Women in the Atharva-veda Samhita

by Pranab Jyoti Kalita | 2017 | 62,142 words

This page relates ‘5b. Hymns to Obtain a Son’ of the study on women in the Vedic society reflecting the Atharva-veda Samhita in English. These pages discusses the social aspects of women, education, customs of marriage, practices of polyandry and polygamy, descriptions of female deities and various rites and rituals. It is shown how women earned much praise in ancient Indian society. Included are Sanskrit text and references of the Atharvaveda and commentary by Sayana-Acharya.

[Full title: 5. Hymns Related to Birth (b): Hymns to Obtain a Son]

Moreover, in this Veda, two such hymns are found where the birth of a male child has been sought. In the first hymn which starts with the mantra, yena vehad…, etc., it is observed that the barrenness of a woman has been regarded as being caused by one sort of sin or disease which leads to miscarriage, and prayer has been made to drive the same away from the woman.[1] Then, after the assurance of her ability to conceive, she has been wished to be impregnated with a male foetus, which has been compared with an arrow that finds place in the quiver.[2] She has been asked to deliver the same after ten months when the foetus becomes a vigorous one.[3] Even not only for once, she has been asked to deliver the same again and again.[4] Interestingly, the seer, in this context, resembles her with a cow which is inseminated by a bull and calls her to be a dhenukā, i.e. like a cow, she may beget a son.[5] The creatorship of this process of procreation has been attributed to Prajāpati.[6]

The woman, in this hymn, has been asked to acquire a son so that he may cause happiness to his mother and the mother too has been asked to cause the same to her son.[7]

What may be regarded as the very important aspect of this hymn is that it alludes to one herb which was used to enable a woman to beget a male child.[8] Though the name of the herb has not been mentioned in the text and Sāyaṇācārya, the commentator too is silent about its identification; yet, the Heaven which sprinkles water through rain and enables the Earth for production has been regarded as the father and the Earth as the mother.[9] The contribution of the oceans towards the nourishment of the herb has also been acknowledged.[10] This herb has been deified in this hymn and has also been eulogised to protect the woman so that she may generate a male child.[11]

Another hymn starting with the mantra, śamīmaśvattha…, etc., which is also apparently intended to the obtainment of a male child refers to the union of two plants, viz. Aśvattha and Śamī.[12] According to Sāyaṇācārya,[13] Śamī is the plant which appeases the sensation of Agni, i.e. fire. In the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,[14] it is stated that Prajāpati created Agni and he himself got afraid of it. Then the fire was subdued by one plant and that plant is called Śamī as it caused the quelling of the fire.[15] But, that fire which was appeased by Śamī, got the form of a Aśva, i.e. a horse, and took shelter on a plant for years, and as the plant became the shelter of a Aśva, i.e. a horse, hence, it became to be known as Aśvattha.[16] Thus, according to Sāyaṇācārya, Śamī becomes the symbol of female and Aśvattha of male and to produce the son in the form of fire, Aśvattha mounts the Śamī.[17] The meaning intended in this mythical origin of Agni is that araṇī, i.e. the two pieces of wood which are used to generate the fire for sacrificial purpose is collected from that type of Aśvattha plant, which grows upon a Śamī plant. The Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa[18] itself refers to this mythical origin of Agni.

In this hymn, it has been stated that puṃsavana, a rite which ensures the birth of a male child is performed on that Aśvattha tree which mounts a Śamī tree, and this rite was performed on the woman.8[19] [20]

A man is spoken of as the possessioner of virile seed[21] and his possession of the prime seed is evident in other Vedic texts[22] also. This male seed is poured along into the woman with the desire for the acquisition of a male child.[23] As it has been stated in the previous hymn, here too, Prajāpati has been regarded as the creator of this process.[24] Prajāpati, Anumati, Sinīvālī who shape the foetus with the limbs like the hands, the feet, etc., have been invoked to afford the birth of a male child and to put the female one anywhere else.[25] Thus, the birth of a son is most welcome for the family and giving birth to a male offspring is a special advantage for the wife to get a better deal in the household.

From these, one may well assume the hatred of the then society toward a girlchild and their fondness to a male-child.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

yena vehad babhūvitha nāśayāmasi tat tvat / idaṃ tadanyatra tvadapa dūre ni dadhmasi // Ibid., 3.23.1 yena vandhyātvāpādakena pāpena tajjanyarogādinā vā he nāri vehat garbhaghātinī babhūvitha bhavasi / tat pāpādikaṃ tvat tvattaḥ sakāśād nāśayāmasi nāśayāmaḥ apahanmaḥ / Vide, Sāyaṇa, Ibid.

[2]:

ā te yoniṃ garbha etu pumān bāṇa iveṣudhim / Atharvaveda, 3.23.2

[3]:

ā vīrotra jāyatāṃ putraste daśamāsyaḥ / Ibid. te tvadīyo garbhaḥ daśamāsyaḥ daśa māsān bhṛtaḥ tāvatkālabharaṇena sarvāvayavasaṃpūrṇaḥ vīraḥ vīryeṇa balena upetaḥ san atra asmin prasūtikāle ā jāyatām abhimukham utpadyatām / Vide, Sāyaṇa, Ibid.

[4]:

pumāṃsa putraṃ janaya taṃ pumānanu jāyatām / Atharvaveda, 3.23.3 he nāri tvaṃ pumāṃsam puṃstvopetaṃ putraṃ janaya / anu tasyotpannasya putrasya anantaraṃ pumāneva jāyatām putra eva utpadyatām /

[5]:

yāni bhadrāṇi bījānyṛṣabhā janayanti ca / Vide, Sāyaṇa, Ibid. taistvaṃ putraṃ vindasva sā prasūrdhenukā bhava // Atharvaveda, 3.23.4

[6]:

kṛṇomi te prājāpatyamā yoniṃ garbha etu te / Ibid., 3.23.5

[7]:

vindasva tvaṃ putraṃ nāri yastubhyaṃ śamasacchamu tasmai tvaṃ bhava / Ibid.

[8]:

cf., Ibid., 3.23.6

[9]:

yāsāṃ dyauḥ pitā pṛthivī mātā samudro mūlaṃ vīrudhāṃ babhūva / tāstvā putravidyāya daivīḥ prāvantvoṣadhayaḥ // Ibid. yāsāṃ vīrudhām virohaṇasvabhāvānām oṣadhīnāṃ dyauḥ dyulokaḥ pitā vṛṣṭyudakalakṣaṇaretaḥsekena janayitā bhavati / tādṛśasya retaso dhāraṇena pṛthivī mātā janayitṛ bhavati / Vide, Sāyaṇa, Ibid.

[10]:

Atharvaveda, 3.23.6

[11]:

Ibid.

[12]:

cf., Ibid., 6.11

[13]:

agnidāhaśamanaheturvṛkṣaḥ śamī / Sāyaṇa, Ibid., 6.11.1

[14]:

prajāpatiragnim asṛjata / sobibhet pra mā dhakṣyatīti / Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa, 1.1.3.11

[15]:

taṃ śamyāśamayat / tacchamyai śamitvam / Ibid.

[16]:

sa ca agniḥ aśvo bhūtvā yasmin vṛkṣe purā saṃvatsaram avātsīt sa vṛkṣaḥ aśvatthaḥ / Sāyaṇa on Atharvaveda, 6.11.1

[17]:

tad ayamarthaḥ / śamī strī / aśvatthaḥ pumān / sa ca agnilakṣaṇaṃ putram utpādayituṃ tām adhirūḍhaḥ / Sāyaṇa, Ibid., 6.11.1

[18]:

śamīgarbhādagniṃ manthati / eṣā vā agneryajñiyā tanūḥ / tāmevāsmai janayati / Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa,

[19]:

.1.9.1

[20]:

śamīmaśvattha ārūḍhastatra puṃsavanaṃ kṛtam / tad vai putrasya vedanaṃ tat strīṣvābharāmasi // Atharvaveda, 6.11.1

[21]:

puṃsi vai reto bhavati … / Ibid., 6.11.2

[22]:

puruṣe ha vā ayam ādito garbho bhavati / Aitareya-brāhmaṇa, 2.5.1

[23]:

… tat striyāmanu ṣicyate / Atharvaveda, 6.11.2

[24]:

tad vai putrasya vedanaṃ tat prajāpatirabravīt / Ibid., 6.11.2

[25]:

prajāpatiranumatiḥ sinīvālyacīklṛpat / straiṣuyamanyatra dadhat pumāṃsamu dadhadiha // Ibid., 6.11.3

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