Ayoni-sambhava

Ayoni-sambhava · a-yoni-sambhava, “born without a womb”

Grammar: adjective, a-yoni-sambhava, “born without a womb”. The text glosses it: one who did not fall into a human womb and was not born from it.

Meaning: the manner of birth of Śrī Kṛshṇa and of Rādhā when they appear in Gokula.

In the scriptures: In the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Rādhā to be born from the womb of Kalāvatī, wife of Vṛshabhānu, and go to Nanda‘s Vraja, where he will take her hand as a child. Later in the same chapter he tells her how: by the power of māyā she is to fill Kalāvatī’s womb with air for nine months and hold it there. When the tenth month comes she is to leave her own form, take the form of an infant, and be born on the earth. At the moment the air held in the womb comes out, she is to fall on the ground near Kalāvatī and cry as an infant cries. “In Gokula, you and I will both be ayoni-sambhava. For neither of us will there be the state of dwelling in a human womb.” (Chapter 6)

Garga tells Nanda that Śrī Hari, by his māyā-śakti, filled his mother Devakī‘s womb with air, that he is ayoni-sambhava, and that he appeared on earth by himself; having appeared, he showed his form to Vasudeva and withdrew it. Garga says of Rādhā that she came forth from half of Śrī Kṛshṇa’s body, that she dwells in Goloka, that she is ayoni-sambhavā, Mūlaprakṛti and Īśvarī, and that by her own māyā-śakti she filled her mother Kalāvatī’s womb with nothing but air, took the form of an infant as the air came out, and appeared on earth. Her father is Vṛshabhānu and her mother Kalāvatī. (Chapter 13)

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 6, 13