Kama (3)

Kama in Hindu mythology, is the Indian god of love; verbally the word means "desire." He is the son of heaven and disappointment, and is also called the heart-entering, bodiless, restless god, surnames which are all very significant. Tenderness (Retti) is his wife, and Vassant (blooming-time) his companion, who continually fills his quiver with buds as arrow-points. His favorite residence is at Agra, for there the women are the most beautiful of all portions of India. Kama has a visible form, but because he disturbed Hara, the ruler of creation, in his practices, the latter burned him to ashes by one look, and since then he is called bodiless. He is represented riding on a parrot. His bow is made of sugar-cane. His arrow-points are the rosy. red blooming buds of the amra-tree. The gods sought to induce Siva to a new marriage, and therefore turned to the god of love, under whose influence Siva soon married.