Love

===Indian===
[[File:Radha Madhavam.jpg|thumb|left|The love stories of the Hindu deities [[Krishna]] and [[Radha]] have influenced the Indian culture and arts. Above: Radha Madhavam by [[Raja Ravi Varma]].]]
In contemporary literature, the [[Sanskrit]] words for love is {{transliteration|sa|sneha}}. Other terms include {{transliteration|sa|priya}} which refers to innocent love, {{transliteration|sa|prema}} refers to spiritual love, and {{transliteration|sa|[[kama]]}} refers usually to sexual desire.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|first=Monier |last=Monier-Williams|url=https://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0300/mw__0304.html|chapter=काम, kāma|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019211540/http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0300/mw__0304.html |archive-date=19 October 2017 |title= Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=271}}
|2={{cite book|first=James|last=Lochtefeld|year=2002|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism|volume=1|publisher=Rosen Publishing|location=New York|isbn=0-8239-2287-1|page=340}} }}</ref> However, the term also refers to any sensory enjoyment, emotional attraction and aesthetic pleasure such as from arts, dance, music, painting, sculpture and nature.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book | last=Morris | first=Kate | title=The Illustrated Dictionary of History | publisher=Lotus Press | year=2011 | isbn=978-81-89093-37-2 | page=124 }}
|2={{cite book | last=Van Voorst | first=Robert E. | title=RELG: World | publisher=Cengage Learning | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-111-72620-1 | page=78}}
|3={{cite book | last=Prasad | first=Rajendra | title=A Conceptual-analytic Study of Classical Indian Philosophy of Morals | series=History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization | volume=12 | publisher=Concept Publishing Company | year=2008 | isbn=978-81-8069-544-5 | pages=249–270}} }}</ref>

The concept of {{transliteration|sa|kama}} is found in some of the earliest known verses in [[Veda]]s. For example, Book 10 of [[Rig Veda]] describes the creation of the universe from nothing by the great heat. In hymn 129, it states:
{{Blockquote|
1=<poem>
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rvsan/rv10129.htm|title=Rig Veda|at=Book 10, Hymn 129, Verse 4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216052950/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rvsan/rv10129.htm |archive-date=16 February 2018 }}</ref>

Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire the primal seed and germ of Spirit,
Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.
</poem>
|2=[[Rigveda|Rig Veda]]|3=~ {{BCE|15th century}}<ref>{{cite book|translator-first=Ralph T.H.|translator-last=Griffith|year=1897|url=https://archive.org/stream/hymnsrigveda00unkngoog|title=The Hymns of the Rigveda|volume=2|location=Benares|publisher=E.J. Lazarus and Co.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410225127/https://archive.org/stream/hymnsrigveda00unkngoog#page/n580/mode/2up |archive-date=10 April 2016|at=[https://archive.org/stream/hymnsrigveda00unkngoog#page/n580/mode/2up Book X, Hymn CXXIX, Verse 4, p. 575]}}</ref>}}
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