Project Idea: Kamadeva, The God of Love

You've probably heard of the Kama Sutra, but have you heard of Kamadeva? He is the god (deva) of love (kama), and he is a great character to use for a class project about Indian love stories. On this page, I've listed research tips for Kamadeva and also for love stories in general.

Research Tip: Start with the Wikipedia article about Kamadeva, and you can also read about Kama, the emotion of love and desire; you might also want to look at the article about Pradyumna, Krishna's son, who is considered an incarnation of Kama, and there's a comic book too: Pradyumna: Son of Krishna.

Then, you can start thinking about the love stories that you want to tell, either from the Ramayana, or the Mahabharata, or famous love stories beyond the epics like the story of Nala and Damayanti, Satyavan and Savitri, Ruru and Pramadara, to name just a few. Take a look at the Love topic for more links and possibilities.

There are also lots of comic books on Reserve in Bizzell that deal with the famous love stories: Savitri and Satyavan, Krishna and Rukmini, Prabhavati: The Asura Princess, Aniruddha and Usha,Nala and Damayanti, Urvashi: The Apsara, and Shakuntala.

Past Projects:

• Karma and Kama
• For the Love of Kamadeva
• Tales of Dr. Love
• Dr. Kamadeva, Love Therapist
• Tales from the Love Gods, Cupid and Kamadeva