5a. Prayer for Successful Pregnancy

[Full title: 5. Hymns Related to Birth (a): Prayer for Successful Pregnancy]

It has already been discussed that a Vedic man indulged himself into marriage with the basic need of begetting children, especially male children. To confirm the same, certain practices were observed during the days of the Atharvaveda. The Atharvavedic hymn yantāsi yacchase^[1] …, etc., contains some such types of references.

From this hymn, it is known that people in those days, imposed the responsibility of abortion upon some demoniac forces and regarded Agni as having control over them.^[2] He is spoken of as a subduer of such evil forces who create trouble in conception. He averts these hostile agents with his hands.^[3] Thus, Agni, enabling his laudators to acquire wealth and offspring, himself becomes a parihasta, i.e. a bracelet or an amulet embracing the wrist.^[4] The parihasta has been asked here to make the womb fit for conception, so that a woman may procreate the desired son for her husband.^[5] In the same hymn, it has been stated that Aditi, the mother of all deities, also held this sort of bracelet with the desire of a son, and therefore, Tvaṣṭṛ has been prayed to fasten the same upon the wrist of the woman,^[6] so that she may give birth to a male child.