Yoni symbol indicates ‘mother goddess’ and the concept of ‘rebirth’.

Abstract

So far, I have identified many symbols relating to many gods of Indus civilization. However, no logo has appeared for ‘mother goddesses.’ How is it possible? India is known for female goddess worship, and goddesses are still ruling the roost. After careful analysis, I have concluded that the ‘yoni’ symbol might indicate the ‘mother goddesses.’

Picture courtesy –Sue Sullivan (1)

The above-given symbol could be meaning ‘yoni’, thereby representing ‘mother goddess’ and ‘rebirth concept’.

Figure 1: Symbols indicating ‘Smasana-cayana’ ritual pit

Picture courtesy -Sue Sullivan (1)

The above-given figure shows ‘Smasana-cayana’ pits. However, it could be indirectly showing the ‘yoni symbol’ as a sign of rebirth. Refer to my article on the ‘Smasana-cayana’ ritual for more information. (2) The ancients believed that the soul would enter another yoni after the completion of funeral ceremonies. This phrase is frequently used in Bhagwat Gita while describing the transmigration of the soul of a dead person.

Figure 2: embryo shape symbol

Picture courtesy – (1)

The above-given pictogram may be indicating the embryo symbol. The first and second pictogram clearly shows the embryo form, Whereas the remaining cryptograms show the ‘Vesica Pisces’ concept. Once again, this embryo symbol means the idea of the mother goddess and ‘Rebirth’.

Figure 3: Vesica Pisces symbol

Picture courtesy — (1)

The above-given figure shows the concept of ‘Vesica Pisces’. Rekha Rao proposes such a concept in her e-book. In her book, chapter 3&4, location 3975&4038 (E-book), she had given a detailed analysis of the idea of Vesica Pisces and its relevance to Indus symbols. (3) This concept is well described in her book. My article on ‘fish symbolism’ also explains the same concept (4).

It looks like that ancient Indus people believed in ‘Rebirth’ and believed that they would be reborn as a ‘fish’ for an intermediary birth and later on achieving higher forms of birth. Probably the idea was similar to the modern-day Hindu concept of rebirth and attaining higher forms of life.

Picture courtesy – Asko Parpola (5)

The above-given symbols indicate the Yoni symbol with growing seedling inside. It might have meant the mother goddess. The second possibility is that it could have meant the rebirth of a dead man’s soul as a seedling. The second explanation fits very well compared to the first interpretation of Goddess.

Picture courtesy – Asko Parpola (5)

The above-given symbols also indicate the vulva and germinating seed inside. The germinating seed, in turn, indicates the growing embryo of a human child and thereby showing the rebirth of the soul.

Picture courtesy – Asko Parpola (5)

The above-given symbols look like fetus symbol, maybe indicating a growing embryo in the mother’s womb. These symbols also may be showing the transmigrating soul in the process of rebirth. (or) This symbol could be a variant of the yoni symbol.

Picture courtesy – Sue Sullivan (1)

The above-given seal inscription shows the fetus symbol. Most probably, the tiger god depicted in the seal may be a goddess. In Hindu culture, the mother goddess Durga is always depicted as riding a tiger. The tiger goddess coincides very well with the fetus and rebirth concept.

Lajja Gowri

Picture courtesy – Wikipedia (6)

Her fertility aspect is emphasized by the symbolic representation of the genitals, Yoni or the Womb, as blooming Lotus flower denoting blooming youth in some cases and others through a simple yet detailed depiction of an exposed vulva. Added to the fact that she is sitting in a squatting position (uttanpada) with legs open, as in during childbirth, in some cases, the right foot is placed on a platform to facilitate full opening. She is invoked for abundant crops (vegetative fertility) and healthy progeny. A blossoming lotus replaces her head and neck, an icon often used in Tantra. The seven Chakras of human energy anatomy are often depicted as blossoming lotuses. The Goddess is often depicted in her Sri Yantra as a Yoni, shown as a simplified triangle at the centre. Further, most fertility goddesses of the Ancient world are similarly shown headless while giving prominent focus to the genitals (7). The Goddess’s arms are bent upwards, each holding a lotus stem, held at the level of the head again depicted by the matured lotus flower (6).

There is no verifiable text in Vedic traditions on the iconography of this Goddess. She doesn’t seem to hold an elevated position in the Hindu pantheon, despite her strong presence throughout India. This Goddess is famous, especially in the tribal region of Bastar in Central India and downwards to the South, suggesting that the Goddess had a cult of her own, later embraced into the mainstream religion through the myths of Sati and Parvati. The Goddess is sometimes called Lajja Gauri (shameless Goddess), interpreted by some as the Innocent Creatrix, the Creator deity (8) or at times simply “Headless Goddess”, or Aditi Uttanapada by modern archaeologist, academicians and Indologists (9).

Figure 4: Vulva symbols

Picture courtesy (10)

External evidence

The above-said idea of the ‘yoni symbol’ had to be supported by some substantial evidence. The collection of ‘yoni symbols’ at Wikipedia Commons endorses the idea of ‘yoni symbol’. Six abstract symbolic representations of external female genitals (i.e., “Yoni” symbols) used in various historical/cultural contexts are presented here in the above-said picture.

1) Upper left: A schematized drawing of the pubic triangle; among other things, this is the earliest archaic form of the ancient Sumerian cuneiform sign MUNUS (meaning “woman”).

2) Upper right: A composite version of Hindu Yoni symbols. It combines features of various versions of Indian Yoni symbols.

3) Lower left: One form of the pointed oval encountered in many contexts as a representation or symbol of the vulva (using the geometry of the Vesica Pisces configuration (i.e., the overlap between two circles of equal diameter, where the centre of each circle is on the circumference of the other).

4) Centre: Oval within oval (another variation of the preceding).

5) Lower centre: a Quasi-original form of an Egyptian hieroglyph used in the spellings of the ancient Egyptian words for “woman” and “vulva.”

6) Lower right: Czech and Slovak “píča” symbol. The ancient Mesopotamian rhomb or lozenge of Ishtar was similar but with concentric diamonds (sometimes with slightly rounded corners) instead of a line inside a diamond.

Table 1: Appearance of yoni symbol in various forms

Seal pictures courtesy – Sue Sullivan (1)

The appearance of the yoni symbol in Indus seals
	The ‘yoni symbol’ and ‘Kedaga’(Shield)symbol mean ‘protection to growing embryo’. (or) protection from the mother goddess
	The germinating seedling from Yoni means the mother goddess. This symbol followed by the ‘Sastha’ (Branch=God) symbol, which confirms that the germinating Yoni indicates a goddess. Secondly, it could mean the idea of rebirth also.
	The seedling within the yoni symbol should be construed as ‘rebirth’, whereas the last two symbols (Karkinos and branch symbol) (Read from left to right) should be read as ‘Karkida Sastha’. Both these symbols look like ‘branch symbols’, but both symbols are different and distinguishable.
	The seal inscription should be read as (read from left to right)- Karkida month – goat god (Ea) (messenger god) – Growing embryo. A bull sacrifice has been made to please the messenger god to protect the growing embryo. (or) second possibility the yoni symbol could be indicating mother goddess.
	The yoni symbol stands alone, in the second row, below the bow symbol’.
	The bird symbol bracketed along with the fish symbol indicates the possibility of a dead person being reborn either as a bird or fish. Crow is being considered as the reborn ‘Pithrus’ even now by Hindus. We don’t eat a crow. Our ancestors are intelligent enough to select a crow as a vehicle of rebirth; if they had chosen ‘chicken’ as a medium of resurrection, we would not be able to eat the chicken at all.
	The squirrel symbol could be indicating the reborn person as a squirrel. Note the extraordinary compassion for squirrel by modern-day Hindus. The squirrel logo is almost equal to ‘fish symbolism.’

Concept of rebirth

The ‘yoni symbol’ does not merely indicate the mother goddess; it stands for the Hindu concept of ‘Rebirth’. The idea of the cycle of birth and death seems to have originated in the Indus Valley civilization itself. Another possibility is the prehistoric Dravidian traditions of South India (11).

The idea of rebirth has resulted in the rebirth soul in an animal form but not total destruction. The concept of rebirth is one of the fundamental principles of Hindu philosophy. Life as we know now after death, therefore, moves on to another form of life based on the merits and demerits it accumulated in its current life. The path to becoming a supreme soul is to practice non-violence and be truthful.

In Hinduism’s Rigveda, the oldest extant Indo-Aryan text, numerous references are made to transmigration, rebirth (punarjanma), and re-death (punarmrtyu) in the Brahmanas. One verse reads, “Each death repeats the death of the primordial man (Purusha), which was also the first sacrifice” (RV 10:90) (11).

1. Sullivan, Sue. Indus Script Dictionary. s.l. : Suzanne Redalia, 2011.

2. Jeyakumar(Smasana-cayana). Evidence_of_Smasana-cayana_Vedic_burial_ritual_in_Indus_Valley_Civilization. academia.edu. [Online] December 2015. https://www.academia.edu/19514513/Evidence_of_Smasana-cayana_Vedic_burial_ritual_in_Indus_Valley_Civilization.

3. Rekha. Symbolography in Indus seals. Symbolography in Indus seals(e-Book). s.l. : https://read.amazon.in/, 2015, p. 11736.

4. Jeyakumar(Fish-symbolism). Fish_symbolism_in_Indus_Valley_Civilization. academia.edu. [Online] December 2015. https://www.academia.edu/19550772/Fish_symbolism_in_Indus_Valley_Civilization.

5. Parpola, Asko. Deciphering the Indus script. New York : Cambridge University Press, 2000.

6. Wikipedia(Lajja-Gowri). Lajja_Gauri. wikipedia.org. [Online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajja_Gauri.

7. Mishra, Baba. Headless goddess of Nuapada-Orissa. http://orissagov.nic.in/. [Online] 2017. http://web.archive.org/web/20090410142517/http://orissagov.nic.in/e-magazine/Journal/Journal2/pdf/ohrj-07.pdf.

8. Bolon., Carol Radcliffe. Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri in Indian Art. 1992. ISBN 978-0-271-00761-8..

9. Images of Indian Goddesses: Myths, Meanings, and Models, by Madhu Bazaz Wangu. Images of Indian Goddesses: Myths, Meanings, and Models, . s.l. : Abhinav Publications, 2003., 2003. ISBN 81-7017-416-3. .

10. commons.wikimedia. File:Vulva_symbols.svg. commons.wikimedia. [Online] March 2016. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vulva_symbols.svg.

11. wikipedia(Reincarnation). Reincarnation. wikipedia. [Online] March 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation.