World Kiss Day: Kinds of Kisses that Kamasutra Gave the World

Way before the French kiss came into being, India gifted the world the art of ‘chumban’, aka kissing.

It is a common misconception that Indians don’t enjoy kissing. But allow us to tell you about the numerous kissing styles that are in the Kamasutra, the holy grail of erotica that India gifted the world. (Warning: Some of these are bizarre!)

Have you ever heard of terms like Triyak, Samputak and Sakrantak? No, those aren’t obscure geometry terms... they’re different kinds of kisses, Kamasutra style.

You’ve heard of the flying kiss, butterfly kiss and French kiss? That’s nothing. There’s actually an entire chapter of on the ‘ways of kissing’ in the Kamasutra.

Also Read: World Kiss Day: Hey World, Indians Discovered Kissing!

According to the Kamasutra, a young woman can give three types of kisses: the measured, the throbbing, and the brushing kiss. Vatsyayana, the genius author, has given quite a nuanced description.

Let’s say you’re upset with your partner. Any kisses that you hand out in such a state of mind will fall under the ‘measured’ kiss category – which means when the woman is “forcibly made to offer her mouth but does not move”.

The next one, you’ve probably tried but you little did you know that the Kamasutra prescribed it 2,000 years ago. It is the ‘throbbing’ kiss. This is when a woman is “slightly bashful” and wants to grasp the man’s lip, inserted in her mouth, and she twitches her lower lip but is unable to twitch her upper lip.

And now to the ‘Hindi film style’kiss. The ‘brushing’ kiss! When the woman seizes the man’s lip gently with her eyes shut and covers his eyes with her hands and brushes it with the tip of her tongue.

It doesn’t end there. This explainer is all for spicing up your sex lives too. So if you’re so done with all you learned from those Hollywood movies, here’s a lowdown on some Kamasutra-style fun, or we should say the art of foreplay.

Kissing the upper lip (Uttar chumbitak): If the man seizes the upper lip while the woman is kissing, it’s called kissing the upper lip. Pretty self-explanatory.

The Awakening Kiss (Chalitak Chumban): When the lover comes back late in the night and kisses the woman sleeping on the bed, it’s called the ‘awakening’ kiss. Think Sleeping Beauty.

The Reflection Kiss (Chhaya Chumban): When one kisses the reflection of the lover in the mirror, the water or the wall. Is that a thing?

The Transferred Kiss (Sankrantak Chumban): There’s also a transferred kiss where you kiss a painting or a statue. In the hope the spirit of the kiss will make it to your intended? We can only guess.

The Inviting Kiss (Nimittak Chumban): When a woman in an attempt to “entice” the lover, rests her face on his thighs “as if she were reluctant because she is sleepy”, and then kisses him, it’s called the ‘inviting’ kiss.

The Stirring Kiss: This is when the woman kisses the man while he is inattentive, quarrelling or sleepy to “inflame his passion”.

The Enveloping Kiss: If the person uses one’s own lips as a “pincer to seize both the lips of the other,” it’s called an ‘enveloping’ kiss. This one doesn’t sound so pleasant.

We are sure these methods are going to give you lots of ideas and they should, because it is World Kiss Day, and you should go and enjoy it.

(This piece was originally published on Quint Hindi and has been translated to English by Hansa Malhotra. We referred to Lars Martin Fosse’s translation of Vatsyayana’s The Kamasutra.)