A serial killer from Vedic times
Updated On: 16 April, 2023 07:11 AM IST | Mumbai | Devdutt Pattanaik
She then says that she is no ordinary woman by displaying “hair on the soles of her feet”.

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik
The Jaiminiya Brahmana is the prose section of the Sama Veda, composed almost 2,800 years ago. It tells the story of one Yavakri, the first serial rapist and murderer of Hindu mythology.
The text states that Yavakri has the power to attract any woman to him. He seduces them, and then they die. If they reject his advances, they die. In other words, any woman he calls upon will die whether they choose to have sex with him or not. One day, he calls upon a brahmin woman who agrees to go to him. When her husband finds out, he decides to perform a yagya and create magical creatures to kill Yavakri. The magical creatures include a female and male ogre. The female ogre seduces Yavakri. She then says that she is no ordinary woman by displaying “hair on the soles of her feet”.
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