The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c8.77

c8.77

Varuna and Mitra, the dual pair, are implicated still further in a group of divinities of the name *āditya*. The number of these gods is very uncertain. Sometimes it is three: Mitra and Varuna, with Aryaman as third. This third god, no less than the first two, is Indo-Iranian: the name of Aryaman's Avestan counterpart is Airyama. The name of this not too determinate god seems to mean "comrade"; accordingly Aryaman figures in the Veda as the typical groomsman at the wedding rites. Beyond this triad the name *āditya* becomes very indefinite, both as to number and the individuals which it is supposed to harbor. As regards number, the god Indra sometimes swells the three to four. Then there is seven, a favourite and vague number; to this the legendary Mārtānda¹ (Indra) is at times added as eighth. In later times the number rises to twelve. Not more than six are ever mentioned by name outright in the Veda: Bhaga, Daksha, and Ança in addition to the three mentioned above. Bhaga, "Fortune," is not only Indo-Iranian, but even Indo-European, as we have seen.² Ança, "Portion," "Apportioner," is a very faint abstraction. And so is Daksha, "Dexterity," "Cleverness."