Week 12 Story: A Conquest of Love

Kama, god of love, trekked his way up Mount Kailash to find Lord Shiva. He had been tasked with making Shiva fall in love with the mountain princess, Parvati. Lord Brahma promised that the child of those two would be the one who would help the devas liberate heaven from the asuras once more. Even as the god of love, this was an overwhelming task. Shiva was a scary, powerful dude. Kama's legs shook with every step.

Finally, Kama made it to the clearing where Shiva sat in meditation. He felt his stomach drop. He began to lose his nerve. The god of love paced around the outskirts of the clearing and tried to psych himself back up. "Can I do this? Should I do this? What will Shiva do to me if this does not work? Ah, but the other devas are counting on me! We may all be doomed if I don't do this... No pressure or anything..." Kama stifled a shout of frustration.

Then he noticed Parvati entering the clearing out of the corner of his eye. His courage returned. He could do this. He whipped out his flowery love bow and aimed a flowery love arrow at Shiva. When Parvati was in Shiva's sight, he fired. Shiva's whole demeanor softened, and his eyes were filled with love and awe as he stared at Parvati. Kama pumped a fist into the air with a small "Yes!" and did a little victory dance. Unfortunately, his victory did not last long; Shiva quickly broke free of the spell. He aimed his fiery gaze in the direction of Kama. He opened his third eye and vaporized the world in Kama's direction. Shiva then stormed away from the clearing.

Kama had seen the death beam just in time and had managed to avoid a crispy end. He had failed Parvati and the devas. They were all doomed. He looked upon the devastated Parvati. No, I won't let it end like this, thought Kama. If I alone am not strong enough to move Shiva, then I will find others like me who can help! At that, Kama sped off to other pantheons to recruit a small love army.

Kama and Shiva

Web Source: Wikimedia Commons

It had taken a while, a few years in fact, to gather other love deities to help out Kama. Because all of them had their own duties and games to play with mortals, Kama was not able to recruit too many. With him were Aphrodite and Eros of Greece, Hathor and Bastet of Egypt, and Yue Lao of China. Hopefully, this was enough.

They came upon Shiva in the night. Yue Lao had already tied a red string of fate around Parvati, and he made way to lasso the other end onto Shiva. With that, the two were inseparably bound. Shiva roused from his meditation and look at the string around him in confusion. Kama and Eros took advantage of the situation and fired love arrows at the God. Shiva tried to fight back against the romantic onslaught with his years of discipline. Finally, the goddesses, Aphrodite, Hastor, and Bastet, came out, focused, and strengthened the love energy. Shiva struggled for a moment longer, then he slumped forward in defeat.

Their job done, the other deities went home. Kama gingerly approached Shiva. Shiva's head snapped up and blankly stared at Kama. Kama fell to the ground out of fear. "P-p-please, Lord, d-don't hurt me! I was only t-trying to help my fellow devas!" he yelped.

"Where is Parvati?" Shiva calmly inquired.

Kama tried to steady his voice. "She is living the life of an ascetic somewhere down the mountain! She-" Without letting him finish, Shiva was already trekking down the mountain in search of Parvati.

"Cupid orders Mercury, messenger of the Gods, to announce the Power of Love to the Universe" (1646-1647) by Eustache Le Sueur

Web Source: Wikimedia Commons

Author's Note. This week I based my story off of a version of the marriage of Shiva and Parvati from one of the Amar Chitra Katha comic books. The story goes that an asura takes over heaven, and the devas go to see Brahma for help. Brahma cannot help them directly, but he says the son of Parvati and Shiva can. With this knowledge, the devas send Kama, god of love, to make Shiva fall in love with Parvati and marry her. His spell works for a moment, but then Shiva incinerates Kama with his third eye. That story goes on with how Parvati lived the life of an ascetic to gain Shiva's attention through her devotion.

In my story, I made it to where Kama survived the blast from Shiva's third eye, and because he realized he himself was not strong enough to overcome Shiva, he would have to seek out other deities with powers and influence like his own. Including other pantheons seemed like a fun idea. I looked online for other love deities that seemed easy enough to understand and incorporate, but I don't know too much about Egyptian or Chinese mythology to accurately to portray it. I hope anyone who does here will forgive me for my ignorance.

Bibliography. "Shiva Parvati: A Story of Divine Love (Volume 506)" from Amar Chitra Katha, link to Reading Guide.

Aphrodite, link to Wikipedia.
Eros, link to Wikipedia.
Hathor, link to Wikipedia.
Bastet, link to Wikipedia.
Yue Lao, link to Wikipedia.