Rig Veda, ta'ntra, nUl, and sUtra

[thompson at jlc.net]

>Patrick Olivelle wrote on 04-04-97:
>>We really do not know the type of loom that forms the basis of the
>>metaphor. It appears that the weaver was located not behind the warp (as in
>>modern hand-looms) but on the side where she (and it is mostly women!) can
>>pass the shuttle back and forth. I have seen one reference that speaks of a
>>pair of women weaving (can't think of the source); if so there may have
>>been two women on either side of the loom passing the shuttle back and
>>forth
>
>The two weaving women at the loom are mentioned in the year allegory of the
>Paushyaparvan of the Mahabharata (Mbh. 1.3.147,151,167,172).
>
>Regards
>                Georg v.Simson

We also see USAsA-naktA, the pair of goddesses, characterized as a pair of
weavers [vayye`] at RV 2.3.6.

More later,
George Thompson