• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Kama

Kama, god of love, takes the place of Cupid among the Hindu deities. He is the personification of desire, and, according to the Hindoo genealogy of the gods, is a son of Maya, the universal attracting power. It is interesting to note that Maya also means illusion, and that ya, or Ada Maya, is one of the names of Vishnu's spouse Lakshmi, who is the personification of attraction and the wife of the preserver. Ada Maya, as mother of all, by her attraction unites all matter, "producing love in animated >nature, and in physics the harmonizing of atoms." There is an allegory of Kama being an avatar or son of Krishna jand Rukmeni, other names of Vishnu and Lakshmi; and this is a further instance of the correspondence of Lakshmi with the Roman Venus, the mother of Cupid.

Kama (love) is married to Reti (affection), the usual attendant of the tender passion. He is represented as a beautiful youth, sometimes in conversation with his mother in the midst of beautiful gardens, sometimes riding by moonlight on a parrot, attended by dancing girls. His banner shows a fish on a red ground, and red is always the color of Kama.

Kamadeva, the Indian Cupid, is generally regarded as the son of Vishnu and Lakshmi, under the forms of Krishna and Rukmini, but he is also described in some places as a son of Brahma. The latter account of his origin arises probably from the following. In the ' Rig-Veda,' Kama is described as the first movement that arose in the One, after it had come into life through the power of fervour or abstraction. In the 'Atharva-Veda,' this Kama or desire, not of sexual enjoyment, but of good in general, is celebrated as a great power superior to all the gods, and is supplicated for deliverance from enemies. According to one hymn in the 'RigVeda,' Kama is worshipped and said to be unequalled by the gods ; according to another, he is the god of sexual love, like the Eros of the Greeks, and Cupid of the Latins. In the latter aspect he is thus addressed: "May Kama, having well directed the arrow, which is winged with pain, barbed with longing, and lias desire for its shaft, pierce thee in the heart." And it is in this character that he appears in the Puranas. Kama is known in Hindu Mythology as the victim of Siva's anger. A demon named Taraka, having greatly distressed the gods, it was said that only a son of Siva could deliver them; but in consequence of his intense grief at the loss of his wife Sati, Siva had become insensible to love. The gods therefore instigated Kama to wound him with his arrows, and at last his efforts proved successful, just as Parvati (Sati in a new form) was near, who at once captivated the stricken deity. Angry with Kama for his presumption, he caused a flame to issu.fe from his third eye, which consumed to ashes the god who had interrupted his devotions. In the 'Vamana Purana' is a lengthy account of the effect of Kama's arrows on Siva. The god thus wounded could find no rest. He threw himself in the Kalindi river, but "the waters were dried up and changed into blackness; and ever since its dark stream, though holy, has flown through the forest like the string that binds a maiden's hair." And as he wandered about from place to place, the wives of the saints in the forest of Daruvanam forsook their homes and followed him. This led their husbands to curse Siva, who, being enraged at the evil Kama had done to him, consumed him.

The Bhagavata continues the story as follows:—Rati, the wife of Rama, being almost mad with grief at the loss of her husband, entreated Parvati to intercede with Siva, that he might restore him to life. Parvati encourages her by showing how her wish will be gratified. "He will be born as the son of Sri Krishna, and his name will be Pradyumna. A demon named Sambara will carry him off and cast him into the sea. Having entered the body of a fish, he will appear in the food of Sambara. Go and take up your abode in the house of Sambara, and when your husband arrives, take him and bring him up; eventually he will slay Sambara, and will live happily with you." Acting on this advice, Rati became a servant in the house of the demon.

From the 'Vishnu Purana ' there is the completion of this story: When Pradyumna was but six days old, he was stolen from the lying-in chamber by Sambara, terrible as death; for the demon knew (having been told by the sage Narada) that Pradyumna, if he lived, would be his destroyer. Sambara cast him into the sea, the haunt of the huge creatures of the deep. A large fish swallowed the child, but he died not, and was born again from his body: for that fish was caught by the fishermen, and delivered by them to the great Asura, Sambara. His wife Mayadevi [the Bhagavata says, servant], the mistress of his household, superintended the operations of the cooks, and, when the fish was cut open, saw a beautiful child.