The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c21.37

v1.c21.37

When a boy is initiated he is made to mount a stone with the adjuration to be 'firm as a stone' which elsewhere is confined to the bride, and is then given in charge to 'Kashaka (Kaçaka), Antaka, Aghora, Disease, Yama, Makha, Vaçinī, Earth and Vaiçvānara, Waters, Herbs, Trees, Heaven and Earth, Welfare, Glory, the All-gods, all the Bhūts, and all the gods' (Hiraṇyakeçin, *G.S.*, i, 2, 6, 5). In this list of demons and deities to whom the boy is given in charge, Vaçinī as the 'ruling goddess' is noticeable. She is probably the mother-goddess who despite all Vedic influence always was the chief spiritual village-power identified with Çiva's wife in various forms. Perhaps too the recognition (in a rite to procure increase of cattle) of a god described merely as 'He who has a thousand arms and is the protector of cowkeepers' (*Gaupatya*), may be a veiled allusion to Kṛishṇa-Vishṇu (Gobhila, iv, 5, 18).