Passion Builders — 6 Striking & Biting Techniques (22–27)
The Kamasutra gave striking and biting their own chapters — prahanana and dashana. Here they are, with the consent framework the original takes for granted.
Why the Kamasutra Catalogued Striking and Biting
Two of Vatsyayana's chapters surprise most first-time readers: prahanana, on striking during intimacy, and dashana, on biting. Both are catalogued with the same care as the positions — classified by force, by target area, by the marks they leave. That the classical Indian tradition treated these as legitimate techniques, roughly seventeen centuries before the modern vocabulary existed, is genuinely notable.
What the text reads into them is worth keeping: these are communication. Vatsyayana describes striking and biting as signals of engagement exchanged between partners, not as one person acting on another. The exchange is the content.
What the text assumes rather than states is the consent framework — and that gap is the one we fill below, technique by technique.
Before Anything in This Chapter
Agree beforehand — outside the bedroom, not mid-encounter. Set a stop word that isn't "no" or "stop", since those can be part of play. Know the no-go areas — never face, throat, neck, spine, kidneys or joints; fleshy areas only. Start far lighter than feels meaningful and increase only on explicit encouragement. Never break skin.
The Six Techniques
The Kamasutra devotes a full chapter to prahanana — striking during intimacy — and it opens with the lightest form: the back-handed tap a partner gives when arousal builds, typically to the chest. Vatsyayana's framing is what matters here: he reads it as communication, a signal that she is engaged and wants things to continue, rather than aggression. Modern practice adds what the text assumes: agree beforehand that this kind of play is welcome, and settle on a word that stops everything instantly.
✨ Divine moment: The text reads this as a signal, not aggression.
🌙 Pure nirvana: Agree the stop word before, not during.
📖 See the full BDSM scenario guide →
She sits with her back to him; he holds her from behind and traces curved fingers along the neck, chest and stomach. Despite sitting in the striking chapter, this is the gentlest technique in it — the contracted fingers produce a light, trailing contact rather than any impact. Light touch of exactly this kind activates skin receptors more intensely than firm pressure, which is why the barely-there version so often outperforms the emphatic one. The neckline is the highest-yield area.
✨ Divine moment: Barely-there beats firm, every time.
🌙 Pure nirvana: The neckline responds first.
📖 Read the Embraces guide (Kamasutra) →
A playful closed-hand tap to the chest or abdomen — and the Kamasutra treats the exchange that follows as the real content: the strike invites a response, the response invites another. The text describes it as a game with rules both partners understand. Two practical boundaries the original leaves implicit: never the face, throat or kidneys, and any technique in this chapter belongs in a conversation had beforehand rather than a surprise sprung mid-encounter.
✨ Divine moment: It's an exchange, not a one-way action.
🌙 Pure nirvana: Never the face, throat or kidneys.
📖 Browse role play costumes guide →
Both partners kneel facing each other, and open-handed contact is exchanged across the shoulders and chest. The open palm is the important detail — it spreads force across a wide area, producing sound and sensation without the concentrated impact a closed hand delivers, which is precisely why the classical text distinguishes the two. Reciprocity is built into the arrangement. The fleshy areas of shoulders, thighs and buttocks are appropriate; bone and joints are not.
✨ Divine moment: An open palm spreads what a fist concentrates.
🌙 Pure nirvana: Flesh, never bone or joints.
📖 Read the Love & Intimacy Dictionary →
The Kamasutra's dashana chapter catalogues biting as carefully as it catalogues positions, and the Bite of the Boar describes a row of marks along the shoulder or upper chest. Vatsyayana treats such marks as tokens — deliberate, mutual, and meant to be remembered. The modern additions are practical: agree in advance where marks are acceptable, since visible ones on the neck create real awkwardness at work, and never break skin — bites that draw blood carry genuine infection risk from oral bacteria.
✨ Divine moment: The text treats marks as tokens, agreed in advance.
🌙 Pure nirvana: Never break skin — that's the one hard line.
📖 See the Tao positions guide →
The chapter closes with its gentlest entry: slow circular attention to the breasts, building from broad contact to focused. Pace is the whole technique — the classical text describes building gradually rather than beginning at intensity, and modern sexology agrees that breast and nipple stimulation responds far better to escalation than to immediate pressure. Worth knowing: sensitivity varies substantially across the menstrual cycle, so what works one week may need adjusting the next.
✨ Divine moment: Build gradually — never start at intensity.
🌙 Pure nirvana: Sensitivity changes across the month.
📖 Read the Afterplay guide (361–365) →
⭐ The Six at a Glance
| # | Technique | Chapter | Level | Pair With |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Back Hand Strike | Prahanana | Beginner Friendly | Spanking Paddles → |
| 23 | Striking with the Fingers Contracted | Prahanana | All Couples | Bra and Panty → |
| 24 | Closed Hand Strike | Prahanana | Intermediate | Surrender Handcuffs Red → |
| 25 | Open Hand Strike | Prahanana | Intermediate | Tickler Paddle & Floggers → |
| 26 | The Bite of the Boar | Dashana | Advanced | Scar Treatment → |
| 27 | The Broken Cloud | Breast Focus | All Couples | Breast Care → |
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Explore More Guides
This chapter connects to several others across the Condombazaar blog — from the classical catalogues to practical modern guides:
Kamasutra Positions Part 1 · Ananga Ranga Part 1 · The Perfumed Garden · Congress of the Mouth · Massage Foreplay · Quickie Positions · BDSM Blog · How-To Guides · Sexual Health · Sexopedia
Reading These Chapters Today
The value in prahanana and dashana isn't instructional — it's permissive. A foundational text of Indian civilisation says plainly that intensity, marks and physical play belong within ordinary loving intimacy, and catalogues them without embarrassment. Add the modern layer the text lacks — explicit agreement, a stop word, clear no-go areas — and what remains is seventeen centuries of company for couples who thought they were unusual.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are prahanana and dashana in the Kamasutra?
Prahanana is the Sanskrit term for striking during intimacy and dashana for biting — each gets its own chapter in Vatsyayana's text. Both are catalogued as carefully as the positions themselves, classified by force, target area and the marks they leave, which tells you the classical tradition regarded them as legitimate techniques rather than excesses.
Is this the same thing as BDSM?
They overlap but aren't identical. The Kamasutra's striking and biting sit within ordinary lovemaking rather than a structured power exchange — there are no roles, no scenes and no formal negotiation in the text. Modern BDSM adds explicit consent frameworks, safe words and aftercare, which are genuine improvements on what the classical text assumes.
How do I raise this with my partner?
Outside the bedroom and framed as curiosity, not as a request in the moment. Something like: "I read that the Kamasutra has a whole chapter on this — would you ever want to try a gentler version?" Sharing an article makes the conversation about an idea rather than a demand, which most people find far easier to respond to honestly.
Where is it unsafe to strike?
Never the face, throat, neck, spine or kidney area, and never any joint. The fleshy areas — buttocks, thighs, shoulders, upper back — are where impact is safely absorbed. Start far lighter than you think necessary and increase only on explicit encouragement.
How do I avoid visible bite marks?
Agree the acceptable areas before you begin — shoulders, upper chest and back stay hidden under most clothing, while the neck does not. Marks typically fade in one to two weeks; a cold compress on the first day then a warm one after 48 hours speeds this up considerably.
Is delivery from Condombazaar discreet?
Completely. Every order ships in plain, unmarked packaging with sender name CA Gain Healthcare — no product name or brand visible anywhere on the box. Delivering privately across India since 2010.
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