These features are related in part to peculiarities discussed by in our earlier

analysis of related issues pertaining to the RV. We observe that the maṇḍala-s 8
and 9 have the lowest average number of words per hemistich, keeping with the
dominance of the shorter meters in these maṇḍala-s (panel 1). However, we can see
that Kāṇva-s tend to compose long sūkta-s; hence, they figure a higher number of
words per sūkta on an average (Panel 2). However, in contrast, maṇḍala-9, which
also has the lower average number of words per sūkta, has no such compensation and
is dominated by short sūkta-s. These are peculiar to the soma ritual and the sāman-
s composed on them. We also note that the Atri-s and Vasiṣṭha-s tend to compose
more short sūkta-s than the others. Barring these anomalies, the RV is quite
uniform, especially in terms of the average number of words per hemistich. This
gives us the general background to investigate the distribution of āmreḍita-s.

Panel 3 for Figure 2 shows the āmreḍita-s in a sliding window of 2000 words through
the length of the RV. The maṇḍala boundaries are marked by a vertical dotted line.
We observe that the āmreḍita-s are not uniformly distributed. There are whole
regions with a low count and others with notable spikes. We find that the maṇḍala-s
differ in their use of āmreḍita-s (Panel 4 of Figure 2): maṇḍala-s 3 and 6 of the
Vaiśvāmitra-s and Bhāradvāja-s are rich in āmreḍita-s, whereas those of Vāmadeva,
the Vāsiṣṭha-s and the soma maṇḍala are particularly poor. In the case of the soma
maṇḍala, the metrical structure with a low average number of words per hemistich
probably discriminates against āmreḍita-s. However, in the case of the other
maṇḍala the difference in āmreḍita counts is in spite of their mostly average
behavior in terms of word count per hemistich (compare panel 4 and panel 1).

To understand if this difference might have any significance, we simulated the

distribution of āmreḍita-s as a random process using the total number of āmreḍita-s
in the RV (Table 2). We created 10000 artificial sets corresponding to the size of
each maṇḍala, checked the number āmreḍita-s reached in each replicate and computed
the Z-scores for the observed number of āmreḍita-s and the probability of getting
the observed number or more/less by chance alone (Figure 3).

AMreDita_simulationFigure 3

This experiment suggests that maṇḍala-s 1 and 10 have more or less the average
number of āmreḍita-s one would expect by chance alone. This probably reflects their
composite nature rather than being the product of one dominant clan. However,
maṇḍala-s 3 and 6 have greater than expected number āmreḍita-s (p=0.016 and 0.014
respectively), whereas maṇḍala-s 7 and 9 have lower than expected number of
āmreḍita-s (p=0.035 and 0.037 respectively). This observation suggests there was
possibly a conscious difference in the poetic styles of the Vaiśvāmitra-s and
Bhāradvāja#-s on one hand and the Vāsiṣṭha-s on the other, with the former showing
a predilection for the use of āmreḍita-s. This makes one wonder if the reduced use
of āmreḍita-s by the Vasiṣṭha-s, who had some links to the Iranian side, represents
a regional tendency also seen in the Avesta, which also uses a low number of
āmreḍita-s. As noted above the unique structure of the soma-maṇḍala probably
accounts for its low āmreḍitacount.

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Posted in Heathen thought, History | Tagged grammar, Hindu, Hindu ritual, Hindus,
Indo-Aryan, Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, linguistics, mantra, religion,
Rigveda, ritual, Veda, vedic
The amazonian banana republic: the strī-rājya in Hindu tradition
Posted on May 6, 2018 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI
amazon_2

The śaiva tradition shows a dichotomy with respect to the role of the sex in ritual
and purity. The earlier antimārga or pāśupata tradition focused on abstinence and
the so-called “upward flow” or ūrdhvaretas. This indeed the underlying idea behind
the ithyphallic depiction of Lakulīśa, the founder of one of the key atimārga
traditions. However, within the śaiva tradition there was another ambivalent
practice with earlier roots in the shared pool of ascetic practices, which were
also inherited by the vaiṣṇava-s (e.g. Vaikhānasa-gṛhyasūtra). This was the
asidhārā-vrata. Here the practitioner engages in kissing and coital contact with
his wife or another beautiful and sexually active woman without spilling his seed.
Successful practice of this for a certain fixed period is said to confer rewards on
the practitioner. This practice continued within the śaiva-mantra-mārga both in the
saiddhāntika (e.g. in the Mataṅga-pārameśvara tantra) and bhairava (e.g. Brahma-
yāmala) streams. Thus, the practice was likened to walking on the sword-edge.
Unlike this practice, which still emphasized the non-spilling of seed, among the
practices within the bhairava-srotas of the mantramārga the full-fledged sexual
ritual with actual ejaculation developed with many variations in doctrine and
praxis. The founder of one of central traditions within this stream, namely the
kaula tradition, was the siddha Matsyendranātha. A successor of his was another
siddha Gorakṣa, who in certain late manifestations of the tradition is portrayed as
superseding Matsyendra himself. This manifestation seemed to have been accompanied
by a reversal to more abstinent practices and explicitly castigated the sexual
activities of Matsyendra.

This is portrayed in famous story we narrated earlier, which is widespread in the

eastern reflexes of the nātha tradition. Here, Matsyendra is described as going to
a kingdom where only women existed, ruled by a female chief. It was termed the
strirājya or Kadalirājya (the banana-kingdom). There Matsyendra engaged in sex with
the queen and was about to die from total loss of vīrya, when his student Gorakṣa
comes and saves him. This was the first time we learned of the strīrājya. A tale
similar to this one of Matsyendra was also incorporated into the hagiography of the
advaitācārya Śaṃkara presented in the Mādhavīya Śaṃkara-digvijaya. These accounts
were consistent with our next encounter with the term strīrājya in the sūtra-s of
Vātsyāyana. There, in his sexual ontology, he says that the women of strīrājya like
violent actions in bed and also the use of kṛtrima-liṅga-s. Since then, we kept
encountering the strīrājya in a number of Hindu sources and it struck us that this
was a parallel to the amazons, who are frequently mentioned in Greek lore. We had
to visit an art museum, where we saw a modern imitation of a Classical sculpture of
an amazon, probably one of the famous amazons featured in Greek legend (Top). The
person, whom were showing the museum, remarked that the amazon had an “Indian”
touch to her – whether there was any truth to that or not – it prompted us to
revisit the topic leading to the current discursion on the strīrājya.

While the amazons are frequently mentioned in the Greek epic and early literature,
their counterpart, the strīrājya, finds only a rare mention in the Hindu epic, the
Mahābharata. Yet a closer examination suggests that the inspiration for both
probably stemmed from related steppe Iranic groups:
1) While there is no consensus it is most likely that the Greek word amazon does
not have a Greek etymology. Rather, it is likely to have some kind of Iranic
etymology such as ha-mazon, perhaps meaning a warrior band.
2) The Greek evidence from writers such as Herodotus associate them as mixing with
the steppe Iranic groups like Scythians (śaka tigracūḍa) and spawning the
Sarmatians (sairima). Consistent with this they are described as being experts of
horse-borne archery.
3) The Roman leader Pompey records them as being in the army of Mithradata-VI the
formidable Greco-Iranian king. The later Roman writer and general Ammianus mentions
them as a neighboring tribe of the Iranic Alans (Aryans).
4) The archaeologist David Anthony notes that among the “Scythian-Sarmatian”
warrior kurgans about 20% contain interred women in battle-suits like their male
counterparts. Consistent with this, some Greek sources record the amazons being
interred in large kurgans. This can also be placed in the context of Herodotus’
account of the death of Cyrus, where he marches against an Eastern Iranic steppe
kingdom of the Massagetae which was led by a queen Tomyris.

This suggests that indeed these steppe Iranics with female participation in warfare
might have inspired the yavana legends about the amazons. They may have been more
familiar to the early Greek sources than the Indic ones because they launched a
series invasions in the direction of the Greek sphere and are even credited to have
built some temples in the Greek sphere, which were subsequently centers of Greek
worship.

On the Indian side of the evidence we find a further mention from the great Gupta
age naturalist Varāhamihira in his Bṛhatsaṃhitā:
diśi paścimottarasyāṃ māṇḍavya-tukhāra-tāla-hala-madrāḥ |