Female Divinities in Hindu Mythology and Ritual (An Old and Rare Book)

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The Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit (C. A. S. S.), University of Poona, has, since its very inception, engaged itself in research in the field of Veda, Vyakarana, and srauta. During the Fifth Five-year Plan two new branches of Nyaya and Mimaṁsa have been added to its teaching and research programmes. Thus, from a modest beginning in the year 1964, the C. A. S. S. has developed into a full-fledged centre for Sanskrit teaching and research. Indeed, in the field of Veda, Vyakarana, and srauta, the Centre enjoys the status of a National Centre.

Dr. S. K. Lal, a student of this Centre, has devoted himself to the Vedic studies. The present book is the outcome of his research since 1972 at the Centre.

The Vedic mythology is a complex one, and, in spite of several attempts made, the last word is yet to be said. Dr. Lal's choice of the theme is welcome inasmuch as he has delved deeper into many aspects of female divinities. Vedic religion and mythology is undoubtedly male-oriented, but how Vedic people could not abstain, in due course of time, from the impact of the indigenous mother-oriented cults and beliefs of the Sapta sindhu, is a salient point that has been stressed in this book. The study gives a synthetic and comprehensive account of some of the important female divinities as they are found in the Vedic mythology and religion and continued up to the age of the Purapas which may be regarded as the terminus a quo of modern Hinduism. The work is interesting and thought-provoking to scholars as well as to the public.

I know that Dr. Lal has worked on this book with assiduity and patience. The present work by Dr. Lal promises well for his next work on the Vedic religion and mythology, which is now in progress. I take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the work done by Dr. Lal.

Female divinities have played not an insignificant role in Hindu mythology, ritual, and religion. Their importance is seen to have grown conspicuously after the Vedic period. They have been represented as being particularly prominent in the post-Vedic and Puranic literature. Indeed, they may be said to be almost dominating the present day Hinduism. Accordingly in order that one may have a proper perspective of Hindu religious beliefs, one must needs acquire an adequate knowledge of the true nature, character, and function of these deities and their important role in present day Hinduism.

It is generally accepted that Hinduism owes not much to the Vedic religion; and its roots may be traced for beyond the frontiers of Vedism, namely, in the pre-Aryan non-Vedic popular cults and beliefs. However, in the lack of any written documents available today, the Indus script has not been satisfactorily deciphered so far-it is difficult to ascertain the exact nature of the cults and religious beliefs which had existed in India when the Vedic Aryans arrived in the region of the Saptasindhu. But on the strength of important discoveries made at various archaeological sites such as Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Chanho-daro, Kot-Diji, Kalibangan, and other related places since 1922, as also on the basis of a comprehensive study of the Atharvaveda which presumably mirrors the way of life and thoughts of common people as against the hieratic religion of the Rgveda, it may be assumed that the pre- Vedic non-Aryan religion and belief had been to an appreciable extent a female oriented. The mother-goddess cult, the fertility cult, the phallus worship, the cult of guardian divinities, and magical rites, sorcery, and witch- craft-in all of which female divinities usually prevail-must have constituted the popular religious beliefs of common people of that period. The priestly Vedic religion, in the flush of its new vigour, seems to have suppressed many of the thought patterns of the pre-existing populace and to have asserted its own ideologies which were mostly male oriented. And when, in the course of time, the Vedic religion found itself constrained to adopt some of the elements of the popular indigenous religious beliefs, it did so; but not without deliberately attempting to transform their original character, and making them conform, as far as possible, to the new thought pattern. As a result of all this, the pre-Vedic popular cults and beliefs, as such, sank into an apparent oblivion; or they were absorbed in Vedic religion in such an utterly altered fashion that they became extremely transformed and unrecognizable. However, they did remain alive, in some form, in the people's thoughts and practices, The Vedic religion appeared on the Indian soil as a whirlwind. But when the strength of the whirlwind gradually began to subside, the popular pre-Vedic religious beliefs got a new lease of life and indeed flourished rapidly with all their ramifications and effiorescence in the Puranic period. Hinduism, as such, thus constitutes a direct continuum from the pre-Vedic to the post-Vedic Puranic period, the Vedic period being just a kind of interregnum, and for that matter, an exotic one in the region of the Saptasindhu.

Vedic literature, which belongs to this interregnum, does very often contain certain positive clues that serve as veritable connecting links between pre-Vedic and Puranic ideologies and thought-patterns. A critical and comprehensive study of Vedic literature reveals that female divinities, who were very popular in the non-Aryan indigenous cults and beliefs, have influenced even the Vedic religious thoughts to some extent, though the Vedic authors seem to have betrayed a kind of restraint and half-heartedness in the treatment of those divinities. This fact may be understood as suggesting that most of the female divinities had their origin in the pre-Vedic non-Aryan religious complex, that, therefore, they did not fully fall in line with the Ideology of Vedism, that it was only under the pressure of circumstances that some of them were reluctantly admitted into Vedic pantheon, and that in classical Hinduism they regained their pristine position and importance.