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Kamadeva
November 20, 2012Vinodh RajanMantras

Kamadeva The God of Love is perhaps the

one of the most famous deities of Hinduism. As the Indian counterpart to cupid,
he is the presiding deity for love, desire & attraction.His usual epithet
is Manmatha which is explained as mato manaso mantha manmatha : He
churns the heart and hence Churner of Hearts [Manmatha]. Love/Desire being
formless he is also called Ananga [The one without body]. He has a parrot as the
vehicle and carries a bow made of sugarcane strung with bees, using which he
shoots flower-arrows to instill passion among people.

Contary to the Victorian inspired puritanism which was established in postindependant India, Ancient and Medieval India were very expressive of

desire. Love (and as an extension Sex) had a deep and importance place in
ancient India. The various Kamashastras Kmastra, Ratirahasya, Anagaraga,
Ngarasarvasva that spans across various periods of history bear witness to
this factor. Maithuna (copulation) was one of thePacamakra-s (Five Ms) behind
the theory of Indian Tantra.

As a matter of fact, Kamadeva himself was worshipped as a deity in Ancient

India, and there were supposedly specific temples dedicated to Kamadeva.
People prayed to Kamadeva to fulfil their desire (which was mostly for a loved
one). For Instance, The Tamil epic Cvaka Cintmai dated to the 10th century,
speaks of a princess named Suramajar who visits the temple of Kamadeva and
prays for attaining the man she desires (i.e the protagonist of the Epic, Jvaka).
The text also refers to the fact that the idol of Kamadeva was made of Gold in
that temple.

[] []
[] cempo mam pukku anaka pi varam koval nai e []
[] visiting the golden Temple [I shall] worship Ananga and pray for the boon [of
attaining my desired man] tomorrow she said [] (Verse 2052)

[] [] []
[]
[] kma mattu iintu [] cu amai mlai cntam viakkou tpam ntic []
toutu nipat []
[] Entering the temple of Kamadeva [] carrying Garland, Lamp & Incense []
they were worshipping [him] [] (Verse 2055)

As we could see, worshipping and praying to Kamadeva fulfilment of desires was

pretty much a common practice in ancient times. However, as it happens, the
worship of Kamdeva vanished in India as time passed.

A few mantras dedicated to Kamadeva are being presented here. They are
extracted from the text Mantra Mahodadhi (Greate ocean of Mantras)
composed by Mahdhara. It is a medieval text composed around 16th century,
explaining various rituals for deities of the Hindu pantheon along with their
mantras.

Kama Bja Seed Syllable of Kamdeva

The Kama Bija is as follows:

kl

As the Bija of Kamadeva, it is often associated with Vashikarana (attraction).

The mantra invoking Kamadeva along with the Bija:

kl kmadevya nama

Kmadeva nmakam Eight Names of Kamadeva

Namashtakams are a group of eight special names used

to praise a deity.Mantramahodadhi presents the names along with

the Praava (o), kma bja (klm), name in the dative case (caturth) and finally
ending with the homage (nama)

o kl kmya nama
o kl bhasmaarrya nama
o kl anagya nama
o kl manmathya nama
o kl vasantasakhya nama
o kl smarya nama
o kl ikudhanurdharya nama
o kl pupabya nama

Here Kamadeva is praised using his various epithets.

Kma : Love/Desire
Bhasmaarra : Ash-Bodied. For Shiva had burned Kamdeva with this third eye
and turned him into Ahses.
Anaga : Formless
Manmatha : Churner of Hearts
Vasanta-Sakha : Companion of Spring
Smara : Recollected thought [of love]
Ikudhanurdhara : Carrier of Sugar-cane bow
Pupaba : The one with flower arrow

Kama Gayatri
Gyatr is one of the famous metres in Sanskrit prosody. The mantras composed
in Gayatri metre are referred to as Gayatri Mantras assuming the name of the
metre. The usual form of the Gayatri metre consists of 24 syllables split into 3
metrical feet (pda) of 8 syllables each. This is known as Tripda Gyatr. The
most famous Gayatri mantra is the one present in the Vedas, dedicated to the
Sun. However, other deities also have specific mantras composed in the Gayatri
metre.

The Gayatri of Kamadeva:

kmadevya vidmahe |
pupabya dhmahi |
tannonaga pracodayt ||

Mantramahodadhi expounds the benefit of chanting the Kamagayatri as:

gyatrye budhairukt japt janavimohin

This (e) Gayatri [when] spoken (ukt) & chanted (japt) by the
learned (budhai) [causes] attraction of people (janavimohin)

Verses Invoking Kamadeva

The 23rd chapter of Mantramahodadhi describes in detail the rituals pertaining
to woshipping Kamadeva. Here are a few invocatory verses extracted from the
rituals.

namostu pupabya jagadnandakrie |

manmathya jagannetraratiprtipradyine ||

Homage to the (namostu) carrier of flower arrows (pupaba), the creator of

worlds joy (jagat-nanda-krin) |
The churner of heart (manmatha), and the bestower (pradyin) of
pleasure (rati) and love (prti) [which is] the eye of the world (jagannetra) ||

devadeva jaganntha vchitrthapradyaka |

ktsnn praya metvartha kmn kmevarpriya ||

Oh ! God of Gods (devadeva), Lord of the world (jaganntha),

bestower (pradyaka) of the desired(vchita) material gains (artha) |
Completely (ktsna) fulfill (praya) material gains (artha) [and] desires (kma) for
me (me), Oh ! lover of Kameshvari (Rati) (kmevar-priya) ||

Miscellaneous Mantras
There are two other Mantras of Kamadeva of which I couldnt trace the source. I
give them as such, I am not sure of the validity and correctness.

o namo bhagavate kmadevya r sarvajanapriyya

sarvajanasammohanya jvala jvala prajvala prajvala hana hana vada vada tapa
tapa sammohaya sammohaya sarvajana me vaa kuru kuru svh|
o namo bhagavate kmadevya indrya vasabya indrasadpanabya
kl kl sammohanabya bl bl satpanabya sa sa
vakaraabya kampita kampita h pha svh |
o namo bhagavate kmadevya r sarvajanapriyya
sarvajanasammohanya jvala jvala prajvala prajvala hana hana vada vada tapa
tapa sammohaya sammohaya sarvajana me vaa kuru kuru svh

o namo bhagavate kmadevya indrya vasabya indrasadpanabya

kl kl sammohanabya bl bl satpanabya sa sa
vakaraabya kampita kampita h pha svh

References
1.The Festival of Kamadeva in Ancient Tamil Nadu, S.
Ramachandran : http://www.sishri.org/kaaman.html

2. Civaka Cintamani with Tamil

commentary : http://temple.dinamalar.com/news_detail.php?id=13559
3. Mantra Mahodadhi with Hindi
commentary : http://www.scribd.com/doc/91923032/Mantra-MahodadhiMahidhar-Trans-by-Sudhakar-Malaviya-Part2
4. Amarakhosha with Sanskrit
commentary
:http://archive.org/stream/namalinganusasan00amariala#page/n21/mode/2up
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Vajra Ananga Manjushri The Buddhist Kamadeva
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One thought on Kamadeva

1.

Sundar K Phudong

August 27, 2016 at 11:19 am

I like this site because its so informative. There other kamadeva mantras what I
heard. Please add others too.
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