Kama looked at Vasanta in despair, for he simply saw no way for them to penetrate the complete absorption of Shiva. Rati caught the glance and, responding to his need, placed her small hand in his, holding it with childlike trust. That small gesture gave him the epiphany he had prayed for and he finally had his answers. Signaling to Rati and Vasanta to step back, Kama prepared himself. He notched his arrow and tensed in concentration but did not let the arrow fly.

Instead he closed his eyes and dwelt on love and loss. He remembered the terrible grief he had felt when Purnakala was taken away from him. But even that paled into  insignificance when he thought of his impending separation from Rati. A terrible sense of loss flooded his senses, and not knowing when or if they would ever be together again, his heart broke into a million pieces. At that moment Kama knew with dread certainty that even his impending death would be less excruciating.

As his mind unravelled with grief that almost bordered on madness, Kama forced himself to dwell on his sorrow, till that welcome moment when Shiva recognized a kindred spirit in the vicinity and opened his mind to him in an outpouring sympathy and empathy. Their spirits were conjoined in their combined misery and Kama felt Shiva's deep-rooted loss as if it were his own. Precious memories of a happier time with the gentle Goddess who had loved him so, the apprehension he had snuffed out when he had allowed Sati to attend her father's yagna, and the all-encompassing guilt he felt over her subsequent fate, were all revealed in their nakedness to Kama--so much so that he almost recoiled as the white hot anguish scorched him with its throbbing intensity.

 

 

Aching for Shiva even more than he did for himself, Kama insinuated himself further into the core of the Destroyer, desperate to help him and bring him out of that pall of suffering. Ever so gently, he held out the tender promise of hope, sensing that the Destroyer's loneliness was profound. Kama now proceeded to flood Shiva's mind with the images of a reality that he had not embraced yet--whispering to him of the long-lost Sati who had come back to him  in another form. With delicate strokes, the story of Parvati of the fawn eyes and the kind heart was painted. Kama missed out nothing--the yearning she had felt for Shiva since her youngest days, the hardships she had endured for his sake, the dedication of the young life towards caring for him--all were laid bare before the mind's eye of the three-eyed God. 

Miraculously, the sparks of hope Kama had ignited using the Destroyer's flinty yearning caught fire and filled him with an alien happiness. Eager to see the miracle for himself, Shiva brushed away the trappings of his ascetic fervour and opened his eyes in sudden heady anticipation to see Parvati on her knees before him, head bowed in silent prayer. As he gazed at her with naked longing, Parvati felt it in the manner of an intimate touch, and she blushed red, although she refused coyly to raise her eyes to meet his. Something within Shiva stirred slowly to  life and at that moment, Kama fired five arrows into his exposed heart in quick succession.    

For one glorious moment, all was well with the world, for Shiva believed that he had got his Sati back. Parvati dared to meet his gaze then and the spell was shattered for it was a stranger's eyes Shiva saw. He realized with a dreadful pang of fresh anguish that he had been cheated and the Sati he loved was never coming back. Fate was merely offering him a replacement and he rejected her outright. It was like losing his Sati all over again and Shiva tottered on the brink of madness as the devastating grief threatened to tear him into pieces. His fierce survival instincts kicked in as primordial rage coursed through him, drowning out all other emotions in the rush, searching for the interloper who had dared trespass on the innermost reaches of his mind with voyeuristic abandon before freely tampering with his heart. 

Shiva's eyes locked into Kama's for a split second. The magnitude of his wrath should have reduced Kama to a limp mass of terror--for there was death writ large in those eyes--but Kama stood erect and refused to flinch. In the eye of his victim, Shiva saw nothing but understanding and pity. It was more than he could stand and the tenuous restraints holding his rage in check snapped. He opened his dreaded third eye and the offending individual who had dared feel sorry for the mighty Destroyer was reduced to ash. 

 

Kamadeva -- The God of Desire, Anuja Chandramouli, p. 125-7