Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c21.68

v2.c21.68

P. 391, last l. text. Perhaps this is the place for a more detailed account of the demons that are especially dangerous to children according to iii, 230.16 ff. The six Kṛttikā (Pleiades), Skanda’s nurses, in various shapes torment and eat children, but also protect them, if they are given worship; a horrible demon sprung from Skanda’s body is called Skandāpasmāra, and would seem to cause convulsions in children; Pūtanā (Çitapūtanā) carries off the fruit of the womb; Diti, the mother of the foes of the gods, as also all the youthful male and female beings born from Skanda’s body, and the husbands of these latter (Kumāra and Kumārī, cp. 228.1 ff.) have a taste for children’s flesh. On Surabhi, the first mother of cows, rides the foremother of birds and Garuḍa’s mother, Vinatā, and together with her eats children. In the very womb Saramā, the first of bitches, steals the tender forms; the mother of trees also, who dwells in the tree Karañja, and is worshipped there to get children, is dangerous to them, but becomes very friendly if she is shown fitting honour. These graha, who all like flesh and honey (cf. p. 240, note 1), stay for ten days in the lying-in room. The mother of the Gandharvas, and the mother of the Apsarases carry away the fœtus. The daughter of the “red sea” (cp. iii, 226.28; 231.11), who is worshipped in the kadamba-tree, and takes the same high place for women as does Rudra for men, is also one of the demons who show their maliciousness towards pregnant women and children; but also she bestows well-being, if service is rendered to her, as do all the other male and female beings that surround Skanda (cp. 228.1–9). For making these favourable or to ward them away praçamana (appeasing rites), snāna (bathing), dhūpana (incense), añjana (annointing), upahāra (dedicatory gifts) are used. Then they bestow powers of life and manhood. People, be it said, are children up to the sixteenth year. In 231.16, too, we are told of man-eating female genii of growth, called Vṛddhikā, who have their birth-place and probably abode in trees, and must be worshipped by those who wish for offspring. These spirit-beings are therefore nearly all clearly marked out as being demons of plant life and of fruitfulness. The Indian “Mars”, Skanda, usually the son of the procreative godheads Çiva and Pārvatī, is himself a phallic being. One of his faces, and indeed that which his “mothers” like best, is that of a ram, his weapon is the spear, known as a phallic symbol; his mothers and his often half-animal following are likewise spirits that have a connection with growth and procreation. This following according to iii, 231.11–12 arises from trees. He is