There is a famous legend that relates Kaamadeva, the love god of Indian mythology, to the festival of Holi. According to this story, Lord Shiva's consort Sati committed herself to fire due to disgrace shown by her father Daksha to Shiva. At the same time, Parvati (the daughter of the mountains), started meditating to acquire Shiva as her husband. All this added to Shiva's already reticent nature with the result that he renounced his worldly duties and went into deep meditation.
To bring Shiva back to his original self, the gods went to Kaamadeva. Even though he knew that he might have to suffer the consequences of troubling Lord Shiva, Kaamadeva agreed for the sake of the world. Kaamadeva is believed to have shot his love arrow on Lord Shiva to break his meditation and evoke his interest in worldly affairs. Kama's body was reduced to ashes by the force of an angry Shiva’s third eye, when he shot a flower-draped arrow at him to disrupt his penance. On the tearful requests of Kama's wife Rati, the lord restored him, but only as a mental image, representing true love rather than physical lust.
People of Tamil Nadu follow the tradition of worshiping Kaamadeva, the love god of Indian mythology on Holi. The Holi bonfire, also known as Kama-Dahanam is a celebration of this mythological event. In fact, in the state of Tamil Nadu, Holi is known by three different names - Kamavilas, Kaman Pandigai and Kama-Dahanam.
