The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.5.4

c11.5.4

The word, or rather the meaning I have here proposed, is entirely lost in the Sanskrit literature, but considering the fact that the Latins named the planet as Venus, while the word cannot be satisfactorily derived from any Latin root,‡ there can be no objection to identify Venus with the Vena (nom. sin. Venas) in the Vedic works. In the Latin mythology Venus is the goddess of love, and this we can now easily account for, as the name of the Vedic deity is derived from a root which means "to desire," "to love." I may again point out that the hymn of Vena in the Rigveda, is used in sacrifices at the time, when the priest takes up the vessel Shukra in the sacrificial ceremonies. Kâtyâyana, indeed, mentions the optional use of the hymn for taking up the vessel of Manthin.† But that does not much alter the position, for, when the meaning of the word was utterly forgotten the hymn might come to be used for a different purpose in addition to the previous one. The fact, that the Vena hymn was used in taking up the Shukra vessel is, therefore, an important indication of its old meaning, and when we find the name actually preserved till now indicating the planet Venus, and that this name cannot be satisfactorily derived in any other way, we might fairly infer that Vena of the Rigveda is Venus of the Latin mythology.