Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c17.s2.25

c17.s2.25

(vi) The close association of the pairs Night and Day, Earth and Heaven with the ritual can readily be traced in the Āpriya hymns. In separate hymns Uṣas alone takes the place which is filled by the pair Uṣāsā-naktā in the hymns to the Viśve Devāḥ. The hymns to Uṣas in their feeling for brightness and beauty recall to us the Greek Eos and the Latin Aurora, and perhaps are our best representations of the Indo-European type of hymn. So Dyāvā-Pṛthivī appear occasionally in Indo-European fashion as parents of the gods, but more usually they are merely guardians of the sacred rite, and obedient subjects of the law of Mitra and Varuṇa.