Rati

Rati is the wife of Manmatha, who is also called Kāma, the deva of desire. She is love and desire in the form of a woman. The Purāṇas tell of her in several places: in the Padma Mahāpurāṇa she is sent to test Sūkala, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa she grieves when Manmatha is burned, and in the Śiva Purāṇa she begs Bhagavān Śiva to bring him back.

Birth from Dakṣa’s sweat

The Śiva Purāṇa, in the Rudra Saṃhitā, Satī Khaṇḍa, gives another account of how Rati was born. She was born from the sweat of Dakṣa Prajāpati, in the heat of his creative tapas (austerity).

Rati and Sūkala

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahāpurāṇa (Chapter 58) tells how Indra and Manmatha tried to break the pātivratya (devotion to her husband) of Sūkala, the faithful wife of Kṛkala. Rati went to Sūkala as one of their messengers, together with Krīḍā.

Krīḍā had already led Sūkala into a beautiful divine garden. It was Manmatha’s own kingdom. It had flowers of every season, divine scents and the songs of a hundred kokilas (cuckoos). Rati came before Sūkala with great joy and greeted her with a blessing: “May auspiciousness be yours!” She invited Sūkala to enjoy the pleasures of the forest. She said that the great Indra was captivated by her beauty. She asked what Sūkala desired and promised to bring it.

Sūkala answered politely but firmly. Her husband was with her even though he was far away, because his guṇas (qualities) of dharma, satya (truth), dama (self-control) and jñāna (knowledge) always stayed with her as her protectors. She wanted nothing except her husband’s return. Neither Rati’s joy nor Indra’s interest moved her, and not even Indra could conquer her. Rati and Krīḍā went back in shame to tell Manmatha and Indra that Sūkala could not be won.

The Kāma-saras and Aśrubindumati

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa (Chapter 77) tells how Rati made the divine Kāma-saras lake and how Aśrubindumati was born.

Śiva’s third eye burned Manmatha to ash, and Rati was overcome with grief. She came to a great lake in a forest. It was five yojanas wide and ten yojanas long. She wept there in her sorrow. Her tears of śoka (grief) filled the lake. They also gave rise in the world to jarā (old age), viyoga (separation) and duḥkha (sorrow). This is the Kāma-saras, and its waters carry the quality of Rati’s grief.

Later Manmatha was given back to her. Rati returned to the same lake and wept again, this time with ānanda (joy). Her tears fell into the water and made a lotus with a thousand petals in the middle of the lake. From this lotus Aśrubindumati was born. She is called ratiputrī, the daughter of Rati. She grew up at the lake as a divine being of great beauty. Viśālā, the daughter of Varuṇa, was always her friend (sakhī). Aśrubindumati later became the wife of Yayāti by Gāndharva-vivāha (a marriage by mutual consent).

The burning of Manmatha in the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa

The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa (Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24) gives a fuller account of Rati at the burning of Manmatha than the Kedāra Khaṇḍa does.

Rati went with Manmatha and Vasanta to the tapovana (forest of austerity) of Bhagavān Śiva on the slopes of Himavān. She was there through all of it. She saw Manmatha use the humming of bees as a pretext to enter Śiva’s mind. She saw Śiva’s eyes open for a moment and him notice the intruder. She saw Manmatha run away while Śiva chased him through all three worlds, his arrow still aimed. She was there when Śiva went back to his āśrama (hermitage) and breathed out with great force, when the third eye opened and the fire came out.

In an instant Manmatha, the most beautiful being in existence and her husband, became ash (bhasma). Rati-devī was overcome with grief that nothing could ease. Vasanta, the companion of spring who had come with Manmatha, tried to comfort her, but her sorrow was too great.

Śiva heard her lament and looked on her with compassion. He said:

“Amba (mother)! Even without a visible rūpa (form), your husband will be able to do what you need of him at the right time. There is no doubt of it. When Vāsudeva (Bhagavān Viṣṇu) is born as a human being, the son born to him will be your husband again. This is certain.”

Comforted, Rati-devī bowed to Śiva in thanks. She knew that Manmatha would be reborn as Pradyumna, the son of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. With Vasanta and those who had come with them, she went to the place she liked best.

The abduction by Śambara in the Kedāra Khaṇḍa

The Kedāra Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa (Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 21) tells what happened next. After the burning, the asura Śambara came and carried Rati away while she was helpless. He kept her in his house under the name Māyāvatī and made her work as a kitchen servant. She bore this humbling life for years, held up by Śiva’s promise.

Pradyumna was born to Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī. Śambara knew that the child was Manmatha born again and so was destined to destroy him. He took the baby and threw him into the sea. A fish swallowed the child. The fish was caught and brought to Śambara’s kitchen. When it was cut open, Rati, as Māyāvatī, found the child and knew him. She raised Pradyumna in secret. When he grew up, he killed Śambara and took back his wife Rati.

Rati’s appeal at the wedding feast

The Pārvatī Khaṇḍa gives a separate account of how Kāmadeva was brought back to life, and Rati has the central part in it.

At the wedding feast of Śiva and Pārvatī (Chapter 51), Rati chose her moment with care. The whole assembly of devas was full of goodwill, and Śiva had just known the joy of his own wedding. It was the time of greatest compassion, when a refusal was least likely.

Rati came to Śiva carrying the wrapped ashes (bhasma) of Manmatha. She wept before him and spoke openly from her heart: “O Bhagavān Śiva, ocean of compassion! You have received the gift of Pārvatī at this great wedding, and every being here is full of joy. I alone am without joy, for my husband was destroyed by your fire. He acted not for himself but for the need of all the worlds. How can I be left in sorrow while everyone else celebrates? O Dīnabandhu, friend of the afflicted! Give my husband back to me.”

She pressed further: “If my husband is restored, your own joy with Pārvatī will be complete. Without the work of Kāma, the world that needs it to continue will be incomplete.”

Sarasvatī, Lakṣmī and twelve other divine women had come to the wedding feast. Moved by Rati’s tears, they joined her in one appeal: “O Bhaktavatsala (one who loves his devotees)! O Dīnabandhu! Give joy to this grieving woman. Bring Manmatha back to life.”

Śiva, the karuṇāsāgara (ocean of compassion), was moved. He looked at Rati and at the ashes she carried with his amṛta-dṛṣṭi, the gaze that dissolves death and gives back life. The fire of his sight touched the ash.

Manmatha rose from the ashes alive and shining, in exactly the form he had before he was burned. He carried his sugarcane bow and his five flower-arrows. Rati saw her husband restored in his first beauty and was overcome. She bowed first to Manmatha and then to Śiva, and offered prayers of deep thanks.

Sources

• Padma Mahāpurāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 58, 77
• Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 23–24
• Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 21
• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Satī Khaṇḍa
• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 51