Star’s tantra position ‘wrong’

Ever since Sting boasted that he could go for ‘‘four or five hours’’ by practising tantric sex, the Indian philosophy has been linked with amorous pop stars. But now the British Museum has given the musician a telling-off for misrepresenting a movement that was meant to be about spiritual fulfilment.

Imma Ramos, curator of a tantra exhibition due to open in April, agreed that there was a sexual element to the philosophy, but insisted that it was nothing like the image projected by Sting, pictured, or festivals in North America.

‘‘It was in the early ’90s that Sting said he performed seven-hour tantric sex sessions,’’ she said. ‘‘That promoted the stereotype [of tantra as a sex manual].

‘‘It’s actually about enlightenment and divine power rather than pleasure.’’

Sting broached the subject during a drunken interview with Q magazine in 1993, saying: ‘‘[Yoga] can take you to higher levels. I’ve started to use it in sex . . . You never lose control. It can go on for five hours.’’ Trudie Styler, his second wife, said in 2011 that the tales had become absurd. ‘‘Suddenly, I was doing it all day long,’’ she said. ‘‘Well, if only.’’ Ramos said the misunderstanding began in the 19th century, when British visitors to India translated tantric texts.

‘‘Some of the passages describe sexual rites, and the British translations interpreted these literally rather than on a philosophical level,’’ she said.

‘‘Tantra is about harnessing desire and embracing all aspects of the body. It’s not about pleasure for its own sake, which is what the Kama Sutra is.’’