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Vedic Mythology c5.s8.t3: § 49. Tutelary Deities

Vedic Mythology c5.s8.t3

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§ 49. Tutelary Deities

c5.s8.t3.1

— The name of Vā́stoṣ páti occurs only seven times in the RV., and one hymn of three stanzas (7, 54) is devoted to his praise. He is there invoked to grant a favourable entry, to remove disease, to bless man and beast, to confer prosperity in cattle and horses, and always to afford protection. In the first verse of the hymn immediately following (7, 55¹) he is described as a destroyer of disease, who assumes all forms. He is once (7, 54²) identified with Soma, being addressed as Indu. In a verse of a hymn to the All-gods (5, 41⁸) he is invoked in immediate juxtaposition with Tvaṣṭr and is perhaps identified with him as the great artificer. In another verse (8, 17¹⁴) he is called a firm pillar, a cuirass of Soma-pressers, and seems to be identified with Indra. In the only passage of the tenth book which mentions him, he is spoken of as the observer of ordinances who, along with prayer (*brahma*), was fashioned by the gods (10, 61⁷). According to GELDNER¹ Rudra is here meant, Vāstoṣpati being an epithet of that god in TS. 3, 40, 10³. Though identified with various deities in the above passages, there seems no sufficient reason to suppose that the name was originally attached to any one particular greater deity as an epithet (like *gṛhapati* to Agni). The Gṛhya Sūtras (ĀGS. 2, 9⁹; ŚGS. 3, 4; PGS. 3, 4⁷) prescribe that Vāstoṣpati is to be propitiated when a new house is to be entered. This, together with the contents of the hymn devoted to his praise, points to his having been simply a tutelary deity of the house², as the name itself 'Lord of the dwelling' implies. He thus seems to be one of the lower order of deities which in primitive beliefs animate, inhabit, or preside over natural objects such as trees and mountains.

c5.s8.t3.2

² Cp. BLOOMFIELD, SBE. 42, 343—4.

c5.s8.t3.3

To the same order belongs Kṣetrasya pati the tutelary deity of the field. He is invoked, in the first three verses of 4, 57, to grant cattle and horses as well as to fill heaven and earth, plants and waters with sweetness³. In a verse of a hymn to the All-gods (7, 35¹⁰) he is besought, along with Savitṛ, the Dawns, and Parjanya, to bestow prosperity. In a similar hymn (10, 66¹³), worshippers express a desire to have him as a neighbour. The Gṛhya Sūtras state that he is sacrificed to or worshipped when a field is ploughed (AGS. 2, 10⁴; ŚGS. 4, 13⁵). In one verse of a hymn addressed to agricultural deities (4, 57⁶) Sītā, the Furrow, is invoked to grant rich blessings and crops. Sītā later appears (PGS. 2, 17⁹) as the wife of Indra (perhaps because that god is once in the RV. called *urvarāpati*, 'lord of the field': 8, 21³ cp. 4, 57⁷) and bears the patronymic Sāvitrī (TB. 2, 3, 10¹). In the Sūtra passage just mentioned the blessings of Urvarā, the arable Field, described as 'having a garland of threshing-floors', are invoked.

c5.s8.t3.4

¹ FaW. 21; V. = Agni, WC. 22.

c5.s8.t3.5

³ PERRY, Drisler Memorial 241, thinks Pūṣan is probably meant. Cp. WINDISCH, Berichte der k. sächs. Gesellschaft 1892, p. 174; ORV. 254—5.

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