The dangerous mare goddess

Abstract

Early recordings of mythology have preserved--between others---empirical, prescientific observations of natural phenomena. This includes insights into human and animal reproductive biology, 1,2'3 a subject of vital interest from religious, economical and sociological points of view. During the last three millennia BC these insights centered increasingly on the role of the male in procreation, probably as a result of experiences during the domestication of animals and attempts of intensive animal management and controlled breeding. 2 As a consequence, life in animals and humans was no longer thought to be perpetuated by a venerable process of females selfreproduction. When it was understood that impregnation of the female by the male's seed was essential for creating offspring, the matrillinear social and religious institutions reflecting the 'old order' were slowly, but consistently, replaced by a 'new order' of patrillinear institutions: not only were queens dethroned on earth, but also the queen mother of heaven, the immaculate mother of all creation was replaced by a maledominated Olympus, and ultimately by a single male God and Creator (Yahwe, Allah).1.2.3.4 In this new system, the male had become the donor of life, and the female was regarded only a recipient, nurturing vessel for the whole embryo hidden in the male seed. An interesting and rather special case in this development, from India, is provided by Vedic scriptures during the fist millennium of Indo-European (Aryan) penetration and subjugation of the Indian subcontinent (1300 to 300 BC). These scriptures report the strange fate of the mare goddess theAryans brought with them, who was initially a dominant figure in their pantheon: dangerous but beneficent, erotic and fertile. 5'6 But over time, this mare goddess, called Saranyu (or Samjtra), not only lost her status as a life-giving force, but converted into an