Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t6.12

c5.s2.t6.12

Parjanya's name is of uncertain derivation. But it is still usually identified, owing to the similarity of character, with that of the Lithuanian thundergod Perkúnas⁴, though the phonetic difficulties of the identification cannot be explained. The freshness of the conception in the RV. renders it probable that if the two names are really connected, their Indo-European form was still an appellative. It seems clear that in the RV. the word is an appellative of the thundering rain-cloud as well as the proper name of its personification, the god who actually sheds the rain. The senses of rain-cloud and rain-god both survive through the Brāhmaṇas into the later language. The native dictionaries explain the appellative as ‘thunder-cloud’ (*garjanmegha* &c.), while the deity is sometimes found identified with Indra in the Mahābhārata.