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ur of the Rig Vedas. The followers of Babhravya say on the other hand that this part contains eight subjects, viz. the embrace, kissing, scratching with the nails or fingers, biting, lying down, making various sounds, playing the part of a man, and the Auparishtaka, or mouth congress. Each of these subjects being of eight kinds, and eight multiplied by eight being sixty-four, this part is therefore named 'sixty-four'. But Vatsyayana affirms that as this part contains also the following subjects, viz. striking, crying, the acts of a man during congress, the various kinds of congress, and other subjects, the name 'sixty-four' is given to it only accidentally. As, for instance, we say this tree is 'Saptaparna', or seven-leaved, this offering of rice is 'Panchavarna', or five-coloured, but the tree has not seven leaves, neither has the rice five colours.
However the part sixty-four is now treated of, and the embrace, being the first subject, will now be considered.
Now the embrace which indicates the mutual love of a man and woman who have come together is of four kinds:
Touching
Rubbing
Piercing
Pressing
The action in each case is denoted by the meaning of the word which stands for it.
When a man under some pretext or other goes in front or alongside of a woman and touches her body with his own, it is called the 'touching embrace'.
When a woman in a lonely place bends down, as if to pick up something, and pierces, as it were, a man sitting or standing, with her breasts, and the man in return takes hold of them, it is called a 'piercing embrace'.
The above two kinds of embrace take place only between persons who do not, as yet, speak freely with each other.
When two lovers are walking slowly together, either in the dark, or in a place of public resort, or in a lonely place, and rub their bodies against each other, it is called a 'rubbing embrace'.
When on the above occasion one of them presses the other's body forcibly against a
