Chapter 2.5. On Biting, and the Ways of Love to be Employed with Regard to Women of Different Countries

All the places that can be kissed are also the places that can be bitten, except the upper lip, the interior of the mouth, and the eyes.The qualities of good teeth are as follows: They should be equal, possessed of a pleasing brightness, capable of being coloured, of proper proportions, unbroken, and with sharp ends.The defects of teeth on the other hand are that they are blunt, protruding from the gums, rough, soft, large, and loosely set.

The following are the different kinds of biting:

• The hidden bite.The biting, which is shown only by the excessive redness of the skin that is bitten, is called the ‘hidden bite’.
• The swollen bite. When the skin is pressed down on both sides, it is called the ‘swollen bite’.
• The point. When a small portion of the skin is bitten with two teeth only, it is called the ‘point’.
• The line of points. When such small portions of the skin are bitten with all the teeth, it is called the ‘line of points’.
• The coral and the jewel. The biting, which is done by bringing together the teeth and the lips, is called the ‘coral and the jewel’. The lip is the coral, and the teeth the jewel.
• The line of jewels. When biting is done with all the teeth, it is called the ‘line of jewels’.
• The broken cloud. The biting, which consists of unequal risings in a circle, and which comes from the space between the teeth, is called the ‘broken cloud’. This is impressed on the breasts.
• The biting of the boar. The biting, which consists of many broad rows of marks near to one another, and with red intervals, is called the ‘biting of a boar’. This is impressed on the breasts and the shoulders; and these two last modes of biting are peculiar to persons of intense passion.

The lower lip is the place on which the ‘hidden bite’, the swollen bite’, and the ‘point’ are made; again the ‘swollen bite’ and the ‘coral and the jewel’ bite are done on the cheek. Kissing, pressing with the nails, and biting are the ornaments of the left cheek, and when the word cheek is used it is to be understood as the left cheek.

Both the ‘line of points’ and the ‘line of jewels’ are to be impressed on the throat, the arm pit, and the joints of the thighs; but the ‘line of points’ alone is to be impressed on the forehead and the thighs.

The marking with the nails, and the biting of the following things – an ornament of the forehead, an ear ornament, a bunch of flowers, a betel leaf, or a tamala leaf, which are worn by, or belong to the woman that is beloved – are signs of the desire of enjoyment.

Preferences of women living in different regions

In the affairs of love a man should do such things as are agreeable to the women of different countries.

• The women of the central countries (i.e. between the Ganges and the Jumna) are noble in their character, not accustomed to disgraceful practices, and dislike pressing the nails and biting.
• The women of the Balhika country are gained over by striking.
• The women of Avantika are fond of foul pleasures, and have not good manners.
• The women of the Maharashtra are fond of practising the sixty-four arts, they utter low and harsh words, and like to be spoken to in the same way, and have an impetuous desire of enjoyment.
• The women of Pataliputra (i.e. the modern Patna) are of the same nature as the women of the Maharashtra, but show their likings only in secret.
• The women of the Dravida country, though they are rubbed and pressed about at the time of sexual enjoyment, have a slow fall of semen, that is they are very slow in the act of coition.
• The women of Vanavasi are moderately passionate, they go through every kind of enjoyment, cover their bodies, and abuse those who utter low, mean and harsh words.
• The women of Avanti hate kissing, marking with the nails, and biting, but they have a fondness for various kinds of sexual union.
• The women of Malwa like embracing and kissing, but not wounding, and they are gained over by striking.
• The women of Abhira, and those of the country about the Indus and five rivers (i.e. the Punjab), are gained over by the Auparishtaka or mouth congress.
• The women of Aparatika are full of passion, and make slowly the sound ‘Sit’.
• The women of the Lat country have even more impetuous desire, and also make the sound ‘Sit’.
• The women of the Stri Rajya, and of Koshola (Oude), are full of impetuous desire, their semen falls in large quantities and they are fond of taking medicine to make it do so.
• The women of the Andhra country have tender bodies, they are fond of enjoyment, and have a liking for voluptuous pleasures.
• The women of Ganda have tender bodies, and speak sweetly.

Now Suvarnanabha is of opinion that that which is agreeable to the nature of a particular person, is of more consequence than that which is agreeable to a whole nation, and that therefore the peculiarities of the country should not be observed in such cases. The various pleasures, the dress, and the sports of one country are in time borrowed by another, and in such a case these things must be considered as belonging originally to that country.

Among the things mentioned above, viz. embracing, kissing, etc., those which increase passion should be done first, and those which are only for amusement or variety should be done afterwards.

There are also some verses on this subject as follows:

‘When a man bites a woman forcibly, she should angrily do the same to him with double force. Thus a “point” should be returned with a “line of points”, and a “line of points” with a “broken cloud”, and if she be excessively chafed, she should at once begin a love quarrel with him. At such a time she should take hold of her lover by the hair, and bend his head down, and kiss his lower lip, and then, being intoxicated with love, she should shut her eyes and bite him in various places. Even by day, and in a place of public resort, when her lover shows her any mark that she may have inflicted on his body, she should smile at the sight of it, and turning her face as if she were going to chide him, she should show him with an angry look the marks on her own body that have been made by him. Thus if men and women act according to each other’s liking, their love for each other will not be lessened even in one hundred years.’