ABSTRACT
Although regarded as a god with bow and arrows, Kama Deva, the god of love, was believed to dwell in lovers’ bodies, infusing them with his own powers and thus becoming in a sense a god without a body. For this reason, as well as from his encounter with Siva, he is often referred to as ‘the bodiless one’. In Spring the bodiless Love permeates The limbs of a maiden, in manifold ways; Into the visionless eyes He puts a sparkle and a softness; He is the pallor of the cheeks, And the hardness of the breasts; He moulds the slimness of the hips, It is love’s beauty itself That shines through her loveliness. (KĀLIDĀSA, The Seasons)
