DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0089
Hugo V
INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
lugo Winckler, who gives the names of the following
deities:
"Mi-it-ra, Uru-w*na, In-da-ra, and Na-sa-at-ti-ia"—
Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Nasatya. The latter is Nasatyau,
the Vedic Aswins, twin gods of morning, who have been
compared to the Greek Dioskouri (Castor and Pollux),
sons of Zeus.
A Vedic triad, which suggests a rival cult to that of
the worshippers of Varuna and other Adityas, is formed
by Vayu (wind), Agni (fire), and Surya (the sun).
The Indian sun god Surya, like the Egyptian Ra, had
three forms. The rising sun was Vivasvat; the setting
sun was Savitri.
Vivasvat was the son-in-law of Twashtri, the artisan
of Nature; he was an abstract deity, and apparently owed
his origin to the group of Adityas.
Savitri, who had yellow hair, was of pre-Vedic origin.
He was the " Stimulator ". When he commanded Night
to approach, men ceased their labours, birds sought their
nests, and cattle their sheds.1
During the long centuries covered by the Vedic
period many " schools of thought" must have struggled
for supremacy. The Vivasvat myth belongs, it would
appear, to the time before the elephant was tamed by
the Aryans. Aditi, the mother of the Adityas, who is
believed to be of later origin than her children, had eight
sons. She cherished seven of them; the eighth, which
was a shapeless lump, was thrown away, but was afterwards
moulded into Vivasvat, the sun; the pieces of the lump
which were cast away by the divine artisan fell upon the
earth and gave origin to the elephant, therefore elephants
should not be caught, because they partake of divine nature.
1 Rigveda, ii, 38,
INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
lugo Winckler, who gives the names of the following
deities:
"Mi-it-ra, Uru-w*na, In-da-ra, and Na-sa-at-ti-ia"—
Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Nasatya. The latter is Nasatyau,
the Vedic Aswins, twin gods of morning, who have been
compared to the Greek Dioskouri (Castor and Pollux),
sons of Zeus.
A Vedic triad, which suggests a rival cult to that of
the worshippers of Varuna and other Adityas, is formed
by Vayu (wind), Agni (fire), and Surya (the sun).
The Indian sun god Surya, like the Egyptian Ra, had
three forms. The rising sun was Vivasvat; the setting
sun was Savitri.
Vivasvat was the son-in-law of Twashtri, the artisan
of Nature; he was an abstract deity, and apparently owed
his origin to the group of Adityas.
Savitri, who had yellow hair, was of pre-Vedic origin.
He was the " Stimulator ". When he commanded Night
to approach, men ceased their labours, birds sought their
nests, and cattle their sheds.1
During the long centuries covered by the Vedic
period many " schools of thought" must have struggled
for supremacy. The Vivasvat myth belongs, it would
appear, to the time before the elephant was tamed by
the Aryans. Aditi, the mother of the Adityas, who is
believed to be of later origin than her children, had eight
sons. She cherished seven of them; the eighth, which
was a shapeless lump, was thrown away, but was afterwards
moulded into Vivasvat, the sun; the pieces of the lump
which were cast away by the divine artisan fell upon the
earth and gave origin to the elephant, therefore elephants
should not be caught, because they partake of divine nature.
1 Rigveda, ii, 38,