Goddesses from the Samhitas to the Sutras
by Rajeshri Goswami | 1989 | 68,131 words
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....
Description of Goddess Urjahuti
In the Sanskrit-English dictionary by Monier Williams, Urja is defined as s "strength, vigour, power, ... etc.". 31 These goddesses are lustrous and yield much milk; they are givers of the desired fruit of things; they make Indra grow with oblation and create splendour and also strengthen and nourish 29 p. 425. 30 Taittiriya-brahmana II : 2:6:2, II : 361. 31 P. 221. 32 8 II : 21613.
him, and one of them gets the food and juice and the other gets together food and drink, they protected the old oblation with the new one, and created the new oblation with the old 32 one, and they create milk and other juices In this hymn, their quality as a cow may be noticed. They are strong and they fulfil the desires of their worshippers and yield much milk 33 noticed. In this hymn too, their quality as a cow may be 300 The Vedic Aryans looked upon Urjahuti as goddesses who played some role in the life and activities of Indra. They contribute to Indra's growth and development, and infuse strength into him. They provide him with nourishment in the form of food, milk and other juices, and endow him with splendour. They were considered by them to be lustrous, and good givers of the desired 8K fruit things. They are also regarded as very minor Vedic goddesses. Some mention is found of the Apsarases or divine nymphs like Urvasi in the various Vedic texts. But as no clear picture of them as goddesses emerges from these texts they are not being dealt with separately. Their figures are also far from clearly delineated. But the concept of this demi-goddess was common among the Indo-Europeans as the presence of nymphs in Greek and Roman mythologies testify. 32 Taittiriya-brahmana II : 216:3. 33 VB 21.52.