Essay name: Goddesses from the Samhitas to the Sutras
Author:
Rajeshri Goswami
Affiliation: Jadavpur University / Department of Sanskrit
This essay studies the Goddesses from the Samhitas to the Sutras. In short, this thesis examines Vedic goddesses by analyzing their images, functions, and social positions. It further details how natural and abstract elements were personified as goddesses, whose characteristics evolved with societal changes.
Chapter 1
41 (of 144)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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1 60
with her darkness, and the day shines forth and makes everything
10 clear.
favour.
In RV IV.55.3. the unimpaired Ahani are beseeched for
From TS V.1.10, 4; MS III.1.2, 14.11, KS 19.11, 12, 17
it appears that in the post-Rgvedic period too, the dvandva
naktosasa also came to mean ahoratrau that is, 'day and night'.
Mah墨dhara explains ahor膩tr膩dhisth膩tryau devi, that is, "the
goddess presiding over day and night".
They grant wealth, beauty and resplendent ornaments to
11 the devotee. They are rich in horses and cattle 12 and are wealthy 13
They bestow longevity on the worshipper:
14.
16 They are beseeched to protect the worship of the devotee.
They are prayed to free the worshipper from their curse, and one
17 of them drives away hatred and sin from them.
15 They arouse all living beings that is, each in her own way
performs the same task 18 viz. create or constitute the continuous
course of time within which all people have to live and work or
10 RV I.136.4.
11 VS XXVIII : 15, MS IV: 13:17.
12 RV VII 71.1.
13 RV VII.2.6.
14 AV XII.2.4.9.
15 VS XXVII : 17.
16 AV XI.6.7.
17 VS : 28.15.
5 18
RV II.31.5.
1
