Apart from the Vedas, which may have been written anywhere from c. 1500 to c. 600 B.C.E., Song of Songs is the single oldest extant document from the ancient world to mention the act of kissing. Moreover, it is the most ancient extant document to mention kissing in the conventional, erotic sense of the term as it is understood today. While the Vedas do mention what has been styled as kissing, Professor E. Hopkins demonstrates in The Sniff-kiss in Ancient India that the Vedas do not refer to kissing between couples according to modern usage of the term, but rather as "sniffing" or "licking". [1] This makes Song of Songs unique among ancient texts not only in that it describes kissing in terms of Eros, but also with Tantric symbols and continuities. If it is the case that Song of Songs was originally composed during the united kingdom of Israel (sometime around 1000 B.C.E.), then it represents the single oldest source text of the ancient world with reference to erotic kissing in Tantric terminology.
The Kiss as First Tantric Movement
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine” (Sol. 1:2). Kissing is the first, and perhaps most important, Tantric movement within Song of Songs. The romantic kiss is a very old expression of human sexuality. It is clear that the beloved is referring to romantic or erotic love by the words “for thy love is better than wine” (Sol. 1:2) The word translated in the common version as “love” is the Hebrew word “dodeicha”. This word is in the plural form and may well be translated as “loves”. The word is stronger than the commonly used Hebrew word for love (aheb), such as in Sol. 3:1, and emphatically denotes erotic love.
For millenia, lovers have engaged in the kiss as part of the language of love. However, the Tantrik may inquire as to the inner meanings of the kiss. If the kiss is the voice of silence, what is the message of that voice? The mouth is the human orifice that manifests the spoken word. The kiss, then, may be viewed as that preeminent motion of reasoned intent and will toward the object of one's love and desire. The mouth and lips pertain to the head, the mind, and the intellect. The kiss may communicate the silent word of the mind that signals and symbolizes one's amorous will toward the erotic partner.
Song of Songs does not delineate and define all of the various sorts of kisses into a list as done in Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra (c. 400-500 B.C.E.). Furthermore, Kama Sutra is not specifically considered a work of Tantra, as it mostly involves descriptions of actions and postures without the spinnings of Tantric continuity through various symbols and on the various planes. However, inasmuch as “kisses” is in the plural (cf., Sol. 1:2), the reader may interpret this to be a statement of every sort of kiss that is possible. The various kisses are not delineated, but rather assumed. In Song of Songs, most often only the archetype is given and the rest is left to the imagination of the reader. This may be mostly due to erotic love being seen by the Hebrews as a process of experiential Gnosis of expression between husband and wife rather than a set of instructions to be robotically re-enacted. For example, the first sexual act within the Biblical narratives reads, “And Adam knew Eve his wife […]” (Gen. 1:4).
Kissing as Wine of the Lips
The Tantric Kiss may be seen as an introduction and an invitation to love. Envisioned in terms of drinking red wine, the motions of the Tantric Kiss are correspondent. The Kiss is to be savored and slowly sipped just as fine wine is savored and sipped. In that the beloved is attributed the words “let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth”, the reader may see a yearning in the heart of the beloved for the act of kissing to continue indefinitely, as an act to be relished in its own right. Kissing then holds continuity with the slow sipping and tasting of wine. It is also quite possible that drinking wine is seen as an act done concurrently with kissing in Song of Songs.
Keil and Delitzsch cite Bittcher and Hitzig's rendering "let him give me to drink.” [2] Kissing seen in terms of drinking from the lips has parallels in the ancient Eastern world. Hopkins writes, "At a late date the Hindu poets refer to kissing of the lips as the drinking of honey. Thus the king in the sixth act of the drama of Sakuntala, at a time when real kisses were given, says to a bee: 'O bee, if thou touchest (kissest) the dear one's lip once drunk in feasts of love by me,' and at a still later date 'lip-drinking' is a poetical paraphrase for kissing.” [3]
The Kiss as Tantra of Betrothal and Communion
The romantic kiss between man and woman in Song of Songs might be seen as a betrothal symbol. Equally, the cup of wine that are traditionally drunk during Hebraic betrothal seem to symbolize the intoxicating and ecstatic nature of the union of the kiss between two lovers. The Mishnah mentions the cup of wine in the context of betrothal that a common betrothal proposal from a man to a woman in ancient Jewish culture was “Be thou betrothed unto me with this cup of wine” (Mish. Kedushin 2.2).
Furthermore, higher Tantric continuities of the communion and union of kissing in Kabbalistic terms may be seen in the verse of the Psalm, which reads, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps. 85:10). In this verse, it is exhibited that certain ideas and concepts are naturally attracted to one other just as lovers are attracted to one other. An implication of this is that the kiss of lovers should be a statement of truth and passionate intent toward the other. Kissing is to be an honest statement and manifestation of burning passion and love. When kissing is done in the true will of passion and love, it is agreeable to its own nature. If kissing is done with deceit, then it is not done with the Tantric continuity that is inherent within the act of romantic kissing as understood in the Biblical text.
There is much more that may be written concerning the kiss and kissing as a romantic phenomenon, but the above should provide the reader with an introduction to the basic concepts and Tantric connotations of the Kiss within Song of Songs and the general Biblical text. Two good works for further reading on the history of kissing in general are The Curiosities of Kissing by William Conant Church and The Kiss and its History by Kristoffer Nyrop.
Click to King Solomon's Sex Secrets, Part 1 | Part 2
References
[1] Hopkins, E. Washburn, Charles C. Torrey, “The Sniff-Kiss in Ancient India,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 28 (1907): 128.
[2] Keil, C.F., and Franz Delitzsh, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Song of Solomon (Canticles) Chapter 1 (1857-78)
[3] Hopkins, E. Washburn, Charles C. Torrey, “The Sniff-Kiss in Ancient India,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 28 (1907): 130.
Michael Swift - The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. - Ecc. 12:11
