Yoni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (September 2008)

This article may require copy-editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now.  (September 2008)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. Please help recruit one or improve this article yourself. See the talk page for details. Please consider using {{Expert-subject}} to associate this request with a WikiProject. (February 2009)

Part of a series on Hinduism
History · Deities Denominations Mythology
Beliefs and practices Dharma · Artha Kama · Moksha Karma · Samsara Yoga · Bhakti · Maya Puja · Hindu temple
Scriptures Vedas · Upanishads Ramayana · Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita · Puranas Dharmaśāstra · others
Related topics Hinduism by country Gurus and saints Reforms · Criticism Calendar · Hindu law Ayurveda · Jyotisha Festivals · Glossary
This box: view • talk • edit

Yoni (Sanskrit: योनि yoni) is a Sanskrit word that means “source or origin of life”. The ancient VEDAS contain the word YONI in various contexts. The original meaning of yoni was "Divine Passage". A child was considered to be born from a yoni of stars - constellations that prevailed during the child birth. The Aryans had identified some 50,000 astrological yonis that favour a child's birth. The term yoni was also used in agricultural references by the Aryans. A 'fertile yoni' meant a good harvest of crops.

The Encyclopedia of Religion. Mircea Eliade, ed. Volume 15. P. 530. New York: Macmillam Publishing Company</ref> The word also has a wider meaning in both profane and spiritual contexts, including "spring, fountain, place of rest, repository, receptacle, seat, abode, home, lair, nest, stable" (Monier-Williams). It is also etymologically derived from the root yuj—like yoga and yogini—meaning, “to join, unite, fasten, or harness.” ^[1]

The Veda known as the Ayurveda, or Science of Life, was the record of the ancient medicinal art of the Aryans. The Ayurveda was the only Veda that described yoni as a part of the female anatomy. Here the term was meant as a designation of respect for women who gave birth, thus contributing to the continuation of the community.

The Aryans interacted and inter-mingled with the Dravidians, and other communities, to form ancient India. This lead to a proliferation, and modification, of their sciences. The word yoni began to be more often used to refer to female genitalia by ancient physicians.

The yoni is also considered to be symbolic of Shakti or Devi in Hindu Tantra.

The worship of the yoni in Shaktism has the fullest elaboration at the Ambuvaci festival in Assam, India, which is held late each June. During Ambuvaci, the Goddess Kamakhya is worshipped in her temple outside of Guwahati, Assam.

In classical texts such as Kama Sutra, yoni refers to the vulva.^{[citation needed]}

In South Asian cosmology, the yoni is a "representation of the female sexual organ and thereby the symbol of the goddess Sakti, consort of Siva. The yoni is often associated with the linga, the representation of the phallus and symbol of the god Siva". ^[2] As a representation of the feminine principle, the yoni is often found in union iconographically with the lingam, or masculine principle.

Possible lingam-yonis have been recovered from the archeological sites at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, part of the Indus Valley Civilization. There is strong evidence to support cultural continuation from the Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan; Indus-Sarasvati) to Vedic and modern Hindu practices. ^[3]

[edit] See also

• Hindu philosophy
• Proto-Vedic Continuity

[edit] Notes and References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vulva symbols