MAGIC IN AGRICULTURE
Dr. (Mrs.) Kala D.Acharya

   Magic plays an important role in the life of man. The individual sacrifices and festivals, the sacraments, and the stages of human life are connected with magic. The welfare and agriculture have not remained unaffected with magic. Soma sacrifice in Veda is also a rain magic. The outgush of the soma juice from its cavity in the plant and its tricking through the strainer is identical to the practice in rain magic which is meant for the descent of the rain upon the seeker from the sky.

   Women as they stand for fertility are supposed to possess the miraculous power of making the land fertile. Women bearing twins were, of course, of more importance. Female deities occupy a prominent place in magical phenomena relating to the fertility of land. Devotees in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu worship Saptamatrka for fertility of land and rains. Menstrual flow of Parvati at Cunganura, Kamakhya in Assam and Trippuravastu in Travanakor is significant in this context. The image of woman having a true form of her womb, which is found in Indus valley civilization, also depicts the fertility of woman and land to be identical.

   In the regions of Dibrugarh the marriage of frogs is celebrated to get rains. This can be traced to Mandukasukta in Rigveda. Types of dances which are performed in rainy season imitate the movements of crops in fields. Human sacrifice, which was in vogue among khonds, a Dravidian race in Bengal, ensured good crops according to this belief. Turmeric could have deep red colour owing to the bloodshed in the sacrifice. The rain is identical to the semen virile of Indra. The pupil desirious of learning `Sakvari' song in Samaveda was supposed to be an ally of the water powers; hence he was advised to put on black clothes with black trimmings which, of course, refer to black cloud.

   The research paper deals with impact of magic in agriculture and the logic behind it.

About the Author :-

Dr. (Mrs.) KALA  D. ACHARYA
M.A. (Sanskrit : Grammar) Recipient of four gold medals. Ph.D (Sanskrit)

Contributions :
Four research papers :
Symphathetic Magic in the Puranas Brahmosjatau : Some thoughts on the Sutra.
Pancalangala vrata
Gift of the Symbolic mountains in the Puranas.
Contributing articles in Marathi to various Periodicals :-
Dhenu as a symbolic measure in the Puranas.
Concept of Dana
Lamp as a symbol of lustre in ritual.
Co-relation in Vistari yajna, nr yajna and annadana.
Participated in the Oriental Conferences.
Professor of Sanskrit.

 Address:-

 Hon. Directoress,K.J. Somaiya Bhartiya Samskruti Peeth,
Vidya Vihar, Mumbai.