Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.585

c4.585

In the realm of God, preliminary steps were being taken for making Śrī Parameśvara wed Pārvatī. According to the instructions of Devendra, Kāmadeva (the Lord of Love—Cupid) was trying to break the meditation of Śiva and when Śiva opened his third eye, fire emitted from it and Anaṅga (Kāmadeva) was burned to ashes. It was in the country of Aṅga that the ashes of the ‘aṅga’ (Body) of Kāmadeva fell and from that day onwards the country came to be called Aṅga and Kāmadeva, ‘Anaṅga’ (without body). (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bālakāṇḍa, Sarga 26).