The Kama Sutra

Now when the girl begins to show her love by outward signs and motions,

as described in the last chapter, the lover should try to gain her over

entirely by various ways and means, such as the following:--

When engaged with her in any game or sport he should intentionally hold

her hand. He should practise upon her the various kinds of embraces,

such as the touching embrace, and others already described in a

preceeding chapter (Part II. Chapter 2). He should show her a pair of

human beings cut out of the leaf of a tree, and such like things, at

intervals. When engaged in water sports, he should dive at a distance

from her, and come up close to her. He should show an increased liking

for the new foliage of trees and such like things. He should describe to

her the pangs he suffers on her account. He should relate to her the

beautiful dream that he has had with reference to other women. At

parties and assemblies of his caste he should sit near her, and touch

her under some pretence or other, and having placed his foot upon her's,

he should slowly touch each of her toes, and press the ends of the

nails; if successful in this, he should get hold of her foot with his

hand and repeat the same thing. He should also press a finger of her

hand between his toes when she happens to be washing his feet; and

whenever he gives anything to her or takes anything from her, he should

show her by his manner and look how much he loves her.

He should sprinkle upon her the water brought for rinsing his mouth; and

when alone with her in a lonely place, or in darkness, he should make

love to her, and tell her the true state of his mind without distressing

her in any way.

Whenever he sits with her on the same seat or bed he should say to her,

"I have something to tell you in private," and then, when she comes to

hear it in a quiet place, he should express his love to her more by

manner and signs than by words. When he comes to know the state of her

feelings towards him he should pretend to be ill, and should make her

come to his house to speak to him. There he should intentionally hold

her hand and place it on his eyes and forehead, and under the pretence

of preparing some medicine for him he should ask her to do work for his

sake in the following words: "This work must be done by you, and by

nobody else." When she wants to go away he should let her go, with an

earnest request to come and see him again. This device of illness should

be continued for three days and three nights. After this, when she

begins coming to see him frequently, he should carry on long

conversations with her, for, says Ghotakamukha, "though a man loves a

girl ever so much, he never succeeds in winning her without a great deal

of talking." At last, when the man finds the girl completely gained

over, he may then begin to enjoy her. As for the saying that women grow

less timid than usual during the evening, and in darkness, and are

desirous of congress at those times, and do not oppose men then and

should only be enjoyed at these hours, it is a matter of talk only.