These are obviously metaphors to explain the obscure nature of the origins of the rishis. It raises many questions: Why are the fathers twin gods? Why are two male gods necessary for the production of rishis? Why does an apsara cause their arousal? Why does the semen not fall inside the body of the apsara, but instead inside of a pot or on the ground and in water? We can speculate the answers.

In later literature, like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, one finds similar stories. Bhardwaj sees the apsara and spills semen, which falls in a pot. Drona is born from this. Vyasa, seeing an apsara take the form of a parrot, spills semen on fire sticks, from which Suka Muni is born. Vibhandaka sees an apsara, spills semen which is eaten by a deer, who gives birth to the horned Rishyasringa.  Saradvan sees the apsara Janapadi, releases semen on weeds, that turn into a boy and a girl are born, Kirpa and Kirpai. 

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

Are these tales of Aryan men who migrated to India and married non-Aryan women who were seen as pot, sticks, weeds and ground? Are these illegitimate births, outside marriage? Are these abandoned children? Are these queer men attaching themselves to polyandrous women? Depending on our own emotional and sexual maturity, our anthropological and sociological lens, our politics and our comfort zones, we can read the scriptures in different ways. What they can reveal is that the ‘original Vedic seers’ were not born from whatever we now call ‘pure’ unions.

Devdutt Pattanaik writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com