KarmaVaani
Vedic tradition
कामदेवKamadeva
Manmatha · Madana · Ananga
The god of love, with a sugarcane bow and flower arrows, burned by Shiva's third eye and reborn without a body.
- Consort
- Rati
- Vahana
- A parrot
- Colour
- Golden
- Arms
- 2
Kamadeva is the god of love and desire, who rides a parrot with his wife Rati and his friend Vasanta, the spring. When the gods needed Shiva to marry Parvati, Kama shot him with a flower arrow during his meditation; Shiva opened his third eye and burned him to ash. Rati's grief won his return, but as Ananga, the bodiless, present everywhere; he was reborn as Pradyumna, son of Krishna. In the south, the burning of Kama is remembered at Holi.
Mantra
ॐ क्लीं कामदेवाय नमः
Om Kleem Kamadevaya Namaha
Salutations to Kamadeva, the god of love.
How Kamadeva is shown
A handsome youth with a sugarcane bow and five flower arrows, riding a parrot, with Rati beside him.
- Sugarcane bow
- The sweetness of desire.
- Bowstring of honeybees
- Love's sting and its sweetness together.
- Five flower arrows
- Lotus, ashoka, mango blossom, jasmine and blue lotus: the five senses.
- Makara banner
- His standard, the creature of the waters of life.
Stories
Burned to ash
The demon Tarakasura could be killed only by a son of Shiva, but Shiva sat lost in meditation after Sati's death. Kama, sent by the gods, loosed a flower arrow at him as Parvati came near. Shiva's third eye opened in fury and Kama fell to ash. Later, moved by Rati, Shiva let love live on without a body, in every heart.
Related forms
कृष्ण
Krishna