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Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t4: § 16. Pūṣan

Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t4

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§ 16. Pūṣan

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The name of Pūṣan is mentioned about 120 times in the RV. and he is celebrated in eight hymns (five of them occurring in the sixth, two in the first, and one in the tenth book). He is also lauded as a dual divinity in one hymn (6, 57) with Indra and in another with Soma (2, 40). Thus statistically he occupies a somewhat higher position than Viṣṇu (§ 17). In the later Vedic and the post-Vedic periods his name is mentioned with increasing rareness. His individuality is indistinct and his anthropomorphic traits are scanty. His foot is referred to when he is asked to trample on the brand of the wicked. His right hand is also mentioned (6, 54¹⁰). He has (like Rudra) braided hair (6, 55²) and a beard (10, 26⁷). He wields a golden spear (1, 42⁶) and carries an awl (6, 53 5. 6. 8) or a goad (53⁹. 58²). The wheel, the felly, and the seat of his car (6, 54³) are spoken of and he is called the best charioteer (6, 56 2. 3). His car is drawn by goats¹ (*ajāśva*) instead of horses (1, 38⁴; 6, 55 3. 4). He eats, for his food is gruel (6, 56¹ cp. 3, 52⁷). It is probably for this reason that he is said to be toothless in the SB. (1, 7, 4⁷).

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Pūṣan sees all creatures clearly and at once (3, 62⁹), these identical words being applied to Agni also (10, 187⁴). He is ‘the lord of all things moving and stationary’ almost the same words with which Sūrya is described (1, 115¹; 7, 60²). He is the wooer of his mother (6, 55⁵) or the lover of his sister (ib. 4. 5), similar expressions being used of Sūrya (1, 115²) and of Agni (10, 3³). The gods are said to have given him, subdued by love, to the sun-maiden Sūryā in marriage (6, 58⁴). Probably as the husband of Sūryā, Pūṣan is connected with the marriage ceremonial in the wedding hymn (10, 85), being besought to take the bride’s hand and lead her away and to bless her in her conjugal relation² (v. 37). In another passage (9, 67¹⁰) he is besought to give his worshippers their share of maidens. With his golden ships which move in the aerial ocean, subdued by love he acts as the messenger³ of Sūrya (6, 58³). He moves onward beholding the universe (2, 40⁵; 6, 58²) and makes his abode in heaven (2, 40⁴). He is a guardian, who goes at the instigation of Savitṛ, knowing and beholding all creatures. In a hymn devoted to his praise, Pūṣan is said as best of charioteers to have driven downwards the golden wheel of the sun (6, 56³), but the connexion is obscure (cp. Nir. 2, 6). A frequent and exclusive epithet of Pūṣan is ‘glowing’ (*āghṛṇi*). He is once termed *agohya*, ‘not to be concealed’, an attribute almost peculiar to Savitṛ.

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Pūṣan is born on the far path of paths, on the far path of heaven and of earth; he goes to and returns from both the beloved abodes, knowing them (6, 17⁶). Owing to this familiarity he conducts the dead on the far path to the Fathers, as Agni and Savitṛ take them to where the righteous have gone and where they and the gods abide, and leads his worshippers thither in safety, showing them the way (10, 17 ³⁻⁵). The AV. also speaks of Pūṣan as conducting to the world of the righteous, the beautiful world of the gods (AV. 16, 9²; 18, 2⁵³). So Pūṣan’s goat conducts the sacrificial horse (1, 162 2. 3). Perhaps to Pūṣan’s familiarity with the (steep) paths is due the notion that his car is drawn by the sure-footed goat.

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As knower of paths, Pūṣan is conceived as a guardian of roads. He is besought to remove dangers, the wolf, the waylayer, from the path (1, 42 ¹⁻³). In this connexion he is called *vimuco napāt*, ‘son of deliverance’⁴. The same epithet is applied to him in another passage (6, 55¹) and he is twice (8, 4¹⁵. ¹⁶) called *vimocana*, ‘deliverer’. As *vimuco napāt* he is invoked to deliver from sin’ (AV. 6, 112³). Pūṣan is prayed to disperse foes and make the paths lead to booty (6, 53⁴), to remove foes, to make the paths good, and to lead to good pasture (1, 42⁷. ⁸). He is invoked to protect from harm on his path (6, 54⁹) and to grant an auspicious path (10, 59⁷). He is the guardian of every path (6, 49⁸) and lord of the road (6, 53¹). He is a guide (*prapathya*) on roads (VS. 22, 20). So in the Sūtras, whoever is starting on a journey makes an offering to Pūṣan, the road-maker, while reciting RV. 6, 53; and whoever loses his way, turns to Pūṣan (AGS. 3, 7⁸. ⁹; ŚSS. 3, 4⁹). Moreover, in the morning and evening offerings to all gods and beings, Pūṣan the road-maker receives his on the threshold of the house (ŚGS. 2, 14⁹).

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As knower of ways he can make hidden goods manifest and easy to find (6, 48¹⁵). He is in one passage (1, 23¹⁴. ¹⁵ cp. TS. 3, 3, 9¹) said to have found the king who was lost and hidden in secret (probably Soma), and asked to bring him like a lost beast. So in the Sūtras, Pūṣan is sacrificed to when anything lost is sought (AGS. 3, 7⁹). Similarly, it is characteristic of Pūṣan that he follows and protects cattle (6, 54⁵. ⁶. ¹⁰. 58² cp. 10, 26³). He preserves them from injury by falling into a pit, brings them home unhurt, and drives back the lost (6, 54⁷. ¹⁰). His goad directs cattle straight (6, 53⁹). Perhaps connected with the idea of guiding straight is the notion that he directs the furrow (4, 57⁷). Pūṣan also protects horses (6, 54⁵) and weaves and smooths the clothing of sheep (10, 26⁶). Hence beasts are said to be sacred to Pūṣan (1, 5¹· ²), and he is called the producer of cattle (MS. 4, 3⁷; TB. 1, 7, 2⁴). In the Sūtras verses to Pūṣan are prescribed to be recited when cows are driven to pasture or stray (ŚGS. 3, 9).

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Pūṣan has various attributes in common with other gods. He is called *asura* (5, 51¹¹). He is strong (5, 43⁹), vigorous (8, 4¹⁵), nimble (6, 54⁸), powerful (1, 138¹), resistless (6, 48¹⁵). He transcends mortals and is equal to the gods in glory (6, 48¹⁹). He is a ruler of heroes (1, 106⁴), an unconquerable protector and defender (1, 89⁵), and assists in battle (6, 48¹⁹). He is a protector of the world (10, 17³ cp. 2, 40¹). He is a seer, a protecting friend of the priest, the unshaken friend born of old, of every suppliant (10, 26⁵. ⁸). He is wise (1, 42⁵) and liberal⁵ (2, 31⁴). His bounty is particularly often mentioned. He possesses all wealth (1, 89⁶), abounds in wealth (8, 4¹⁵), gives increase of wealth (1, 89⁵), is beneficent (1, 138²), bountiful (6, 58⁴; 8, 4¹⁸), and bestows all blessings (1, 42⁶). He is the strong friend of abundance, the strong lord and increaser of nourishment (10, 26⁷. ⁸). The term *dasra*, ‘wonder-working’, distinctive of the Aśvins, is a few times (1, 42⁵; 6, 56⁴) applied to him, as well as *dasma*, ‘wondrous’ (1, 42¹⁰. 138⁴) and *dasma-varcas*, ‘of wondrous splendour’ (6, 58⁴), usually said of Agni and Indra. He is also twice (1, 106⁴; 10, 64³) called Narāśaṃsa ‘praised of men’, an epithet otherwise exclusively limited to Agni. He is once spoken of as ‘all-pervading’ (2, 40⁶). He is termed ‘devotion-stimulating’ (9, 88³), is invoked to quicken devotion (2, 40⁶), and his awl is spoken of as ‘prayer-instigating’ (6, 53⁸; cp. Savitṛ, p. 33).

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The epithets exclusively connected with Pūṣan are *āghṛṇi*, *ajāśva*, *vimocana*, *vimuco napāt*, and once each *puṣṭimbhara*, ‘bringing prosperity’, *anaṣṭapaśu*, ‘losing no cattle’, *anaṣṭavedas*, ‘losing no goods’, *karambhād*, ‘eating gruel’. The latter attribute seems to have been a cause for despising Pūṣan by some (cp. 6, 56¹; 1, 138⁴)⁶. *Karambha*, mentioned three times in the RV., is Pūṣan’s distinctive food, being contrasted with Soma as Indra’s (6, 57²). Indra, however, shares it (3, 52⁷), and in the only two passages in which the adjective *karambhin* ‘mixed with gruel’ occurs, it applies to the libation of Indra (3, 52¹; 8, 80²). Pūṣan is the only god who receives the epithet *paśupā*, ‘protector of cattle’ (6, 58²) directly (and not in comparisons).

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⁶ HRI. 51. —

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The only deities with whom Pūṣan is invoked conjointly in the dual are Soma (2, 40) and Indra (6, 57), whose brother he is once called (6, 55⁵). Next to these two, Pūṣan is most frequently addressed with Bhaga (1, 90⁴; 4, 30²⁴; 5, 41⁴. 46²; 10, 125²; cp. ŚB. 11, 4, 3³; KŚS. 5, 13¹) and Viṣṇu (1, 90⁵; 5, 46³; 6, 21⁹; 7, 44¹; 10, 66⁵), his name in all these passages of the RV. being in juxtaposition with theirs. He is occasionally addressed with various other deities also.

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¹ KRV. note 120. —

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⁴ OST. 5, 175; GW.; LRV. 4, 444; HVBP. 34, and BRV. (who explains the original meaning differently); ‘Sohn der Einkehr’ (= unyoking): Roth, PW. und ORV. 232; ‘Son of the cloud’: Sāyaṇa and Griffith on RV. 1, 42¹. —

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⁵ *Purandhi* according to Hillebrandt, WZKM. 3, 192—3, means ‘active, zealous’. —

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The evidence adduced does not show clearly that Pūṣan represents a phenomenon of nature. But a large number of passages quoted at the beginning point to his being closely connected with the sun. Yāska, too, (Nir. 7, 9) explains Pūṣan to be ‘the sun (*Āditya*), the preserver of all beings’, and in post-Vedic literature Pūṣan occasionally occurs as a name of the sun. The path of the sun which leads from earth to heaven, the abode of the gods and the pious dead, might account for a solar deity being both a conductor of departed souls (like Savitṛ) and a guardian of paths in general. The latter aspect of his character would explain his special bucolic features as a guide and protector of cattle, which form a part of his general nature as a promoter of prosperity. Mithra, the solar deity of the Avesta, has the bucolic traits of increasing cattle and bringing back beasts that have strayed⁷.

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⁷ Sp.AP. 184. Whitney, JAOS. 3, 325; OST. 5, 171—80; Gubernatis, Letture 82; BRV. 2, 420—30; KRV. 55; PVS. 1, 11; HVM. 1, 456; HVBP. 34; ORV. 230—3 (cp. WZKM. 9, 252); Perry, Drisler Memorial 241—3; HRI. 50—3.

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Etymologically the word means ‘prosperer’ as derived from the root *puṣ*, ‘to cause to thrive’. This side of his character is conspicuous both in his epithets *viśvavedas*, *anaṣṭavedas*, *purūvasu*, *puṣṭimbhara*, and in the frequent invocations to him to bestow wealth and protection (6, 48¹⁵ &c.). He is lord of great wealth, a stream of wealth, a heap of riches (6, 55²· ³). But the prosperitiy he confers is not, as in the case of Indra, Parjanya, and the Maruts, connected with rain, but with light, which is emphasized by his exclusive epithet ‘glowing’. The welfare which he bestows results from the protection he extends to men and cattle on earth, and from his guidance of men to the abodes of bliss in the next world. Thus the conception which seems to underlie the character of Pūṣan, is the beneficent power of the sun manifested chiefly as a pastoral deity.

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² IS. 5, 186. 190. —

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³ GGA. 1889, p. 8. —

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