Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t6.10

c5.s2.t6.10

His wife is by implication the Earth (5, 83⁴; 7, 101³, cp. 1, 160³). The AV. (12, 1¹²) states that Earth is the mother, Parjanya the father², but elsewhere explicitly calls Vaśā his wife (10, 10⁶). In these respects as well as the theriomorphic conception of him as a bull, his relation to thunder, lightning, and rain, he approximates to the character of Dyaus (cp. 10, 45⁴; 2, 4⁶. 27¹⁵) whose son he is once called (7, 102¹). Parjanya himself is said to produce a calf (*vatsam*), the germ of plants (7, 101¹, cp. v. ³; 5, 83¹), who perhaps represents lightning. Soma may, however, be meant, for his father is once (9, 82³) said to be Parjanya³, and he is spoken of as 'increased by Parjanya' (9, 113³).