Ananga Trayodashi 2071

Ananga Trayodashi honours Kamadeva, the god of love, under his name Ananga (“the bodiless one”), a name he carries after Lord Shiva reduced his physical form to ash. The observance is kept on Chaitra Shukla Trayodashi.

According to the Puranic legend, the Devas, threatened by the demon Tarakasura (who could only be defeated by a son born of Lord Shiva), sent Kamadeva to rouse Shiva from his deep meditation in the Himalayas so that he might turn toward Parvati. Kamadeva took aim and loosed his flower-arrow at Shiva. Shiva, disturbed in his tapas, opened his third eye in anger, and its fire reduced Kamadeva's physical body to ash on the spot, hence his name Ananga, “without a body.”

Kamadeva's wife Rati was left grief-stricken, and through her devotion and penance, sought Shiva's mercy. Moved by her sorrow, Shiva granted that Kama would continue to exist, formless, pervading the world as the very force of love and desire, even without a physical body. Ananga Trayodashi's worship of Kamadeva and Rati in this bodiless form is traditionally associated with marital harmony and conjugal happiness.