Kamadeva | |
---|---|
God of Love, Desire, Pleasure and Beauty | |
Other names | Manmatha, Madana, Ananga |
Devanagari | कामदेव |
Sanskrit transliteration | Kāmadeva |
Affiliation | Deva |
Abode | Kamaloka |
Mantra | [काम (kāma)] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help)[1] |
Weapon | Sugarcane bow and floral arrows |
Symbol | Makara |
Mount | Parrot |
Texts | Atharvaveda, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Harivamsha, Puranas |
Gender | Male |
Genealogy | |
Parents | Brahma (father)[a] |
Consort | Rati[b] |
Children | Harsha and Yasha (sons) |
Equivalents | |
Greek | Eros[6] |
Roman | Cupid[5] |
Kama (Sanskrit: कामदेव, IAST: Kāmadeva), also known as Kamadeva and Manmatha, is the Hindu god of erotic love, desire, pleasure and beauty. He is depicted as a handsome young man decked with ornaments and flowers, armed with a bow of sugarcane and shooting arrows of flowers. He often portrayed alongside his consort and female counterpart, Rati.[7]
The Atharva Veda regards Kamadeva as the wielder of the creative power of the universe, also describing him to have been "born at first, him neither the gods nor the fathers ever equaled".[8] Mentioned as a manasaputra (mind-born son) of the creator god Brahma in the Puranas, Kamadeva's most popular myth is his incineration by Shiva's third eye while the latter was meditating, and later embodied on earth as the eldest son of Krishna and his chief consort Rukmini, Pradyumna.[9]
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