Vedic Mythology c7.s7.6

c7.s7.6

The forest as a whole appears as a deity under the name of Araṇyānī, the jungle goddess, who is invoked in RV. 10, 146. Here she is called the mother of beasts, abounding in food without tillage; and the various uncanny sounds heard in her dark solitudes are weirdly described. The plant, tree, and forest deities, however, play a very insignificant part not only in the RV., but even in the AV. and in the ritual of the lesser domestic sacrifices; while in the Buddhist literature they seem to have been more closely connected with human life than any other lower deities⁶.