The Rig Veda, consisting of 1028 hymns (mantras) in 10 books (mandalas), is unique in the sense where grammar, prosody, and versification are a part of an ancient sacred literature. It is so because the early part of its existence was in oral tradition of “shruti”, what is heard (as opposed to “smriti” which means what is remembered). The hymns are said to be revealed through rishis, like Gautama, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra, Janmadagni, Vasishtha, Kashyapa, Atri, and they passed them on orally. But all the hymns of the Rig Veda do not belong to a single time period. They show a gradual development over a long span of time, from the earliest days of nature-myths to the historical incidents around the time of their compilation.

The seven oldest gods to whom the Rig Vedic hymns are addressed are Dyaus, Varuna, Mitra, Agni, Soma, Yama, and Vayu. All these gods are different aspects/elements of nature in their mythological personifications. Zenaide A. Ragozin defines myth simply as a phenomenon of nature presented not as a result of a law, but as the act of divine or at least superhuman persons, good or evil. Ancient human beings gave a name to every natural phenomenon/element that astonished them to indicate it. In course of time that name became the name of the god of that phenomenon. Dyaus was the word for the sky, the firmament, which ultimately became the name of the sky-god. Later the Heaven-Earth combination gave birth to Dyaus-Prithvi conjugation. The earth was seen as infinite, eternal so Prithvi became “Aditi” (boundless). The earth gives birth to all things and hence Aditi became symbolic of mother. Thereby Dyaus with Aditi, the mother, became symbolic of the father. This is how mythology grows through a complex process.

Ancient people also noticed that Dyaus, the sky entire sky, has two aspects – the serene sky, Varuna, and the stormy sky, Rudra. The general characteristic of the sky was serene and only sometimes unusually the sky becomes stormy. Thaus what is usual became Right, Truth – the “Rita”. Rita became the laws of Varuna, now personified as the god of righteousness. In course of time Varuna became the king of gods. Rudra, the dark, stormy sky, which often brings destruction, became personified as the god of destruction. Again the sere sky is associated with light – the sky and the light are like friends or “Mitra”. Mitra became the god of light. Similarly, other old gods of the Rig Veda were personified – Agni (Fire), Soma (Plants), Yama (Death), Vayu (Wind). Once this mythological background was created a number of lesser Vedic gods came into being like Indra (Rain), Pusan (Nourishment), Vishnu (Creation), etc.

As ancient people started settling down they found that the two elements of nature that crucial for cultivation were the rain and the sun. The rain-god Indra gained in prominence and soon replaced Varuna as the king of the gods. Often rain was accompanied by storms, now called Maruts. Maruts became the followers of Indra. The sun was seen rising from the horizon where the sky and earth seemed to meet. This promulgated the myth of the sun-god Vivasvat born of Dyaus-Aditi. Later the sun-god began to be identified in its two aspects – Tvastar-Savitar. Savitar stood for the beneficent sun and Tvastar its opposite. Still later Tvastar started to represent the stern, baleful, threatening aspects of heaven in general. Savitar in due course of time became very important and the Gayatri Mantra of the Rig Veda is addressed to him. But there was further multiplication of the sun-god because the sun as an object was already represented by the common noun “surya” and addressed in the feminine gender. So, when “Savitar” and “Surya” began to be used interchangeably overlooking the gender disparity, it produced two gods out of one and a complicated situation. Gradually with the advent of creation myths the lesser gods Vishnu, Rudra (once identified with the non-Aryan Shiva-Pashupati) and Brahmanaspati (originally Priest, Lord of Prayer) gained importance as the supreme trident of Vedic gods. It is interesting to note that Vedic religion in its most ancient form was not idolatrous – there was no image worship.

A few observations will show that the Vedic nature myths were not exclusive to an isolated group of population but spanned across the Mediterranean coast to the Indian subcontinent if not further. The Vedic Dyaus or Dyaushpitar (Heaven, the Father) has Greek equivalent Zeus or Zeus-Pater, Latin Dies-Piter, subsequently modified to Jupiter. The Christian “Deus” is “God” and the modern Dios, Dieu have Aryan root “divus” or “divine”. The Vedic Parjanya has equivalence with Perkunas or Perkons of Slavo-Lithuanian. The story of the Great Flood of Shatapatha Brahmanas has its versions in the Chaldean Deluge Tablet (Manu=Hasisadra), and Genesis (Manu=Noah). The Vedic Matsya-avatar can be equated with Ea-Han (Oannes), the fish-god of Chaldea. The mythical Mount Meru, the abode of the Vedic gods, is also referred to as Sumeru which has echoes in the name Sumeria of Mesopotamia. The gods of the Mitanni civilization also corresponds to Vedic gods – Mitrasil (Mitra), Arunasil (Varuna), Indar (Indra).

The Zoroastrian Avesta has Manthras just like the Mantras of Vedas. Also the Vedic Soma and Mitra have Parsee equivalence of Haoma and Mithra. It is noteworthy that Asura in the oldest Rig Vedic hymns means beneficent being and it is an epithet of the older Vedic gods – Asura-Dyaus, Asura-Varuna just like Ahura-Mazda of Avesta. But later as Indra became the king of gods and triumphed over the older gods, the word Asura became corrupted to mean an evil being. Deva started to imply for good powers (contrarily Daevas in Avesta imply servants of the Evil One). The Vedic Dasyu also can be compared to Avestan Dahyu. Originally Dasyu simply meant people, but as the Vedic people began to call themselves Arya, Dasyu began to be used for non-Aryans. Later it got transformed to Dasa (slave/servant). The Vedic people called themselves “Arya” which meant originally “the people who plough” (from root “ar” which means “plough” as in arable). But subsequently it took the meaning of “noble birth”. That is why even the Persian King Darius I in his states in his inscription: “I am an Arya, the son of an Arya.”

The Aryans domesticated cows, which were unsuitable for leading a nomadic life. The Vedic word for cow is “Go”. The derivative Sanskrit word “gotra” literally means “the enclosure which protects a herd” and gradually came to denote a family and a tribe. From this root comes the word Gopa to mean herdsmen and later chieftain or king. In Greek and Hebrew tradition too kings are often referred to as shepherd or pastor. What the birth of myths and their commonness across civilizations show is that origin of all religions is basically the same and so are human beings all over the world. Perhaps we have an important lesson to learn from our ancient ancestors whom we often dismiss as uncouth or sometimes do not even remember.

Reference:

The Story of the Nations: Vedic India by Zenaide A. Ragozin, London: T. Fisher-Unwin, 1895.

 

http://amitss6.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/08/the-birth-of-myths-and-commonness-across-civilizations.htm