There is no particular order in kissing, scratching and biting as they are all manifestations of passion. They are used mainly before sexual union, and striking and moaning during intercourse. According to Vatsyayana all of them can be used at any time as passion knows no order. However, during the first union with a trusting woman, they should be used in slow degrees and not too blatantly. Once her passion is aroused, to further inflame it they can be used more rapidly and sometimes in unison.
(1–3)
The places for kissing are: the forehead, the hair, the cheeks, the eyes, the chest, the breasts, the hips and the inside of the mouth. The people of Lata also kiss on the place where the thigh joins the body, the armpit and the pudendum. But passion and local practice account for these spots, and they are not for everyone, says Vatsyayana.
(4–6)
There are three types of kisses for a virgin girl: the nominal, the throbbing and the brushing kiss. The first is when, forced to kiss the man, she places her mouth on his but stays motionless. A little less shy, when she wants to grasp the lip thrust forward into her mouth but only quivers her lower lip for this without daring to move the upper one, it is the throbbing kiss. In the brushing kiss, she shuts her eyes and covers his with her hands as she holds his lips gently between her own and brushes them with the tip of her tongue.
(7–10)
There are four other kisses: from the front, from the side, from the back and the hard kiss. A fifth one consists of bunching the other’s lips with one’s fingers into a ball and kissing them hard without using the teeth. This is the pressing kiss.
(11–12)
One can wager on kisses. Whichever of the partners first gets to the other’s lower lip wins. If the woman loses, she sobs and flings out her hand, pushes the man off, bites him and turns her face away. If forced back, she starts arguing and demands another wager. And if she loses once more, she fusses twice as much again. If the man becomes too credulous or careless, she gets to his lower lip and catches it between her teeth so that it cannot be extricated. Then she laughs and shouts, taunts him, swaggers and exults, arches her brows and rolls her eyes, saying whatever she may please. This is the kissing wager and quarrel.
(13–16)
It is the same with mock-quarrels about scratching, biting and striking. But they are only for couples with sexual urges of similar intensity.
(17–18)
If she is kissing his lower lip, he can grasp her upper one. This is the upper lip kiss.
(19)
Or he may kiss both her lips, pinching them together with his own. This is the clasping kiss. It can also be given by women to men whose whiskers have yet to sprout. In its course the tongue can be rubbed over the other’s teeth, palate and tongue. This is the battle of the tongues, which may also be forcefully grasped by or thrust into the other’s mouth between the teeth.
(20–22)
On other parts of the body, the kiss may be hard or gentle, with lips kept straight or pouted, depending on the spot. Such are the special kisses.
(23)
When she gazes at the sleeping man’s mouth and kisses it on her own, it is called the kiss that kindles passion.
(24)
When he is inattentive or argumentative, looking at something else or dozing with his face turned away, the kiss to wake him up is known as the turn-on kiss.
(25)
When he comes in late at night, she is asleep in bed and he kisses her on his own, it is the awakening kiss. Of course, she may only be pretending to sleep because she knows her lover has arrived and wants to gauge his mood.
(26–27)
Kissing the other’s shadow or reflection in a mirror, on a wall or in water is also a way of making one’s feelings known. So too the transferred kiss or embrace given to a child, a picture or a statue.
(28–29)
At night, during a performance or a family gathering, the man may get close to the woman and kiss her fingers or sit down and kiss her toes. Or, while massaging the man, she may signal to him by resting her head on his thighs as if she has no wish but to sleep, and then kiss them. Thus are advances made.
(30–31)
There is a verse that sums up all of this:
Do what is done to you,
hit back if you are hit;
and, in the same way,
if you are kissed, kiss back.
(32)