The Development of Hindu Iconography c9.41.2

c9.41.2

99, 3. In the first verse Indra is prayed to in order that the Rākṣasas may not harm the hymnist and he may kill the ferocious animals; the god is also besought not to let the Śiśnadevas approach the sacrifice (Na yātava jūjuvurno na vandanā śaviṣṭha vedyābhiḥ | Sa śardhadaryo viṣuṇasya jantormā śiśnadevā api gurṛtam naḥ); in the second one, Indra is described as having slain the Śiśnadevas, when he won the treasure of the hundred-gated fort (Anarvā yacchatadurasya vedo ghnañchiśnadevāñ abhi varpasā bhūt). These Śiśnadevas, as they are mentioned along with the Rākṣasas (yātava) in the first, and as they are looked down upon and deprecated, have been taken by many European and Indian scholars to denote the original settlers of India, the word meaning, according to them, those that have the phallus for their deity (śiśna devaḥ yeṣāṃ te). It must be said, however, that Sāyaṇa offered quite a different explanation of the term. He took it to mean those people that were addicted to sensual pleasures. The exact words used by Sāyaṇa in his commentary are—Śiśnena divyanti krīḍanti iti śiśnadevāḥ | Abrahmacaryā ityarthah—which means that Śiśnadevas are those who play with their organs of generation, i.e., those that have fallen from the vow of a Brahmacārī. He quotes Yāska in his support in this manner—Tathā ca Yāskaḥ | Sa utsahatāṃ yo viṣuṇasya jantorviṣamasya mā śiśnadevā abrahmacaryāḥ | Śiśnam snathateḥ | Api gurṛtaṃ naḥ satyam vā yajñam vā | (Nirukta, IV., 19).