The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c11.s1.9

v1.c11.s1.9

The identity of Ahura and Varuṇa lends great probability to the identification of the Ameša Spenta and the Ādityas. It is true that no great stress can be laid on the number seven, which is not certainly primitive and may be ethnic in significance, but it is a reasonable view that the highly etherialized and spiritualized conceptions of the Ameša Spenta are merely the reflex of the more substantial though still abstract deities, the Ādityas. It must be noted that in India also these gods are not in essence personifications of nature, but, as their names denote, represent activities of human life, and the Iranian development in their case is a natural parallel to the refinement of the character of Asura into something far above the average god; moreover Bhaga, the giver of good things, one of the Ādityas, bears a name which in Iranian as Bagha denotes a god in general. The identity of Mitra with Mithra is patent and undeniable, Iran seems to have known Dyaus,¹ and there are as clear identities in minor figures such as that of Apāṁ Napāt, and Apãm Napāt, Gandharva and Gandarewa, Kṛçānu and Keresāni, both of whom appear in connexion with the Soma, Vāyu and Vayu, a genius of air, Trita Āptya, and the two forms, Thrita and Āthwya. The Avesta and Rigveda agree in the terms Yātu and Druj (Druh) as applied to evil spirits. Still more interesting is the parallelism of Yama, son of Vivasvant, the first of men and ruler of paradise, with Yima, son of Vīvaṅhvant. The waters and plants as deities are invoked by both.