Page:The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana.djvu/72

44 Middling nails, which contain the properties of both the above kinds, belong to the people of the Maharashtra.

(1) When a person presses the chin, the breasts, the lower lip, or the jaghana of another so softly that no scratch or mark is left, but only the hair on the body becomes erect from the touch of the nails, and the nails themselves make a sound, it is called a "sounding or pressing with the nails."

This pressing is used in the case of a young girl when her lover shampoos her, scratches her head, and wants to trouble or frighten her.

(2) The curved mark with the nails, which is impressed on the neck and the breasts is called the "half moon."

(3) When the half moons are impressed opposite to each other, it is called a "circle." This mark with the nails is generally made on the navel, the small cavities about the buttocks, and on the joints of the thigh.

(4) A mark in the form of a small line, and which can be made on any part of the body, is called a "line."

(5) This same line, when it is curved, and made on the breast, is called a "tiger's nail."

(6) When a curved mark is made on the breast by means of the five nails, it is called a "peacock's foot." This mark is made with the object of being praised, for it requires a great deal of skill to make it properly.

(7) When five marks with the nails are made close to one another near the nipple of the breast, it is called "the jump of a hare."

(8) A mark made on the breast or on the hips in the form of a leaf of the blue lotus, is called the "leaf of a blue lotus."

When a person is going on a journey, and makes a mark on the thighs, or on the breast, it is called a "token of remembrance." On such an occasion three or four lines are impressed close to one another with the nails.

Here ends the marking with the nails. Marks of other kinds than the above may also be made with the nails, for the ancient authors say, that as there are innumerable degrees of skill among men (the practice of this art being known to all), so there are innumerable ways of making these marks. And as pressing or marking with the nails is dependent on love, no one can say with certainty how many different kinds of marks with the nails do actually exist. The reason of this is, Vatsyayana says, that as variety is necessary in love, so