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Kama
The story of the birth of Kamadeva has several variants in different Hindu scriptures.
In early scriptures, including the Taittiriya Brahmana and the Mahabharata, Kamadeva is described as the son of Dharma, the personification of righteousness and a Prajāpati (progenitor deity).According to the Mahabharata, Dharma is said to have been born from Brahma’s right breast and fathered three sons: Shama (tranquility), Kama (desire), and Harsha (joy). Kama's mother is mentioned to be Dharma's wife Shraddha in Taittiriya Brahmana, while the appendix of the Mahabharata, Harivamsa, states his mother to be Lakshmi, another wife of Dharma.
According to Puranic scriptures including the Shiva Purana, the Kalika Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, and the Matsya Purana, Kama is one of the mind-born sons of the creator god Brahma.In the most common narrative, after Brahma creates all the prajapatis (agents of creation) and a maiden named Sandhya, an extremely handsome and youthful man emerges from his mind and enquires Brahma about the purpose of his birth. Brahma names him Kama and orders him to spread love in the world by shooting his flower arrows. Kama decides to first use his arrows against Brahma and shoots him with his floral arrows.[f] He becomes attracted to Sandhya and desires for her. The prajapati Dharma becomes worried by this and calls the god Shiva, who watches them and laughs at both Brahma and Kama.[g] Brahma regains consciousness and curses Kama to be burnt to ashes by Shiva in the future. However, on Kama's pleading, Brahma assures him that he will be reborn.[27][2][28][14][h] A later version of the myth is found in the Skanda Purana, according to which, Brahma creates Kama from his mind to ignite passion in the prajapatis (agents of creation) after they refused to procreate.
In some traditions, Kama is considered a son of the goddess of wealth Lakshmi, and the preserver god Vishnu due to his birth as Pradyumna to Rukmini and Krishna, the incarnations of Lakshmi and Vishnu respectively. According to Matsya Purana, Visnu-Krishna and Kamadeva have a historical relationship.