[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.786 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.786 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.786 - **Language:** English ### [c5.786](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.786) KĀMA, KĀMA-DEVA. The god of love. Eros, Cupid. In the Rig-veda (x. 129) desire is said to have been the first movement that arose in the One after it had come into life through the power of fervour or abstraction. “Desire first arose in It, which was the primal germ of mind; (and which) sages, searching with their intellect, have discovered in their heart to be the bond which connects entity with non-entity.” “It is well known,” observes Dr. Muir, “that Greek mythology connected Eros, the god of love, with the creation of the universe somewhat in the same way.” “This Kāma or desire, not of sexual enjoyment, but of good in general, is celebrated in a curious hymn of the Atharva-veda,” which exalts Kāma into a supreme God and Creator: “Kāma was born the first. Him neither gods, nor fathers, nor men have equalled. Thou art superior to these and for ever great.” In another part of the same Veda Kāma appears to be first desire, then the power which gratifies the desire. Kāma is also in the same Veda often identified with Agni, and when “distinguished from each other, Kāma may be looked upon as a superior form of the other deity.” According to the Taittirīya Brahmana, he is the son of Dharma, the god of justice, by Sraddhā, the goddess of faith; but according to the Hari-vansa he is son of Lakshmī. Another account represents him as springing from the heart of Brahmā. A fourth view is that he was born from water, wherefore he is called Irā-ja, ‘the water-born;’ a fifth is that he is Ātma-bhū, ‘self-existent,’ and therefore he is called, like other of the gods, A-ja, ‘unborn,’ or An-anya-ja, ‘born of no other.’ In the Purānas his wife is Rati or Revā, the goddess of desire He inspired Siva with amorous thoughts of Pārvatī while he was engaged in penitential devotion, and for this offence the angry god reduced him to ashes by fire from his central eye. Siva afterwards relented and allowed Kāma to be born again as Pradyumna, son of Krishna and Rukminī or Māyā, ‘delusion.’ He has a son named Aniruddha, and a daughter, Trishā. He is lord of the Apsarases or heavenly nymphs. He is armed with a bow and arrows : the bow is of sugar-cane, the bowstring a line of bees, and each arrow is tipped with a distinct flower. He is usually represented as a handsome youth riding on a parrot and attended by nymphs, one of whom bears his banner displaying the Makara, or a fish on a red ground. - [Previous: c5.785](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.785) - [Next: c5.787](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.787) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Cites (4) - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg.10.129) — Sanskrit - [Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.taittiriya) — Sanskrit - [Harivaṃśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Atharvavedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.atharva) — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.786](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.786) · Pramāṇa