Passion

Linguistics

Philosophy

Psychoanalysis

Sanskrit

Affection

Social psychology

Literature

Psychology

Volition (linguistics)

Word (group theory)

Rivista degli studi orientali

We will discuss several words in Sanskrit which are often rendered into the English word love, while examining their semantic content. Of these, (1) kāma is mainly characterized by volition and desire, (2) sneha by affection, (3) preman, prīti by fondness, pranaya by familiarity, vātsalya by tenderness, bhakti by devotion and maitrī by benevolence. We know that there remain still many words which are translatable as love, such as anurāga, rati which are connected with rāga (passion) and those connected with heart (hrdaya), the central seat of emotion, such as hārda, sauhārdya.

Words for love in Sanskrit