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Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t8: § 21. Aśvins

Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t8

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§ 21. Aśvins

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Next to Indra, Agni, and Soma, the twin deities named the Aśvins are the most prominent in the RV. judged by the frequency with which they are invoked. They are celebrated in more than fifty entire hymns and in parts of several others, while their name occurs more than 400 times. Though they hold a distinct position among the deities of light and their appellation is Indian, their connexion with any definite phenomenon of light is so obscure, that their original nature has been a puzzle to Vedic interpreters from the earliest times. This obscurity makes it probable that the origin of these gods is to be sought in a pre-Vedic period. They are twins (3, 39³; 10, 17²) and inseparable. The sole purpose of one hymn (2, 39) is to compare them with different twin objects such as eyes, hands, feet, wings, or with animals and birds going in pairs, such as dogs and goats or swans and eagles (cp. 5, 78¹—³; 8, 35⁷—⁹; 10, 106²—¹⁰). There are, however, a few passages which may perhaps point to their originally having been separate. Thus they are spoken of as born separately (*nānā*: 5, 73⁴) and as born here and there (*iheha*), one being called a victorious prince, and the other the son of heaven (1, 181⁴). Yāska also quotes a passage stating that 'one is called the son of night, the other the son of dawn' (Nir. 12, 2). The RV., moreover, in another passage (4, 3⁶) mentions alone 'the encompassing Nāsatya', a frequent epithet otherwise only designating both Aśvins in the dual.

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The Aśvins are young (7, 67¹⁰), the TS. (7, 2, 7²) even describing them as the youngest of the gods. They are at the same time ancient (7, 62⁵). They are bright (7, 68¹), lords of lustre (8, 22¹⁴; 10, 93⁶), of golden brilliancy (8, 8²), and honey-hued (8, 26⁶). They possess many forms (1, 117⁹). They are beautiful (6, 62⁵. 63¹) and wear lotus-garlands (10, 184²; AV. 3, 22⁴; ŚB. 4, 1, 5¹⁶). They are agile (6, 63⁵), fleet as thought (8, 22¹⁶), or as an eagle (5, 78⁴). They are strong (10, 24⁴), very mighty (6, 62⁵), and are several times called 'red'¹ (*rudrā*, 5, 75³ &c.). They possess profound wisdom (8, 8²) and occult power (6, 63⁵; 10, 93⁷). The two most distinctive and frequent epithets of the Aśvins are *dasra*, 'wondrous', which is almost entirely limited to them, and *nāsatya*, which is generally explained to mean 'not untrue' (*na-asatya*), but other etymologies², such as 'the savers' have been proposed. The latter word occurs as the name of a demon in the Avesta³, which, however, sheds no further light on it. These two epithets in later times became the separate proper names of the Aśvins⁴. The attribute *rudravartanī* 'having a red path'⁵ is peculiar to them, and they are the only gods called 'golden-pathed' (*hiraṇyavartanī*), an epithet otherwise only used (twice) of rivers.⁶

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¹ GVS. 1, 265—6.

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² Cp. Kuhn, Entwicklungsstufen, 131.

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⁵ Ibid. 191.

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Of all the gods⁷ the Aśvins are most closely connected with honey (*madhu*), with which they are mentioned in many passages. They have a skin filled with honey, and the birds which draw them abound in it (4, 45³·⁴). They poured out 100 jars of honey (1, 117⁶). Their honey-goad (1, 122³. 157⁴) with which they bestrew the sacrifice and the worshipper⁸, is peculiar to them. Only the car of the Aśvins is described as honey-hued (*madhuvarṇa*) or 'honey-bearing' (*madhu-vāhana*). They only are said to be fond of honey (*madhūyu*, *mādhvī*) or drinkers of it (*madhupā*). The priest to whom they are invited to come is called honey-handed (10, 41³). They give honey to the bee (1, 112²¹ cp. 10, 40⁶) and are compared with bees (10, 106¹⁰). They are, however, like other gods, fond of Soma (3, 58⁷.⁹ &c.) and are invited to drink it with Uṣas and Sūrya (8, 35¹). Hillebrandt (VM. 1, 241), however, finds traces showing that the Aśvins were at first excluded from the circle of the Soma-worshipped gods.

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³ See the passages quoted above, where the rays of dawn are compared with cattle or cows.

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⁴ OST. 5, 190; cp. above p. 21.

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⁶ Ibid. 193—4.

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⁷ Sonne, KZ. 10, 416. — Whitney, JAOS. 3, 321—2; OST. 5, 181—98; MM., LSL. 2, 583—4; GKR. 35—6; KRV. 52—4; BRV. 1, 241—50; Brandes, Uṣas (Copenhagen 1879, pp. 123). ¹ According to PVS. 1, 56—8; variously interpreted by others; cp. BRV. 3, 38 note. — ² BRUNNHOFER, (‘savers’ from √*nas* in Gothic nasyan), Vom Aral bis zur Gaṅgā, p. 99; BRV. 2, 434; HRI. 83. — ³ SP.AP. 207; COLINET, BOR. 3, 193. — ⁴ KRV. note 172. — ⁵ PVS. 1, 55. — ⁶ PVS. 56—7, gives a list of the epithets of the Aśvins. — ⁷ HVM. 1, 237. — ⁸ According to OLDENBERG, this refers to morning dew; cp. BRV. 2, 433. — ⁹ HAUG, GGA. 1875, p. 93. — ¹⁰ BOLLENSEN, ZDMG. 41, 496; HRI. 80. — ¹¹ On the car and steeds of the Aśvins cp. HOPKINS, JAOS. 15, 269—71. — ¹² PVS. 2, 105. — ¹³ OST. 5, 238—9; HRI. 82. — ¹⁴ BRV. 2, 432. — ¹⁵ ORV. 208. — ¹⁶ HRI. 83. — ¹⁷ Cp. IS. 5, 183. 187; EHNI, ZDMG. 33, 168—70. — ¹⁸ WEBER, IS. 5. 218. 227. 234. — ¹⁹ v. SCHRÖDER, WZKM. 9, 131; HRI. 83. — ²⁰ OST. 5, 248—9. — ²¹ OST. 5, 250—3; SBE. XXVI, 273 ff; BENFEY, OO. 3, 160; MYRIANTHEUS p. 93 (= sun which has set restored in the morning); HVBP. 112. — ²² References in OST. 5, 244—5; SONNE, KZ. 10, 335—6; BENFEY, OO. 3, 159; MYRIANTHEUS 158; HVBP. 112. — ²³ OST. 5, 246; BENFEY, OO. 3, 162. 164; MYRIANTHEUS 174; BAUNACK, ZDMG. 50, 264—6. — ²⁴ BAUNACK, *ibid.* 263—4. — ²⁵ Ibid. 268; SONNE, KZ. 10, 331 (Atri = sun); OST, 5, 247; cp. v. BRADKE, ZDMG. 45, 482—4. — ²⁶ MM, LSL. 2, 525—6; OST. 5, 248; MYRIANTHEUS 78—81. — ²⁷ OST. 5, 245; MYRIANTHEUS 100—12; PVS. 1, 171—3 (Viśpalā, name of a racing mare). Viśpalā is variously interpreted. — ²⁸ MYRIANTHEUS 149 f.; KRV. note 185. — ²⁹ BENFEY, OO. 2, 245; MYRIANTHEUS 142—3; HVBP. 113. — ³⁰ OST. 5, 248; HVBP. 112. — ³¹ LRV. 3, 334; HVM. 1, 535 (against ZIMMER, Archiv f. slav. Philol. 2, 669 ff.); HVBP. 47—9. — ³² Zft. f. Ethnologie 7, 312 f. — ³³ BRV. 2, 500. — ³⁴ HRI. 78. 80; JRAS. 27, 953—4. — ³⁵ ORV. 212 n. 3. — ³⁶ v. SCHRÖDER, WZKM. 9, 130—1. — ³⁷ WEBER, IS. 5, 234; Rājasūya 100. — ³⁸ GVS. 2, 31 cp. I. xxvii. ROTH, ZDMG, 4, 425; WHITNEY, JAOS. 3, 322; MAX MÜLLER, LSL, 2, 607—9; BENFEY, OO. 2, 245; OST. 5, 234—54: GOLDSTÜCKER, *ibid.* 255—7; GRV. 1, 150; MYRIANTHEUS, Die Aśvins oder Arischen Dioskuren, München 1876; BRV. 2, 431—510; KRV. 49—52, notes 171. 179. 180; HVBP. 47—49. 111—13; ORV. 209—15; HRI. 80—6.

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The car of the Aśvins is sun-like (8, 8²) or golden (4, 44⁴.⁵), and all its parts, such as wheels, axle, fellies, reins are golden (1, 180¹; 8, 5²⁹. 22⁵). It has a thousand rays (1, 119¹) or ornaments (8, 8¹¹. ¹⁴). It is peculiar in construction, being threefold, having three wheels, three fellies, and some other parts triple (1, 118¹·² &c.). It moves lightly (8, 9⁸), is swifter than thought (1, 117² &c.) or than the twinkling of an eye (8, 62²). It was fashioned by the Ṛbhus (10, 39¹²). The Aśvins' car is the only one which is three-wheeled. One of its wheels is said to have been lost when the Aśvins came to the wedding of Sūryā (10, 85¹⁵; cp. § 37).

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The Aśvins' name implies only the possession of horses, there being no evidence to show that they are so called because they ride on horses¹⁰. Their car is drawn by horses (1, 117² &c.), more commonly by birds (*vi*, 6, 63⁶ &c. or *patatrin*, 10, 143⁵), swans (4, 45⁴), eagles (1, 118⁴), bird steeds (6, 63⁷) or eagle steeds (8, 5⁷). It is sometimes described as drawn by a buffalo (*kakuha*) or buffaloes (5, 73⁷; 1, 184³ &c.) or by a single ass (*rāsabha*: 1, 34⁹. 116²; 8, 74⁷). In the AB. (4, 7—9) the Aśvins are said at the marriage of Soma and Sūryā to have won a race in a car drawn by asses¹¹ (cp. RV. 1, 116⁷ and Sāyaṇa's comm.). Their car touches the ends of heaven and extends over the five countries (7, 63²·³). It moves round heaven (1, 180¹⁰). It traverses heaven and earth in a single day (3, 58⁸), as the car of the sun (1, 115³) and that of Uṣas (4, 51⁵) are also said to do. It goes round the sun in the distance (1, 112¹³). Frequent mention is also made of their course (*vartis*), a word which with one exception is applicable to them only. The word *parijman*, 'going round' is several times connected with the Aśvins or their car, as it is also with Vāta, Agni, and Sūrya.

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The locality of the Aśvins is variously described. They come from afar (8, 5³⁰), from heaven (8, 8⁷), heaven and earth (1, 44⁵), from heaven and air (8, 8⁴. 9²), from air (8, 8³), earth, heaven, and ocean (8, 10¹), from the air, from far and near (5, 73¹). They abide in the sea of heaven (8, 26¹⁷), in the floods of heaven, plants, houses, the mountain top (7, 70³). They come from behind, before, below, above (7, 72⁵). Sometimes their locality is inquired about as if unknown¹² (5, 74²·³; 6, 63¹; 8, 62⁴). They are once (8, 8²³) said to have three places (*padāni*), possibly because invoked three times a day.

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The time of their appearance is often said to be the early dawn¹³, when 'darkness still stands among the ruddy cows' (10, 61⁴) and they yoke their car to descend to earth and receive the offerings of worshippers (1, 22² &c.). Uṣas awakes them (8, 9¹⁷). They follow after Uṣas in their car (8, 5²). At the yoking of their car Uṣas is born (10, 39¹²). Thus their relative time seems to have been between dawn and sunrise. But Savitṛ is once said to set their car in motion before the dawn (1, 34¹⁰). Occasionally the appearance of the Aśvins¹⁴, the kindling of the sacrificial fire, the break of dawn, and sunrise seem to be spoken of as simultaneous (1, 157¹; 7, 72⁴). The Aśvins are invoked to come to the offering not only at their natural time, but also in the evening (8, 22¹⁴) or at morning, noon, and sunset (5, 76³). The appearance of the Aśvins at the three daily sacrifices may have been the starting-point of the continual play on the word 'three' in the whole of a hymn devoted to their praise (1, 34). As deities of the morning, the Aśvins dispel darkness (3, 39³) and are sometimes said to chase away evil spirits (7, 73⁴; 8, 35¹⁶). In the AB. (2, 15), the Aśvins as well as Uṣas and Agni are stated to be gods of dawn; and in the Vedic ritual they are connected with sunrise¹⁵. In the ŚB. (5, 5, 4¹) the Aśvins are described as red-white in colour and therefore a red-white goat is offered to them¹⁶.

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The Aśvins are children of Heaven (1, 182¹. 184¹; 10, 61⁴), one of them alone being once said to be a son of Heaven (1, 184⁴). They are once (1, 46²) said to have the ocean as their mother (*sindhumātarā*). Otherwise they are in one passage (10, 17²) said to be the twin sons of Vivasvat and Tvaṣṭṛ's daughter Saraṇyū (p. 42), who appear to represent the rising sun and dawn. On the other hand the solar deity Pūṣan claims them as his fathers (10, 85¹⁴)¹⁷. By their sister (1, 180²) Dawn seems to be meant (cp. p. 48). They are, as male deities of morning light, often associated with the sun conceived as a female called either Sūryā or more commonly the 'daughter of Sūrya'. They are Sūryā's two husbands (4, 43⁶ cp. 1, 119⁵), whom she chose (7, 69⁴). Sūryā (5, 73⁵) or the maiden (8, 8¹⁰) ascended their car. The daughter of the sun mounts their car (1, 34⁵. 116¹⁷. 118⁵; 6, 63⁵) or chose it (1, 117¹³; 4, 43²). They possess Sūryā as their own (7, 68³), and the fact that Sūryā accompanies them on their car is characteristic (8, 29⁸). She must be meant by the goddess called Aśvinī and mentioned with others in 5, 46⁸. In a late hymn (10, 85⁹) it is said that when Savitṛ gave Sūryā to her husband (*patye*) Soma was wooer (*vadhūyu*) while the Aśvins were groomsmen (*varā*). In another passage (6, 58⁴) the gods are said to have given Pūṣan to Sūryā. Owing to their connexion with Sūryā the Aśvins are invoked to conduct the bride home on their chariot (10, 85²⁶). They are also besought along with several other deities to bestow fertility on the bride (10, 184²). They give the wife of the eunuch a child and make the barren cow yield milk (1, 112³). They give a husband to the old maid (10, 39³) and bestowed a wife on one of their favourites (1, 116¹ &c.). In the AV. (2, 30² &c.) they are said to bring lovers together¹⁸.

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The Aśvins may originally have been conceived as finding and restoring or rescuing the vanished light of the sun¹⁹. In the RV. they have come to be typically succouring divinities. They are the speediest helpers and deliverers from distress in general (1, 112². 118³). They are constantly praised for such deeds. In particular, they rescue from the ocean in a ship or ships. They are also invoked to bring treasures from the ocean or from heaven (1, 47⁶) and their car approaches from the ocean (4, 43⁵); here, however, the celestial ocean appears to be intended. Their rescue from all kinds of distress is a peaceful manifestation of divine grace, not a deliverance from foes in battle, as is generally the case with Indra (with whom, however, they are once associated in fight, even receiving the epithet of Vṛtra-slayers)²⁰. They are thus also characteristically divine physicians (8, 18⁸ &c.), who heal diseases with their remedies (8, 22¹⁰ &c.), restoring sight (1, 116¹⁶), curing the blind, sick, and maimed (10, 39³). They are the physicians of the gods and guardians of immortality, who ward off death from the worshipper (AV. 7, 53¹; TB. 3, 1, 2¹¹). Apart from their character as helpers, healers, and wonder-workers, their general beneficence is often praised. They bring their worshipper to old age with seeing eye and reward him with riches and abundance of children (1, 116²⁵; 8, 8¹³ &c.).

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Quite a number of legends illustrating the succouring power of the Aśvins are referred to in the RV. The sage Cyavāna, grown old and deserted, they released from his decrepit body; they prolonged his life, restored him to youth, rendered him desirable to his wife and made him the husband of maidens (1, 116¹⁰ &c.: OST. 5, 143). A detailed story of how Cyavāna was restored to youth by the Aśvins is given in the ŚB. (4, 1, 5)²¹. They also renewed the youth of the aged Kali (10, 39⁸) and befriended him when he had taken a wife (1, 112¹⁵). They brought on a car to the youthful Vimada wives (1, 112¹⁹) or a wife (1, 116¹) named Kamadyū (10, 65¹²), who seems to have been the beautiful spouse of Purumitra (1. 117²⁰; 10, 39⁷). They restored Viṣṇāpū, like a lost animal, to the sight of their worshipper Viśvaka, son of Kṛṣṇa (1, 116²³. 117⁷; 10, 65¹²), who according to the commentator was his father. The story most often referred to is that of the rescue of Bhujyu, son of Tugra, who was abandoned in the midst of the ocean (*samudre*) or in the water-cloud (*udameghe*) and who tossed about in darkness invoked the aid of the youthful heroes. In the ocean which is without support they took him home in a hundred-oared ship. They rescued him with animated, water-tight ships, which traversed the air, with four ships, with an animated winged boat, with three flying cars having a hundred feet and six horses, with their headlong flying steeds, with their well-yoked chariot swift as thought. In one passage Bhujyu is described as clinging to a log (*vṛkṣa*) for support in the midst of the waves²². The sage Rebha, stabbed, bound, hidden by the malignant, overwhelmed in the waters for ten nights and nine days, abandoned as dead, was by the Aśvins revived and drawn out as Soma is raised with a ladle ²³. They delivered Vandana from calamity and restored him to the light of the sun (1, 112⁵. 116¹¹. 117⁵. 118⁶), raising him up from a pit in which he lay hidden away as one dead (10, 39⁸) or restoring him from decrepitude (1, 119⁶. ⁷)²⁴. They succoured the sage Atri Saptavadhri who along with his companions was plunged in a burning pit by the wiles of a demon. They brought him a cooling and refreshing draught, protected him from the flames, and finally released him in youthful strength. They are also said to have delivered him from darkness. When Agni is spoken of as having rescued Atri from heat (10, 30³), the meaning probably is that Agni spared him through the intervention of the Aśvins²⁵. The Aśvins even rescued from the jaws of a wolf a quail which invoked their aid²⁶.

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To Rjrāśva who had been blinded by his father for killing one hundred and one sheep and giving them to a she-wolf to devour, they restored his eyesight at the prayer of the she-wolf (1, 116¹⁶. 117¹⁷. ¹⁸); and cured Parāvṛj of blindness and lameness (1, 112⁸). When Viśpalā’s leg had been cut off in battle like the wing of a bird, the Aśvins gave her an iron one instead²⁷. They befriended Ghoṣā when she was growing old in her father’s house by giving her a husband (1, 117⁷; 10, 39³. ⁶. 40⁵). To the wife of a eunuch they gave a son called Hiraṇyahasta (1, 116¹³. 117²⁴; 6, 62⁷; 10, 39⁷), who is, however, once called Śyāva (10, 65¹²). The cow of Sayu, which had left off bearing they caused to give milk (1, 116²² &c.). They gave to Pedu a swift, strong, white, incomparable, dragon-slaying steed impelled by Indra, which won him unbounded spoils (1, 116⁶ &). To Kakṣīvat of the family of Pajra they granted blessings in abundance, causing a hundred jars of wine (*surā*) or of honey to flow from a strong horse’s hoof, as from a sieve (1, 116⁷. 117⁶)²⁸. Another miraculous deed of theirs is connected with honey or mead. They placed a horse’s head on Dadhyañc, son of Atharvan, who then told them where was the mead (*madhu*) of Tvaṣṭr (§ 53)²⁹. Besides the persons referred to above, many others are mentioned as having been succoured or befriended by the Aśvins in RV. 1, 112 and 116—19. These may be largely the names of actual persons who were saved or cured in a remarkable manner. Their rescue or cure would easily have been attributed to the Aśvins, who having acquired the character of divine deliverers and healers, naturally attracted to themselves all stories connected with such miraculous powers. The opinion of Bergaigne and others that the various miracles attributed to the Aśvins are anthropomorphized forms of solar phenomena (the healing of the blind man thus meaning the release of the sun from darkness), seems to lack probability³⁰. At the same time the legend of Atri (cp. § 56) may be a reminiscence of a myth explaining the restoration of the vanished sun.

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As to the physical basis of the Aśvins, the language of the Ṛṣis is so vague that they themselves do not seem to have understood what phenomenon these deities represented. The other gods of the morning, the night-dispelling Agni, the man-waking Uṣas, and the rising Sūrya are much more vividly addressed. They may be called possessors of horses, because the latter are symbolical of rays of light, especially the sun's. But what they actually represented puzzled even the oldest commentators mentioned by Yāska. That scholar remarks (Nir. 12, 1) that some regarded them as Heaven and Earth (as does also the ŚB. 4, 1, 5¹⁶), others, as Day and Night, others, as sun and moon, while the ‘legendary writers’ took them to be ‘two kings, performers of holy acts’.

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Yāska’s own opinion is obscure. Roth thinks he means Indra and the sun, Goldstücker, that he means the transition from darkness to light, which represents an inseparable duality corresponding to their twin nature, and agrees with this view. This is also the opinion of Myriantheus as well as of Hopkins, who considers it probable that the inseparable twins represent the twin-lights or twilight before dawn, half dark, half light, so that one of them could be spoken of alone as the son of Dyaus, the bright sky. Other scholars³¹ favour the identification of the Aśvins with sun and moon. Oldenberg following Mannhardt³² and Bollensen (ZDMG. 41, 496) believes the natural basis of the Aśvins must be the morning star, that being the only morning light beside fire, dawn, and sun. The time, the luminous nature, and the course of the Aśvins round the heavens suit, but not their duality.

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The morning star would indeed naturally be thought of in connexion with the evening star, but they are eternally separate, while the Aśvins are joined. The latter are, however, in one or two passages of the RV. spoken of separately; and though the morning in Vedic worship is so important, while sunset plays no part (5, 77²), the Aśvins are nevertheless sometimes (8, 22¹⁴; 10, 39¹. 40⁴) invoked morning and evening³³. The Aśvins, sons of Dyaus, who drive across the sky with their steeds and possess a sister, have a parallel in the two famous horsemen of Greek mythology, sons of Zeus (Διὸς κοῦροι)³⁴, brothers of Helena, and in the two Lettic God's sons who come riding on their steeds to woo the daughter of the sun, either for themselves or the moon. In the Lettic myth the morning star is said to have come to look at the daughter of the sun³⁵. As the two Aśvins wed the one Sūryā, so the two Lettic god-sons wed the one daughter of the sun; they too are (like the Διοσκοῦροι) rescuers from the ocean, delivering the daughter of the sun or the sun himself³⁶. If this theory is correct, the character of the Aśvins as rescuers may have been derived from the idea of the morning star being a harbinger of deliverance from the distress of darkness. Weber is also of opinion that the Aśvins represent two stars, the twin constellation of the Gemini³⁷. Finally Geldner thinks that the Aśvins do not represent any natural phenomenon, but are simply succouring saints (Notheilige) of purely Indian origin³⁸.

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The twilight and the morning star theory seem the most probable. In any case, it appears not unlikely that the Aśvins date from the Indo-European period in character though not in name.

Cites (7)