7. Concept of Kāma (Introduction)

The third pursuit called Kāma is widely described here because it is the central point of this chapter. It appears to be fascinating to everyone irrespective of age, gender and creed. Kāma sooths the heart of all as it is closely related to sex, beauty and the erotic sentiment.

The genesis of Kāma passed through different stages of evolution at intervals as desire, as natural sex instinct, as the third Puruṣārtha, as a sylvan spirit, as Kāmadeva, the most handsome divinity among Hindu gods and as the all pervading supreme principle of monism (Devarajan T., 2011: vii).

“The Vedic Indians embodied an open culture in terms of their sexuality. Sexual life was predominantly heterosexual, while there is a silence on homosexual relations and bestiality. This does not attest to the absence of homosexual practices. Incest was consented to as matter of fact, while premarital intercourse was accepted, and extra-marital relations were practiced unbridled. There were no rules demanding virginity of women at the time of marriage. Such was the Indian tradition, and the word they used to denote the essence of their sexuality was Kāma” (Vikas Prabhu (a), 2013: 9-10).

Meaning and Definition of the term Kāma Kāma is a multidimensional term formulated from the root “Kan”^[1] means to shine, to desire and to go (Unni N. P., 2008: 98).

“From a grammatical point of view, the word Kāma is masculine in gender. And etymologically speaking, Kāma consists of the primary suffix “ma” and the base “ka” which occurs in Latin “ca-rus” (meaning dear) and in Anglo-saxone “hore” (new English whore). The feminine form Kāma and the neuter one Kāmam are also attested, meaning “object of desire”. And finally the adverbial use of Kāmam means “acording to desire”, “at will”, “freely”, “preferable” etc. Thus, the Indo-Aryan root Kam means “to desire, love” (George, V. C., 1995: 76).

V. K. Hampiholi observes,

“The term Kāma is found frequently in the Ṛgveda which is the earliest available literature of India. There the term Kāma means “desire” in general and “sensuous desire or lust” in particular. In the Atharvaveda, the term Kāma denotes not only the desire and sexual desire but also a deity. Here Kāma was identified with Agni (3. 25.11) in one mantra and in another Kāma was invoked as superior to Agni and other gods (9. 2-6, 24). An allusion is made to the terrible arrows of Kāma in this Veda (3. 25.1). In the later period, the god of love (Kāma) and his five arrows (Pañcabāṇā) became popular. Afterwards he was considered as Kāmadeva. Thus this term has many shades of meaning. The correct and appropriate meaning should be noted only on the basis of the context. Mostly, even today, the term Kāma is used in the sense of desire and sexual desire” (1998: 59).

Popular Sanskrit dictionaries like Amarakośa, Śabdakalpadruma, Vācaspatya etc. were explaining the term Kāma in wider ranges. Some of them are compiled here.

Amarakośa uses the term Kāma five times, most of them are as the synonyms of Kāmadeva-the god of erotic love in Indian mythology. One of them points Kāma as desire^[2]. While Vācaspatyam deals the word Kāma in a much elaborated manner. The author of Vācaspatyam views Kāma from the points of grammar, literature, philosophical systems etc. Of several meanings Kāma marks as wish, longing and legitimate pursuit of life (Tarkavācaspati Taranatha, 2013: 1889).

As mentioned before, Kāma is a multidimensional term and is defined in many ways by many people according to their need and comfort. Here it is provided some of the definitions of Kāma.

Bharata says in Nāṭyaśāstra:

“Almost all the psychological states proceed from erotic passion (Kāma) and which combined with acts proceeding from desire. The union of a man and a woman is called sensual passion (Kāma). The love which may end in joy or sorrow of all people is mostly to be observed as leading to happiness even in unhappy situations. The union of man and woman which finds them sexually united is known as an erotic affair (śṛṅgāra). This benefits the two, and brings them happiness. In this world, people always desire happiness of which women are indeed the source.”^[3] (Pushpendra Kumar, 2014: 1040-1042).

According to Manusmṛti, desire is based on violation or determination. No action is found in this world, of a man without desire. Whatever act a person does is but the effort of his desire^[4] (Maitreyee Deshpande, 2010: 43-44).

While discussing the definitions of Kāma, it is very important to go through the definitions of Kāma affirmed laid by Vātsyāyana in Kāmasūtra. As a comprehensive manual about sexuality, Kāmasūtra gives two categorical definitions of Kāma viz, general (sāmānya) and particular (viśeṣa) respectively.

In an elaborated way it can be said:

“Pleasure in general (sāmānyakāma), consists in engaging the ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose each in its own appropriate sensation, all under the control of the mind and heart driven by the conscious self. Pleasure in its primary form (viśeṣakāma), however, is a direct experience of an object of the senses, which bears fruit and is permeated by the sensual pleasure of erotic arousal that results from the particular sensation of touch”^[5] (Doniger Wendy & Sudhir Kakar, 2009: 8).

Some other later texts on this field define Kāma as tumescence (bāhyarata) and detumescence (ābhyantararata).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

kanī dīptikāntigatiṣu | kan (ī) seṭ, aka, pa | kanati | cakāna | akānīt | akanīt | kanitā | kāntaḥ | kanitvā | ya-kanyā | kanyāyā apatyaṃ kānīnaḥ “kanyāyāḥ kanīnaśce”ti aṇ | kanīnādeśaśca | kanakam- “kvun śilpisaṃjñayo”riti kvun |

[2]:

kiraṇapragrahau raśmī kapibhekau plavaṃgamau | icchā manobhavau kāmau śauryodyogau parākramau || (amarakośaḥ, 3. 138)

[3]:

prāyeṇa sarvabhāvānāṃ kāmānniṣpattiriṣyate |
sa cecchāguṇasampanno bahudhā kāma iṣyate ||
strīpuṃsayostu yogo yaḥ sa tu kāmaḥ iti smṛtaḥ ||
sarvasyaiva hi lokasya sukhaduḥkhanibarhaṇaḥ |
bhūyiṣṭhaṃ dṛśyate kāmaḥ sukhado duḥkhadeṣvapi ||
yaḥ strīpuruṣasaṃyogo ratisaṃyogakārakaḥ |
sa śṛṃgāra iti jñeya upacārakṛtaḥ sukhaḥ ||
iha prāyeṇa loko'yaṃ sukhamicchati nityaśaḥ |
sukhasya ca striyo mūlaṃ nānāśīlāśca tāḥ punaḥ || (nāṭyaśāstram, 24. 94-98)

[4]:

saṃkalpamūlaḥ kāmo vai yajñāḥ saṃkalpasaṃbhavāḥ |
akāmasya kriyā kācit dṛśyate neha karhicit ||  (manusmṛtiḥ, 2. 3-4)

[5]:

śrotratvakcakṣurjihvāghrāṇānāmātmasaṃyuktena manasādhiṣṭhitānāṃ sveṣu sveṣu viṣayeṣvānukūlataḥ pravṛttiḥ kāmaḥ |
sparśaviśeṣaviṣayāttvasyābhimānikasukhānuviddhā phalavatyarthapratītiḥ prādhānyātkāmaḥ || (kāmasūtra, 1. 2. 11-12)