The Love Story Of Cupid

By : Sharon Supriya

Valentine's Day will loose colour without the presence of Cupid, the winged cherub with bow and arrows that he uses to strike people to fall in love. This article tells you about, what happened when Cupid became his own victim? This is his love story. The sweetest and the most beautiful love story that you can ever find. Read further to know all about Cupid, his love story, his origin and his role in the celebration of Valentine's Day.

According to Greek mythology, Cupid (Eros in the Greek) was son of Venus (Aphrodite in the Greek). This mischievous cherub of love was Venus's constant companion, armed with bow and arrows. He shot the arrows of desire into the bosoms of both gods and human beings. It is also said that he had two sets of arrow: one with gold headed, which inspired love and the other with lead headed, which inspired hatred.

Cupid is always portrayed as a child, though after the birth of his brother Anteros, he rapidly grew to a winged man. His personality in many of the art form is angelic and he is perceived to be angel like, due to the Christianisation of a number of Roman and Greek myths during the third and fourth century A.D. In literature, he is frequently pictured as fickle, playful, and perverse.

Cupid and his mortal bride - Psyche

Psyche was the daughter of a certain king and a queen who had three daughters. She was the youngest among all. The charms of the two elder were more than common, but the beauty of Psyche was just amazing without equal to any being in the world. The fame of her beauty grew like a burning fire. People from the neighboring countries came to see her. They marvelled at her beauty and classiness. They started worshipping the beauty bestowed on this young virgin by the Goddess Venus.

Venus became jealous of the beauty of Psyche, and ordered cupid to punish this mortal beauty. She asked cupid to infuse into her bosom a passion for some unworthy and ugly being. Cupid as per his mother's instructions went to strike Psyche with his arrows. Things didn't happen the way it was planned. Cupid accidentally got struck by his own arrow and fell in love with Psyche.

Meanwhile in the city Psyche's parents were worried, as the admiration and praise did not win any husband for her. For no man desired her as a wife. Due to this fear Psyche's parent consulted an oracle, which told them that she was destined for no mortal lover but for a monster. According to the commandment Psyche's parents dressed her in mourning garments and left her on top of nearby mountain peak. Then Zephyrus (Greek god of the west wind) carried Psyche to a fairy valley that had a magnificent palace. In the palace invisible servants attended her until dark. In the night the promised bridegroom (that is Cupid or Eros) arrived and married her. However as a mortal she was forbidden to look at him. Cupid feared that if she ever knew him she might fear him or adore him. Cupid wanted her to love him as an equal than adore him as a God.

Things were fine until Psyche listened to her elder sisters' wish to see her groom. They reminded her the prophecy from Oracles and asked to examine whether her lover is a monster. . One night armed with a sharp knife she looked at his face with the help of a lamp. Cupid became angry because of her defiance and curiosity. He left her lamenting on the ground for her folly.

Left with nothing, Psyche wandered in search of her lost love. She eventually arrived at the temple of Venus. Wishing to destroy her forever, the goddess of love and beauty gave Psyche a series of tasks, each harder and most dangerous than the last. However in all those tasks Psyche attained the secret assistance from Cupid.

In the final task, Psyche was given a little box and told to go to the underworld to get a little beauty of Proserpine, the wife of Pluto. Psyche was warned not to look into the box, but as a human bound curiosity she thought of having just a peep. Instead of revealing beauty she found death.

Cupid arrived and found his dead lover. He took the deadly sleep and gathered it in the box. As a result of her dominant love the Gods including Venus and Cupid forgave her for all her transgressions. Finally Psyche got united to Cupid and their subsequent child was named Delight or Voluptas or Volupta (that is Pleasure).

Cupid's love story has paved its way into the celebration of Valentine's Day. Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Another popular symbol are doves and lovebirds as these are the only birds that mate for life. It is also believed that they choose their mate in the mid of February.

So let all the Cupids and Psyches in the world get prepared! You may be striked by one of the Cupid's arrows in this February. You may meet your man or woman of dreams, who can walk through all the hurdles just to have your love. You need not search the dream person, for they will be carried to you. So be ready as he/she may knock at the door any time with a banner in their hand " Will You Be Mine".