Jignasa Journal Of History Of Ideas And Culture Part 02

Author(s): Vibha Upadhyaya and Others
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 46

262 / Jijñāsā
35. 'Dohada' A Folk-Lore in Ancient India
U.N.Roy
The term 'dohada' occurs profusely in ancient Indian Literature and denotes a popular social custom widely prevalent amongst the women-folk of the country. Although 'dohada' is a Prakrit word, it is a term of frequent occurrence in the Sanskrit texts. It is a derivative of the Sanskrit word 'daurhrida', meaning foetus.
Aśoka-dohada
It was commonly believed that the tree of Aśoka does not bloom and the hero (Nayaka) fails to show his strong emotion for longing unless the two received the stroke (Prahāra) of the left foot (Vāmapāda), especilally, of a charming lady under intoxication. It was held that if she kicked the Aśoka tree with her left foot or spat a mouthful of drunken liquor on its stem, it blossoms into full in consequence.' Such references are of frequent occurrence in Sanskrit lyric, drama and prose romances, throwing light on its wide popularity in the female section as early as the Maurya-Sunga Age. In an interesting account of the Malavikāgnimitram of Kālidāsa, we find the lady attendant Madhukarikā requesting the queen Dhariņi to apply the 'dohada' device to the young Aśoka tree which was not yet blossoming.2 As the left leg of the queen was injured having fallen from the swing, she expressed her inability for the same and selected charming Malavika, the young heroine of the drama to perform the delicate duty and promised to award her profusely, if the tree came into blossom in a brief course of five days only.
Vakulavalika, another lady attendant of the chief queen, is reported as saying to Malavika that even after receiving the stroke of her tender feet (Charaṇa-satkāram labdhvā), if the Aśoka tree does not bear flowers, it will be deemed as worthless one (nirguno). The King, too, is reported as observing, that if the Aśoka did not burst into buds even after receiving an honour from the newly blossomed lotus-like, adorned with red dye and tinkling with metallic sounds of the anklets of a young lady with slender waist, it would be presumed that longing of the lustful for the foot-stroke (dohada) of a charming damsel, grows in him invain."
The king, who was highly enamoured of charming Mālavikā, is represented in the drama as saying that either an unblossomed Aśoka tree or a hero committing blunder in romance and hence lying prone before his sweetheart seeking her mercy, deserves the kick of the foot of that fascinating lady.' Malavika the heroine of the drama, while experessing a similar view, observes that this unbloomed Aśoka tree ('agrhita-kusuma') is lustful for a stroke, from the delicate and charming foot of an attractive maiden (lalit-sukumara-dohadäpeksi)8.