Young Women. Next, I will examine what the role of the lexical items denoting female or male is in the structure of the sentence and what sorts of actions they are related to. In particular, I focus the investigation on the notions of agency and transitivity in the most common and popular depictions of men and women. Also, based on these findings I contemplate on the contextual paradigms constructed in these excerpts and on the importance of the theme with regard to topic.

During the process of collecting data, my attention was drawn instantly by a stock of similes of a formulaic character involving young girls' activities, which occur with a relatively high frequency to illustrate a variety of actions or events. On the basis of circumstances and types of activities I classified these similes in two general groups. In the first group a certain phenomenon is described as similar to a maiden going to or hastening to the rendezvous or her lover. In the second group a comparison is drawn between certain phenomenon and a young woman who is beautiful or busy in actions whose purpose is to make herself beautiful.

In the first group, for example, in one stanza expressing a wish, a comparison is made that like a girl hastening to the rendezvous the two bow tips pierce the enemies in unison when they are released towards the foes (6.75.4acdt' ācárantī sámaneva yḍṣā | ápa śátrūn vidhyatāṃ saṃvidān' ā́rtnī im' viṣphurántī amítrān). Another stanza about the sacrifice compares the streams of butter rushing towards Agni with beautiful girls rushing smiling towards the rendezvous (4.58.8abc abhí pravanta sámaneva yḍṣāḥ kalyāṇyāḥ smáyamānāso agním| ghṛtásya dhā́rāḥ). In another hymn we find almost the same figure of speech describing how the companions of the god of the wind, Vāta, rush after him as young women do towards the rendezvous (10.168.2b sám pr'rate ánu vā́tasya viṣṭhā́ aínaṃ gacchanti sámanaṃ ná yḍṣāḥ). There are cases where the finite form of the intransitive verb from the main clause has to be added into the body of an elliptic simile. We find the gambler complaining that when the dice are thrown down and utters words, he goes to meet the dice as the woman with a lover goes to the appointed place to meet him (10.34.5cd ny-ptāś ca babhrávo vā́cam ákratam̐ 'mī́d eṣāṃ niṣkṛtáṃ jāríṇīva ). Also, there is a verse where the poet states that he will receive with open arms¹¹ the god (te), in the way the maiden (receives with open arms) the man (3.33.10d máryāyeva kanyā̀ śaśvacaí te).

Thus, in all the instances pointed out above we find that the depiction of a particular event, in terms of context, is made in comparison with the young woman's eagerness and impatience to go to the rendezvous (sámana-¹²or niṣkṛtá-) and to meet her lover there. In addition, a distinctive trend is found in this group of similes, in grammatical-rhetorical terms. Namely, that the noun 'young woman' (kanyā̀- or yḍṣā-) in the singular or plural number is in the nominative case, i.e. in the agent's role, and that the action is expressed by an intransitive verb. Also, often we find a feminine present participle or the verb has to be inserted from the main clause into the simile.

The other group of widely spread similes, as mentioned above, depicts young women as being beautiful or engaged in activities to make themselves beautiful and sweet scented for different occasions. For example, sacrifice-related actions of the priests are illustrated with the way maidens anoint themselves for the rendezvous (7.2.5d agrúvo ná sámaneṣv aṭjan). Also, the seer envisions the streams of the purified butter flowing as maidens decorating themselves with unguents to join the wedding celebration (4.58.9a kanyā̀ iva vahatúm 'tavā́ u aṭjy āṭjānā́). In another verse the composer of hymn describes these streams as women who are beautiful and smiling at the rendezvous (4.58.8ab sámaneva yḍṣāḥ kalyāṇyāḥ smáyamānāso), in which the verb takes the form of the middle present participle. Similarly, the Dawn is said to shine as a young woman shines (7.77.1a úporuruce yuvatír ná yḍṣā) and in another example, the maiden (referring to the Dawn) shines under her lover's gaze (1.92.11c yḍṣā jārásya cákṣasā ví bhāti). Thus, in the second group we find that the noun 'maiden' singular or plural is in the nominative case, i.e. in the role of an agent of actions expressed mostly by intransitive verbs. However, there are a few instances of use of transitive verbs, such as the verse, where the Dawn is compared to a young dancing girl who puts on decorations and unveils her breasts as (a cow) her udder (1.092.04aádhi p'śāṃsi vapate nṛtū́r ivā́porṇute vákṣa usr'va bárjaham ). Here transitive verbs are employed to express actions very similar to the ones found in the previous examples. This further supports the claim, that in addition to what was discovered from the first group of similes, the young woman is described to be involved in actions usually related to her outer appearance and that these descriptions are clearly made from a male perspective, which is quite expected having in mind that men composed the hymns.

To sum up the main points I have tried to identify so far, frequency of occurrence is the criterion I used for example selections. The trends exhibited by the data could be condensed in three dichotic categories: first, transitivity/intransivity and subject/object roles in grammatical-rhetorical terms; second, domesticity/public-ness in terms of the contextual paradigms in the representations; and third, centrality/marginality in terms of the themes in the hymn collection.

First, in terms of the grammatical-rhetorical features, the young woman is typically depicted as performing actions such as 'to go' (ā-√car-) and(√gam-), 'to rush' (abhí-√pru-) and (pra-√īr-), 'to become open' (√śvac-), or to anoint (√aṭjan-), to shine (√ruc-) and (vi-√bhā-), to smile (√smi-), etc. We find that these activities, expressed by intransitive verbs, effect the female agent and no one is found on the other end directly to meet the result of the activities she performs, though all of them are obviously for the sake of a male audience or from a male point view. Similarly, we encounter other cases, where transitive verbs convey the same beauty and attraction-based meaning. It is expressed by verbs, such as 'to put on' (ádhi-√vap-) and to 'unveil' (ápa-√ur-), and, most importantly, in these instances except for either her 'ornaments' (p'śas-) or 'breasts' (vákṣas-), nothing or no one else is in the direct object's position. Yet, an objection could arise that Soma is assumed to be in the object's position in examples like 9.1.7ab (tám gṛbhṇánti yḍṣaṇo dáśa), where 10 maidens are in the agent's role of an action expressed by a transitive verb 'to grab' (√gṛbh-). However, this is a popularly used ritual-related metaphor. These are the 10 fingers of the priest involved in the preparation of the sacrifice and this figure of speech does not include a representation of activities that young women actually engage in and for this reason it does not contradict the findings made so far.

Second, a coherent representation has been revealed that their active involvement has mostly personal and intimate dimensions, which are typical for the domestic domain and not so much for the public or sacred ones. The evidence brought in so far has been conclusive that maidens' representation is not derived from personal or occupational qualities that would bear a gender-non-specific general social relevance and that an overwhelming emphasis is placed on the her attractive, youthful and beautiful appearance, which is relevant to a male point of view. Furthermore and most importantly, typical of all the examples is that the contextual paradigm of young women's involvement is clearly based on and narrowed to her sex-related biological attributes.

Third, from all the examples I have found through word-search it has become clear that direct and independent descriptions of maidens' actions per se are not at all popular in the hymns. However, when such references are found, they are used almost exclusively for comparative and illustrative purposes. In stylistic terms, these descriptions are incorporated in the body of extended figures of speech. In other words, one object or phenomenon, which is in the focus of the song, is compared to another on the basis of resemblance in obvious and representative attributes and aspects. However, this second object or phenomenon which a parallel is drawn with has as a supplementary presence, it is secondary with regards to the topic of the hymn and of the particular stanza and. Therefore, it could be concluded at this early stage of the analysis that, the depictions of young women and their activities are not a central theme in the Ṛg Vedic songs.

Consequently, we find limitations in the three aspects of the representation of the young women discussed above, which are the popularity of the theme, the diversity of contextual paradigms and the variety of grammatical-rhetorical means. It could be assumed that these restrictions mirror stereotypical attitudes expressed by the composers of the hymns with regards to the limitations of young women's social involvements. The nature of this claim is speculative and not completely satisfactory considering the religious and ritualistic nature of the texts it is based on. In spite of this, the correspondence between limitations on three levels of the hymns, namely topic, context and grammar, is an important finding, because it reveals how gender stereotypes are reflected in and, at the same time, subtly perpetuated by the Ṛg Vedic seers through the language of the hymns.