Women in the Atharva-veda Samhita

by Pranab Jyoti Kalita | 2017 | 62,142 words

This page relates ‘Woman in the Family and as a Daughter’ 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.

Women are the indispensable part of a society, and a family is, again, a unit of a society consisting of parents, spouse, children, brothers, sisters and others. Hence, to know about a society, in a proper way, it is important to trace out what position a woman enjoys in a family as well as in a society.

In the present chapter, therefore, it is intended to trace out the role of a woman that she played in a family and the position that the society offered to her in various aspects during the Atharvavedic period.

Women, during the Atharvavedic period, played an important role in a family. A number of appellations, which denote the different characteristics of the women in the different stages of life are recorded in the Atharvaveda. Their lives have been revealed varily in different stages. Hence, to measure the status of women in a family, it is necessary to study their lives throughout the different stages, e.g. as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother and as a sister.

The most innocent time of one’s life is its birth and hence, in order to judge the status of the women in any society, it is necessary to know the way by which the birth of the girl is celebrated. The Atharvaveda records no such reference, where the birth of a girl was encouraged, rather it was wanted to be taken place anywhere else.[1] Instead of a girl, they prayed for a male child. Their desire for a male child has been pointed out in various references of the previous chapter. The use of certain herb for the obtainment of a male child has also been noted earlier. Besides, the rite Puṃsavana, discussed later, was also practised with the same purpose. But, no single instance is recorded regarding the interest for a girl child.

In this context, in reference to the Ṛgveda, S. Tiwari[2] observes thus,

“Certainly we find prayers for the birth of a son, not for a daughter. But, the prayers for the birth of a child may not always be meant for the birth of the son only. The semantic study of the various names for son or male child in the Ṛgveda shows that often it is for descendants only.”

But, in the Atharvavedic prayers, for progeny in general, the word prajā[3] has been used by the seers and the term putra has always been applied to denote the male sex.

The people of the Vedic period were ruled by the common notion that only a male child can protect (his parents) from the hell, called Puṃ. Such a notion is pointed out by Yāska when he etymolizes the word putra. According to him, a male child is called putra, because he verily protects by offering sacrificial cakes etc., or he saves (his parents) from the hell, Puṃ.[4] Sāyaṇācārya[5] upholds this etymology of Yāska, but, nowhere in the Atharvaveda, the feminine form of the word putra is traced, which implies that a daughter was not considered as capable of protecting her parents.

In the sense of a daughter, the word duhitṛ has been mostly applied by the seers of the Atharvaveda. The word duhitṛ, in different contexts, occurs for fifteen times in this Veda.[6]

Some scholars[7] have interpreted the term duhitṛ as ‘milkmaid’, which suggests that her principal duty in a family is milking the cows. The word is formed from the root duh, meaning to milk, or to squeeze out, with the suffix tṛc and the word, thus formed, according to M. Williams, the renowned lexicographer, stands for the daughter, who is the milker, or is drawing milk from her mother.[8] Yāska, on the other hand, has derived the word duhitṛ in a threefold way. According to him, as interpreted by Durga, a daughter is so called because it is difficult to please her, wherever she may be given away in marriage.[9] Or a daughter is called duhitṛ because she fares well at a distance.[10] Another derivation of the term duhitṛ given by Yāska,[11] is from the root duh, meaning to milk, and, as observed by Durga,[12] a daughter draws riches, etc., from her father. however, Sāyaṇācārya[13] has simply interpreted duhitṛ as putrī, i.e. a daughter. Contextually, it is noteworthy that in the Atharvavedic references, the word duhitṛ is found to be observed as being mostly connected with her father,[14] and rarely with her mother.[15] As for instance, when Kṛtyā is prayed to go back to her originator, she is compared with the daughter who obtains her father.[16] Similarly, the relation between a mother and a son has also been portrayed as an ideal relation in the concerned Veda.[17]

Kanyā is the another word, used in the Atharvaveda in the sense of a girl. Sāyaṇācārya[18] interprets kanyā as akṛtavivāhā strī, i.e. an unmarried woman. But, from such etymology, the term should not necessarily be understood in the sense of a woman who has crossed the time of marriage and remaining unmarried forever. From the relevant contexts of the Atharvaveda,[19] it may be assumed well that the term was used in case of a girl, who was still unmarried, but, fit to be married. Yāska’s etymology also bears the same sense. According to him, a maiden is called kanyā for her being the object of love, or because it is said about a maiden that to whom she should be given, or because she is conveyed by her lover.[20] Yāska’s derivation of the word kanyā from the root kan, meaning to shine, indicates the alluring look of a youthful maiden.[21] Kanyalā is also a similar term, mentioned twice in the Atharvaveda,[22] rendered by Whitney[23] as a young girl. The youthful lustre is also expressed in the Atharvaveda by the term yuvatī, interpreted by Sāyaṇācārya as yauvanavatī.[24] The term is found used to denote a full-grown woman,[25] a cow[26] and the goddess Rātri.[27]

Besides, the words kumārī[28] and nārī[29] are also used sometimes in the Atharvaveda, where they stand for the youthful woman, fit for marriage. However, the term kumārikā also appears in the sense of a little girl, in the Atharvaveda, as rendered by Whitney.[30]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Atharvaveda, 6.11.3

[2]:

Vide, Tiwari, S., Glimpses of Vedic and Ancient Indian Civilization, pp.3, 4

[3]:

Atharvaveda, 2.35.2; 7.20.1; 116.1; 9.1.1; 24; 4.20; 10.8.3; 37; 38; 11.6.10; 19; 12.1.16; 13.1.19, etc.

[4]:

putraḥ puru trāyate / niparaṇādvā / punnarakaṃ tatastrāyata iti vā / Nirukta, 2.11

[5]:

puṃ nāmno narakāt trāyata iti putraḥ / puru bahulaṃ trāyata iti vā putraḥ / Sāyaṇa on Atharvaveda,1.11.5

[6]:

Atharvaveda, 2.14.2; 3.10.13; 31.5; 5.13.8; 6.100.3; 133.4; 137.1; 7.13.1; 9.1.4; 2.5; 15.12; 10.1.25; 14.2.60; 18.1.53; 19.47.5

[7]:

Vide, Tiwari, S., Op.cit., p.4 Also vide, Upadhyaya, B. S., Women in Ṛgveda, p.44

[8]:

Vide, Williams, M. M., A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p.489

[9]:

duhitā durhitā / Nirukta, 3.4 Also vide, Sarup, L. (ed. & trans.), The Nighaṇṭu and the Nirukta, Part-I, p.39, fn.6

[10]:

dūre hitā / Nirukta, 3.4 Also vide, Sarup, L. (ed. & trans.), Op.cit., Part-I, p.39

[11]:

dogdhervā / Nirukta, 3.4 Also vide, Sarup, L. (ed. & trans.), Op.cit., Part-I, p.39, fn.7

[12]:

Also vide, Sarup, L. (ed. & trans.), Op.cit., Part-I, p.39, fn.7

[13]:

Sāyaṇa on Atharvaveda, 2.14.2; 3.10.13; 31.5; 6.100.3; 133.4; 137.1, etc.

[14]:

cf., Atharvaveda, 3.10.13; 31.5; 6.100.3; 137.1; 7.13.1; 9.1.4; 15.12, etc.

[15]:

cf., Ibid., 6.133.4

[16]:

cf., Ibid., 10.1.25

[17]:

cf., Ibid., 2.28.1; 5; 5.26.5; 6.30.3

[18]:

Sāyaṇa, Ibid., 11.7.18

[19]:

cf., Atharvaveda, 2.30.4; 6.22.3; 11.7.18, etc.

[20]:

kanyā kamanīyā bhavati / kveyaṃ netavyeti vā / kamanenānīyata iti vā / Nirukta, 4.15

[21]:

kanatervā syātkāntikarmaṇaḥ / Ibid.

[22]:

Atharvaveda, 5.5.3; 14.2.52

[23]:

Vide, Whitney, W. D. (ed. & trans.), Atharva-Veda-Saṃhitā, pp.229, 756

[24]:

yuvatiḥ yauvanavatī … / Sāyaṇa on Atharvaveda, 19.49.1; 8

[25]:

cf., Atharvaveda, 10.7.6; 42; 14.2.29; 61

[26]:

Ibid., 18.3.3

[27]:

Ibid., 19.49.1; 8

[28]:

Ibid., 2.36.1

[29]:

Ibid., 2.36.3

[30]:

Vide, Whitney, W. D. (ed. & trans.), Op.cit., p.577

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