Handshakes or not

One may recall that Virat Kohli’s refusal to shake hands with Sourav Ganguly during the 2023 IPL or Mary Kom’s refusal to shake Nikhat Zareen’s hand in 2019 created considerable noise.

- ATANU BISWAS

Refusing to shake hands in public by top sportspersons — not for Covid-like precautions, but for other reasons — isa big statement and can cause alot of social uproar. Incidentally, such events are becoming more commonplace worldwide, though the reasons vary.

“An agreement can be expressed quickly and clearly in words but is only made effective by a ritual gesture: Open, weaponless hands stretched out toward one another, grasping each other in a mutual handshake,” historian Walter Bur-kert explained. The gesture’s original meaning was perhaps to express peaceful intentions. It also served as asign of good faith while takingan oath or making a pledge.

Aninth-century BC relief depicting the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III establishing an alliance with a Babylonian monarch is one of the oldest examples of a handshake. Handshakes are mentioned in Homer’s epics, mostly in reference to promises and expressions of confidence. In contrast, the handshake was asign of loyalty and friendship inancient Rome.