Kama at Work
The season wreaked havoc on the forest dwellers and sages with its surprise advent. Shiva alone remained unaffected-till Parvati appeared. Shiva was obviously not immune to the heady sights and sounds of spring and exhuded an aura of strong sexual attraction. Kama judged the moment to be ripe for attack and aimed the special arrow he had kept ready, the fragrant mango blossom. The moment sparked. Parvati was openly inviting and coquettish, Shiva responded and began to fondle her. Suddenly he drew back- he had gone too far.

Kama knew he had failed. Too startled to stop, he shot second arrow just as Shiva looked up and saw him. Kama panicked and thought of the gods. Shiva's third eye flamed sky-high and descending, reduced kama to ashes, before the gods could even try to save him. Shiva stood up and rudely warned Parvati off his seat and she went home, feeling rejected and humiliated. She had been spurned. Rati wept and wailed and Shiva, calming down, promised that kama would be reborn as krishna's son.

The fire released by Shiva's third eye threatened to engulf the world. Brahma came to the rescue just in time. The spreading flames were contained and entered the ocean in the form of a mare. There it stayed, quenching its insatiable thirst till it was time for the great dissolution. The ocean undertook to keep it burning.