The Kama Sutra was written by Mallanaga of the clan or sept called Vatsyayana. Mallanaga was a holy man, a seer, and a sage, and in all of the spiritual senses of the word, a tantric. He worshipped the Divine as both feminine and masculine, and lived primarily a religious life.

He wrote the Kama Sutra for the ruling class, which at that time in India's history was the Kshatriya, or Warrior caste. Based on mentions of 1st Century historical figures in the Kama Sutra, and on mentions of the Kama Sutra in early 5th Century works, we know that Mallanaga Vatsyayana wrote the Sutra sometime between the 1st and 4th Centuries A.D.