Indian Philosophy v1.c8.s2.25

v1.c8.s2.25

may change, storms break and clouds roll away, but the sky abides for ever. Dyaus¹ is not merely an Indo-Iranian deity, but an Indo-European one. It survives in Greece as Zeus, in Italy as Jupiter (Heavenly Father), and among the Teutonic tribes as Tyr and Tyi. Deva meant originally bright, and later was applied to all the bright ones, the sun, the sky, the stars, the dawn, the day, etc. It became a general term connoting the common features of all shining ones. The earth also was soon deified. Heaven and Earth at the beginning had perhaps only the physical aspects of vastness, breadth, productiveness.² The attributes ascribed to the Earth are such as “yielding honey,” “full of milk.” But very early Heaven and Earth became endowed with human qualities such as “not decaying,” “father” and “mother.” Moral attributes such as beneficence, omniscience and righteousness were also added.³ It may be that there has been steady advance from the physical to the personal and from the personal to the divine. Earth and Heaven, the first objects of worship the world over, though probably in the beginning they were looked upon as independent beings, soon entered into a marriage alliance. The Earth was looked upon as the fruitful mother, impregnated by Heaven. In the Homeric hymns the Earth is addressed as “Mother of Gods, the wife of the starry Heaven.”⁴ Earth and Heaven are the universal parents who give life to all creatures and grant them the means of subsistence. In the Ṛg-Veda they are generally addressed in the dual number as two beings forming but one concept, for all between, the sun, the dawn, the fire, the wind and the rain were their offspring. They are the parents of men and gods.⁵ As the number of gods increased the question arose as to who made Heaven and Earth. “He was indeed among the gods the cleverest workman, who produced the brilliant ones (Heaven and Earth) that gladden all things; he who measures the two bright ones by his wisdom and establishes them on everlasting supports.”¹ This creative power is assigned to Agni,² Indra,³ or Soma.⁴ Other gods also come in for this honour.⁵