The
title of this article refers to the five arrows of Kāmadeva,
which are fashioned from five different flowers and their ontological
properties according to classical Indic textual traditions.
As a personified deity, Kāmadeva wields a bow and arrows with which he shoots his victims with love and other pleasures; his bow is described as a bow made of sugarcane, with a honey-soaked bowstring covered in bees.
The arrows within their multiple levels of ontological context are associated with the five primordial elements i.e. ether, air, fire, water and earth. The five elements have functional integrity with the five sensory organs, which allows us to perceive the external environment. Their presence is the reason for the existence of the senses themselves. The tanmātra form the common ground for the expression of the objective world and the entire world exists on this ground. In terms of desire these arrows produce passions such as sexual ecstasy (unmadana), burning (tāpaṇa), unconsciousness (saṁmohana), bewitching (śoṣaṇa), and paralysing (stambhana).
As a personified deity, Kāmadeva wields a bow and arrows with which he shoots his victims with love and other pleasures; his bow is described as a bow made of sugarcane, with a honey-soaked bowstring covered in bees.
The arrows within their multiple levels of ontological context are associated with the five primordial elements i.e. ether, air, fire, water and earth. The five elements have functional integrity with the five sensory organs, which allows us to perceive the external environment. Their presence is the reason for the existence of the senses themselves. The tanmātra form the common ground for the expression of the objective world and the entire world exists on this ground. In terms of desire these arrows produce passions such as sexual ecstasy (unmadana), burning (tāpaṇa), unconsciousness (saṁmohana), bewitching (śoṣaṇa), and paralysing (stambhana).
Property Table of Pūṣpābāṇas
|
Nāma
|
Cittānanda
(Bliss)
|
Kāmānanda
(Desire)
|
Sadānanda
(Continuity)
|
Rāmānanda
(Joy)
|
Vidyānanda
(Cognisance)
|
|
Śoṣaṇa
(Parching)
|
Mohana
(Enchanting)
|
Sandīpana
(Kindling)
|
Tāpaṇa
(Blazing)
|
Mādana
(Intoxicating)
|
|
|
Puṣpa
|
Āmra-Mañjarī
|
Aśoka-Mukula
|
Mādhavī
|
Mallikā
|
Maulsirī
|
|
Arvinda
|
Nīlotpala
|
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|
Rāga
|
Saṃmohana
(Fascinate)
|
Rōdana
(Constraint)
|
Unmadana
(Intoxicate)
|
Śoṣaṇa
(Incinerate)
|
Stambhana
(Paralyse)
|
|
Bhāva
|
Śānta
(Neutral)
|
Dāsya (Deferential)
|
Sakhya
(Convivial)
|
Vātsalya
(Paternal)
|
Śṛṅgāra
(Conjugal)
|
|
Mahābhūta
|
Pṛthivī
(Earth)
|
Apā
(Water)
|
Tejas
(Fire)
|
Vāyu
(Air)
|
Ākāśa
(Ether)
|
|
Tanmātra
|
Gandha
(Smell)
|
Rasa
(Taste)
|
Rūpa
(Corporeality)
|
Sparśa
(Touch)
|
Śabda
(Sound)
|
|
Jñānendriya
|
Nāsikā
(Nose)
|
Jihvā
(Tongue)
|
Cakṣus
(Eyes)
|
Tvacā
(Skin)
|
Karṇa
(Ears)
|
|
Karmendrīya
|
Payu
(Excretion)
|
Upastha
(Sex)
|
Padas
(Walking)
|
Pani
(Grasping)
|
Vāc
(Speaking)
|
|
Kleśa
|
Avidyā
(Ignorance)
|
Asmitā
(Ego)
|
Rāga
(Attachment)
|
Dveṣa
(Aversion)
|
Abhiniveśa
(Fear)
|
|
Bīja
|
Klāṃ
|
Klīṁ
|
Klūṃ
|
Klaiṁ
|
Klaūṁ
|
|
Sthāṇa
|
Aṅguṣṭha
(Thumb)
|
Tarjanī
(Fore)
|
Madhyamā
(Middle)
|
Anāmikā
(Ring)
|
Kaniṣṭha
(Little)
|
|
Vāyu
|
Apāna
(Exhalation)
|
Udāna
(Inhalation)
|
Samāna (Assimilation)
|
Vyāna
(Circulation)
|
Prāṇa
(Respiration)
|
|
Diśa
|
(West)
|
(East)
|
(South)
|
(North)
|
(Centre)
|
|
Quality
|
(Cohesion)
|
(Contraction)
|
(Expansion)
|
(Motion)
|
(Space)
|
|
Shape
|
(Cube)
|
(Semi-lunar)
|
(Pyramidal)
|
(Spherical)
|
(Oval)
|
