The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c20.s7.1

v1.c20.s7.1

In some cases the wives of the gods are obviously based on natural phenomena, the relation of two such phenomena presenting for some reason or other traits which suggest their close connexion : the primeval pair is that of heaven and earth, and on this doubtless the other accounts of the marriages of the gods are in part based. Other examples are also obviously suggested by natural events : thus the wedding of Soma the king as the moon to the twenty-seven or twenty-eight Nakṣatras is a mythical account of the obvious relation of the moon to the constellations in question. Again, the wedding of Soma as the moon with the sun-maiden may conceivably be due to some primitive astronomical views. The making of the Dawn the wife of the Açvins is also explicable on mythological grounds. The wedding of the same goddess to Pūṣan, the sun-god, is also not unnatural.