Sorceresses in the Vedas

I cannot believe I have not written on this blog since last Halloween!  I have still been writing and continuing with the Hindu work, however I needed to re-prioritize my life; I simply dedicated all of my time to Hindu activism and let my practical life slip... but I am recovering well now. I know I have not been communicating much with the Hindus as I once did, but I have been communicating with many Westerners on the issue of Hinduism and I am happy to find that more and more and more are becoming interested in the eternal religion. 

I know this is a strange topic to come back with, however it has simply been a topic of much discussion among myself and others, and this is something I think about often, and that is the interesting existence of sorceresses in the Vedas. First for myself personally, we all tend to have a character type, an archetype, which appears in movies and films to whom we most often feel closest to, resonate with, are interested in, or want to win.  Some like the hero, some like villain, the king, the maid ect.  In fantasy movies I always love the sorceress, and the same is true for sorceresses in mythology. In Greek mythology sorceresses do exist and they are not always painted as evil (though often they are of mixed dark and light quality).

My favorite Sorceress of all time, and one of my favorite characters generally, is the sorceress Madea.  If my memory serves me correctly, Madea was the daughter of a Greek king, she was a priestess of the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, and she was a mistress of poisons.  If I am correct she poisoned her father to marry the hero Jason and fled with him to his homeland in Greece where the two had two children.  However, Jason eventually betrays Medea and leaves her to marry an aristocratic woman.  Madea, being an exceedingly devious woman, poisoned the linens of Jason's new bride and killed her.  When Jason returns to his house to confront Medea, he find that she has killed their two children as she flies off in a chariot carried by dragons. I always love how Madea completely destroyed the story and rose up triumphant, crushing the ungrateful and stupid Jason.

I think the reason why I always like the sorceress is that she must try the hardest and think the hardest to reach her position and craft, she must also tolerate the most amount of persecution and betrayal.  Sorcerers are always viewed with great suspicion in lore, however, they could find a respectable position if they were employed by royalty who would beckon wisdom and spells from them. Sorcerers are also much more reticent, it seems that they are often better at hiding their growth and practice, or feel less threatened, so they are powerful but not as cunning or creative as their female counterparts.  The sorceress seems destined for so many more trials and tribulations, she also thrusts herself out into the world, usually revealing exactly what she is, taking delight in the men and women who always attack her with immediate fright, thus always sharpening her skills and boosting her ego.

Now this brings me to sorcery in the Vedas.  Usually, in the Vedas and in modern Hinduism, "sorcery" comes with a very negative connotation (but not always). First it would seem from the Vedas that sorcery was generally considered to be a breaking of Dharma or "sacred law", this strongly implies that the Vedic Arya viewed sorcery to be "unnatural", meaning they believed it twisted the spiritual-material substance of Rta in ways that could not be sustained in a healthy manner; Dharma more or less means "that which upholds" or is naturally lasting and sorcery was considered not to be Dharmic.

"Mark the Law, thou who knowest, yea, observe it: send forth the full streams of eternal Order.  I use no sorcery with might or falsehood the sacred Law of the Red Steer I follow. "

 However, it is very interesting to note that the Vedas also proclaim that "gods", Asuras, sages (angiras), men and yes even women can create sorcery and magic spells.  The Vedas describe the rituals of sorcerers to be "unholy", likely profane in the Arya's eyes. But, as usual in Hinduism, there is always an exception, always an allowance for the alter to exist, a revelation that sorcery is not as adharmic as we might think.  The message is fleeting, but the Vedas do have protective spells against sorcery that "prepare themselves" meaning that black magic can and does arise of its own out of the primordial substance of the universe Brahman.  If black magic or sorcery were so wholly unnatural how can it arise naturally of its own accord? Why are gods and sages practicing sorcery?

"The sorceries performed by the gods, and also those performed by men, may the all-healing gangida render them all devoid of strength!"  

"The sorceries that come from the Angiras, the sorceries that come from the Asuras, the sorceries that prepare themselves, and those that are prepared by others, both these shall go away to a distance across ninety navigable streams! " 

"Whether a woman, or whether a man has prepared the spell for evil, we lead that spell to him as a horse with the halter." 

"He that plans to harm thee with sorceries, with (unholy) consecrations and sacrifices--him beat thou back, O Indra, with thy thunderbolt that hath a hundred joints!" 

Now the Vedas constantly make proclamations against "sorcerers" as in males, but there are a few rare instances where the Vedic heroes must defeat an illusive sorceress. The Rig Veda reads a hymn against an exceedingly powerful sorceress who is said to have "daring strength", implying that she was more courageous than what would be expected from perhaps her male counterpart. We also find a spell in the Vedas to return the dark magic of a sorceress back upon herself. It would seem that this sorceress has had a very feminine idea, to weaken the children of the Arya under some malaise, a rarely intelligent and long term war strategy. Sorceresses are often times, very often, associated with poisons as many consider this to be more cunning, however the remedy plant against the female sorcery is personified as a female deity herself, a "mistress of remedies", likely plant tinctures and potions; thus the Arya divinized their healing plants as a would be sorceress herself, a mistress of antidotes, a good sorceress if you will. Beyond this, it would seem the later Arya in the Atharva Veda had actually picked up some of the feminine dark magic themselves, as they created their own prayers to render a woman sterile... this is in stark contrast to the usual protective and retributive spells cast by the Arya in regards to sorceresses.

" O thou who castest forth the stones crushing the sorceresses' heads, Break them with thy wide-spreading foot, with thy wide-spreading mighty foot. Do thou, O Maghavan, beat off these sorceresses' daring strength. Cast them within the narrow pit. within the deep and narrow pit."

"1. We take hold, O victorious one, of thee, the mistress of remedies. I have made thee a thing of thousandfold strength for ever), one, O plant! 2. Her, the unfailingly victorious one, that wards off curses, that is powerful and defensive; (her and) all the plants have I assembled, intending that she shall save us from this (trouble)! 3. The woman who has cursed us with a curse, who has arranged dire misfortune (for us), who has taken hold of our children, to rob them of their strengthmay she eat (her own) offspring! "

"1. The other enemies conquer with might; beat back, O Gâtavedas, those that are not yet born! Enrich this kingdom unto happiness, may all the gods acclaim this man! 2. Of these hundred entrails of thine, as well as of the thousand canals, of all these have I closed the openings with a stone. 3. The upper part of the womb do I place below, there shall come to thee neither offspring nor birth! I render thee sterile and devoid of offspring; a stone do I make into a cover for thee."

But, for anyone who has eyes to see, their is certainly a layer of hypocrisy to the Vedas.  It is often stated by the Hindu legal opinions (Smritis) that women are not to read the Vedas, however their are spells in the Vedas which are to be used by women (often times against other women) and it is hard to not see that the female Vedic chanters did indeed have devious intentions in mind. The Vedas carry a few passages on women attempting to use overt sorcery to remove a rival wife, making their mutual husband become repelled by her. It is further found spells for women to maliciously attack a rival suiter, praying that she remain at home as a maid until she grows old and grey. Yet it should not be surprising that Hindus tend to find the most scandalous of women's dark spells to be those surrounding attracting and keeping a man.  In one spell the women prays to nymphs and gods asking them to "intoxicate" her lover so that he becomes addicted to her; another hymn prays the man not even speak to other women and think only of the enchantress singing the spell. If women are not supposed to read the Vedas, much less practice any sort of magic, why are these hymns found in our cannon?

"1. I dig up this plant, of herbs the most potent, by whose power rival women are overcome, and husbands are obtained. 2. O thou (plant) with erect leaves, lovely, do thou, urged on by the gods, full of might, drive away my rival, make my husband mine alone! 3. He did not, forsooth, call thy name, and thou shalt not delight in this' husband! To the very farthest distance do we drive our rival."

"1. I have taken unto myself her fortune and her glory, as a wreath off a tree. Like a mountain with broad foundation may she sit a long time with her parents! 2. This woman shall be subjected to thee as thy wife, O king Yama; (till then) let her be fixed to the house of her mother, or her brother, or her father! 3. This woman shall be the keeper of thy house, O king (Yama), and her do we make over to thee! May she long sit with her relatives, until (her hair) drops from her head! 4. With the incantation of Asita, of Kasyapa, and of Gaya do I cover up thy fortune, as women cover (something) within a chest."

 "1. This yearning love comes from the Apsaras, the victorious, imbued with victory. Ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me! 2. My wish is, he shall long for me, devoted he shall long for me! Ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me! 3. That yonder man shall long for me, (but) I for him nevermore, ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me! 4. Do ye, O Maruts, intoxicate him (With love); do thou, O mid-air, intoxicate him; do thou, O Agni, intoxicate him! May yonder man burn after me!"

"1. This potent herb do I dig out: it draws toward me the eve, causes (love's) tears. It brings back him who hasngone to a distance, rejoices him that approaches me. 2. By (the plant) with which the Âsurî allured Indra away from the gods, by that do I subject thee, that I may be well-beloved of thee! 3. Thy face is turned towards Soma (the nioon), thy face is turned towards Sûrya (the sun), thy face is turned towards all the gods: 't is tliee here that we do invoke. 4. My speech, not thine, (in this matter) hath weight: in the assembly, forsooth, do thou speak! To me alone shalt thou belong, shalt not even discourse of other women! 5. Whether thou art beyond the haunts of men, or whether across the river, this very herb, as if a captive bound, shall bring, thee back to me!"

As I already stated, I always root for the sorceress, as she is the successful underdog, she, even more than the sorcerer, has had to undergo the greatest social and spiritual pressure to become who and what she is.  This makes the sorceress much more nuanced and even understanding and compassionate than any other character, and it also makes her the most dangerous.  While sorcery in general is viewed negatively in the Vedas, it is admitted that gods and holy men practice the art and that it does in fact have a self sustaining and appearing power as it arises of its own accord.  Their are few mentions of sorceresses in the Vedas, but when they are mentioned it seems to be articulated that they are unusually powerful.  Vedic spells against women seem particularly vicious, and their is indeed dark magic which is undeniably to be spoken by women.  The sorceress is always mysterious, not fully evil, but also not good.  Sorcery is a fascinating topic in Hinduism as it is one of the topics which Hinduism keeps a healthy distance from, but as always there are threads which lead us to accept our sorceresses sisters on the darker side of the Vedas.