About Ramona Spruill Expertise I can answer questions about your typical Greek and Roman myths, and also Oceanic, Egyptian, Middle Eastern, Celtic, Southern and Northern American, and some Asian mythology. You name it, and I`ll do my best to find it.
Mythology - relationship of rati and kama in hindu mythology
Expert: Ramona Spruill - 3/24/2004
Question can you tell me how does the relationship between rati and kama is called incest..how come they are mother and son...can you give me the details of their family ....and the myth involved with them
Answer AS far as I can find, they were not mother and son, therefore there was not incest in the relationship.
Rati was the Hindu goddess of sexual desire. She was the daughter of the sun god Daksha and the wife of Kama, the god of love in Hindu myth. He is a son of Lakshmi. Kama is represented as a winged youth bearing bow and arrows (similar to the Greek Eros).
Rati's father Daksha probably began as one of the pre-Vedic deities of India. In Vedic and post-Vedic times he took on differing characteristics. He is named as one of the Prajapatis, the lords of creation, and is one of the children of Aditi. Later he became one of the Rishis, and is the son of Brahma, having been born of the creator-god's right thumb. He may have had aspects as a creator-god or sun god himself at one point, but these are only alluded to.
Kama's mother, Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of good fortune and beauty. She arose from the milky foam of the waves at the "Churning of the Ocean". She is the consort of Vishnu, and is his wife during each of his incarnations. Also known as Sri.
Kama is called Kama Ananga ("Kama the bodiless") as well. Kama's body was destroyed when he fired his weapon at Shiva in order to disrupt his meditations. Shiva then opened his third eye, the gaze of which was so powerful that Kama's body was reduced to ashes. For the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion), Shiva restored him, but only as a mental image, representing the true emotional and mental state of love rather than physical lust.
