Vedic Mythology c5.s8.t3.3

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.