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Yoni (Sanskrit: योनि yoni) as the word's primary meaning, means the “vulva”, the female sexual organ. The Sanskrit word literally means “source or origin of life”. The ancient Vedas contain the word yoni in various contexts. The meaning of the word expanded, and got a secondary meaning "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.

^[1] 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.” ^[2]

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.

A stone yoni found in Cát Tiên sanctuary, Lam Dong, Vietnam.

A stone yoni with carved Nāga in Jawi temple, East Java, Indonesia.

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, the male sexual organ and symbol of the god Siva". ^[3] 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. ^[4]

[edit] See also

• Hindu philosophy
• Proto-Vedic Continuity

[edit] Notes and References

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