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www.vedarahasya.netThis deity is celebrated in one entire hymn (ii. 35), is invoked in two stanzas of a hymn to the Waters, and is often mentioned incidentally elsewhere. Brilliant and youthful, he shines without fuel in the waters which surround and nourish him. Clothed in lightning, be is golden in form, appearance, and colour. Standing in the highest place, he always shines with undimmed splendour. Steeds, swift as thought, carry the Son of Waters. In the last stanza of his hymn he is invoked as Agni and must be identified with him; Agni, moreover, in some hymns addressed to him, is spoken of as Apam napat. But the two are also distinguished; for example, 'Agni, accordant with the Son of Waters, confers victory over Vrtra'. The epithet asu-héman swiftly-speeding, applied three times to Apam napat, in its only other occurrence refers to Agni. Hence Apam napat appears to represent the lightning form of Agui which lurks in the eloud. For Agni, besides being directly called Apam napat, is also termed the embryo (gárbha) of the waters; and the third form of Agni is described as kindled in the waters.
This deity is not a creation of Indian mythology, but goes back to the Indo-Iranian period. For in the Avesta Apam napat is a spirit of the waters, who lives in their depths, who is surrounded by females, who is often invoked with them, who drives with swift steeds, and is said to have seized the brightness in the depth of the ocean.
The association of Mitra with Varuna is so intimate that he is addressed alone in one hymn only (iii. 59). Owing to the scantiness of the information supplied in that hymn his separate character appears somewhat indefirite.
Uttering his voice, he marshals men and watches the tillers with unwinking eye. He is the great Aditya who marshals, yatayati, the people, and the epithet yatayáj-jana arraying men together appears to be peculiarly his. Savitr (i. 35) is identified with Mitra because of his laws, and Visnu (i. 154) takes his three steps by the laws of Mitra: statements indicating that Mitra regulates the course of the sun. Agni, who goes at the head of the dawns (that is to say, is kindled before dawn), produces Mitra, and when kindled is Mitra. In the Atharvaveda, Mitra at sunrise is contrasted with Varuna in the evening, and in the Brahmanas Mitra is connected with day, Varuna with night.
The conclusion from the Vedic evidence that Mitra was a solar deity, is corroborated by the Avesta and by Persian religion in general, where Mithra is undoubtedly a sun-god or a god of light specially connected with the sun.
The etymology of the name is uncertain, but it must originally have meant 'ally' or 'friend', for the word often means 'friend' in the RV., and the Avestic Mithra is the guardian of faithfulness. As the kindly nature of the god is often referred to in the Veda, the term must in the beginning have been applied to the sun-god in his aspect of a benevolent power of nature.
This god is addressed in eleven entire hymns, and in two others conjointly with Indra. He is also, but less frequently, called Brahmanas páti, 'Lord of prayer', the doublets alternating in the same hymn. His physical features are few: he is sharp-horned and blue-backed; golden-coloured and ruddy. He is armed with bow and arrows, and wields a golden hatchet or an iron axe. He has a car, drawn by ruddy steeds, which slays the goblins, bursts open the cow-stalls, and wins the light. Called the father of the gods, he is also said to have blown forth their births like a blacksmith. Like Agni, he is both a domestic and a brahman. priest. He is the generator of all prayers, and without him sacrifice does not succeed. His song goes to heaven, and he is associated with singers. In several passages he is identified with Agni, from whom, however, he is much oftener distinguished. He is often invoked with Indra, some of whose epithets, such as maghávan bountiful and vajrin welder of the bolt he shares. He has thus been drawn into the Indra myth of the release of the cows. Accompanied by his singing host he rends Vala with a roar, and drives out the cows. In to doing he dispels the darkness and finds the light. As regards his relation to his worshippers, he is said to help and protect the pious man, to prolong life, and to remove disease.
Brhaspáti is a purely Indian deity. The double accent and the parallel name Bráhmanas páti indicate that the first member is the genitive of a noun brh, from the same root as bráhman, and that the name thus means 'Lord of prayer'.
He seems originally to have represented an aspect of Agni, as a divine priest, presiding over devotion, an aspect which bad already attained an independent character by the beginning of the Rigvedic period. As the divine brahman priest he seems to have been the prototype of Brahma, the chief of the later Hindu triad.
The goddess of Dawn is addressed in about twenty hymns. The personification is but slight, the physical phenomenon always being present to. the mind of the poet. Decked in gay attire like a dancer, clothed in light, she appears in the east and unveils her charms. Rising resplendent as from a bath she comes with light, driving away the darkness and removing the black robe of night. She is young, being born again and again, though ancient. Shining with a uniform hue, she wastes away the life of mortals. She illumines the ends of the sky when she awakes; she opens the gates of heaven; her radiant beams appear like herds of cattle. She drives away evil dreams, evil spirits, and the hated darkness. She discloses the treasures concealed by darkness, and distributes them bountifully, She awakens every living being to motion. When Usas shines forth, the birds, fly up from their nests and men seek nourishment. Day by day appearing at the appointed place, she never infringes the ordinance of nature and of the gods. She renders good service to the gods by awakening all worshippers and causing the sacrificial fires to be kindled. She brings the gods to drink the Soma draught. She is borne on a shining car, drawn by ruddy steeds or kine, which probably represent the red rays of morning.
Usas is closely associated with the Sun. She has opened paths for Surya to travel; she brings the eye of the gods, and leads on the beautiful white horse. She shines with the light of the Sun, with the light of her lover. Surya follows her as a young man a maiden; she meets the god who desires her. She thus comes to be spoken of as the wife of Surya. But as preceding the Sun, she is occasionally regarded as his mother; thus she is said to arrive with a bright child. She is also called the sister, or the elder sister, of Night (x. 127), and their names are often conjoined as a dual compound (usása-nákta and náktosása). She is born in the sky, and in, therefore constantly called the 'daughter of Heaven '. As the sacrificial fire is kindled at dawn, Usas is often associated with Agni, who is sometimes, called her lover. Usas causes Agni to be kindled, and Agni goes to meet the shining Dawn as she approaches. She is also often connected with the twin gods of early morning, the Asvins (vii. 71). When the Asvins' car is yoked, the daughter of the sky is born. They are awakened by her, accompany her, and are her friends.
Usas brings the worshipper wealth and children, bestowing protection and long life. She confers renown and glory on all liberal benefactors of the poet. She is characteristically bountiful (maghóni).
The name of Usas is derived from the root vas, to shine, forms of which are often used with reference to her in the hymns in which she is invoked.
Om Shanti ! Shanti ! Shanti !
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