The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c20.s1.4

v1.c20.s1.4

A second class of gods who may be called abstract is afforded by the agent gods, such as Dhātṛ, whose name expresses a function which they perform, so that they can be called functional gods. In all the cases which are to be found in the Vedic literature we are able to say with a fair degree of plausibility that the conception formed itself from the use of the epithet in question in the first place of some concrete god, and then, after denoting that deity in the special field of action, it was gradually made into a separate deity concerned merely with the sphere of action in question. This, however, cannot be proved beyond doubt: it will for instance always be open to question whether Savitṛ is really an aspect of the sun, or whether he is god of stimulation who by reason of similarity of nature has been made like to the sun. In other cases there can be less doubt: the god Viṣṇu cannot really be explained as a god of wide stepping: he is a sun god, who happens to have a special sphere of activity.