Rati

Rati

Voluptuousness

ALSO KNOWN AS:

Ragalata, the Vine of Love

ORIGIN:

Bali, India

CLASSIFICATION:

Apsara

The night time is the right time to be with the one you love. Rati is the spirit of night as the time for lovers. In India, she is considered an Apsara, a shape-shifting water spirit. As the Balinese spirit of love, desire, fertility, maternity, and erotic delights, she manifests as a woman with big, milk-filled breasts and a large, ever-pregnant belly. She is a spirit of abundance and is usually understood to be pregnant with twins. She is an aggressively sexual spirit. Rati teaches romantic and sexual secrets. She is invoked for pleasurable sex, fulfilled love, romance, and fertility.

The Ratirahasya or “The Secrets of Love” is a twelfth-century erotic manual comparable to the Kama Sutra, the sacred erotic text named for Rati’s husband.

According to Hindu myth, originally Rati was plain, not beautiful or sexy, and no one wished to marry her. Rati sought Lakshmi’s help. Lakshmi gave her sixteen love charms, which made her so irresistible that Kama Deva, Lord of Love, himself fell in love with her.

THE LOVE Charms OF RATI

• Earrings

• Nose ring

• Toe ring

• Finger rings

• Bracelet

• Armlet

• Anklet

• Belt

• Necklace

• Hairpins

• Flowers

• Perfume

• Kohl

• Red sari

• Vermilion mark on forehead

• Lips stained red by fragrant nuts

In addition to providing love, Rati protects against thieves, wolves, nocturnal creatures, and malicious spirits, possibly because she also reputedly controls all of them.

MANIFESTATION:

A beautiful, sexy, pregnant woman

Husband:

Kama Deva

Flower:

Queen of the Night (Cestrum nocturnum), also known as Night Blooming Jessamine.

COLOUR:

Red

Time:

Night

OFFERINGS:

Incense, perfume, and luxurious, erotic gifts.

SEE ALSO:

• Apsara;
• Chinnamasta;
• Kama;
• Lakshmi

SOURCE:

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by :Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.