the Hindu deity of love, usually identified as the son ofVishnu and Lakshmi. He is depicted as a young man aimingflower arrows at the hearts of human beings. His bow is a stalkof sugarcane; his bowstring is made of bees. The image of Kamaoften appears in Indian fiction.
(until 1966, Butysh), an urban-type settlement in Kambarka Raion, Udmurt ASSR. Kama has a port (Kambarka) on the left bank of the Kama River, 9 km from the city of Kambarka, and a railroad station on the Kazan-Sverdlovsk line.
(from the Udmurt kam, “river,” “current”), a river in the European part of the USSR, a left tributary of the Volga. It measures 1, 805 km long and drains an area of 507, 000 sq km. The river originates in the central part of the Upper Kama Upland and flows primarily between the uplands of the High Trans-Volga Region along a broad valley that narrows in places. In its upper course the river is fluctuating and meanders across its ancient floodplain. Below its confluence with the Vishera the Kama has abundant water. The Kama Reservoir begins at the mouth of the Urolka River (996 km from the mouth of the Kama) and, directly below, is found the Votkinsk Reservoir. In its lower course the Kama flows through a broad (up to 15 km wide) valley and measures 450–1, 200 m wide; then the river branches. Below the mouth of the Viatka River the Kama flows into the Kama Bay of the Kuibyshev Reservoir (whose backwater sometimes reaches the mouth of the Belaia River). The main left-bank tributaries are the Iuzhnaia Kel’tma, the Vishera with the Kolva, the Chusovaia with the Sylva, the Belaia with the Ufa, the Ik, and the Zai rivers. The main right-bank tributaries are the Kosa, the Obva, and the Viatka rivers.
The Kama is fed mainly by snow and also by ground waters and rain. More than 60 percent of the annual flow occurs during the spring flooding (March-June). The water level varies as much as 8 m in the upper course and 7 m in the lower course. The mean flow rate at the Kama Hydroelectric Power Plant is 1, 630 cu m/sec; at the Votkinsk Plant about 1, 750 cu m/sec; and at the mouth about 3, 500 cu m/sec. The maximum flow rate is about 27, 500 cu m/sec. Freezing is accompanied by abundant channel ice and ice floes for 10–20 days. The river is icebound from the beginning of November in the upper course and the end of November in the lower course to April. Spring ice floes last from two or three days to 10–15 days. The creation of reservoirs has improved conditions for navigation. The Kama is navigable up to the settlement of Kerchevskii (966 km), the site of the largest sorting and bundling plant, and at high water is navigable for another 600 km. The navigable depths of the lower Kama are maintained by dredging. When the Lower Kama Hydroelectric Power Plant is completed and the reservoir is filled, the lower Kama will also become deep. The main ports and landings are Solikamsk, Berezniki, Levshino, Perm’, Krasnokamsk, Chaikovskii, Sarapul, Kambarka, Naberezhnye Chelny, and ChistopoF. From Perm’ there is regular passenger service to Moscow, Gorky, Astrakhan, and Ufa. The picturesque banks of the Kama attract a large number of tourists.
K. G. TIKHOTSKII