Priti () is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

goddess. She is one of the two consorts of the god of love,

Kamadeva Kama ( sa, काम, ), also known as Kamadeva and Manmatha, is the Hindu god of love and desire, often portrayed alongside his consort, Rati. The Atharvaveda, Atharva Veda regards Kamadeva as the wielder of the creative power of the universe ...

, along with

Rati Rati ( sa, रति, ) is the Hinduism, Hindu Devi, goddess of List of love and lust deities, love, carnal desire, lust, passion, and sexual pleasure. Usually described as the daughter of ''Prajapati'' Daksha, Rati is the female counterpart, th ...

. Priti is regarded to represent affectionate love, while her co-wife, Rati, represents sensual pleasure. In other interpretations, Priti is regarded to be merely an epithet of Rati.

Legend

A daughter of

Daksha In Hinduism, Daksha (Sanskrit: दक्ष, IAST: , lit. "able, dexterous, or honest one") is one of the '' Prajapati'', the agents of creation, as well as a divine king-rishi. His iconography depicts him as a man with a stocky body and a ha ...

, Priti weds Kamadeva to become his second consort. She is also described to be an aspect of Vishnu's divine feminine energy. Priti accompanies her consort, Kamadeva, in his quest to disturb the penance of the deity

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

, in order to cause him to fall in love with

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...

. The

Garuda Purana The ''Garuda Purana'' is one of 18 ''Mahāpurāṇa'' texts in Hinduism. It is a part of Vaishnavism literature corpus, primarily centering around Hindu god Vishnu. Composed in Sanskrit and also available in various languages like Gujarati an ...

prescribes the worship of Priti alongside Kamadeva and Rati.

References

{{reflist Hindu goddesses