Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.245

v1.c3.s21.245

*Hetairai*.—In the Rigveda⁶⁵ there are many references to illegitimate love and to the abandonment of the offspring of such unions,⁶⁶ especially in the case of a protégé of Indra, often mentioned as the *parāvykta* or *parāvrj*.⁶⁷ The ‘son of a maiden’ (*kumārī-putra*) is already spoken of in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā.⁶⁸ Such a person appears with a metronymic in the Upaniṣad period:⁶⁹ this custom may be the origin of metronymics such as those which make up a great part of the lists of teachers (Vamśas) of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.⁷⁰ The Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā⁷¹ refers to illicit unions of Śūdra and Ārya, both male and female, besides giving in its list of victims at the Puruṣamedha, or ‘human sacrifice,’ several whose designations apparently mean ‘courtesan’ (*atitvarī*)⁷² and ‘procuress of abortion’ (*aṭiṣkadvari*),⁷³ while the ‘dyeing woman’ (*rajayitrī*) is dedicated to sensuality.⁷⁴ Pischel and Geldner also see many references to Hetairai in other passages of the Rigveda,⁷⁵ especially where mention is made of Uṣas, the goddess of Dawn, who in their view is the characteristic Hetaira. At any rate, there is little doubt that the ‘dancer’ (*nṛtū*) referred to in one passage of the Rigveda⁷⁶ was a Hetaira. When women are referred to as going to the Samana, or ‘place of meeting,’ Hetairai are probably also meant.⁷⁷ Grave cases of immorality are alluded to in the Rigveda.⁷⁸ The love of father and daughter, as shown in the myth of Prajāpati,⁷⁹ is evidently censured, but the actual existence of this form of incest is recognized in the Atharvaveda.⁸⁰ Girls who had lost their natural protectors—father or brother⁸¹—were apt to be reduced to live by immorality.