Kama is a minor deity who is the personification of the word kama ("desire").
Kama is akin to the Greek god Eros in that he is in charge
of sparking human sexual attraction and sensuous desire.
Kama is shown as a young guy astride a parrot and wielding a
bow and arrows.
His five arrows are five different flowers, each bringing a
different emotional effect to the person it pierces.
The bow is a stalk of sugar cane, the bowstring a line of
buzzing bees, and his five arrows are five different flowers, each bringing a
different emotional effect to the person it pierces.
Lotus, infatuation; ashoka, intoxication (with love); mango,
tiredness; jasmine, pining; blue lotus, paralysis are the five flowers and
feelings.
The spring season (personified as another minor deity,
Vasant) is seen as Kama's friend and ally in awakening desire through the
regeneration of the natural world and the showy display of spring blossoms, and
the spring season (personified as another minor deity, Vasant) is perceived as
Kama's friend and ally in awakening desire through the regeneration of the
natural world and the showy display of spring blossoms.
The most famous tale in Kama's mythology starts with the
rise to power of Taraka, a demon that can only be defeated by a Shiva son.
Shiva has no sons and is in profound meditation, lamenting
the loss of his wife Sati, therefore Taraka seems hard to overcome.
The other gods implore Kama to strike Shiva with a desire
arrow so that he might marry Parvati and have a son.
Shiva is approached by Kama, who shoots him with an arrow.
When Shiva discovers who has interrupted his meditation, he
fires a jet of fire from his third eye in the centre of his forehead,
instantaneously consuming Kama.
Kama is eventually brought back to life by Shiva's mercy.
Because to the loss of his body, one of Kama's epithets or
other titles is Ananga, which means "bodiless" (and the fact that
desire seems to strike in unseen ways).
Despite being destroyed by Shiva and seeming to be defeated,
Kama succeeds in achieving his aim.
His effort to rouse Shiva from his medita tion is
successful, and Shiva marries Parvati.
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Siva, 1981, has further
information on Shiva and Kama's relationship.
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