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.
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significant that all the traits that characterise Laksmi in the
epics and the Pur膩峁嘺s as well as in art are found in this hymn.
Most probably, the Aryans borrowed the concept of the Mother-
-goddess or Earth goddess, the presiding deity of fortune based
on agriculture, from the Pre-Aryan Indians. This Harappa element
in Aryan culture is probably due to the survival of the Harappa
19 people as slaves and serfs of the Aryan invaders. The RV hymns
refer to the destruction of the 'walled cities' which might
indicate the cities of the Indus Valley. However, the Aryans were
ready to imbibe the culture of the conquered people, though at a
later stage.
A parallel of 艢r墨-Laksmi may be found in Ashi Vanguhi, the
Persian goddess of fortune and wealth. Like 艢r墨-Laksmi, she
granted her followers glory and all the desired things. Like her
Vedic counterpart she was also endowed with radiance.
Although a process of personification seems evident in
the origin of the goddess Sri in Vedic literature, it may be that
her origins like in pre-Vedic Indo-European traditions in which
goddess of royal power are common. It has long been known that
the authors of the Vedas are Indo-Aryans, and therefore, related
to other Indo-European peoples. As regards the goddess Sri, it
is significant to note that goddesses like her, goddesses asso-
ciated with royal power and authority, are found in the several
19 History of Mankind, Vol. I, ed. J. Houokes and L. Wooley,
p. 406.
