Vedic Mythology c5.s5: E. Goddesses

Vedic Mythology c5.s5

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c5.s5.t1 § 43. Goddesses — 20 parts

E. Goddesses

§ 43. Goddesses

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Goddesses occupy a very subordinate position in Vedic belief and worship. They play hardly any part as rulers of the world. The only one of any importance is Uṣas, who judged by the statistical standard ranks as a deity of the third class (p. 20). But, unlike nearly all the gods, she received no share in the Soma offering¹. Next to her comes Sarasvatī (§ 33), who, however, only ranks with the lowest class of deities. A few other goddesses are praised in one hymn each. Pṛthivī, hardly separable from Dyaus, is praised in one short hymn of three stanzas (§ 34). Rātrī, Night, is also invoked in one hymn (10, 127). Like her sister Dawn, she is called the daughter of Heaven. She is not conceived as the dark, but as the bright starlit night. She shines manifoldly with her eyes. Decked with all splendour, she fills the valleys and heights, driving away the darkness with light. At her approach men return home like birds to their nests. She is invoked to keep away the wolf and the thief, guiding her worshippers to safety. Night probably became a goddess by way of antithesis to Dawn, with whom she is invoked in several verses as a dual divinity² (pp. 48. 129). Vāc, personified Speech, is celebrated in one hymn (10, 125 cp. 71), in which she describes herself. She accompanies all the gods and supports Mitra-Varuṇa, Indra-Agni, and the Aśvins. She bends Rudra's bow against the unbeliever. Her place is in the waters, the sea. She encompasses all beings. In another passage (8, 89[^10.

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11]) she is called queen of the gods and divine³. In the Naighaṇṭuka (5, 5) Vāc is enumerated among the deities of the atmosphere; and thunder, or *mādhyamikā vāc*, 'the voice of the middle region', in the terminology of the commentators (Nir. 11, 27), may have been the starting point of the personification. A legend about Vāc frequently referred to in the Brāhmaṇas is that of Soma being bought back from the Gandharvas at the price of Vāc transformed into a woman (AB. 1, 27). Puraṃdhi, whose name occurs about nine times in the RV., is goddess of Plenty⁴. She is nearly always mentioned with Bhaga⁵, two or three times also with Pūṣan and Savitṛ, and once with Viṣṇu and Agni. Pārendi, commonly regarded as identical with Puraṃdhi, is generally considered a goddess of riches and abundance (cp. Yaṣt 8, 38) in the Avesta⁶. Hillebrandt, however, thinks Puraṃdhi is a goddess of Activity⁷. Another goddess of abundance is Dhiṣaṇā, mentioned nearly a dozen times in the RV.⁸. Iḷā, Nourishment, is the personification (mentioned less than a dozen times in the RV.) of the offering of milk and butter, thus representing plenty derived from the cow. Hence Iḍā is in the Brāhmaṇas frequently connected with, though never an actual name of, the cow; and in the Naighaṇṭuka (2, 11) it occurs as one of the synonyms of cow. Owing to the nature of the offering Iḷā is called butter-handed (7, 16⁸) and butter-footed (10, 70⁸).

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As a personification she generally appears in the Āprī hymns, in which she usually forms a triad with Sarasvatī and Mahī or Bhāratī⁹. It is doubtful whether the literal or the personified sense is intended by the phrase *iḷāyās pade*, 'in the place of nourishment' (i. e. of the sacrificial fire). Agni is once called the son of Iḷā, clearly in allusion to the place of his production (3, 29[^9. 10]). Purūravas is also said to be her son (10, 95¹⁸). She is once called the mother of the herd (*yūtha*) and connected with Urvaśī (5, 41¹⁹). She is once mentioned with Dadhikrāvan and the Aśvins in reference to the morning sacrifice (7, 44²). In the ŚB. she is called the daughter of Manu (1, 8, 1⁸; 11, 5, 3⁵) as well as of Mitra-Varuṇa (1, 8, 1²⁷; 14, 9, 4²⁷; ĀŚS. 1, 7⁷). The name of the goddess Bṛhaddivā occurs four times in hymns to the Viśvedevas. She is called a mother (10, 64¹⁰) and is mentioned with Iḷā (2, 31⁴; 5, 41¹⁹), Sarasvatī and Rākā (5, 42¹²). Rākā (probably from *√rā*, to give) is mentioned only twice in the RV. as a rich and bountiful goddess, who is invoked with others (2, 32⁷; 5, 42¹²). Sinīvālī is referred to in two hymns of the RV. (2, 32; 10, 184). She is a sister of the gods, broad-hipped, fair-armed, fair-fingered, prolific, a mistress of the family, and is implored to grant offspring. She is invoked with Sarasvatī, Rākā, as well as Guṅgū (who is only mentioned here). In the AV. (8, 46³) Sinīvālī is called the wife of Viṣṇu.

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The later Saṃhitās and the Brāhmaṇas also mention a goddess Kuhū, a personification of the new moon¹⁰. Rākā and Sinīvālī are in later Vedic texts connected with phases of the moon, the former being the presiding deity of the actual day of full moon, and the latter, of the first day of new moon. There is nothing to show that any such connexion is to be found in the RV¹¹.

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¹ Bergaigne, Recherches sur l'histoire de la liturgie védique, p. 9. —

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⁴ PVS. 2, 202—16; Bloomfield, JAOS. 16, 19; ORV. 63. —

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⁵ Cp. Oldenberg, SBE. 46, 190. —

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⁷ Hillebrandt, WZKM. 3, 188—94. 259—73; cp. also V. Henry, Vedica, 1re série, p. 1 ff., Mémoires de la Société de ling. 9. —

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⁸ PVS. 2, 82 ff.; Oldenberg, SBE. 46, 120—2. —

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⁹ Weber, IS. 1, 168—9; BRV. 1, 325; GGH. 51; ORV. 238. 326; SBE. 46, 11. 156. 191. 288; Baunack, KZ. 34, 563. —

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A few other goddesses occasionally mentioned in the RV. have already been incidentally referred to. Pṛṣni, the mother of the Maruts (p. 78) presumably represents the mottled storm-cloud¹². The word is also used as an adjective in the sense of speckled (cp. 7, 103⁶. ¹⁰), in the singular as an attribute of both bull and cow, and in the plural, of the cows which milk Soma for Indra (1, 84¹⁰. ¹¹; 8, 6¹⁹. 7¹⁰. 58³). It thus came to mean ‘speckled cow’, and finally ‘speckled cloud’. Saraṇyū occurs once in the RV. (10, 17²) as the name of Tvaṣṭṛ’s daughter, wedded to Vivasvat. The most likely interpretation seems to be that which identifies her with the sun-maiden Sūryā or Uṣas, the Dawn¹³. The word also occurs four times as an adjective in the RV. meaning ‘swift’. It is an ordinary Sanskrit formation, derived with the suffix *-yu* from *saraṇa*, speed (*√sṛ*, to run), like *caraṇ-yu* and others.

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² OST. 5, 191; HRI. 79 f. —

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³ Weber, IS. 9, 473 ff.; BRI. 16; Oldenberg, ZDMG. 39, 58—9; WC. 85—6; HRI. 142—3. 226. —

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⁶ Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman 25; SBE. 4, lxx; 23, 11; Mills, SBE. 31, 25; PVS. 1, 202; Sp.AP. 207—9; Colinet, BOR. 2, 245; 4, 121; Trans. Or. Cong. 1892, 1, 396—420. —

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¹⁰ ZDMG. 9, lviii. —

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¹² Cp. Roth on Nir. 10, 39, p. 145. —

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¹³ Bloomfield, JAOS. 15, 172—88, where the opinions of his predecessors are stated. —

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Goddesses as wives of the great gods similarly play an insignificant part in the Veda. They are altogether without independent character, simply representing the spouses whom such gods as Indra must have had. Hardly anything about them is mentioned but their names, which are simply formed from those of the gods with the feminine suffix *-ānī*. Thus *Indrāṇī* is simply ‘wife of Indra’¹⁴. Varuṇānī and Agnāyī also occur in the RV., but rarely. Rudrāṇī is not found till the Sūtras, but she plays a decidedly more important part in the cult than any of the other goddesses in *-ānī*¹⁵. The wife of the Aśvins is once in the RV. called Aśvinī (= Sūryā: p. 51)¹⁶. The ‘wives of the gods’ (*devānām patnīḥ*) occasionally mentioned in the RV. have in the Brāhmaṇas an established place assigned to them in the cult apart from the gods (ŚB. 1, 9, 2¹¹)¹⁷.

Linked texts (2)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit