Skip to content
Kama

File:2_Erotic_Kama_statues_of_Khajuraho_Hindu_Temple_de_Lakshmana_Khajurâho_India_2013.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ1133107· pop 44· linked from 1,974 articles

Kama (Sanskrit: काम, ) is the concept of pleasure, enjoyment and desire in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It can also refer to "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature. However, the term is also used in a technical sense to refer to any sensory enjoyment, emotional attraction or aesthetic pleasure experienced in connection with the arts, dance, music, painting, sculpture, and nature.

Wikidata facts

Show 1 more fact
Commons category
Kama (religion)
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~16 min read

Article

15 sections
Contents
  • Definition in Hinduism
  • Importance of kama in Hinduism
  • Relative precedence among artha and dharma
  • Necessity for existence
  • Holistic
  • Stages of life
  • Deity
  • In Buddhism
  • Kama in Buddhist cosmology
  • Kama in Buddhist doctrine
  • Kama in monastic law and precepts
  • See also
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

Kama (Sanskrit: काम, ) is the concept of pleasure, enjoyment and desire in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It can also refer to "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature. However, the term is also used in a technical sense to refer to any sensory enjoyment, emotional attraction or aesthetic pleasure experienced in connection with the arts, dance, music, painting, sculpture, and nature.

In contemporary literature kama is often used to connote sexual desire and emotional longing, but the ancient concept is more expansive, and broadly refers to any desire, wish, passion, pleasure, or enjoyment of art and beauty, the aesthetic, enjoyment of life, affection, love and connection, and enjoyment of love with or without sexual connotations.

Gallery (9)

Connections

Categories