back with legs extended; he kneels over the block with one leg on the floor. She embraces his back with her legs. The furniture is the mechanism — a block sets a height no floor position can match, which is the whole reason the text specifies one.
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He sits with knees bent while she lies with folded knees resting on his chest; he pulls her closer by the shoulders and releases in a rhythm. The text suggests sitting near a wall to lean against, which is genuinely useful advice — without back support this tires quickly. Both partners can see each other throughout.
Half kneeling, half stretched: her knees fold together against his chest while he kneels on one leg and extends the other. The text specifies a cushion under her buttocks — the recurring practical note across this whole manual, and the one modern readers should actually act on. Legs crossed means she bears his weight comfortably.
📖 Browse the Love & Intimacy Dictionary →
Her legs lift together and rest across his chest and shoulder while he kneels forward, holding them for grip. Legs together rather than apart narrows the angle considerably — the same mechanism that recurs across all these classical manuals, arrived at independently by each. Associated in the text with reunion after time apart.
📖 See the BDSM scenarios guide →
She points one leg skyward while stretching the other out; he kneels between them, holding the raised leg. The asymmetry opens one side while the extended leg stabilises everything — considerably less flexibility required than the both-legs-raised entries, with a comparable change in angle. She adjusts the raised leg to steer depth.
She lifts her torso into a semi-inverted position with her legs over his shoulders while he kneels upright and holds them. The text is candid that she becomes largely passive here and he takes control — one of the few places the Ananga Ranga, generally attentive to her agency, describes the reverse. Brief holds; the inversion tires quickly.
The catalogue's non-penetrative entry: he reclines on his elbows with legs stretched while she supports herself sideways alongside. The text frames it as a deliberate break from penetrative sex rather than a preliminary — something to do during a film, a conversation, an unhurried afternoon. Kalyana Malla treats variety of kind, not just of posture, as part of his remedy for routine.
📖 Read the Quickie positions guide →
Side by Side
Four side-lying positions the text recommends for early mornings and quiet nights. Kalyana Malla is explicit that these exist for bonding rather than intensity.
He lies on his side alongside her, propped on an elbow, one arm free to hold her while entering from the side. Complete body contact with faces level for kissing throughout. The text recommends it for early morning, when neither partner wants to leave the bed but both want each other — arguably the most practical recommendation in the whole manual.
Both lie facing each other; she supports herself along one side from shoulder to hip and raises her legs in a straight line so he can enter from the side. Foreplay-heavy by design — the text describes kissing and teasing as part of the position rather than preceding it. Another of the manual's early-morning recommendations.
Lying face to face with hips aligned and arms wrapped tight. The Ananga Ranga is unusually direct about this one: it exists for emotional bonding rather than physical intensity, and Kalyana Malla recommends it for couples deepening a commitment. In a manual written to keep marriages alive, this is the thesis position.
A side-by-side cuddling position with full body contact and gentle side-entry movement. The text lists what happens in it — cuddling, talking, dirty talk, laughing, looking at each other — which tells you the physical act is almost incidental. Best late at night or early morning, and specifically for home rather than anywhere adventurous.
She Leads
Six closing positions where she controls everything — including one that moves in circles rather than thrusts, unlike anything else in the catalogue.
She sits cross-legged over him while he lies flat, controlling pace, direction and depth entirely. The cross-legged fold is what distinguishes it from ordinary woman-on-top — it lowers her centre of gravity and lets her sustain the position far longer. The text is clear his role is to be passive and let her work.
She sits over him facing away rather than toward him, moving at her own pace. The changed orientation alters the internal angle noticeably, which is the reason it's catalogued separately. The text notes that because she controls everything, she can find precisely the contact she wants — a point it makes repeatedly about her-led positions.
She lies completely over him: lips to lips, chest to chest, hips to hips. Total body contact with both partners' hands free to roam. The text describes it as intensely romantic and notes it allows continuous talking and kissing throughout — the most conversation-friendly of the woman-on-top family.
He leans back across a block or firm cushion with hands braced behind and knees bent; she stretches between his legs and moves against him, holding his chest for support. She does all the work and sets all the terms. The text suggests saving it for occasions — a birthday, a night she wants to lead entirely.
She lowers herself into a squat over him with knees folded against his stomach, holding his chest for balance while he supports her knees. Squatting demands real thigh strength, so this works in intervals. The name says the rest: the text frames it explicitly as role reversal, with him subduing his instincts to let her lead.
📖 Browse the full Sex Positions series →
The catalogue closes with a motion no other position uses: she sits over him with his knees bent behind her and moves in circles rather than up and down, alternating which hand holds which knee. Circular motion produces continuous contact rather than rhythmic contact — a genuinely different sensation, and a fitting final entry for a manual built on variation.
⭐ The Atlas Table
| # | Position | Intensity | Act | Pairs With |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 156 | Splitting the Sugar Cane | ●●●●○ | Act 1 | Bleu Spiral Toxin Free → |
| 157 | Star Watcher | ●●○○○ | Act 1 | Love Light Glow Condoms → |
| 158 | Symmetrical Congress | ●●○○○ | Act 1 | Love Light Xceptionelle → |
| 159 | The Intoxicating Position | ●●●●● | Act 1 | Bleu Ultra-Thin → |
| 160 | Intact Posture | ●●●●○ | Act 1 | Bleu Dotted → |
| 161 | Placid Embrace | ●●●●○ | Act 1 | Love Light Xtra Super Thin → |
| 162 | Kama's Wheel | ●●●○○ | Act 2 | Love Light Capsules → |
| 163 | The Gaping Position | ●●●●○ | Act 2 | Bleu Spiral Toxin Free → |
| 164 | Two Arms Battering | ●●●○○ | Act 2 | Love Light Glow Condoms → |
| 165 | The Open Yoni | ●●●●○ | Act 2 | Bleu Ultra-Thin → |
| 166 | The Reckless Embrace | ●●●●○ | Act 2 | Love Light Xceptionelle → |
| 167 | The Pull of Passion | ●●●○○ | Act 2 | Bleu Dotted → |
| 168 | The Encircling Position | ●●●○○ | Act 2 | Love Light Xtra Super Thin → |
| 169 | Splitting Position | ●●●●○ | Act 2 | Bleu Spiral Toxin Free → |
| 170 | The Rigid One | ●●●○○ | Act 2 | Love Light Glow Condoms → |
| 171 | Reed in Water | ●●●●○ | Act 2 | Love Light Capsules → |
| 172 | The Hand Maiden | ●○○○○ | Act 2 | Bleu Ultra-Thin → |
| 173 | The Transverse Lute | ●●○○○ | Act 3 | Love Light Xceptionelle → |
| 174 | The Aslant Posture | ●●○○○ | Act 3 | Bleu Dotted → |
| 175 | The Binding Contract | ●●○○○ | Act 3 | Love Light Xtra Super Thin → |
| 176 | The Crab's Embrace | ●●○○○ | Act 3 | Love Light Glow Condoms → |
| 177 | Ascending Position | ●●●○○ | Act 4 | Bleu Spiral Toxin Free → |
| 178 | Internal Enjoyment | ●●●○○ | Act 4 | Love Light Xceptionelle → |
| 179 | The Inverted Embrace | ●●●○○ | Act 4 | Bleu Ultra-Thin → |
| 180 | Embrace of Viddhaka | ●●●●○ | Act 4 | Love Light Capsules → |
| 181 | Orgasmic Role Reversal | ●●●●○ | Act 4 | Bleu Dotted → |
| 182 | The Rotating Embrace | ●●●○○ | Act 4 | Love Light Xtra Super Thin → |
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Ananga Ranga Part 1 · Kamasutra Part 2 · Perfumed Garden Part 2 · The Kiss Atlas · Tao Positions · Congress of the Mouth · All About Condoms · Sexy Lingerie Blog · Bedroom Stories · All Sex Positions
Reading the Second Half
Five hundred years on, the Ananga Ranga's structure still argues its case. Twenty-seven positions that escalate, then soften, then hand the whole thing over to her — with a cushion recommended at nearly every turn. Kalyana Malla's claim was that couples who stop exploring together stop wanting each other, and that this is preventable. The catalogue is his evidence; the closing six positions are his conclusion.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Part 2 differ from Part 1?
Part 1 covers positions 131–155 and is dominated by seated congress. Part 2 continues from 156 to 182 and broadens considerably — six kneeling postures, eleven seated-and-supported, four side-lying, and six where she leads entirely. The final six are the clearest expression of the text's attentiveness to her agency.
Why does the Ananga Ranga keep mentioning cushions and blocks?
Because Kalyana Malla was writing for real bodies rather than ideal ones. Cushions under the hips, a block to lean over, a wall for back support — these notes appear throughout and are the most immediately usable advice in the manual. A cushion changes an angle at no cost in strength or flexibility.
Which position is the text's own thesis?
The Binding Contract (175). Kalyana Malla wrote the Ananga Ranga specifically to keep married couples from drifting apart, and this position exists — in his own framing — for emotional bonding rather than physical intensity. It's the argument of the whole book compressed into one posture.
Are any of these non-penetrative?
One: The Hand Maiden (172). The text presents it as a deliberate break from penetrative sex during a film or a conversation, not as foreplay. That Kalyana Malla treats variety of kind — not just of posture — as part of his remedy for routine is a point worth noticing.
Which are best for a tired evening?
The Transverse Lute (173), The Aslant Posture (174) and The Crab's Embrace (176) — all side-lying, all recommended by the text for early mornings and quiet nights. Symmetrical Congress (158) is the seated equivalent. None require strength, flexibility or setup.
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