. Goddess Asunīti Chapter 4 - Female Deities and the Glorification of Women in the Atharvaveda
The term asu means the vital air, [Kr IN tamil there are AASU KAVIS spoken] the presence of which makes beings alive and the departure makes one dead. The force that conveys this vital air from one’s body to another world is personified as the deity Asunīti. Whether Asunīti is a male deity or a female one is a confusion. Though the word is derived from the root “nī” meaning to carry with the suffix “ktin” which is a feminine suffix and thus, the word asunīti is of feminine gender, but, Sāyaṇācārya has once interpreted it as a female deity and in another context as a male deity. However, the Bṛhaddevatā enumerates Asunīti amongst female deities..” Asunīti has her origin in the Ṛgveda.Rig Veda 10.59.5 असु॑नीते॒ मनो॑ अ॒स्मासु॑ धारय जी॒वात॑वे॒ सु प्र ति॑रा न॒ आयु॑: । रा॒र॒न्धि न॒: सूर्य॑स्य सं॒दृशि॑ घृ॒तेन॒ त्वं त॒न्वं॑ वर्धयस्व ॥ asunīte mano asmāsu dhāraya jīvātave su pra tirā na āyuḥ | rārandhi naḥ sūryasya saṃdṛśi ghṛtena tvaṃ tanvaṃ vardhayasva || “Asunīti, give us back the (departed) spirit; extend our life that we may live (long); establish us that wemay (long) behold the sun; do you cherish the body with the ghī (that we have offered).” Asunīti: liṭ,conductress of breath or souls <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/soul#hinduism>, i.e., who prolongs life There, she has been referred to very scantily. Atharvaveda, 18.2.5; 3.59 *** Ṛgveda, 10.16.2; Atharvaveda, 18.2.5 sūryaṃ cakṣurgacchatu vātamātmā dyāṃ ca gaccha pṛthivīṃ ca dharmaṇā / apo vā gaccha yadi tatra te hitamoṣadhīṣu prati tiṣṭhā śarīraiḥ // Ṛgveda, 10.16.3 @ punarno asuṃ pṛthivī dadātu punardyaurdevī punarantarikṣam / punarnaḥ somastanvaṃ dadātu punaḥ pūṣā pathyāṃ yā svastiḥ // Ibid., 10.59.7 Also vide, Ibid., 10.59.5, 6 # In the Atharvaveda also, her name is mentioned only for two times. *** That she guides the vital force of each sense organ to the respective presiding deity of the senses, like Sūrya of the eyes is mentioned in both the Vedas. In the Ṛgveda, it is categorically mentioned that after death, the eyes of the same go to Sūrya and the breath to the wind. In the Ṛgveda, [@] Asunīti is spoken of as taking the asu of the dead person to the three regions, viz. earth, atmosphere and the heaven. In the same Veda,[#] the forefathers are spoken of as having asu. In the Atharvaveda, Asunīti is regarded as svarāṭ, i.e. autocratic and is prayed to give bodily shape to the forefathers who have entered the wide atmosphere. Similarly, in the Ṛgveda also, she is beseeched to prolong one’s life, to enable the dead one to look at the sun-shining again and to return the vital air for the continuation of life. Thus, it is observed that the character of Asunīti is delineated with the same characteristic features in the Ṛgveda and the Atharvaveda and by nature, she belongs to the eschatological deities like Yama, Rudra, Nirṛti and Agni. KR IRS 4 5 23 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorBMKe00Rk70WxSaH2eVZ7TPwpbVVfQUdQmaRA8UJ0s8Q%40mail.gmail.com.
