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 4
7 (of 11)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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kill or injure. She is also considered by them as skilled in killing or injuring. She is once identified with the earth. She is also a very minor Vedic goddess. Only the feminine gender of the word is responsible for her being artificially regarded as a goddess. 296 Vai艣vadevi
Very few feferences to Vaisvadevi are found in the Vedas.
She is supplicated to come and purify her worshippers; she is also
20 related to all the gods and is proficient in purification.
The Vedic Aryans looked upon her as a goddess whose main
function and characteristic was the purification of her worshippers.
They also considered her to be related to all the gods. She too is
a very minor Vedic goddess. Vaisvadevi is clearly an extension
of the collective god Vi艣ve Devah. She was conceived at a time
when most male gods were given consorts, or feminine figures were
mythically created corresponding to male counterparts.
Visucika
Very few references to Vi峁cik膩 as a goddess are found in
It is seen that she is referred to as a
the Vedic literature.
goddess in only one hymn of the Vajasaneyi Samhita. She is
prayed to guard the sacrificer from distress.
21 20 TB I : 1 # 4 1 2.
21 VS XIX : 10.
