Studies in Indian Art c12.s13.63

c12.s13.63

KĀMADEVA. A beautiful terra-cotta (2452) of about the first century A.D. shows the god Kāmadeva standing in a flowery field with a sheaf of arrows in the right hand and a long sugar-cane bow (ikshu-dhanus) in the left hand. He is standing upon the chest of a young man who is in a supplicating attitude. I am indebted to Dr. Johnston (letter dated Oxford, 8th Dec. 1936) for identifying the scene with an old legend about Kāmadeva in which the leading persons are the fisherman Sūrpaka and the princess Kumudvatī. The details are uncertain, but apparently Kumudvatī fell in love with Sūrpaka, who did not return her love, till he was conquered by Kāmadeva. Aśvaghośa refers to the legend in his kāvyas, viz. Buddhacharita, XIII, 11 and Saundarānanda, VIII, 44, which as may be inferred must have been very popular in his days.