kama

1. A sickle-like weapon, originally used as a tool for cutting weeds.

1. HinduismuncountableThe act or process of wishing; longing, desire (with or without sexual connotations); one of the goals of life in Hindu tradition.

   The place of kāma or the pursuit of love and pleasure in the balanced Hindu scheme of life derives from the importance attached to the life of the married householder (grhastha).

   1958, V. Raghavan, “Chapter XII: Kāma, The Third End of Man”, in Stephen N Hay, William Theodore De Bary, editors, Sources of Indian Tradition, volume 2, page 258

   1 more example

   Ancient Indian thought divides the principal aims of human existence into dharma (religion, morality, social obligations), artha (economics, politics, power), and kāma (erotic pleasure, sexual interaction, sexual gratification).

   2006, “Indian Erotology”, in Alan Soble, editor, Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia, Volume 1: A-L, page 493

1. A major river in Russia, the longest left tributary of the Volga.

   He was ordered to seek out the rebels along the Kama and the Viatka.

   1995, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich Solovʹev, History of Russia, page 33

   2 more examples

   It was led by Sen. Henry Javkson (D-Wash.), who referred at some length to an IBM computer and assorted other technology we have sold the Russians for use in their vast Kama River truck plant.

   1979 August 20, “Editorial: Limiting System Exports”, in Computerworld, page 14

   According to Ponomarev's calculations, the Kama in the 1890s annually supplied the Volga with up to 850000 logs, of which about 250000 came from the Chusovaya, about 250000 from the Vyatka and its tributaries, 150000 from the Belaya,[…].

   1986, Soviet Geography, volume 27, page 125

1. HinduismlifestyleThe Hindu god of love, Kamadeva

   In Indian mythology, Kāma is the counterpart of Cupid.

   1969, Allie M. Frazier, Readings in Eastern Religious Thought: Hinduism, page 35

   3 more examples

   Fundamentally, the doctrine and technique of Kāma go back to primitive antiquity.

   1956, Heinrich Robert Zimmer, Philosophies of India, page 145

   On seeing Kāma annihilated there, the Devas and the groups of celestial damsels became frightened.

   2001, Jagdish Lal Shastri, Arnold Kunst, G. P. Bhatt, Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology, volume 63, page 429

   However, when Śiva saw the proud Kāma getting ready to let another arrow fly, he got angry.

   2006, Catherine Benton, God of Desire: Tales of Kamadeva in Sanskrit Story Literature, page 52

   Synonyms: Kamadeva

plural Kamas

1. A surname.