Story of Kamadeva:
Kama who is also known as Manmatha and Kamadeva is the Hindu god of desire, erotic love, beauty, and pleasure. He is depicted as a handsome young man wearing flowers and ornaments, armed with a sugarcane bow and shooting arrows of flowers. He is often portrayed with his female counterpart, Rati, and his consort. The Atharva Veda defines Kamadeva as the wielder of the creative power of the universe, and also describes him to have been “born at first’ him neither the gods nor the fathers ever equaled”. Kamadeva is mentioned as manasputra which means that he is the mid-born son of creator god Brahma ji in Puranas. One of the most popular myths about Kamadeva is that Shiva’s third eye incinerated him while he was meditating, and then later embodied on earth as the eldest son of Krishna and his chief consort Rukmini, Pradyumna.
Worship and Beliefs:
The deity of Kamadeva with his consort Rati is included in the pantheon of Vedic-brahmanical deities such as Parvati and Shiva. In the Hindu marriage traditions, the brides' feet are often painted with pictures of Suka, the parrot vahana of Kamadeva.
The religious rituals related to him meant offering purification and re-entry to the community. Having devotion towards Kamadeva means keeping the desires within the religious boundaries and traditions. Kamadeva appears in multiple stories and becomes the object of devotional activities for those people who are seeking physical beauty, health, sons, husbands, and wives. In one of the stories, Kamadeva himself submerges into desire, and then he must worship his lover to get released from the curse and its passion.
Legend Stories:
The story related to the birth of Kamadeva has multiple variations in different scriptures of the Hindu religion. In the Taittiriya Brahmana and the epic tale of Mahabharata, the Kamadeva is mentioned as a son of Dharma (the god of righteousness), and a prajapati who is an agent of creation. Kamadeva’s mother is mentioned as Dharma’s wife Shraddha in the Taittriya Brahmana, whereas the appendix of Mahabharata, Harivamsa states that his mother is Lakshmi, Dharma’s other wife.
As per Puranic scriptures including Shiva Purana, Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Matsya Purana, and Kalika Purana, Kamadeva is mentioned as one of the midborn sons of the God Brahma. In the common narrative, after Brahma creates all the agents of creation (called Prajapatis) and a maiden named Sandhya, an extremely youthful and handsome man emerges from his mind and enquires with God Brahma about the purpose of his birth. Then God Brahma named him Kama and ordered him to spread love in the world by shooting arrows of flowers. Kama decided to first use the arrows against God Brahma and then shoot him with floral arrows. He got attracted to Sandhya and desired for her. The Prajapati Dharma became worried after this and called God Shiva, who watched them and laughed at both Kama and Brahma. God Brahma regained consciousness and cursed Kama to get burnt to ashes by Lord Shiva in the future. But after Kama’s pleading, God Brahma assured him that he would take rebirth. There is a later version of the myth found in the Skanda Purana in which Lord Brahma created Kama from his mind to trigger passion in the agents of creation (Prajapatis) after they were refused to procreate.
In some other traditions, Kama is considered the son of the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, and Vishnu Ji (preserver God) due to his birth as Pradyumna to Krishna and Rukmini, the incarnations of Vishnu and Lakshmi respectively. According to Matsya Purana, Kamadeva and Vishnu-Krishna have a historical relationship.
Family Related Stories:
Both the Puranas and the epics attest to the fact that Goddess Rati is the consort and assistant of Kamadeva. She represents sensual pleasure as his female counterpart. According to the Shiva Purana, and Kalika Purana, she emerged from a drop of sweat of Prajapati Daksha who was assigned by God Brahma to present a wife in front of Kamadeva. The Shiva Purana also mentioned that Kama was pierced by his love arrows himself when he saw Rati.
The Brahmavaivarta Purana gave Rati a new origin, as per which Sandhya died after Brahma desired her but got revived as Rati by Vishnu ji who presented Rati to Kamadeva. Priti (affection) is mentioned as the second spouse of Kamadeva in the Skanda Purana, whereas in other texts, Priti is just Rati’s epithet.
In many of the scriptures, Rati and Kama have 2 children namely Yashas and Harsha. The Vishnu Purana mentions that they only have one son- Harsha. Besides Rati, the main assistant of Kama is Vasanta (the god of spring season) who was created by Brahma. Kama is served by a group of violent ganas known as the Maras. Kama also leads the apsaras, celestial nymphs, and they are often sent by God Indra (the king of heaven) to disturb the peace of sages to prevent them from achieving great powers.
Incarnations:
According to Garuda Purana, Samba, and Pradyumana, the sons of Krishna, Skanda (Shiva’s son), Sanat Kumara (Brahma’s son) Sudarshana (presiding deity of Sudarshan Chakra), and Skanda (Shiva’s son) are all considered the incarnations of Kama. The myth related to Kamadeva’s incarnations is referenced in the Bhagavata Purana and Matsya Purana to reveal the relationship between Kamadeva and Krishna. In this narrative, Kamadeva is reincarnated in Krishna’s wife's womb Rukmini as Pradyumana, after being burned to ashes by Lord Shiva.
