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 2
70 (of 112)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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of the gods as she was in the Rgveda.
The Roveda fixes her character as a universal mother-goddess
and a goddess of fertility which does not undergo any significant
change with time because her personality does not grow much. Later
mythology does not require such a mother_goddess.
It may be noted that Aditi had certain anthropomorphic
features for example, she is said to have a skin as bright as the
sun, and is endowed with various forms and shapes.
The basic concept beneath Aditi seems to be a vague notion
of divine motherhood, answering the inevitable query of the Vedic
man . whence did the solar gods come ? So the mythoposic mind
created a mother-god of the Adityas who shares their traits of
brightness, beauty, bounty and fertility in men, cattle and the
field. The Br膩hma峁嘺s retained her by assigning her a place in the
sacrificial ritual. But such a vagu茅 figure did not have much
scope for growth or a prolonged mythological career, especially,
as in the Br膩hma峁嘺s other goddesses kept appearing who functioned
as Adici's alter ego.
Aditi is approached by the devotees for happiness or
protection, and for release from the noose This bears out her.
84 85
image of the emancipator which follows directly from the etymology
bandhane) which yields the sense of "one who does not
(cf. V
bind."
84 RBS II # 13:10:32.
85 Satya SS 1 : 414:12.
谩蝉
