Cathartic Kiss

One of history's famous kisses

That’s one of history’s famous kisses. Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1945 “LIFE” magazine photograph of a sailor stamping a passionate kiss on a nurse (Edith Shain). Well, if kissing is universal, then someone must have invented it, or rather discovered it. Vaughn Bryant, an anthropologist at Texas A&M, has traced the first recorded kiss back to India, somewhere around 1500 B.C. When early Vedic scriptures start to mention people “sniffing” with their mouths, and later texts describe lovers “setting mouth to mouth.” From there, he hypothesizes, the kiss spread westward when Alexander the Great conquered the Punjab in 326 B.C. [Kissing: nature’s cure-all, for most]

First the Kama Sutra and now kissing. Impressive! Were Indians really big on romance? Are we still? Ok, hold it, one billion is not the answer! Speaking of which, any guesses on the second most favored activity by 100 million Indians in 2007? Job Hunting! Good day 🙂

Show Comments