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84-402: Hindu Love Gods may refer to: Kamadeva and Rati Hindu Love Gods (band) Hindu Love Gods (album) , eponymous album of recorded music Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Hindu Love Gods . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

168-487: A rishi (sage) and his family of students. Within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the same collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format. The eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The ninth mandala

252-402: A collection of compositions by many authors. The first mandala is the largest, with 191 hymns and 2006 verses, and it was added to the text after Books 2 through 9. The last, or the 10th Book, also has 191 hymns but 1754 verses, making it the second largest. The language analytics suggest the 10th Book, chronologically, was composed and added last. The content of the 10th Book also suggest that

336-556: A complementary relationship between kings and poet-priests but no discussion of a relative status of social classes. Women in the Rigveda appear disproportionately as speakers in dialogue hymns, both as mythical or divine Indrani , Apsaras Urvasi , or Yami , as well as Apāla Ātreyī (RV 8.91), Godhā (RV 10.134.6), Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatī (RV 10.39.40), Romaśā (RV 1.126.7), Lopāmudrā (RV 1.179.1–2), Viśvavārā Ātreyī (RV 5.28), Śacī Paulomī (RV 10.159), Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī (RV 8.1.34). The women of

420-636: A deity in Hinduism . Kama ( IAST : kāma ) means "desire" or "longing", especially as in sensual or sexual love. The name is used in the Rigveda ( RV 9 , 113. 11). Kamadeva is a name of Vishnu in the Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavata Purana (SB 5.18.15). It is also a name of the deities Krishna and Shiva . Kama is also a name used for Agni ( Atharva Veda 6.36.3). Other names prominently used about Kamadeva are: Kāmadeva

504-496: A few verses. The following information is known about the shakhas other than Śākala and Bāṣkala: The Rigveda hymns were composed and preserved by oral tradition . They were memorized and verbally transmitted with "unparalleled fidelity" across generations for many centuries. According to Barbara West, it was probably first written down about the 3rd-century BCE. The manuscripts were made from birch bark or palm leaves , which decompose and therefore were routinely copied over

588-473: A historical relationship. Both the epics and the Puranas attest to the goddess Rati as the consort and chief assistant of Kamadeva. She is his female counterpart representing sensual pleasure. According to Kalika Purana and Shiva Purana , she emerged from a sweat drop of prajapati Daksha who was assigned by Brahma to present Kamadeva as a wife. The Shiva Purana also mentions that Kama himself

672-634: A millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections, as well as certain permutations. This interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics . It is unclear as to when the Rigveda was first written down. The oldest surviving manuscripts have been discovered in Nepal and date to c.  1040 CE . According to Witzel,

756-634: A new phase in the existence of desire—it becomes an unseen force, influencing the world in ways that are not immediately visible. While the Matsya Purana provides a foundational version of the story, other texts like the Shiva Purana and the Vamana Purana offer different emphases and additional layers to the myth. In the Shiva Purana , Kamadeva is depicted as more arrogant and powerful, yet his encounter with Shiva further underscores

840-502: A particular emotion or aspect of desire. Accompanied by his wife Rati (goddess of pleasure) and the spirit of Spring (Madhu or Vasanta), Kamadeva approaches Shiva, who is deep in meditation. Kamadeva's approach to breaking Shiva’s concentration is a calculated multi-stage process. He first begins by targeting Shiva’s mind, slowly destabilizing his thoughts. As the god of desire, Kamadeva introduces feelings of envy, hatred, and anger into Shiva’s mind—emotions that are traditionally considered

924-400: A possibly lost Central Asian language. The linguistic sharing provides clear indications, states Michael Witzel, that the people who spoke Rigvedic Sanskrit already knew and interacted with Munda and Dravidian speakers. The "family books" (2–7) are associated with various clans and chieftains, containing hymns by members of the same clan in each book; but other clans are also represented in

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1008-799: A secluded place, covering 500 meters. Some other temples dedicated or related to this deva : Letitia Elizabeth Landon 's descriptive poem Manmadin, the Indian Cupid, floating down the Ganges appeared in The Literary Gazette , 1822 ( Fragment in Rhyme VII. ) Rig Veda Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas The Rigveda or Rig Veda ( Sanskrit : ऋग्वेद , IAST : ṛgveda , from ऋच् , "praise" and वेद , "knowledge")

1092-424: A son of Shiva can kill him, a seemingly impossible task given Shiva's intense ascetic lifestyle after the death of his wife Sati . The gods, led by Indra , summon Kamadeva, the god of desire, to make Shiva fall in love with Parvati , the reincarnation of Sati and the daughter of the mountain god Himavat . It occurs in its most developed and earliest form in the Matsya Purana (verses 227–255). In this variant,

1176-488: A subtler, controlled form; the Shiva Purana thus reinforces the idea that desire is an inherent part of the universe, but under the control of disciplined spiritual practice. The Vamana Purana presents a version in which Shiva is more vulnerable to Kamadeva’s arrows. Here, Shiva is grieving for his first wife, Sati , and is emotionally vulnerable when Kamadeva strikes. Overwhelmed by desire and grief, Shiva flees into

1260-572: A total of 1025 regular hymns for this śākhā. In addition, the Bāṣkala recension has its own appendix of 98 hymns, the Khilani . In the 1877 edition of Aufrecht, the 1028 hymns of the Rigveda contain a total of 10,552 ṛc s, or 39,831 padas. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives the number of syllables to be 432,000, while the metrical text of van Nooten and Holland (1994) has a total of 395,563 syllables (or an average of 9.93 syllables per pada); counting

1344-512: A wider approximation of c. 1900–1200 BCE has also been given. The text is layered, consisting of the Samhita , Brahmanas , Aranyakas and Upanishads . The Rigveda Samhita is the core text and is a collection of 10 books ( maṇḍala s) with 1,028 hymns ( sūkta s) in about 10,600 verses (called ṛc , eponymous of the name Rigveda ). In the eight books – Books 2 through 9 – that were composed

1428-523: Is a Hindu festival, celebrated in the Indian subcontinent. It is sometimes called Madana-Mahotsava or Kama-Mahotsava. This festival is mentioned by Jaimini , in his early writings such as Purvamimamsa-sutra , dated c. 400 BC. The Ashoka tree is often planted near temples. The tree is said to be a symbol of love and is dedicated to Kamadeva. In the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, Krishna

1512-488: Is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns ( sūktas ). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ( śruti ) known as the Vedas . Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The Rigveda is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among

1596-546: Is better known from the stories of the Puranas . Kamadeva is also mentioned in the 12th-century Javanese poem Smaradahana , a rendering of the myth of Kamadeva's burning by Shiva and fall from heaven to earth. Kama and his consort Rati are referenced as Kamajaya and Kamarati in Kakawin poetry and later Wayang narratives. The story of the birth of Kamadeva has several variants in different Hindu scriptures. In

1680-512: Is comparatively slight. There is also a certain amount of material peculiar to each of them. The Kaushitaka is, upon the whole, far more concise in its style and more systematic in its arrangement features which would lead one to infer that it is probably the more modern work of the two. It consists of 30 chapters ( adhyaya ); while the Aitareya has 40, divided into eight books (or pentads, pancaka ), of five chapters each. The last 10 adhyayas of

1764-470: Is entirely dedicated to Soma and the Soma ritual . The hymns in the ninth mandala are arranged by both their prosody structure ( chanda ) and by their length. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest; they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, accounting for 37% of the text. Nevertheless, some of the hymns in mandalas 8, 1 and 10 may still belong to an earlier period and may be as old as

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1848-599: Is housed in the Mathura Museum, UP, India . Some of the attributes of Kamadeva are: his companions are a cuckoo , a parrot , humming bees , the season of spring , and the gentle breeze. All these are symbols of the spring season when his festival is celebrated as Holi , Holika, or Vasanta. Images and stories about the Hindu god Kamadeva are traced to the verses of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda , although he

1932-574: Is identified as the original Kamadeva in Vrindavana . Kamadeva also incarnates as Krishna's son Shamba after being burned down by Shiva . Since he was begotten by Krishna himself, his qualities were similar to those of Krishna, such as his colour, appearance, and attributes. This Shamba is not considered identical to Vishnu 's vyuha -manifestation called Shamba, but is an individual soul ( jiva -tattva ) who, owing to his celestial powers, becomes an emanation of Vishnu 's prowess. The Kamadeva that

2016-576: Is isolated in pausa form and is used for just one way of memorization; and the Samhitapatha , which combines words according to the rules of sandhi (the process being described in the Pratisakhya ) and is the memorized text used for recitation. The Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the text's true meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than

2100-449: Is organized in ten "books", or maṇḍalas ("circles"), of varying age and length. The "family books", mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books; they are arranged by length (decreasing length of hymns per book) and account for 38% of the text. The hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a particular deity: Agni comes first, Indra comes second, and so on. They are attributed and dedicated to

2184-518: Is referenced as smara in Bhāgavata Purāṇa (book 10) in the context of the supramundane love between Krishna and the gopis (cowherd maidens), he is not the Deva who incites lusty feelings. The word smara rather refers to Krishna himself, who through the medium of his flute increases his influence on the devoted gopis . The symptoms of this smarodayam (lit. "arousal of desire") experienced by

2268-419: Is referenced in the Matsya Purana and Bhagavata Purana to reveal a relationship between Krishna and Kamadeva. In the narrative, Kama is reincarnated in the womb of Krishna's wife Rukmini as Pradyumna , after being burned to ashes by Shiva . The deity of Kamadeva along with his consort Rati is included in the pantheon of Vedic-Brahmanical deities such as Shiva and Parvati . In Hindu traditions for

2352-452: Is represented as a young, handsome man who wields a bow and arrows. His bow is made of sugarcane , and his arrows are decorated with five kinds of fragrant flowers. The five flowers are white lotus, Ashoka tree flowers, Mango tree flowers, Jasmine flowers, and blue lotus flowers. The names of these flowers in Sanskrit in order are Aravinda, Ashoka, Choota, Navamallika, and Neelotpala. A terracotta murti of Kamadeva of great antiquity

2436-402: Is uncertain. The surviving padapāṭha version of the Rigveda text is ascribed to Śākalya. The Śākala recension has 1,017 regular hymns, and an appendix of 11 vālakhilya hymns which are now customarily included in the 8th mandala (as 8.49–8.59), for a total of 1028 hymns. The Bāṣkala recension includes eight of these vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making

2520-534: Is without equality in the universe, and her power constantly defeats the god of love, Kamadeva. While it is believed that there are no temples to Kamadeva, and no murtis (statues) of Kamadeva are sold for worship on the market, yet there is an ancient temple of Madan Kamdev in Baihata Chariali, Kamrup district in Assam . Madan is the brother of Kamadeva. The ruins of Madan Kamdev are scattered widely in

2604-527: The ṛc s. The codification of the Rigveda took place late in the Rigvedic or rather in the early post-Rigvedic period at c.  1200 BCE , by members of the early Kuru tribe, when the center of Vedic culture moved east from the Punjab into what is now Uttar Pradesh . The Rigveda was codified by compiling the hymns, including the arrangement of the individual hymns in ten books, coeval with

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2688-716: The Shiva Purana , the Kalika Purana , the Brahma Vaivarta Purana , and the Matsya Purana , Kama is one of the mind-born sons of the creator god Brahma . In the most common narrative, after Brahma creates all the prajapatis (agents of creation) and a maiden named Sandhya, an extremely handsome and youthful man emerges from his mind and enquires Brahma about the purpose of his birth. Brahma names him Kama and orders him to spread love in

2772-605: The Taittiriya Brahmana and the epic Mahabharata , he is mentioned as a son of Dharma , the god of righteousness, and a prajapati (agent of creation). His mother is mentioned to be Dharma's wife Shraddha in Taittiriya Brahmana , while the appendix of the Mahabharata , Harivamsa , states his mother to be Lakshmi, another wife of Dharma. According to Puranic scriptures including

2856-606: The Vishnu Purana mentions that they only have one son – Harsha. Besides Rati, Kama's main assistant 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 celestial nymphs, the apsaras , and they are often sent by Indra —the king of heaven—to disturb the penance of sages to prevent them from achieving divine powers. The most famous episode of Kama's mythology—his incineration by

2940-541: The Rigveda are in different poetic metres in Vedic Sanskrit. The meters most used in the ṛcas are the gayatri (3 verses of 8 syllables), anushtubh (4×8), trishtubh (4×11) and jagati (4×12). The trishtubh meter (40%) and gayatri meter (25%) dominate in the Rigveda . As with the other Vedas, the redacted text has been handed down in several versions, including the Padapatha , in which each word

3024-407: The Rigveda are quite outspoken and appear more sexually confident than men, in the text. Elaborate and aesthetic hymns on wedding suggest rites of passage had developed during the Rigvedic period. There is little evidence of dowry and no evidence of sati in it or related Vedic texts. The Rigvedic hymns mention rice and porridge, in hymns such as 8.83, 8.70, 8.77 and 1.61 in some versions of

3108-470: The Rigveda . The family books are associated with specific regions, and mention prominent Bharata and Pūru kings. Tradition associates a rishi (the composer) with each ṛc (verse) of the Rigveda . Most sūktas are attributed to single composers; for each of them the Rigveda includes a lineage-specific āprī hymn (a special sūkta of rigidly formulaic structure, used for rituals). In all, 10 families of rishis account for more than 95 per cent of

3192-713: The Sapta Sindhu , and the Sarasvati River ). The Adityas , Vasus, Rudras, Sadhyas, Ashvins , Maruts , Rbhus , and the Vishvadevas ("all-gods") as well as the "thirty-three gods" are the groups of deities mentioned. Of the Brahmanas that were handed down in the schools of the Bahvṛcas (i.e. "possessed of many verses"), as the followers of the Rigveda are called, two have come down to us, namely those of

3276-846: The Sharada and Devanagari scripts, written on birch bark and paper. The oldest of the Pune collection is dated to 1464 CE. The 30 manuscripts of Rigveda preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , Pune were added to UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register in 2007. Of these thirty manuscripts, nine contain the samhita text, five have the padapatha in addition. Thirteen contain Sayana's commentary. At least five manuscripts (MS. no. 1/A1879-80, 1/A1881-82, 331/1883-84 and 5/Viś I) have preserved

3360-520: The early Iranian Avesta , deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the early Andronovo culture of c.  2000 BCE . The Rigveda offers no direct evidence of social or political systems in the Vedic era, whether ordinary or elite. Only hints such as cattle raising and horse racing are discernible, and the text offers very general ideas about

3444-409: The gopis have been described in a commentary (by Vishvanatha Cakravarti ) as follows: "First comes attraction expressed through the eyes, then intense attachment in the mind, then determination, loss of sleep, becoming emaciated, uninterested in external things, shamelessness, madness, becoming stunned, and death. These are the ten stages of Cupid’s effects." The beauty of Krishna's consort, Radha ,

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3528-579: The Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins. The Aitareya-brahmana and the Kaushitaki- (or Sankhayana- ) brahmana evidently have for their groundwork the same stock of traditional exegetic matter. They differ, however, considerably as regards both the arrangement of this matter and their stylistic handling of it, with the exception of the numerous legends common to both, in which the discrepancy

3612-678: The Brahmanas are referred to as the "Rigveda Brahmanas" (etc.). Technically speaking, however, "the Rigveda" refers to the entire body of texts transmitted along with the Samhita portion. Different bodies of commentary were transmitted in the different shakhas or "schools". Only a small portion of these texts has been preserved: The texts of only two out of five shakhas mentioned by the Rigveda Pratishakhya have survived. The late (15th or 16th century) Shri Guru Charitra even claims

3696-614: The Kaushitaki-brahmana) of Shunahshepa , whom his father Ajigarta sells and offers to slay, the recital of which formed part of the inauguration of kings. While the Aitareya deals almost exclusively with the Soma sacrifice, the Kaushitaka, in its first six chapters, treats of the several kinds of haviryajna , or offerings of rice, milk, ghee, etc., whereupon follows the Soma sacrifice in this way, that chapters 7–10 contain

3780-573: The Paippalada Samhita tradition points to written manuscripts c.  800 –1000 CE. The Upanishads were likely in the written form earlier, about mid-1st millennium CE ( Gupta Empire period). Attempts to write the Vedas may have been made "towards the end of the 1st millennium BCE". The early attempts may have been unsuccessful given the Smriti rules that forbade the writing down

3864-597: The Rig Veda was composed on the banks of a river in Haraxvaiti province in southern Afghanistan ( Persian : Harahvati; Sanskrit : Sarasvati; possibly the Helmand or Arghandab ). Other evidence also points to a composition date close to 1400 BCE. The earliest texts were composed in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, and the more philosophical later texts were most likely composed in or around

3948-457: The Vedas, states Witzel. The oral tradition continued as a means of transmission until modern times. Several shakhas (from skt. śākhā f. "branch", i. e. "recension") of the Rig Veda are known to have existed in the past. Of these, Śākala Śākhā (named after the scholar Śākalya ) is the only one to have survived in its entirety. Another śākhā that may have survived is the Bāṣkala, although this

4032-404: The ancient Indian society. There is no evidence, state Jamison and Brereton, of any elaborate, pervasive or structured caste system . Social stratification seems embryonic, then and later a social ideal rather than a social reality. The society was semi-nomadic and pastoral with evidence of agriculture since hymns mention plow and celebrate agricultural divinities. There was division of labor and

4116-576: The antithesis of spiritual equilibrium. According to the text, Kamadeva strategically stirs Shiva’s senses: bees buzz around him, fragrant flowers bloom, and a gentle breeze flows—all aimed at disrupting Shiva's focus. After successfully infiltrating Shiva’s mind and senses, Kamadeva escalates his attack by drawing his famous floral arrows. The most potent of these is the Mohana arrow, symbolizing delusion and infatuation. He shoots this arrow directly at Shiva's heart, which momentarily stirs feelings of desire in

4200-567: The ascetic god Shiva ’s third eye—is often called the Madana-bhasma, also rendered the Kama dahana . This tale is recorded in various Indian texts, including the Matsya Purana , Padma Purana , Shiva Purana , and Vamana Purana . In all versions, Kamadeva is tasked with breaking Shiva's asceticism. Shiva’s potential to father a son who could defeat the demon Taraka is the gods’ only hope. Taraka’s boon of invincibility ensures that only

4284-496: The authors knew and relied on the contents of the first nine books. The Rigveda is the largest of the four Vedas, and many of its verses appear in the other Vedas. Almost all of the 1875 verses found in Samaveda are taken from different parts of the Rigveda , either once or as repetition, and rewritten in a chant song form. Books 8 and 9 of the Rigveda are by far the largest source of verses for Sama Veda. Book 10 contributes

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4368-637: The complete text of the Rigveda . MS no. 5/1875-76, written on birch bark in bold Sharada, was only in part used by Max Müller for his edition of the Rigveda with Sayana's commentary. Müller used 24 manuscripts then available to him in Europe, while the Pune Edition used over five dozen manuscripts, but the editors of Pune Edition could not procure many manuscripts used by Müller and by the Bombay Edition, as well as from some other sources; hence

4452-693: The composition of the younger Veda Samhitas. According to Witzel, the initial collection took place after the Bharata victory in the Battle of the Ten Kings , under king Sudās , over other Puru kings. This collection was an effort to reconcile various factions in the clans which were united in the Kuru kingdom under a Bharata king. This collection was re-arranged and expanded in the Kuru Kingdom , reflecting

4536-511: The core 'family books' (mandalas 2 – 7 , ordered by author, deity and meter ) and a later redaction, coeval with the redaction of the other Vedas , dating several centuries after the hymns were composed. This redaction also included some additions (contradicting the strict ordering scheme) and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi (termed orthoepische Diaskeuase by Oldenberg, 1888). The text

4620-550: The earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology , rites required to earn the favour of the gods , as well as praise them. The more recent books (Books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions, virtues such as dāna (charity) in society, questions about the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine, and other metaphysical issues in their hymns. Some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu prayer and celebration of rites of passage (such as weddings ), making it probably

4704-459: The early Kuru kingdom. Asko Parpola argues that the Rigveda was systematized around 1000 BCE, at the time of the Kuru kingdom. The Rigveda is far more archaic than any other Indo-Aryan text. For this reason, it was in the center of attention of Western scholarship from the times of Max Müller and Rudolf Roth onwards. The Rigveda records an early stage of Vedic religion . There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities with

4788-473: The eastern and northeastern (Assamese) region of India, with roots in Austroasiatic languages . The others in the list of 300 – such as mleccha and nir  – have Dravidian roots found in the southern region of India, or are of Tibeto-Burman origins. A few non-Indo-European words in the Rigveda  – such as for camel, mustard and donkey – belong to

4872-623: The eighth mandala, for a total of 1028 metrical hymns. The Bāṣakala version of Rigveda includes eight of these vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making a total of 1025 hymns in the main text for this śākhā. The Bāṣakala text also has an appendix of 98 hymns, called the Khilani , bringing the total to 1,123 hymns. The manuscripts of Śākala recension of the Rigveda have about 10,600 verses, organized into ten Books ( Mandalas ). Books 2 through 7 are internally homogeneous in style, while Books 1, 8 and 10 are compilation of verses of internally different styles suggesting that these books are likely

4956-457: The establishment of a new Bharata-Puru lineage and new srauta rituals. The fixing of the Vedic chant (by enforcing regular application of sandhi ) and of the padapatha (by dissolving Sandhi out of the earlier metrical text), occurred during the later Brahmana period, in roughly the 6th century BCE. The surviving form of the Rigveda is based on an early Iron Age collection that established

5040-924: The existence of twelve Rigvedic shakhas. The two surviving Rigvedic corpora are those of the Śākala and the Bāṣkala shakhas. The Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are Indra , a heroic god praised for having slain his enemy Vrtra ; Agni , the sacrificial fire; and Soma , the sacred potion or the plant it is made from. Equally prominent gods are the Adityas or Asura gods Mitra – Varuna and Ushas (the dawn). Also invoked are Savitr , Vishnu , Rudra , Pushan , Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati , as well as deified natural phenomena such as Dyaus Pita (the shining sky, Father Heaven), Prithivi (the earth, Mother Earth), Surya (the sun god), Vayu or Vata (the wind), Apas (the waters), Parjanya (the thunder and rain), Vac (the word), many rivers (notably

5124-511: The forest, seeking to escape Kamadeva’s influence. However, the very act of fleeing causes the wives of the forest sages to become infatuated with him, illustrating the uncontrollable nature of desire, even for the gods.. According to Garuda Purana , Pradyumna and Samba - the sons of Krishna , Sanat Kumara - the son of Brahma , Skanda - the son of Shiva , Sudarshana (the presiding deity of Sudarshana Chakra), and Bharata are all incarnations of Kama. The myth of Kamadeva's incineration

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5208-433: The generations to help preserve the text. There are, for example, 30 manuscripts of Rigveda at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , collected in the 19th century by Georg Bühler , Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts of India, including Kashmir , Gujarat , the then Rajaputana , Central Provinces etc. They were transferred to Deccan College , Pune , in the late 19th century. They are in

5292-672: The god for Parvati. However, Shiva quickly regains his composure and realizes that his ascetic control is being threatened. Enraged by the disturbance, Shiva opens his third eye, from which fire emerges and instantly reduces Kamadeva to ashes. After Kamadeva’s death, his wife Rati is devastated by grief and smears his ashes all over body. Her mourning becomes a significant element of the narrative, as she petitions Shiva to restore her husband. Shiva, moved by her devotion, promises that Kamadeva will return, but not in his previous form. Instead, Kamadeva will be reborn as Ananga—the bodiless one—making him invisible yet still present. This transformation marks

5376-423: The gods, desperate for a warrior to vanquish Taraka, send Kamadeva to disrupt Shiva's meditation. Kamadeva, aware of the danger, initially hesitates, fearing that Shiva’s wrath will result in his own destruction. Indra, however, reassures him, insisting that this mission is crucial to the survival of the world. Kamadeva prepares carefully for the task. He takes his sugarcane bow and floral arrows, each one symbolizing

5460-584: The largest number of the 1350 verses of Rigveda found in Atharvaveda , or about one fifth of the 5987 verses in the Atharvaveda text. A bulk of 1875 ritual-focussed verses of Yajurveda , in its numerous versions, also borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda . Altogether the Rigveda consists of: In western usage, "Rigveda" usually refers to the Rigveda Samhita, while

5544-482: The latter work are, however, clearly a later addition though they must have already formed part of it at the time of Pāṇini (c. 5th century BCE), if, as seems probable, one of his grammatical sutras, regulating the formation of the names of Brahmanas, consisting of 30 and 40 adhyayas, refers to these two works. In this last portion occurs the well-known legend (also found in the Shankhayana-sutra, but not in

5628-476: The latter’s dominance over desire. Kamadeva’s arrows fail to fully penetrate Shiva’s concentration, demonstrating the supreme yogi’s ability to resist even the most potent forces of passion. However, as in the Matsya Purana , Kamadeva’s destruction leads not to the end of desire but to its transformation. Shiva absorbs Kamadeva into himself, making him one of his ganas (attendants). This act symbolizes Shiva's control over desire, yet acknowledges its persistence in

5712-403: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hindu_Love_Gods&oldid=932875840 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Kamadeva The Atharva Veda regards Kamadeva as

5796-600: The marriage ceremony itself, the bride's feet are often painted with pictures of Suka, the parrot vahana of Kamadeva. The religious rituals addressed to him offer a means of purification and re-entry into the community. Devotion to Kamadeva keeps desire within the framework of the religious tradition . Kamadeva appears in many stories and becomes the object of devotional rituals for those seeking health, and physical beauty, husbands, wives, and sons. In one story Kamadeva himself succumbs to desire, and must then worship his lover to be released from this passion and its curse. Holi

5880-563: The material in the family books. The first mandala has a unique arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The first 84 hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different from the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns or sūkta s ( su- + ukta , literally, "well recited, eulogy ") intended for various rituals . The sūkta s in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc ("praise", pl. ṛcas ), which are further analysed into units of verse called pada (" foot " or step). The hymns of

5964-544: The myth is found in the Skanda Purana , according to which, Brahma creates Kama from his mind to ignite passion in the prajapatis (agents of creation) after they refused to procreate. In some traditions, Kama is considered a son of the goddess of wealth Lakshmi , and the preserver god Vishnu due to his birth as Pradyumna to Rukmini and Krishna , the incarnations of Lakshmi and Vishnu respectively. According to Matsya Purana , Visnu-Krishna and Kamadeva have

6048-539: The names of gods and goddesses found in the Rigveda are found amongst other belief systems based on Proto-Indo-European religion , while most of the words used share common roots with words from other Indo-European languages . However, about 300 words in the Rigveda are neither Indo-Aryan nor Indo-European, states the Sanskrit and Vedic literature scholar Frits Staal . Of these 300, many – such as kapardin , kumara , kumari , kikata  – come from Munda or proto-Munda languages found in

6132-505: The number of syllables is not straightforward because of issues with sandhi and the post-Rigvedic pronunciation of syllables like súvar as svàr. Three other shakhas are mentioned in Caraṇavyuha , a pariśiṣṭa (supplement) of Yajurveda: Māṇḍukāyana, Aśvalāyana and Śaṅkhāyana . The Atharvaveda lists two more shakhas. The differences between all these shakhas are very minor, limited to varying order of content and inclusion (or non-inclusion) of

6216-457: The oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language . The sounds and texts of the Rigveda have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent (see Rigvedic rivers ), most likely between c. 1500 and 1000 BCE, although

6300-495: The practical ceremonial and 11–30 the recitations ( shastra ) of the hotar. Sayana, in the introduction to his commentary on the work, ascribes the Aitareya to the sage Mahidasa Aitareya (i.e. son of Itara), also mentioned elsewhere as a philosopher; and it seems likely enough that this person arranged the Brahmana and founded the school of the Aitareyins. Regarding the authorship of the sister work we have no information, except that

6384-443: The region that is the modern era state of Haryana . The Rigveda ' s core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age , making it one of the few examples with an unbroken tradition. Its composition is usually dated to roughly between c.  1500 and 1000 BCE. According to Michael Witzel , the codification of the Rigveda took place at the end of the Rigvedic period between c.  1200 and 1000 BCE, in

6468-581: The second half of the second millennium BCE. Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the hymns must post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE. A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the Rigveda is that of the Mitanni documents of northern Syria and Iraq ( c.  1450 –1350 BCE), which also mention the Vedic gods such as Varuna, Mitra and Indra. Some scholars have suggested that

6552-406: The text; however, there is no discussion of rice cultivation. The term áyas (metal) occurs in the Rigveda , but it is unclear which metal it was. Iron is not mentioned in Rigveda , something scholars have used to help date Rigveda to have been composed before 1000 BCE. Hymn 5.63 mentions "metal cloaked in gold", suggesting that metalworking had progressed in the Vedic culture. Some of

6636-455: The total number of extant manuscripts known then must surpass perhaps eighty at least. Rigveda manuscripts in paper, palm leaves and birch bark form, either in full or in portions, have been discovered in the following Indic scripts: The various Rigveda manuscripts discovered so far show some differences. Broadly, the most studied Śākala recension has 1017 hymns, includes an appendix of eleven valakhīlya hymns which are often counted with

6720-590: The wielder of the creative power of the universe, also describing him to have been "born at first, him neither the gods nor the fathers ever equaled". Mentioned as a manasaputra (mind-born son) of the creator god Brahma in the Puranas , Kamadeva's most popular myth is his incineration by Shiva 's third eye while the latter was meditating, and later embodied on earth as the eldest son of Krishna and his chief consort Rukmini , Pradyumna . The name Kama-deva ( IAST : kāma-deva ) can be translated as 'god of love'. Deva means heavenly or divine and refers to

6804-499: The world by shooting his flower arrows. Kama decides to first use his arrows against Brahma and shoots him with his floral arrows. He becomes attracted to Sandhya and desires for her. The prajapati Dharma becomes worried by this and calls the god Shiva , who watches them and laughs at both Brahma and Kama. Brahma regains consciousness and curses Kama to be burnt to ashes by Shiva in the future. However, on Kama's pleading, Brahma assures him that he will be reborn. A later version of

6888-405: The world's oldest religious text in continued use. According to Jamison and Brereton, in their 2014 translation of the Rigveda , the dating of this text "has been and is likely to remain a matter of contention and reconsideration". The dating proposals so far are all inferred from the style and the content within the hymns themselves. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to

6972-474: Was incinerated is believed to be a celestial demigod capable of inducing love and lusty desires. He is distinguished from the spiritual Kamadeva. Here Krishna is the source of Kamadeva's inciting power, the ever-fresh transcendental god of love of Vrindavana , the origin of all forms of Kamadeva, yet above mundane love, who is worshiped with the Kama-Gayatri and Kama-Bija mantras . When Kamadeva

7056-478: Was pierced by his love arrows when he saw Rati. The Brahmavaivarta Purana gives Rati another origin, according to which Sandhya died after Brahma desired her but was revived as Rati by Vishnu who presented her to Kama. Priti ("affection") is mentioned as Kamadeva's second spouse in the Skanda Purana , while in other texts, 'Priti' is just an epithet of Rati. In most scriptures, Kama and Rati have two children, Harsha ("Joy") and Yashas ("Grace"). However,

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