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Vedic Mythology c3.s4: § 5. The Avesta and Vedic Mythology

Vedic Mythology c3.s4

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§ 5. The Avesta and Vedic Mythology

c3.s4.1

We have seen that the evidence of the Avesta cannot be ignored by the student of Vedic mythology. The affinity of the oldest form of the Avestan language with the dialect of the Vedas is so great in syntax, vocabulary, diction, metre, and general poetic style, that by the mere application of phonetic laws, whole Avestan stanzas may be translated word for word into Vedic, so as to produce verses correct not only in form but in poetic spirit¹. The affinity in the domain of mythology is by no means so great. For the religious reform of Zarathuṣtra brought about a very considerable displacement and transformation of mythological conceptions. If therefore we possessed Avestan literature as old as that of the RV., the approximation would have been much greater in this respect. Still, the agreements in detail, in mythology no less than in cult, are surprisingly numerous. Of the many identical terms connected with the ritual it is here only necessary to mention Vedic *yajña* = Avestan *yasna*, sacrifice, *hotṛ* = *zaotar*, priest, *atharvan* = *āthravan*, fire-priest, *ṛta* = *aṣ̌a* order, rite, and above all *soma* = *haoma*, the intoxicating juice of the Soma plant, in both cults offered as the main libation, pressed, purified by a sieve, mixed with milk, and described as the lord of plants, as growing on the mountains, and as brought down by an eagle or eagles (cp. § 37). It is rather with the striking correspondences in mythology that we are concerned. In both religions the term *asura* = *ahura* is applied to the highest gods, who in both are conceived as mighty kings, drawn through the air in their war chariots by swift steeds, and in character benevolent, almost entirely free from guile and immoral traits. Both the Iranians and the Indians observed the cult of fire, though under the different names of *Agni* and *Ātar*. The Waters, *āpaḥ* = *āpō*, were invoked by both, though not frequently². The Vedic Mitra is the Avestan Mithra, the sun god. The Āditya Bhaga corresponds to *bagha*, a god in general; Vāyu, Wind is *vayu*, a genius of air; Apāṃ napāt, the Son of Waters = Apãm napāt; Gandharva = Gandarewa and Kṛśānu = Kereśāni are divine beings connected with *soma* = *haoma*. To Trita Āptya correspond two mythical personages named Thrita and Āthwya, and to Indra Vṛtrahan the demon Indra and the genius of victory Verethragna. Yama, son of Vivasvat, ruler of the dead, is identical with Yima, son of Vīvaṅhvant, ruler of paradise. The parallel in character, though not in name, of the god Varuṇa is Ahura Mazda, the wise spirit. The two religions also have in common as designations of evil spirits the terms *druh* = *druj* and *yātu*¹.

c3.s4.2

¹ Bartholomae in Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss der iranischen Philologie, vol. 1, p. 1. — ^2 Spiegel, Die Arische Periode, Leipzig 1887, p. 155. — ^3 Spiegel, op. cit. 225—33; Gruppe, Die griechischen Culte und Mythen, I, 86—97; ORV. 26—33; HRI, 167—8.

c3.s4.3

§ 6. Comparative Mythology. — In regard to the Indo-European period we are on far less certain ground. Many equations of name once made in the first enthusiasm of discovery and generally accepted, have since been rejected and very few of those that remain rest on a firm foundation. Dyaús = Ζεύς is the only one which can be said to be beyond the range of doubt. Varuṇa = Οὐρανός though presenting phonetic difficulties, seems possible. The rain-god Parjanya agrees well in meaning with the Lithuanian thunder-god Perkunas, but the phonetic objections are here still greater. The name of Bhaga is identical with the Slavonic *bogu* as well as the Persian *bagha*, but as the latter two words mean only 'god', the Indo-European word cannot have designated any individual deity. Though the name of Uṣas is radically cognate to Aurora and Ἠώς, the cult of Dawn as a goddess is a specially Indian development. It has been inferred from the identity of mythological traits in the thunder-gods of the various branches of the Indo-European family, that a thunder-god existed in the Indo-European period in spite of the absence of a common name. There are also one or two other not improbable equations based on identity of character only. That the conception of higher gods, whose nature was connected with light (√()*div*, to shine) and heaven (*div*) had already been arrived at in the Indo-European period, is shown by the common name *deivos* (Skt. *deva-s*, Lith. *deva-s*, Lat. *deu-s*), god. The conception of Earth as a mother (common to Vedic and Greek mythology) and of Heaven as a father (Skt. *Dyaùṣ pítar*, Gk. Ζεῦ πάτερ, Lat. *Jūpiter*) appears to date from a still remoter antiquity. For the idea of Heaven and Earth being universal parents is familiar to the mythology of China and New Zealand and may be traced in that of Egypt². The practice of magical rites and the worship of inanimate objects still surviving in the Veda, doubtless came down from an equally remote stage in the mental development of mankind, though the possibility of a certain influence exercised by the primitive aborigines of India on their Aryan conquerors cannot be altogether excluded.

c3.s4.4

² Gruppe op. cit. I, 97—121; ORV. 33—8; HRI. 168—9. — ^2 Tylor, Primitive Culture I, 326; Lang, Mythology. Encyclopaedia Britannica, p. 150—1.

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