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Since Indra is, above all, the god of victory in battle for his believers in the Rgveda, it might not be expected that he would have relevance for women, since they do not take part in war. Moreover, the hymns of the Rgveda are composed by men; thus we can scarcely expect to learn what role Indra may have played in the religious belief of women, whether they addressed prayers to him at all, and if so, prayers of what content. We have, however (beside the hymn 8.91, ascribed to Apālā), some allusions in isolated verses of the RV (e.g. 10.85.25 and 45; 4.19.7), which may help us to identify certain ideas involved; these ideas I shall then trace also in other texts, particularly in the Pāli Jātaka stories.
1 This article is a slightly amended version of a paper read at the XXXIInd International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, 25–30 August 1986, at Hamburg.
2 cf. RV 2.12.9 yásmān ná ṛté vijáyante jánāso
yáṃ yúdhyamānā ávase hávante
yó víśvasya pratāmanam babhūva
yó acyulacyúl sá janāsa indraḥ
‘Without whom the nations do not gain victories,
whom they when fighting call for help,
who has become the match for everyone,
who moves (even) the immovable: he, O ye nations, is Indra!'
3 Hillebrandt, , Lieder des Rgveda (Göttingen 1913),46:Google Scholar ‘Er schwängerte die Mädchen, die wie hervorbrechende Quellen tobten, er schwängerte die jungen rechtschaffenen Frauen, welche verkūmmerten … ’ (with a footnote on Grassmann, Ludwig, Pischel).
4 Oldenberg, , Nolen I (Berlin 1909), 283Google Scholar, commenting on nabhanvaḥ: ‘wie sich spaltende (d.h. den Verschluβ ihrer Jungfräulichkeit eröffnende) Jungfrauen’ (with a question mark, however).
5 Geldner, , Der Rigveda … übersetzt I (HOS, 1951), 444: ‘Er schwängerte die Unvermählten, die wie Quellwasser glucksten, (er schwängerte) die sittsamen jungen Frauen, die dahinschwindenden …’Google Scholar
6 dáṃsupatnīḥ: compound with first member in locative case; for the accent, cf. Thieme, ‘Nennformen aus Anrede und Anruf im Sanskrit’, in MSS, 44 [Festgabe für Karl Hoffmann], (München 1985), 244.Google Scholar
7 Even in Greek legends no woman (except, perhaps, Semele) is happy because of being visited by a god; cf. the stories of Apollo and Daphne, Zeus and Kallisto, Zeus and Europa, Zeus and Danae, etc.
8 It is, incidentally, the only one which was not used at all for the version of the Apālā story told in the Jaimīmya–Brahmana, obviously because it seemed not to fit in the context of the story imagined by its author(s)'
9 For the explanation of the compound patidvis– cf. compounds like rathayúj– ‘yoked to achariot’ etc.: the verbal root may have active as well as passive sense.
10 Geldner, in the introduction to his translation says: ‘Apālā. Atri's Tochter, deren Körper durch ein Hautleiden entstellt ist, findet unterwegs die Somapflanze und will mit ihrer Hilfe den Indra für ihren Zweck gewinnen. Zuhause preβt sie sie mit den Zähnen aus und richtet ein regelrechtes Somaopfer an. Indra, durch das Geräusch der Zähne angelockt, erscheint in anderer Gestalt als “Mannchen” und will den Soma und zugleich ihre Liebe haben …’ (Geldner relies on Sāyana, of course.)
11 This improbability seems to have been felt by Meyer, J. J., who, in his interpretation of the story (Tritogie altindischer Mächte und Feste der Vegetation, III, Zürich 1937)Google Scholar suggests that Indra might have been a name for the male sex–organ, with which the girl in question wanted contact (pp. 176 ft).
12 In the Surucijātaka (489), the Hatthipālajātaka (509), the Kusajātaka (531). and the Mūgapakkhajātaka (538).
13 In most instances this happens when the Bodhisatta is reborn as Sakka, as is the case also in most of the stories where Sakka puts someone to the test.
14 He suggests to the queen that, by eating the so-called ‘middle–mango’, she would conceive a son who would become a Cakravartin—this being quite in agreement with Indra's function of bestowing sons. But when eventually the fruit in question is found by a parrot and the queen consumes it, it does not give her a son; the idea of the ‘middle–mango’ was only a trick, a device for disturbing the ascetics.
15 cf. the Candakinnarajālaka (485):
‘kin nu kho lokapālā nama n'atthi, udāhu vippavutlhā ādu malā ma piyasāmikam na rakkhantīti’ devujjhānakammam akāsi.
‘Are there no world-guardians, are they abroad or are they dead, that they do not protect my dear husband?’ Thus she performed a solemn utterance of complaint to the gods.
16 The metre would be correct, if ha (Sambulājātaka) or hi (Manicorajātaka) were omitted.
17 cf. Tāndyamahābrāhmana, 12.6.8 and Taittirīyabrahmana, 1.7.1.6–8; the story is taken up again in MBh., 9.42.28–37.
18 For instance in the Maitrāyani–Samhitā, 2.4.1 and Kāthaka–Samhitā 12.10; their version is presupposed by MBh.5.9.
19 ‘Indra's, fight against Vrtra in the Mahābhārata’ (Felicitation Volume presented to Belvalkar, S. K., Benares, 1957, 113–23), see p. 118Google Scholar.
20 cf. ‘Indra, as God of Fertility’, JAOS, 36, 1917, 242Google Scholar.
21 cf. Hara, Minoru, ‘Indra and tapas’ (Adyar Library Bulletin 39, 1975, 129–160)Google Scholar. This fear is, by the way, quite unjustified; the only one who ever assumes Indra's position in the MBh. is, as far as I know, king Nahusa, who ascends Indra's throne because of his sacrifices, not because of his asceticism.
22 cf. Satqpatha-Brāhmana, 3.3.4.18; Jaimīmya-Brāhmana, 2.79; Ṣaḍviṃśa-Brāhmaṇa, 1.1.20–21, Lāṭyayana-Ṥrautasūtra, 1.3.1.
23 cf. ‘Indra as God of Fertility, JAOS, 36, 264Google Scholar. I should perhaps prefer ‘unploughable’, i.e. barren land, which becomes fertile through Indra.
24 MBh., 5.12.6 and 12.329.14. 1–2.
25 Rm., 1.47–48 and 7.30.15–41.
26 Brahmapurādna, 87, Brahmavaivarta-Purāna, 4.47.6–44 and 4.61, Padmapurāna, 5.51, Skanda-Purāna, 5.3–138 and 6.207–208 (here she is called Ahilya, by the way).
27 All purāṇic versions, likewise the Kathāsaritsāgara version (3.3.137–148)Google Scholar; the motif intrudes even into one manuscript (Dl) of the Bālakāṇḍa–version in the Rāmāyaṇa.