Divine Beings
Kama
काम
Desire That Cannot Be Killed
Who was Kama?
Kama (काम): Desire That Cannot Be Killed, one of the divine beings in the Mahabharata. Desire personified, whom Krishna quotes at the still-grieving Yudhishthira as the one enemy against whom no army, chariot or weapon can be raised.
Quick Facts
| Sanskrit name | काम |
|---|---|
| Title / Epithet | Desire That Cannot Be Killed |
| Faction | Divine Beings |
| Key traits | insatiable, protean, undying, persuasive |
| Notable relationships | Quoted by: Krishna, Enemy within: Yudhishthira |
| Featured in | 3 stories |
About Kama
Desire personified, whom Krishna quotes at the still-grieving Yudhishthira as the one enemy against whom no army, chariot or weapon can be raised. In the verses called the Kamagita, Kama boasts that every method turned against him becomes another costume he wears: met with muttered prayer he appears as the ego that prays, with sacrifice as virtue among living things, with learning as virtue among the unmoving, with patience as the mind itself, with penance as penance. Krishna's counsel is not to destroy him but to turn him toward dharma.
In Their Words
No creature destroys me; I put on whatever weapon is raised against me.
Kama
Traits
- insatiable
- protean
- undying
- persuasive
Story Appearances
Stories Featuring Kama
2 further tales on this site name Kama, in canonical reading order.
Character Arc
- The SongBoasts that prayer, sacrifice and penance are only its disguises
- The CounselKrishna tells the king to bend desire to virtue rather than fight it
Key Relationships
- Quoted byKrishna
- Enemy withinYudhishthira
Places in Kama's Story
Drawn from the stories Kama appears in.
Related Characters
Others counted among the Divine Beings.