Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t4.13

c5.s1.t4.13

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.