Table Of Contents
CREATION
DEATH
THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
THE HORSE SACRIFICE
GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
SOMA
INDRA
GODS OF THE STORM
SOLAR GODS
SKY AND EARTH
VARUNA
RUDRA AND VISNU
REALIA
WOMEN
INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS
WOMEN
The Rig Veda is a book by men about male concerns in a world dominated by men; one of
these concerns is women, who appear throughout the hymns as objects, though seldom as
subjects. Though Aditi is the only Vedic goddess of true stature, many female nouns (often
abstractions) are personified as female divinities: Dawn (1.92), Night (10.127), the Waters
(10.9, 7.49), and the Forest (10.146); so, too, Destruction (Nirrti) makes a sinister
appearance quite often, and the bitch Sarama assists Indra (10.108). In addition, the Rig
Veda presents several women who, if not goddesses, are at least immortal or quasi-
immortal: Yami (10.10), Urvasi (10.95), Surya (10.85), and the wives of Indra and the
monkey (10.86).
Moreover, several immortal or semi-mortal women appear in the Rig Veda in two
groups of hymns that explore with surprisingly consistent detail and concept the
relationships between men and women, mortal and immortal. The first is a group of
conversation hymns (akhyanas) and the second is a group of narratives centring around
marriage: courtship, marriage, adultery, and estrangement.
The conversation hymns are a genre that is scattered throughout the Rig Veda (cf.
10.135, 10.51, 10.124, 4.26-7, 10.108, 10.28, etc.); it is particularly associated with
hymns that relate to fertility, and may have been part of a special ritual performance
involving actors and dancers. The dialogues with women all represent situations in which
one member of the pair attempts to persuade the other to engage in some sort of sexual
activity; sometimes it is the woman who takes the role of persuader (10.10, 1.179, 8.91),
sometimes the man (10.95, 10.86); the mortal woman is successful (1.179, 8.91), while
the immortal woman is not (10.10); the immortal man succeeds (10.86), while the mortal
fails (10.95). The conversations between mortal men and immortal women (10.10, 10.95)
end in the separation of the couple; between mortal men and women (1.179) or immortal
men and mortal women (8.91), the result is union. The complex Vrsakapi hymn, involving
two couples, seems to end in union (10.86).
The marriage hymns, like the conversation hymns, return again to the problem of
sexual rejection: Yami is rejected by Yama, Lopamudra by Agastya, Pururavas by Urvasi.
Apala fears that she will be rejected by her husband because she is not beautiful, and this
is a theme which haunts the marriage hymns; the woman wishes to be subhaga: beautiful,
hence loved by her husband, hence fortunate. Ghosa invokes the Ásvins to help her find a
husband because they are the most helpful of the gods, but also because they appreciate
beauty and are known to restore impotent men; so, too, Mudgala’s wife hopes that Indra
will turn her husband from a steer to a bull. The woman is rejected, therefore, either
because she lacks beauty or because her husband lacks virility, and the two reasons are
causally intertwined in the hymns. The woman is also rejected because she is dangerous;
the decoration of the bride endangers the groom, and the abducted wife is a source of
danger to the abductor. This danger is, like the woman’s ugliness, causally related to the
problem of the husband’s virility. subhaga then assumes the further connotation of
‘fortunate’ in having a virile husband who lives long, so that the woman does not become
a widow. Despite these dangers, the marriage hymns – unlike the conversation hymns –
all have happy endings.
10.10 Yama and Yami
Yama, the first son of the sun, is regarded in later mythology as the first mortal man and
king of the dead, while Manu, the sun’s other son, is regarded as the ancestor of the
human race. In Avestan mythology, the primeval incest of the twins, Yama and Yami,
remains an important episode in the procreation of the human race; in India, Yama rejects
the erotic solicitations of his sister in the Rig Veda and is never again exposed to them, for
later Indian mythology is significantly silent about the affair. The hymn is not, however, a
commentary on a social charter (‘Thou shalt not commit incest’), but rather a speculation
– ultimately negative – on a possible cosmogony, the male and female twins functioning
as a variant of the androgyne.
The hymn begins, as is usual with those of the ‘conversation’ genre, in medias res. Yami
invokes gods of procreation and argues that the human race must be preserved; Yama
counters by invoking moral gods and their laws. Unlike the similar conversation between
Agastya and Lopamudra (1.179), this hymn ends with the rejection of the woman, who
finally loses her temper completely.
1 [Yami :] ‘Would that I might draw my friend into intimate friendship, now that he has
gone far across the ocean.1 A man of foresight should receive a grandson from the
father, thinking of what lies ahead on earth.’
2 [Yama:] ‘Your friend does not desire this friendship, in which a woman of his kind
would behave like a stranger.2 The heroes,3 the sons of the great spirit,4 supporters of
the sky, see far and wide.’
3 [Yami:] ‘The immortals desire this, that off spring should be left by the one mortal. Let
your mind unite with my mind;5 as a husband,6 enter the body of your wife.’
4 [Yama :] ‘ Shall we do now what we have not done before? Shall we who spoke truth
out loud now whisper false- hood?7 The divine youth in the waters8 and the woman of
the waters – such is our source, our highest birth.’9
5 [Yami:] ‘The god Tvastr,10 the creator and impeller, shaper of all forms, made us man
and wife even when we were still in the womb. No one disobeys his commands; earth
and sky are our witnesses for this.’11
6 [Yama:] ‘Who was witness of that first day? Who has seen it? Who can proclaim it
here? The law of Mitra and Varuna is high. Yet what will you say to men, wanton
woman, to seduce them?’
7 [Yami:] ‘Desire for Yama has come upon me, Yami, the desire to lie with him upon the
same bed. Let me open my body to him as a wife to her husband. Let us roll about
together like the two wheels of a chariot.’
8 [Yama:] ‘These spies of the gods, who wander about here below, do not stand still, nor
do they bunk their eyes. Wanton woman, go away fast with another man, not with me.
Roll about with him like the two wheels of a chariot.’
9 [Yami:] ‘ She would do what he wished in the nights and in the days; she would
deceive the eye of the sun for the instant of the blink of an eye. We twins are related in
the same way as sky and earth. Let Yami behave toward Yama as if she were not his
sister.’
10 [Yama:] ‘Later ages will come, indeed, when blood relatives will act as if they were
not related. Make a pillow of your arm for some bull of a man.12 Seek another husband,
lovely lady, not me.’
11 [Yami:] ‘What good is a brother, when there is no protector?13 What good is a sister,
when destruction breaks out?14 Overcome with desire, I whisper this again and again:
mingle your body with my body.’
12 [Yama:] ‘Never will I mingle my body with your body. They call a man who unites
with his sister a sinner. Arrange your lustful pleasures with some other man, not with
me, lovely lady. Your brother does not want this.’
13 [Yami:] ‘Dammit, Yama, how feeble you are. I have not been able to find any mind or
heart in you. Some other woman will surely embrace you like a girth embracing a
harnessed stallion or a creeper embracing a tree.’
14 [Yama:] ‘You too, Yami, will surely embrace another man, and he will embrace you,
as a creeper embraces a tree. Seek his mind, and let him seek yours. Join with him in
proper harmony.’
NOTES
1. The ocean may be the metaphorical ocean separating mortals (like Yama) from
immortals (as Yami may be), in which case ‘he’ is Yama. But ‘he’ may be the avenging
god whom Yama fears (vv. 2, 6, and 8), or the sun in the water (v. 4), in which case
Yami is assuring her brother that he need not fear, as the spy is absent across the ocean.
2. This may mean that Yama does not wish the woman of his kind (his sister) to act like
a stranger (like a woman with whom sexual contact is allowed); in caste terms, he
avoids marriage within the subgroup (gotra). Less likely, but possible, is the inter
pretation that Yama fears that a woman not like him (an immortal) will behave like one
of his kind (a mortal woman, one who may have sexual contact with him). In caste
terms, he avoids marriage outside the group (varna).
3. The gods, or perhaps just the Adityas, the particular servants of Varuna.
4. Varuna, most likely, as guardian of the moral law; or Rudra, punisher of incest (in
which case the ‘heroes’ would be the Maruts).
5. The word (manas) can designate mind or heart, the seat of both rational and
emotional functions. But since it is later contrasted with a word for ‘heart’ (v. 13), it is
here probably limited to the first connotation.
6. Here Yami implies that Yama actually is her husband, a thought which she makes
explicit in v. 5; later, however (v. 7), she merely asks him to behave as if he were her
husband, as her resolve weakens.
7. The word, anrta, means not merely to speak a lie but to say something that violates
the moral order, to say something that may be true but should not be.
8. Probably the sun, born of the waters, but perhaps just any Gandharva.
9. Yama argues both that people born of such lofty parents should not break the moral
law, and also that he and Yami, having the same parents, cannot procreate together.
10. The god of procreation, and the artisan of the gods, fashioner of the embryo in the
womb. Cf. 10.184.1, 4.18.3.
11. Here and in verse 9, Yami argues that sky and earth are as closely related as she and
Yama are, that their procreation was not only permitted but even archetypal.
12. ‘Bull’ is Vedic slang for a virile man, like ‘stud’ in American; cf. 1.179.1 and
1.179.4.
13. She argues that a brother should protect his sister, even if this involves incest, to
keep her from going unsatisfied and un fertilized. Ironically, it is the brother who
should find a husband for his sister and avenge her if she is rejected.
14. Destruction (nirrti) both in the wider sense of the destruction of the human race (as
she argues in verse 1) or in the more particular sense of the destruction that comes
upon a man who dies son- less.
1.179 Agastya and Lopamudra
In this conversation, Lopamudra seeks to turn her husband Agastya, who has undertaken a
vow of chastity, away from his asceticism so that he will beget a child upon her. Although
he argues that there are two ways to achieve happiness (or immortality), she overpowers
him (v. 4), and afterwards he wishes to atone for his lapse by drinking Soma (ingesting
the divine form of the protean fluid that, in its human form, has just been ‘sucked’ from
him). Finally the poet affirms that the two of them, by uniting after each had perfected a
power (she eroticism, he asceticism), achieved both forms of immortality, spiritual and
corporeal (through children).
1 [ Lopamudra:] ‘For many autumns past I have toiled,1 night and day, and each dawn
has brought old age closer, age that distorts the glory of bodies. Virile men2 should go
to their wives.
2 ‘For even the men of the past, who acted according to the Law and talked about the
Law with the gods, broke off when they did not find the end.3 Women should unite
with virile men.’2
3 [Agastya:] ‘Not in vain is all this toil,1 which the gods encourage. We two must always
strive against each other, and by this we will win the race that is won by a hundred
means,4 when we merge together as a couple.’
4 [Lopamudra :] ‘Desire has come upon me for the bull who roars and is held back,5
desire engulfing me from this side, that side, all sides.’[The poet:] Lopamudra draws out
the virile bull:2 the foolish woman sucks dry the panting6 wise man.
5 [Agastya:] ‘By this Soma which I have drunk, in my innermost heart I say: Let him
forgive us if we have sinned, for a mortal is full of many desires.’
6 Agastya, digging with spades,7 wishing for children, progeny, and strength, nourished
both ways, for he was a powerful sage. He found fulfillment of his real hopes among the
gods.
NOTES
1. This word often refers to the exertion of religious activity. When she uses it, she may
refer to her work as his wife or to her own asceticism (the commentator suggests that
both of them practise asceticism), and when he uses it (v. 3) he refers to his asceticism.
2. This word (vrsan) recurs throughout this hymn (and elsewhere in the Rig Veda: cf.
1.32, 10.10.10). Its basic meaning is one who sheds rain or seed; it comes to mean a
potent male animal, particularly a bull or a stallion.
3. The end of their asceticism; that is, they died childless and unsuccessful.
4. He argues that each of them should go his own way, as various strategies are needed
to win the race for happiness and immortality, but he implies that he will ultimately
accede to her importunities. By ‘striving together’ they will engage in the agonistic
Vedic sacrifice, like two rival priests.
5. He holds back his seed. If this verse is placed in Agastya’s mouth, it would mean:
‘The desire of my swelling teed [phallus], which is held back, overwhelms me …’
6. He pants either with desire (before) or exhaustion (after); the verb merely indicates
heavy breathing. This verse may follow an episode of mimed sexual intercourse.
7. A metaphor rare in the Rig Veda but widespread elsewhere, and obvious.
10.95 Pururavas and Urvasi
This famous hymn takes the form of a conversation at a moment near the end of a
complex myth. The myth is told in a later Brahmana text, with several details that may
not be true to the original Vedic version but that provide a good background to the hymn:
The water-nymph Urvasi loved Pururavas; when she married him, she made him promise
never to let her see him naked. She lived with him for a long time, and became pregnant
by him, but the Gandharvas carried off the two lambs that were tied to her bed, and she
cried out, ‘They are taking away my son as if there were no hero or man here.’ Then
Pururavas, thinking, ‘How can there be no hero here, when I am here?’, sprang out of bed
without taking the time to put anything on. The Gandharvas produced a flash of lightning,
and she saw him naked in the light as clear as day. She vanished, and he wandered in
sorrow until he came to a lake where there were nymphs swimming about in the shape of
water-birds, Urvasi and the other nymphs. They appeared to him at her request, and the
conversation between Pururavas and Urvasi took place, as in the Vedic hymn. The
Brahmana goes on to say that Urvasi took pity on Pururavas and lay with him for one
night in a golden palace; after that the Gandharvas gave him a magic fire and taught him
to kindle it in a special way and to make a special pot of rice with it, and in that way he
became one of the Gandharvas.
The present hymn presents a rather different view of the myth, implying that Urvasi was
not as happy with Pururavas as he was with her (and as he thought she was with him).
She refuses to return to him, nor does she promise to make him immortal (though this
might be read into the nal verse).
1 [Pururavas:] ‘My wife, turn your heart and mind to me. Stay here, dangerous woman,
and let us exchange words. If we do not speak out these thoughts of ours they will bring
us no joy, even on the most distant day.’
2 [Urvasi:] ‘What use to me are these words of yours? I have left you, like the first of the
dawns. Go home again, Pururavas. I am hard to catch and hold, like the wind…’
3 [Pururavas:] ‘… or like an arrow shot from the quiver for a prize, or like a racehorse
that wins cattle, that wins hundreds. As if there was no man with power there, they1
made the lightning flash and in their frenzy thought to bleat like sheep.
4 ‘She2 brought to her husband’s father nourishing riches, and whenever her lover
desired her she came to his home across from her dwelling-place and took her pleasure
in him, pierced by his rod day and night.’3
5 [Urvasi:] ‘Indeed, you pierced me with your rod three times a day, and filled me even
when I had no desire. I followed your will, Pururavas; you were my man, king of my
body.’
6 [Pururavas:] ‘Sujurni, Sreni, Sumnaapi, and Hradecaksus, Granthini, Caramyu4 – they
have, all slipped away like the red colours of dawn, lowing one louder than the other,
like milk cows.’
7 [Urvasi:] ‘When he5 was born, the goddesses6 encircled him and the rivers that sing
their own praises raised him, since the gods raised you, Pururavas, for the great battle,
for the killing of enemies.’7
8 [Pururavas:] ‘When I, a mortal man, courted these im mortal women who had laid aside
their veils,8 they shied away from me like excited9 gazelles, like horses grazed by the
chariot.’
9 [Urvasi:] ‘When a mortal man, wooing these immortal women, unites with their group
as they wish, make your bodies beautiful,10 like water birds, like horses biting in their
love-play.’
10 [Pururavas :] ‘She of the waters ashed lightning like a falling lightning-bolt and
brought me the pleasures of love. From the water was born a noble, manly son. Let
Urvasi lengthen the span of his life.’
11 [Urvasi:] ‘ You who were born to protect, Pururavas, have turned that force against
me.11 I warned you on that very day, for I knew, but you did not listen to me. Why do
you talk in vain?’
12 [Pururavas:] ‘When will the son born of me seek his father? He will shed tears,
sobbing, when he learns. Who would separate a man and wife who are of one heart,
when the fire still blazes in the house of the husband’s parents?’12
13 [Urvasi:] ‘I will answer: he will shed tears, crying, sobbing, longing for tender care.13 I
will send you what I have of yours. Go home; you will never have me, you fool.’
14 [Pururavas:] ‘What if your lover should vanish today, never to return, going to the
farthest distance? Or if he should lie in the lap of Destruction, or if the ferocious wolves
should eat him?’
15 [Urvasi:] ‘Pururavas, do not die;14 do not vanish; do not let the vicious wolves eat you.
There are no friendships with women; they have the hearts of jackals.15
16 ‘When I wandered among mortals in another form, and spent the nights with you for
four years, once each day I swallowed a drop of butter,16 and even now I am sated with
that.’
17 [Pururavas:] ‘I, the lover of Urvasi, long to draw her to me, though she fills the air and
measures the middle realm of space. Return and reap the reward for a good deed. Fire
consumes my heart.’
18 [The poet:] This is what these gods say to you, son of Ila17‘ Since you are a kinsman of
death, your descendants will sacrifice to the gods with the oblation,18 but you shall
taste joy in heaven.’
NOTES
1. The Gandharvas, anxious to have her back in heaven, tricked Pururavas.
2. Pururavas speaks of Urvasi in the third person, referring to a long time ago.
3. The Sakspath Brahmana says that part of Urvasi contract with Pururavas included the
stipulation that he must ‘strike her with his rod’ three times a day. Here he seems to
boast of it, hut she then complains that be did it against her will.
4. The nymphs apparently were with her during the marriage and vanished with her;
they have reappeared now with her but apparently wish to vanish right away again.
5. Verses 6-7, 10, and 12-13 refer to a son of Pururavas and Urvasi; Pururavas seems
not to have known of him until this moment (a common motif in myths of the mortal
lover of an immortal woman). Urvasi implies that she and Pururavas united merely to
produce the child, so that there is no longer any reason for them to remain together.
6. The Apsarases (water-nymphs, like the river goddesses). Urvasi implies that they had
to flee with her in order to care for the expected child of such a great father.
7. The enemies are demons. Kalidasa’s play based on this myth tells that Pururavas first
met Urvasi when he rescued her from demons; later, Indra allowed Pururavas to keep
Urvasi for ever in return for his services in arms against Indra’s demonic enemies.
8. Either they had disrobed at night (as Pururavas had done), or they had laid aside
their immortal forms; at the present moment, they may have taken off their waterbird
forms so that he could speak with them or taken off their clothes to bathe.
9. The adjective may imply that they are in heat, and hence especially nervous.
10. She seems to be advising the Apsarases not to run away (as Pururavas has
complained in the previous verse) if he approaches them properly (i.e. keeps his
promise).
11. She accuses him of taking hex against her will, and also reminds him of royal duties
that he is neglecting in his pursuit of her.
12. The implication is that his parents are still alive, and will be saddened and ashamed
to see them apart after so short a time.
13. She implies that the child will weep because he misses her, not him, when she has
sent the boy to Pururavas; or else that he will weep for what he has missed when at last
he finds his father.
14. Here she merely advises him not to kill himself as he threatens; in the Brahmana
text, she actually gets the Gandharvas to teach him how to become immortal.
15. The word is actually ‘jackal-wolves’, echoing the previous image of wolves. The
jackal later becomes the symbol of an un faithful woman.
16. As a goddess, she is filled by the oblation and spurns her mortal lover; as a woman,
she has had more than enough of his ‘butter’ (frequently a metaphor for semen).
17. The term, ‘Aila’, could be son of either Ila or Ilaa, as Pururavas was born of a woman
(Ilaa) who had been changed from her original form as a man (Ila).
18. Their mortal son will make o erings to him in the world of the dead, but Pururavas
will be in the world of heaven.
8.91 Apala and Indra
The first and last verses of this hymn narrate the story of Apala; in between are verses
spoken by her. The story is known from later commentaries : Apala was a young woman
hated by her husband (v. 4) because she had a skin disease (v. 7). She found Soma (v. 1),
pressed it in her mouth and offered it to Indra (v. 2). Indra made love to her, which she at
first resisted (v. 3) and then consented to (v. 4). She asked him to cure her and also to
restore fertility to her father and to his fields (vv. 5-6). This triple boon is accomplished
by an obscure triple ritual. Later tradition states that being drawn through three chariot
holes caused her to slough her skin three times; the first skin became a hedgehog, the
second an alligator, the third a chameleon. The Vedic verse merely states that her skin
became sun-like (i.e. fair), and the ritual has obvious sexual symbolism. This symbolism
provides a parallel to the motif of the cure: for while her skin is purified she is also given
pubic hair, either because she had been hairless as a result of the skin disease or because
she was an adolescent maiden (v. 1) who is made a woman by Indra.
1 A maiden going for water found Soma by the way. She brought it home and said, ‘I will
press it for you, Indra; I will press it for you, mighty one.
2 ‘Dear man, you who go watchfully into house after house, drink this that I have pressed
with my teeth, together with grain and gruel, cakes and praises.
3 ‘We do not wish to understand you, and yet we do not misunderstand you. Slowly and
gently, ever more gently, flow for Indra, O drop of Soma.
4 ‘ Surely he is. able, surely he will do it, surely he will make us more fortunate.1 Surely
we who are hated by our husbands should flee and unite with Indra.
5 ‘Make these three places sprout, O Indra: my daddy’s head and field, and this part of
me below the waist.
6 ‘That field of ours, and this my body, and my daddy’s head – make them all grow hair.’
7 In the nave of the chariot, in the nave of the cart, in the nave of the yoke, O Indra of a
hundred powers, you purified Apala three times2 and made her sun-skinned.
NOTES
1. The adjective has three closely linked meanings: beautiful, therefore loved by one’s
husband, therefore fortunate.
2. Cf. the three naves of the chariot wheel in 1.164.2 and 1.164.48.
10.86 Indra and the Monkey
This hymn, which Renou has called ‘the strangest poem in the Rig Veda’, deals with
conflict and resolution on at least four levels, alluded to in a conversation between four
people: Indra and his wife, and Vrsakapi (whose name means ‘the monkey bursting with
seed’) and his wife. On the household level, there are crude arguments in which Indrani
accuses the monkey, a favourite of Indra, of having taken sexual liberties with her; Indra
tries to calm her with flattery, and Vrsakapi’s wife alternately flatters her, engages her in
sexual banter about their husbands ‘ powers, and insists either that Vrsakapi never
touched Indrani or that now, at least, he has ceased to do so; finally, Indrani relents and
asks the monkey couple to resume the ménage à quatre. This aspect of the myth places it
among other bawdy and worldly hymns, usually set in the form of conversations.
The myth also suggests a chain of events involving sacrifice. At a time before the
conversation in the hymn takes place, Indra has ceased to be worshipped or to be given
the Soma; in the course of the hymn, he is then given in place of Soma another kind of
offering, which he accepts, an offering of bulls (vv. 13 and 15), an oblation mixed with
water (v. 12), or a ‘pleasing mixture’ (v. 15). Substitutes for Soma were common in Vedic
and post-Vedic India, and any of these might have been used. These two levels, the
household and the sacrifice, are linked by a third, which is merely implied: the substitute
offering transfers the monkey’s sexual powers to Indra, perhaps through the sacrifice or
castration of the animal (referred to obliquely in v. 5) and the drinking of a ‘mixture’ (vv.
12 and 15 again) made from his genitals1 (a ceremony that ensures that Indra will never
die of old age – v. 11 – while simultaneously transferring Indra’s sins to the monkey -v.
22). This aspect of the hymn suggests that it might be viewed in the context of a Vedic
fertility ritual separate from the orthodox Soma tradition.
A fourth level, a variant of the second, is the agonistic banter between poets/priests
sacrificing on behalf of two different gods (Indra and the demi-god Vrsakapi); each side
mocks the god of the other faction. This would explain the refrain, which is unique to this
hymn but is of a widely used general format; in answer to a series of challenges, Indra’s
supremacy is constantly reaffirmed.2 Finally, if one accepts the tradition, following
Sayana, that Vrsakapi is a son of Indra, yet another level of meaning arises, a variant of
the first, in which the son challenges the father (unsuccessfully) for the sexual favours of
the mother.3
1 [Indrani:] ‘They no longer press the Soma, nor do they think of Indra as God, now that
my friend Vrsakapi has gorged himself on the nourishments of the enemy.4 Indra
supreme above all!
2 ‘Indra, you pass over the erring ways of Vrsakapi. No, you will not find Soma to drink
in any other place. Indra supreme above all! ’
3 [Indra:] ‘What has this tawny animal, this Vrsakapi, done to you that you are so jealous
of him – and begrudge him the nourishing wealth of the enemy? Indra supreme above
all!’
4 [Indrani:] ‘That beloved Vrsakapi whom you protect, Indra – let the dog who. pants
after the wild sow5 bite him in the ear! Indra supreme above all!
5 ‘The ape has defilled the precious, well-made, anointed things6 that are mine. I will cut
off his “head”, and I will not be good to that evil-doer. Indra supreme above all!’
6 ‘No woman has finer loins than I, or is better at making love. No woman thrusts against
a man better than I, or raises and spreads her thighs more. Indra supreme above all!’
7 [Vrsakapi:] ‘O little mother,7 so easily won, as it will surely be,8 my loins, my thigh, my
“head” seem to thrill and stiffen,9 little mother. Indra supreme above all!’
8 [Indra:] ‘Your arms and fingers are so lovely, your hair so long, your buttocks so broad.
You are the wife of a hero – so why do you attack our Vrsakapi? Indra supreme above
all !’
9 [Indrani:] ‘This impostor has set his sights on me as if I had no man.10 But I bave a real
man, for I am the wife of Indra, and the Maruts are my friends. Indra supreme above all!’
10 [Vrsakapi:] ‘In the past, this lady would go to the public festival or to a meeting-
place.11 There she would be praised as the one who sets all in order, the wife of Indra, a
woman with a man. Indra supreme above all!’
11 [Wife of Vrsakapi:] ‘Indrani is the most fortunate12 among women, I have heard, for
her husband will never die of old age. Indra supreme above all!
12 [Indra:] ‘I was not happy, Indräni, without my friend Vrsakapi, whose offering of this
oblation mixed with water goes to the gods and pleases them. Indra supreme above all!’
13 [Vrsakapi:] ‘Wife of Vrsakapi, you are rich in wealth and in good sons and in your
sons’ wives. Let Indra eat your bulls and the oblation that is so pleasing and so powerful
in effect. Indra supreme above all!’
14 [Indra:] ‘They have cooked for me fifteen bulls, and twenty, so that I may eat the fat
as well. Both sides of my belly are full. Indra supreme above all ! ’
15 [Vrsakapi’s wife:] ‘Like a sharp-horned bull bellowing among the herds of cows,13 a
mixture is being prepared for you, Indra, that will please your heart and refresh you.
Indra supreme above all!’
16 [Indrani:] ‘That one is not powerful, whose penis hangs between his thighs; that one is
powerful, for whom the hairy organ opens as it swells and sets to work.14 Indra
supreme above all! ’
17 [Vrsakapi’s wife:] ‘That one is not powerful, for whom the hairy organ opens as it
swells and sets to work; that one is powerful, whose penis hangs between his thighs.
Indra supreme above all!
18 ‘Indra, this Vrsakapi found a wild ass that had been killed, a sword, a basket, a new
pot, and a cart loaded with firewood.15 Indra supreme above all!’
19 [Indra:] ‘I am coming forward, looking about and distinguishing between enemy slave
and noble ally.16 I am drinking with the one who has prepared a simple brew; I am
looking for an expert. Indra supreme above all!
20 ‘How many miles separate the desert and the ploughed land.17 Come home, Vrsakapi,
to the closer houses. Indra supreme above all !’
21 [Indrânî:] ‘Come back, Vrsakapi, and we two18 will meet in agreement, so that you
who destroy sleep19 may come again on the homeward path. Indra supreme above all!’
22 [The poet:] As you went home to the north, Vrsakapi, where was the beast of many
sins?20 To whom, O Indra, did the inciter of people go? Indra supreme above all!
23 The daughter of Manu, named Parsu,21 brought forth twenty children at once. Great
happiness came to her whose womb felt the pains. Indra supreme above all!
NOTES
1. This hypothesis, based rather loosely on the present hymn, is supported by
correspondences between it and two important Vedic rituals. In the horse sacrifice, the
horse is given the sword and several other articles here given to the monkey (v. 18; cf.
1.162. 13-16); the stallion is killed and his virility transferred to the king after the
queen has pantomimed ritual copulation with the stallion (corresponding to Vrsakapi’s
connection with Indrani). A ritual in the Atharva Veda (20.136) contains a dialogue
replete with banter about the size of sexual organs, verses that reverse those of the
present hymn, and references to intercourse with a supernatural woman (the ‘Great
Naked Woman’, Mahanagni) – all of which characterize both the horse sacrifice and the
present hymn. In the Atharva Veda ritual, moreover, the Great Naked Woman is treated
as a scapegoat, like Vrsakapi. These correspondences are intriguing, though by no
means entirely convincing.
2. Cf. 2.12.
3. Cf. 10.28 and 4.18.
4. This word (art) has an ambivalence based upon the agonistic sacrifice; it denotes
one’s ‘best enemy’, one’s favourite rival; here it refers to the enemy of Indra and the
friend of Vrsakapi, the pious devotee of the latter rather than the former. (A similar
juxtaposition occurs in v. 19.) Indrani refers sarcastically to Vrsakapi as her ‘friend’, in
contrast to the ‘enemy’ who is Vrsakapi’s true ally.
5. The text has the unmarked sex (wild pig), but there may well be sexual overtones
best conveyed by making the animal female.
6. A double entendre, for the private parts of the goddess and the sacred instruments of
the ritual. The first meaning lends sexual overtones to the ‘head’ she threatens to cut off
(an innuendo made explicit in v. 7), and the second places it in the context of a ritual
beheading. That Indrani is referring to her sexual charms is made clear by the following
verse, in which she boasts that she is so consummate a bed-mate that she certainly
need not stoop to a liaison with Vrsakapi.
7. A triple entendre: a term of respect for a mother goddess, a term often used for a
whore, or a possible indication that Indrani really is his mother. (It is also the term used
in the sexual banter of the horse sacrifice.) These ambiguities carry over into the next
phrase, for a woman ‘easily won’ is being insulted for her promiscuity, while a deity
‘easily won’ is praised for her generosity to the worshipper.
8. He may be bragging that he will soon have her again, or accepting either of the
alternatives suggested by Indrani: that she will kill him (v. 5) or allow him to have her
(v. 6, in which Vrsakapi may misunderstand her implication that she is too good for
him), an acceptance of the Liebestod that plays a part in later myths of the seductive,
destructive goddess. He accepts her threat, and he lusts for her.
9. The verb connotes the rushing of blood to the surface of the skin, causing
horripilation and erection. It indicates fear as well as desire, both relevant here: fear of
the goddess and desire for the woman.
10. A pun: it may mean that she has no virile husband, or that she has no heroic sons.
Indra is her husband, and the Maruts are sometimes said to be her sons. Here, Indrani
contests the previous assertion, that she has a husband to protect her.
11. Double entendre: sacrificial meeting-place or rendezvous. The public sacrifice is one
made to gods with their wives (Indrani with her man).
12. The word denotes a woman who is (a) beautiful, therefore (b) loved by her
husband, therefore (c) fortunate in the most important way for a woman: her husband
will live long.
13. This is a common metaphor for Soma. Vrsakapi’s wife implies that even though her
offering is not a Soma offering, it is just as good.
14. Verses 16-17 have inspired many imaginative interpretations. Apparently Indrani
refers first to V??akapi, whom she accuses of lacking power (both sexual and religious),
and then to Indra, whom she praises for having this power; Vrsakapi’s wife then retorts
that Indra is not powerful, precisely because he is sexually active, while her husband is
powerful, because he is (now, if not necessarily formerly) celibate and self-controlled (a
statement that she then supports with v. r8). Moreover, Indra is sexually active because
he represents potential power, while Vrsakapi, apparently having already had Indrani, is
now immune to sexual stimulation. The ‘hairy organ’ is most likely hers, which opens in
response to him (cf. 9.112.4); the verb also serves to describe the male organ, which
swells in its excitement, and thus the ‘hairy organ’ may be his; it is quite likely that the
ambiguity is intentional. Sayana says that Indrani speaks the first verse, wishing to have
intercourse with Indra, and that Indra speaks the second, not wishing to have inter
course with her; in this gloss, the one who is (is not) powerful, respectively, is the
woman, who does or does not excite her husband; Indra, in refusing her, argues that
his power lies in the fact that he is immune to sexual stimulation. Finally, one may see
the reversals between the two verses as a result of the transfer of virile powers rather
than as a contrast between two static descriptions: in the first verse, Indra is not
powerful, but the monkey is; in the second, the situation is reversed. The most likely
interpretation, however, is that Indrani praises the virile Indra and mocks the impotent
Vrsakapi in the first verse, and Vrsakapi’s wife praises the self-controlled Vrsakapi and
mocks the priapic Indra in the second.
15. These are all items used in a sacrifice of expiation for one who has violated a vow of
chastity. They are also used in the horse sacrifice, for the stallion breaks a year’s vow of
chastity in this ceremony.
16. The ‘slave’ is the indigenous inhabitant, regarded as demonic; the ‘ally’ is the
conquering Aryan (cf. note 4). These two are further juxtaposed with the man who
prepares a ‘simple brew’ (the Soma substitute), to whom Indra prefers the expert (the
Soma- offerer).
17. The contrast seems to be between the non-Aryan desert, where Vrsakapi has been
performing his vow of expiation among non-Soma offerers, and the ‘ closer’ houses of
civilization under the plough; there may also be overtones of a contrast between a
barren woman and one who has cropped.
18. She may be referring to herself and Indra, as a reconciled married couple, or to
herself and Vrsakapi, as a reconciled illicit couple.
19. A possible allusion to the rape of Indrani.
20. The beast may be Vrsakapi, the scapegoat who has taken Indra’s many sins and
given Indra his own fertile powers. Or it may be Vrsakapi’s wife, accused of inciting
Vrsakapi to his sacrilege against Indrani.
21. Parsu’s name means ‘rib’; as the wife of the first man (and one who is said in many
texts to be androgynous) she shares this anatomical description with Eve. Whether she
is here identified with Vrsakapi’s wife (or, indeed, with Indrani), or merely stands for
all womankind who benefit from the fertility of the gods, is an open question.
10.40 The Courtship of Ghosa
The hymn begins and ends with an invocation to the Asvins. The central verses are set in
the mouth of a woman, one of two instances in the entire Rig Veda where this occurs;1 and
according to Indian tradition, Ghosa is actually the author of this hymn. Though women
do speak in some of the dialogue hymns,2 they do not invoke the gods, and even here it is
unlikely that Ghosa was in fact the author. In the hymn, Ghosa reminds the Asvins of the
many people they have helped in the past, including at least one (Siñjara) who has
regained his virility. In this context it is relevant to note that the word for ‘widow’ is also
interpreted by the commentaries, here and elsewhere, as referring to the wife of an
impotent man. The hymn continues with Ghosa’s image of a happy marriage (v. 9), at
which the bride’s parents weep and reminisce, and people wear wedding clothes rather
than funeral clothes (v. 10). She asks them to bless her future husband (vv. 11-13), and
the hymn ends, as it begins, with a question about where the Asvins may be found, and
the implied hope that they are going to the poet’s house.
1 Where is your brilliant chariot going, O Heroes, and who has adorned it for its good
journey as it comes, glorious at dawn, brought by thought and care morning after
morning into house after house?
2 Where are the Asvins in the evening, where in the morning, where do they stop and
where have they spent the night? Who invites you as a widow takes her husband’s
brother to her bed, as a young woman takes a young man to a room?
3 Early in the morning you are awakened, like two old men praised by a bard, and
worthy of sacrifice you go into house after house. For whom do you remain in shadow,
O Heroes, and to whose Soma offerings do you come like two sons of kings?
4 Like hunters tracking wild elephants we summon you with the oblation at dawn and at
dusk. To the man who offers the oblation at the right time, you who are heroes and
husbands of beauty bring nourishment.
5 Ghosa, the daughter of a king, came to you, Asvins, and said, ‘I beg you, O Heroes; be
with me by day and by night, as you give power to the racehorse to win the prize of
horses and chariots.
6 ‘You wise Asvins move about on your chariot, driving it like Kutsa3 to the houses of the
singers. Your bees bring raw honey by mouth, as a woman brings honey in a pot.
7 ‘You came to the aid of Bhujyu, you came to Vasa, you came to Siñjara4 and Usanas.
The sacrificer enjoys your friendship; I beg for a favour, with your help.
8 ‘You Asvins rescue Krsa and Saya, you rescue the worshipper and the widow. You
Asvins throw open the thundering cow-pen with seven mouths5 to give rewards.
9 ‘She has become a young woman; the young man has run away to her. Plants wafting
magic powers have sprouted and flow to him as rivers flow to a valley. On that day he
becomes a husband.
10 ‘They mourn the living; they are transformed at the sacrifice. Men have pondered
deeply the long span. It is a blessing for the fathers who have arranged this; the wives
are a joy for the husbands to embrace.
11 ‘We have not learned this – tell it to us – how a young man rests in the lap of a young
woman. Let us go to the house of a bull full of seed and fond of cows. This we desire, O
Asvins.
12 ‘Your favour has come, O Asvins rich in prizes. Desires are becoming firmly rooted in
hearts.6 As a pair, you husbands of beauty have become our protectors; let us go as
loved ones to the home of a good friend.
13 ‘Grant to the eloquent wealth and strong sons, as you rejoice in the house of a man.
Husbands of beauty, make a ford where one can drink well; clear away the hatred7 that
stands like a post in the path.’
14 Where, and in whose houses, will they rejoice today, the wondrous Asvins, husbands
of beauty? Who has detained them? To the house of what inspired priest or sacrificer
have they gone?
NOTES
1. The other is the Apala song, 8.91.
2. Lopamudra (1.179), Yami (10.10), Indrani (10.86), Urvasi (10.95), and Sarama
(10.108).
3. Kutsa is a friend and charioteer of Indra. As charioteers who travel to the houses of
many noble men, the Asvins will be the ideal matchmakers.
4. The commentator identifies him with Atri. Cf. 1.116 and 5.78.
5. The Asvins are asked to give cows as rewards, just as kings would reward Brahmins
with cows taken from the royal cow-pens. The seven mouths are probably simply seven
gates, seven being a recurrent number in the Vedas.
6. The lack of pronouns in this sentence leaves an ambiguity that may well have been
intended in the original. One can speculate – ‘our desires are rooted in your hearts’ –
but perhaps this goes against the force of the verse.
7. Perhaps the hatred of a rejecting husband. Cf. 8.91.4.
10.85 The Marriage of Suryaa
The divine prototype for human marriages is the hierogamy of Suryaa (daughter of Suryaa,
the sun) and Soma (here, for the only time in the Rig Veda, regarded as the moon, as well
as the sacred plant and its expressed juice). Later marriages are modelled upon this one,
and the bride is called Suryaa. The first nineteen verses refer to the myth of the marriage of
Suryaa and Soma; subsequent verses also refer back to Suryaa (vv. 20, 35 and 38) and to
Soma (40-41), though the former seems merely to designate the bride and the latter is a
reference to Soma in his other aspect, his droit de seigneur over all brides. Verses 20-47
present formulaic verses, some of a highly magical nature, to be recited at a wedding.
1 The earth is propped up by truth; the sky is propped up by the sun. Through the Law
the Adityas stand firm and Soma is placed in the sky.
2 Through Soma the Adityas are mighty; through Soma the earth is great. And in the lap
of these constellations Soma has been set.1
3 One thinks he has drunk Soma when they press the plant. But the Soma that the
Brahmins know – no one ever eats that.2
4 Hidden by those charged with veiling you,3 protected by those who live on high, O
Soma, you stand listening to the pressing-stones. No earthling eats you.
5 When they drink you who are a god, then you are filled up again. Vayu is the guardian
of Soma; the moon is the one that shapes the years.
6 The Raibhí metre4 was the woman who gave her away; the Narasamsí metre4 was the
girl who accompanied her.5 The fine dress of Suryaa was adorned by the songs.4
7 Intelligence was the pillow; sight was the balm. Heaven and Earth were the hope-chest
when Suryaa went to her husband.
8 The hymns of praise were the shafts6 and metre was the diadem and coiffure. The
Asvins7 were the suitors of Suryaa, and Agni was the one who went in front.8
9 Soma became the bridegroom and the two Asvins were the suitors, as Savitr9 gave
Suryaa to her husband and she said ‘Yes’ in her heart.
10 Thought was her chariot and the sky was its canopy. The two luminaries10 were the
two carriage animals when Suryaa went to the house.
11 Your two cattle, yoked with the verse and the chant, went with the same accord. You
had hearing for your two wheels. In the sky the path stretched on and on.
12 The two luminaries were your wheels as you journeyed; the outward breath was made
into the axle. Suryaa mounted a chariot made of thought as she went to her husband.
13 The wedding procession of Suryaa went forward as Savitr sent it off . When the sun is in
Agha11 they kill the cattle,12 and when it is in Arjuni11 she is brought home.
14 When you Asvins came to the wedding in your three-wheeled chariot, asking for Suryaa
for yourselves, all the gods gave you their consent, and Püsan, the son, chose you as his
two fathers.13
15 When you two husbands of beauty came as suitors for Suryaa, where was your single
wheel?14 Where did you two stand to point the way?15
16 Your two wheels, Suryaa, the Brahmins know in their measured rounds. But the one
wheel that is hidden, only the inspired know that.
17 To Suryaa, to the gods, to Mitra and Varuna, who are provident for all creation, to
them I have bowed down.
18 These two16 change places through their power of illusion, now forward, now
backward. Like two children at play they circle the sacrificial ground. The one gazes
upon all creatures, and the other is born again and again marking the order of the
seasons.
19 He17 becomes new and again new as he is born, going in front of the dawns as the
banner of the days. As he arrives he apportions to the gods their share. The moon
stretches out the long span of life.18
20 Mount the world of immortality, O Suryaa,19 that is adorned with red flowers20 and
made of fragrant wood,20 carved with many forms and painted with gold, rolling
smoothly on its fine wheels. Prepare an exquisite wedding voyage for your husband.
21 ‘Go away from here! For this woman has a husband.’ Thus I implore Visvavasu21 with
words of praise as I bow to him. ‘Look for another girl who is ripe and still lives in her
father’s house. That is your birthright; find it.
22 ‘Go away from here, Visvavasu, we implore you as we bow. Look for another girl,
willing and ready. Leave the wife to unite with her husband.’
23 May the roads be straight and thornless on which our friends go courting.22 May
Aryaman and Bhaga united lead us together. O Gods, may the united household be easy
to manage.
24 I free you from Varuna’s snare, with which the gentle Savitr23 bound you. In the seat
of the Law, in the world of good action, I place you unharmed with your husband.
25 I free her from here, but not from there.24 I have bound her firmly there, so that
through the grace of Indra she will have fine sons and be fortunate in her husband’s
love.
26 Let Püsan lead you from here, taking you by the hand; let the Asvins carry you in their
chariot. Go home to be mistress of the house with the right to speak commands to the
gathered people.25
27 May happiness be fated for you here26 through your progeny. Watch over this house
as mistress of the house. Mingle your body with that of your husband, and even when
you are grey with age you will have the right to speak to the gathered people.25
28 The purple and red appears, a magic spirit;27 the stain is imprinted. Her family
prospers, and her husband is bound in the bonds.28
29 Throw away the gown, and distribute wealth to the priests. It becomes a magic spirit
walking on feet, and like the wife it draws near the husband.29
30 The body30 becomes ugly and sinisterly pale, if the husband with evil desire covers his
sexual limb with his wife’s robe.
31 The diseases that come from her own people and follow after the glorious bridal
procession, may the gods who receive sacrifices lead them back whence they have
come.31
32 Let no highwaymen, lying in ambush, fall upon the wedding couple. Let the two of
them on good paths avoid the dangerous path. Let all demonic powers run away.
33 This bride has auspicious signs; come and look at her. Wish her the good fortune of
her husband’s love, and depart, each to your own house.
34 It32 burns, it bites, and it has claws, as dangerous as poison is to eat. Only the priest
who knows the Suryaa hymn is able to receive the bridal gown.
35 Cutting, carving, and chopping into pieces33 – see the colours of Suryaa,34 which the
priest alone purifies.
36 I take your hand for good fortune,35 so that with me as your husband you will attain a
ripe old age. Bhaga, Aryaman, Savitr, Purandhi36 – the gods have given you to me to be
mistress of the house.
37 Püsan,37 rouse her to be most eager to please, the woman in whom men sow their
seed, so that she will spread her thighs in her desire for us and we, in our desire, will
plant our penis in her.
38 To you38 first of all they led Suryaa, circling with the bridal procession. Give her back
to her husbands, Agni, now as a wife with progeny.
39 Agni has given the wife back again, together with long life and beauty. Let her have a
long life-span, and let her husband live for a hundred autumns.
40 Soma first possessed her, and the Gandharva possessed her second. Agni was your
third husband, and the fourth was the son of a man.
41 Soma gave her to the Gandharva, and the Gandharva gave her to Agni. Agni gave me
wealth and sons – and her.
42 Stay here and do not separate.39 Enjoy your whole life-span playing with sons and
grandsons and rejoicing in your own home.
43 Let Prajapati create progeny for us; let Aryaman anoint40 us into old age. Free from
evil signs,41 enter the world of your husband. Be good luck for our two-legged creatures
and good luck for our four-legged creatures.
44 Have no evil eye; do not be a husband-killer. Be friendly to animals,42 good-tempered
and glowing with beauty. Bringing forth strong sons, prosper as one beloved of the gods
and eager to please. Be good luck for our two-legged creatures and good luck for our
four-legged creatures.
45 Generous Indra, give this woman fine sons and the good fortune of her husband’s love.
Place ten sons in her and make her husband the eleventh.43
46 Be an empress over your husband’s father, an empress over your husband’s mother; be
an empress over your husband’s sister and an empress over your husband’s brothers.
47 Let all the gods and the waters together anoint our two hearts together. Let
Mätarisvan44 together with the Creator and together with her who shows the way45 join
the two of us together.
NOTES
1. The first Soma in this verse is the drink that strengthens the gods; the second is the
plant that grows on earth; and the third is the moon.
2. Verses 3-5 play upon the different Somas: the plant that is pressed, the god that the
Brahmins know, the god protected in heaven, the plant between the pressing-stones, the
juice that they drink, the moon that is drained of Soma and filled again, waxing and
waning.
3. Seven gods guard Soma, among whom Vayu is foremost (see verse 5).
4. Two Vedic metres used in the wedding hymn; their grammatical gender is feminine.
The songs (gathas) are feminine, like the metres. They may be personified as women
helping Suryaa to dress or as adornments actually stitched upon the dress.
5. The word may refer to the dowry; cf. 10.135.5-6.
6. Of the chariot that takes the bride to the home of the bride groom. Cf. the magical
chariots in 10.135 and 1.164.
7. The Asvins are elsewhere said to be the brothers and/or the husbands of Suryaa, but
here they are the unsuccessful suitors. They are, in any case, her brothers.
8. Agni heads the procession and serves as the messenger, his usual function.
9. Savitr is here another name for Surya, the father of the bride.
10. Probably a designation for the two months of summer, re garded, as particularly
auspicious for marriages.
11. Two constellations of summer.
12. The cattle are slaughtered for the wedding feast.
13. Püsan is, like the Asvins, both a brother and a lover of Suryaa; here he is the son of
the Asvins, who choose Suryaa for themselves instead of acting as intermediaries. Püsan
is also, appropriately, as the god of safe roads and journeys, the one who supervises the
wedding procession.
14. Here, and in verse 14, the two wheels of the solar chariot (identified by Suryaa as
the sun and moon) are contrasted with the mysterious single wheel, perhaps the
nocturnal sun, or the year. Cf. 1.164.2.
15. The path to the secret sun in heaven, or the path to the groom’s house.
16. After the verse of closing benediction (v. 17), two more verses describe the sun and
moon before turning to the human bridal couple. The heavenly bodies circle in the sky
as the married couple will soon (v. 38) circle the fire. The second half of verse 18 refers
first to the sun and then to the moon.
17. The moon.
18. His life, or the life of the gods, or of the sacrificer, or just time in general.
19. The bride is addressed as Suryaa, as is Suryaa herself, and the verse refers to both at
once. The chariot that takes the bride to the house of the groom is here assimilated to
the world of immortality that Suryaa wins in the sky.
20. Kinsuka flowers and Salmali wood.
21. A Gandharva who possesses girls before their marriage. This verse and the next are
an exorcism against his droit de seigneur, like that of Soma (cf. v. 40). Visvavasu, Soma,
and the Asvins are all rejected suitors.
22. This is a benediction to the families of the bride and groom, and perhaps in
particular for the disappointed suitors.
23. Savitr is the father of Suryaa. In this verse the bride loosens her braids as a sign of
release from her parents’ house, a binding that is metaphorically attracted to the well-
known bonds or snares of Varuna (see 7.86 and 7.89).
24. From her parents’ house, but not from her husband’s house.
25. This formula usually refers to the right of a man to speak in the assembly. It may
mean that here, or refer to the wife’s right to command servants.
26. This is a benediction as she enters the house of the groom.
27. Verses 28-30 and 34-5 concern the defloration of the bride and the staining of the
bridal gown with her blood. This blood becomes a magic spirit, potent and dangerous
though not necessarily evil; the defloration is an auspicious event but too powerful to
allow its emblem to remain present afterwards. The power of the blood is transferred to
the bride’s family and to the husband, and though this is a good power it becomes evil
if allowed to pollute the husband (v. 30) or to compete with the wife herself as an alter
ego (v. 29). By exercising his droit de seigneur, Soma takes upon himself the first and
most powerful stigma of the blood of defloration.
28. Double meaning: the bonds of marriage that unite them, and the magic lines drawn
by the blood on the gown.
29. That is, it enters the groom when the bride enters the house.
30. Almost certainly the body of the husband.
31. This verse is to be spoken if the bridal party encounters a funeral procession on the
road; verse 32 is to be spoken at a cross roads.
32. The robe again, as in verses 28-30.
33. Literally, this verse describes the cutting up of the robe; but the words usually refer
to the cutting up of the sacrificial animal, and there is a further overtone of the physical
injury of the defloration itself, the sacrifice of the maiden head on the altar of marriage.
34. A reference to the bride in terms of the paradigmatic Suryaa; the colours are the
purple and red of the blood (v. 28).
35. The good fortune of being beautiful and therefore loved by her long-lived husband,
as in verses 25 and 33.
36. Gods who are concerned with marriage. Purandhi is the bringer of abundance.
37. Here invoked not as the son of the Asvins, as in the myth of Suryaa (v. 14), but as the
god of safe roads and journeys and as the one who prepares the bride for the sexual act.
38. This may refer to the priests but more likely refers to the various divinities who
possess the bride before her marriage – the Gandharvas (like Visvavasu in verses 21-2),
Soma (vv. 40-41), and in particular, Agni.
39. This is addressed to the bridal couple.
40. Here and in verses 44 and 47, auspicious unguents are placed on the bridal couple
to ensure good fortune and, perhaps, lubricity. Here the action is metaphorical and
intended to bestow long life; in verse 44 the ointment is placed on the bride’s eyes to
prevent the evil eye, and in verse 47 it is placed over their two hearts to make them
soften and fuse. Cf. the unguent on the widow’s eyes in 10.18.7.
41. A general hope, as well as a reference to the particular evil sign represented by the
blood of defloration (vv. 28-30, 34-5).
42. Domestic animals (pasus).
43. A strange wish. Later Hindu tradition regards the husband as being reborn as the
son of his wife. This verse may merely imply that she should care for her husband as
the eleventh male dependent upon her.
44. Assistant and messenger of Agni.
45. An unknown goddess, perhaps responsible for showing the bride the way to her
husband’s home and heart. Cf. Atharva Veda 11.4.12.
10.109 The Rape and Return of the Brahmin’s Wife
This hymn exhorts the king to restore the Brahmin’s abducted wife; it alludes to the
parallel instance of the myth of Soma’s abduction and return of the wife of Brhaspati. The
two parallels are closely intertwined: Soma is called a king (an epithet that he has even
when he is regarded as the incarnation of the sacred Soma plant and Soma drink, an
aspect of the god not immediately relevant to this hymn), and so he is said to ‘give back’
the wife of Brhaspati both as the culprit (the adulterer returning the woman to her
husband) and as the king (v. 2), whose responsibility it is to see justice done. Moreover,
since the god whose wife Soma abducts is Brhaspati, ‘Lord of Sacred Speech’, the Brahmin
of the gods, the poet is able to speak of Soma returning ‘the Brahmin’s wife’. Moreover,
Soma ‘gives back’ all brides after he has exercised his droit de seigneur (see 10.8 5). Verse 2
is thus an extended pun: Soma returns the wife of Brhaspati as the king returns the wife of
a human Brahmin.
An equivalent ambiguity may be seen in the question of the sin or offence for which
the hymn seeks expiation. When the poet refers to such expiation, one assumes that it is
meant to apply to Soma’s offence. But later Hindu tradition regards the offence, and the
expiation, as that of the husband or even of the wife. As Sayana tells the story: ‘Speech
was the wife of Brhaspati. One day she offended him because she was so ugly, and so he
abandoned her. Then the gods, deliberating among themselves, made her free from
offence [i.e. ugliness] and gave her back to Brhaspati.’ The hymn allows of either
interpretation, since the phrase ‘Brahmin-offence’ in the first verse could be either an
offence by a Brahmin or one against him, and verse 7 does not say whose expiation is
being performed. But the hymn itself does not blame the Brahmin or his wife, and one is
inclined to think that the poet wishes to expiate the sin of the adulterer – and to purify
the adulterous god Soma.
1 These were the first to speak about the sin against the Brahmin: the boundless ocean,
Matarisvan,1 the fierce-flowing heat,2 strong fire3 that brings the force of life, and the
divine waters who are first-born in the sacred order.
2 King Soma was the first who gave the Brahmin’s wife back again, without a grudge;
Varuna and Mitra agreed to go with her, and Agni, the summoning priest, took her by
the hand and led her back.4
3 He5 must be grasped by her own hand, as a token, when they have said, ‘She is the
Brahmin’s wife.’ She did not stay for a messenger to be sent. Thus is the kingdom of a
ruler protected.
4 The gods and the seven sages who settled down to asceticism in the ancient time spoke
about her: ‘The wife of a Brahmin is dangerous, if she is taken away; she plants disorder
in the highest heaven.’
5 He lives as a chaste student, a servant eagerly serving; he becomes a limb of the gods.6
In that way, Brhaspati won back his wife again, when she had been carried off by Soma,
just as the gods won back the sacrificial spoon taken by Soma.7
6 The gods gave back again, and men gave back. Kings, keeping their promises, should
give back the Brahmin’s wife.
7 When they gave back the Brahmin’s wife and with the gods’ aid erased the sin, they
enjoyed the rich essence of the earth and then went on to the wide-striding realm.8
NOTES
1. An assistant of Agni, sometimes identified with the wind.
2. Tapas, ritual or ascetic heat (cf. 10.190).
3. Fire as an element.
4. Soma, the Gandharva, and Agni are the three immortal husbands of the bride before
she marries a mortal (10.85.40).
5. This verse seems to say that Brhaspati himself must take her by the hand, and not a
messenger. But Sayana suggests that the gods ate here speaking to Brhaspati, and it may
be that ‘he’ is her son, a token of their union. Later myths tell us that a son, Budha, was
born to Soma and restored to his father in a similar way.
6. ‘He’ is probably Brhaspati, who lives in chastity because he lacks a wife; by serving
the gods zealously, he obtains their aid in winning her back.
7. There is an elaborate pun in this verse. Juhú designates a special spoon used in the
Soma sacrifice; it is therefore ‘taken by Soma’ (cf. 3.31.1-3). It also comes to mean
‘speech’, personified as the goddess of Speech who often leaves the gods and must be
brought back again, like Brhaspati’s wife. Sayana says that Juhú is the name of the wife
of Brhaspati, but this renders the metaphor pointless.
8. Heaven, the realm of Visnuu who strides across it.
10.102 Mudgala’s Wife and the Bull in the Chariot
This mysterious dialogue hymn conceals an erotic and pro-creative myth in the tale of a
strange chariot race. Sayana tells two versions of the story in his introduction: ‘Thieves
stole away all of Mudgala’s cattle but one old bull; yoking this remaining one to his cart,
he yoked a wooden club [or, perhaps, a horse or bull named ‘wooden club’]1 to the other
side and went after the thieves, taking back his own cows.’ The second version is shorter:
‘Mudgala yoked a bull and a wooden club, went into battle, and won the combat.’ These
commentaries do not mention the central role of Mudgala’s wife, nor do they tell us
anything of the nature of this mysterious wooden club or how it could be harnessed to a
chariot,2 points which are somewhat (but not entirely) clarified by the hymn itself.
The central image of the hymn is the chariot race that is simultaneously a battle and a
search for cattle; these frequently overlap in Vedic thought, for the chariot race is a
formalization of battle (like hunting in England: all the glory of war and only seventy per
cent of the danger); the sacrifice, too, included a mock cattle-raid. This particular
battle/race/ raid is unusual in having four transformations : the charioteer is a woman
instead of a man (Mudgala’s wife apparently riding beside him); the part of the first
racehorse is played by an old bull; and the part of the second racehorse is played by a
wooden club.1 Much is made of the fourth transformation, that of an old cart into a racing
chariot (a transformation which hinges upon the clever use of the piece of wood, in verse
7). The story as a whole, particularly the woman charioteer and the unusual chariot-
animal, bears a striking resemblance to an old Irish myth;3 this, together with notable
parallels with Greek myths and Roman rituals, suggests an Indo-European origin for this
strange tale.
The hymn opens with Mudgala’s blessing on the race (vv. 1-3), and a description of the
beginning of the race (v. 4) and its outcome (v. 2). The opponents try in vain to stop the
bull (v. 5), but he races all the faster (v. 6). The wooden club is attached (vv. 7-8),
amazing the onlookers (v. 9), and then it is led home in triumph (perhaps satirical) (v.
10). The hymn ends with a benediction from the onlookers (v. 11) and from Mudgala (v.
12).
1 [Mudgala :] ‘ Let Indra boldly push forward your perversely transformed chariot.4 O
Indra, invoked by so many, help us in this race for fame and battle spoils.’5
2 The wind whipped up her robe when she mounted the chariot and won a thousand
cows. For Mudgala’s wife was the charioteer in the contest for cattle; becoming the very
army of Indra, she gambled and won the spoils.
3 [Mudgala:] ‘Hold back the thunderbolt6 of the enemy who rushes against me to kill me,
O generous Indra. Drive aside the missile of the Dasa or the Arya.’7
4 The bull who was inspired to fight drank a lake of water. With a horn like a club he
rushed against the enemy attack and crushed it. The animal with heavy testicles
stretched forth his forefeet briskly, eager to win the race, longing for fame.
5 The attackers excited the bull to bellow and to stale8 tight in the middle of the battle.
Through him, Mudgala won as spoils of war a thousand and a hundred well-grazed
cows.
6 The bull rumbled9 as he was yoked; his long-haired charioteer10 shouted. The
droppings of the headstrong bull, who was running yoked to the wagon, struck
Mudgala’s wife.11
7 Cleverly he12 struck off the rim of the chariot wheel and yoked the steer to it,13 using
all his force and skill. Indra aided the husband of cows; the humpbacked bull galloped
with great leaps.
8 The man with a whip and braided hair14 was successful in binding the wood to the
rope. The bull performed the deeds of a hero for the great crowd, increasing in vigour
as he looked at the cows.15
9 [Bystanders:] ‘See over there the yoke-mate of the bull, the wooden club, lying in the
middle of the racecourse. Through him Mudgala won a thousand cows, and a hundred,
in the races.’
10 ‘Let all misfortunes stay far away !’ ‘Who has ever seen such a thing?’ ‘Hold on to the
one that he yoked.’ ‘They are not bringing grass or water to him.’16 ‘Going above the
yoking pole, he pulls as if he wished to command the drive forward.’17
11 ‘She has won, like a despised wife who wins back her husband, like a full-breasted
woman who pours water even with a poor water-wheel.18 Let us conquer with a
charioteer who is so eager and nimble. Let her prize be rich and auspicious.’
12 [Mudgala :] ‘ You, Indra, are the eye of the eye of the whole world. For you are the
bull who strives to win the race, driving a bull with a steer for his yoke-mate.’19
NOTES
1. This is conjectural, as the term (drughana) is a hapax, that might be the name of a
racehorse or even an evil end of some sort; but it is explicitly called ‘wooden’ in verse
2. Some farmers (in Bavaria and elsewhere) do yoke a horse to one shaft and a cow to
the other, or even leave the second shaft empty. Cf. 1. 116.18 for two strange and
unmatched chariot animals, and 1.164 for a mysterious chariot.
3. The tale of the goddess Mácha harnessed to a chariot when she is pregnant.
4. The adjective ‘perversely transformed’ implies that it is perverted from its normal
haulage function to that of a war chariot, for which it is unsuited.
5. These spoils are the cows taken by the thieves, Sayana suggests.
6. Indra is asked to repel the thunderbolt that is usually his own weapon but here
apparently designates a missile hurled by the enemy. It may also stand for a club (a
doublet of the club used by Mudgala) thrown by the enemy, perhaps to jam the spokes
of the chariot wheel.
7. The Dasa is the enemy who is a native inhabitant of the invaded country, the Arya
the enemy who is another member of the invading force.
8. Apparently the attackers try to make the bull roar and urinate because he must stand
still to do this and so will be delayed. Since the bull has just drunk a lake of water in
the previous verse, he might stale of his own accord anyway.
9. He may rumble as he stales; the verse is unclear, and it may be the cart or the
wooden club that rumbles. Cf. the rumbling cart in 10.146.3.
10. The long hair here indicates that the charioteer is a woman, in contrast with the
charioteer with braided hair in verse 8.
11. Apparently the droppings strike the charioteer because the bull is running so fast.
The bull is excreting, as he staled in the previous verse, because he is furious, and since
he does not have to stop to do this (as he must do to stale), Mudgala’s wife is in the
direct line of fire. One might see connotations of fertility in the manure, but it is
certainly a most peculiar verse.
12. Mudgala.
13. Through parallel constructions, the verse describes the castrated bull (the steer) as a
metaphor for the wooden club that is yoked by Mudgala, and contrasts him with the
galloping bull (the husband of cows) who is aided by Indra and whose deeds are further
described in verse 8. The contrast between the bull and the steer is repeated in verses 9
and 12.
14. This would appear to be Mudgala, if it is in fact he who is the subject of the first
part of verse 7, as seems most likely. But there may be a secondary reference to Püsan,
the solar charioteer who is also said to have a whip and braided hair, and who may be
imagined as the divine companion in the racing chariot, standing beside Mudgala’s wife
in the form of Mudgala himself.
15. The sight of the prize cows waiting to be given away at the end of the racecourse
excites the bull.
16. While the bull is given fodder after the race, the wooden club is not, of course.
17. The wooden club, going in front, looks as if he feels himself to be the true driver, or
so the onlookers joke.
18. This verse has complex overtones. The basic image is that of the dark horse
overcoming obstacles (the improvised chariot) to win, as a neglected wife wins back her
husband. Mudgala’s wife may have been thus neglected, either because she had borne
no children or perhaps because she was married to an old ascetic while she herself was
young, ‘eager and nimble’ in more ways than as a charioteer. By becoming the woman
charioteer, she becomes prosperous, full-blooming, like a full-breasted (i.e. lactating)
woman with children. Thus she wins her way back into her husband’s graces by
winning the race, the prize substituting for the children she never had. She is then like
the potent bull, and he is like the impotent piece of wood or the ‘poor water-wheel’. In
this race, as in the ‘sexual race’ won by Lopamudra and her old ascetic husband Agastya
(1.179), they win together. The pouring of water supplies the basis of the simile: the
full-blooming wife of Mudgala prospers like an earthenware wheel that sprinkles water,
a patent sexual metaphor.
19. In the continued metaphor, Mudgala hopes to accomplish what the steer
accomplished, while Indra helps his ‘yoke-mate’ the bull – Mudgala’s wife.
