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Secondary Tales of the two Great Epics
queen is expected to tie down with the sacrificed horse. We have also already pointed out that the sacrifice is a fertility-rite.282 The queen Bhadra in this tale is shown to sleep with the dead body of her husband named "Dead Horse", in order to obtain progency. The name of the queen 'Bhadra' will also be found very significant in the light of the Brahmodya which "is associated with the ritual of coitus"263 and which is recited by "The queen who lies with the sacrificially killed horse."63 The queen repeats thrice: "O Amba, Ambikā, Ambalika! None leads me, the horse sleeps with Subhadra from Kampila."263 The affinity of the names Bhadra and Subhadra, the name Vyusitaśva and the sacrificed horse, the ceremony of Upasamveśana and the motif of sleeping with the dead body of the husband (called "Dead Horse"), the the common purpose of fertility, all these factors go to prove that the words of the brahmodya are ideally reflected in the central motif of the tale which has, thus, a very vital relation with the upasamveśana ceremony of the Aśvamedha Sacrifice. Dr. Vora examines the tale from a sociological point of view and takes it to present an ideal of conjugal fidelity and chastity upheld by Kunt in protest of Pandu's suggestion for Niyoga, but the irony of the situation is that the tale itself idealises the upasamveśana ceremony which in its turn is based on the custom of Niyoga as pointed out by Willibald Kirfel.264 The tales should first have been studied from at folk-loristic-anthropological point of view, and then the outcome of such a study should have been utilised as data for further sociological studies. Dropping the first step can lead to contradictory results.
Again, Dr. Vora says: "It should be noted that throughout the Epic Kunti stands for the new conception of sex-morals eventhough she had herself committed breaches according to the moral standard of those concepts." The doctor seems to be overenthusiastic in her attempts to save the character of Kunti. Actually, unless we ascertain the dates of the various portions of the epic there is hardly any point in talking about old sex-morals or new ones.
The temptation to express an unholy idea in this context is irresistible. Kunti knows that the female company is fatal for Pandu. In answer to Pandu's suggestion of Niyoga for progeny, the example she cites shows the woman securing progeny from the cropse of her husband. And mark her words; "You only, O joy of the Kurus!
(dissolved as a Bahuvrihi compound, 'one who possesses shining horses') may also mean the sun, and the relation Sun (=Indra) = the god of fertility obtains in many primitive religions,
262 See above p. 35
263
A Folk-Custom in the Aśvamedha', S. A. Dange, Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, Vol. XVI, No. 4, June 1967. p. 323. Cf. ambe ambike'mbalike na mã nayati kaicana/ sasaty aivakaḥ subhadrikän kämpila-vasinim// Vajasaney; Samhita: XXIII.18. Cf. Dange's article, p. 323; "...the ritual of coitus imbibes the idea of Niyoga current in ancient India to obtain a 'ksetraja' son". Cf. 'Aśvamedha, the king of Sacrifices', B. H. Kapadia, JUB, Vol. XXX, part 2. Also see above pp. 35-36
264
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