Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t1.24

c5.s2.t1.24

Apām napāt is not a creation of Indian mythology, but goes back to the Indo-Iranian period. In the Avesta Apãm napāṭ is a spirit of the waters, who lives in their depths, is surrounded by females and is often invoked with them, drives with swift steeds, and is said to have seized the brightness in the depth of the ocean³. Spiegel⁴ thinks this deity shows indications of an igneous nature in the Avesta, and Darmesteter considers him to be the fire-god as born from the cloud in lightning⁵. L. v. Schroeder agrees with this view⁶; some scholars, however, dissent from it. Oldenberg⁷ is of opinion that Apām napāt was originally a water genius pure and simple, who became confused with the water-born Agni, a totally different being. His grounds are, that one of the two hymns in which he is celebrated (10, 30), is connected in the ritual with ceremonies exclusively concerned with water, while even in 2, 35 his aqueous nature predominates⁸. Hillebrandt⁹, on the other hand, followed by Hardy¹⁰, thinks Apām napāt is the moon, and Max Müller¹¹ that he is the sun or lightning.