MADANA, a name of Kama, the hindu god of love. In the hindu religion, festivals are held on the 13th and 14th of the month Cheyth*, in honour of Kama, the god of love. Madana, he who intoxicates, with desire, Kama are both the epithets of the god of love. [X]

I have this morning sent Madhava too, having roused his curiosity, to the Makaranda garden where the festival in honour of Madana has commenced. I hear that Malati is to go there, so that the two lovers might see each other. [X]

If I am correct, the 13th day of the brighter half of Chaitra fell on April 2 or 3, 2015.  The day was once dedicated to Kama, the God of Love and known as Madanotsav or Kamotsav (Festival of Madana/Kama aka Festival of Love).  The festival – which usually took place in a grove on the outskirts of a town – occurs quite often in Sanskrit plays. In Mṛcchakaṭika and Maltimadhava it is the day on which the lovers first meet, both texts describe the festival. It is also mentioned in records of Akbar’s time and there is mention of the festival in Udaipur in the 19th century.  The festival was also celebrated in the South of India as Kaman Vilavu.  Despite its seemingly widespread nature, fairly early on in the country’s history it was largely replaced by Holi as the significant spring festival. Along with this a shift from the worship of Kama and Vasant (spring, Kama’s companion) to Krishna also took place, there are in fact no surviving Kama temples.

Given the spring association, Kama is usually represented with a sugarcane bow, a bowstring of bees and arrows tipped with flowers.

In the pics:
1: Cover of Yavana Rani
2: Krishna and Radha
3 & 4:  Vibhasa, a dawn ragini, where the man is usually represented as Kama. 5: Modern Kalighat by Bhaskar Chitrakar.
6: My cousin’s sketch entitled “Love Day”:)

*Chaitra