Kazanas 2001 Greece Vedac

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
ARCHAIC GREECE AND THE VEDA

Author(s): Nicholas Kazanas
Source: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 82, No. 1/4 (2001), pp. 1-42
Published by: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
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Annals
of
Bhandarkar
the
Oriental
Research
Institute
Vol. LXXXII ]
[ 2001
ARCHAIC GREECE
AND THE VEDA
By
Nicholas Kazanas
I) Introduction
Many studiesby classicists (= scholarsof Greek) have since the 190s
some
(and
before) drawn attentionto affinitiesbetween the archaic Greek
cultureand Near Eastern(NE hereafter1)
ones in religion,mythology,
poetry
and artsand crafts:eg P Walcot (1966), M L West (1966, 1978, 1988, 1997a,
1997b etc.) , W Burkert( 1977 , 1987 , 1992 etc.) , C Penglase ( 1994) , orientalist
S Dalley (1998) and manyothers.Except West,who invariablyrefersto early
Indie sources as well, mostof theothersseem to be unawareof any affinities
betweentheGreek and Indie cultureand play down thefactthattheGreeks
who came in waves onto theshoresof theAegean (fromabout themiddleof
'thethirdmillenniumdown to about 1200 BC) were undoubtedlypeople who
mostprobably
spoke an Indo European(IE hereafter1)
languageand therefore
i Abbreviations
forlanguagesusedare : Av = Avestan;E = English;Gk = Greek;
Gmc= Germanic;
L = Latin;Lth= Lithuanian;
Ltv= Latvian;Men= Mycenaean;
S = Sanskrti;
SI = slavonie;
V = Vedic
Foreconomy
of spaceareusedabbreviations
forsometextsandbooksgivenin the
in full.ThusB withnumber
standsforBurkert
1992andpage-number
Bibliography
MMforDalley1991; GMforGraves1960.AV isAtharvaveda
andRVRgveda'
throughout;
AB andB areAitareya
andatapatha
B UpandChUpareBrhadranyaka
Brhmanas;
andChndogya
andRa
Samhit'MB is Mahbhrata
Upanisads;TS is Taittiriya
Rmyana.
from
theusualsigns< 'derived
from'
and> 'producing'
forconvenience
I usethe
Apart
connected
with.'
signz inthesense'is cognate,
IE = Indo-European;
NE = NearEastern;
PIE = Proto-Indo-European.

Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )
broughtwiththema largeamountof inheritedformspertainingto all aspects

of life. A fairproportionof these forms(only few names of deities in the
Mycenaeanextantdocuments)appearin thearchaictexts(Homer and Hesiod
and surviveas establishedelementsin theGreekcivilizationof laterperiods.
The above-mentionedclassicists are certainlyrightin establishing Geek
parallels with,and borrowingsfrom,the NE traditions,but theyare just as
certainlywrongto ignoretheGreekaffinitieswiththeVedic cultureand with
thatof otherIE peoples, and ascribe- as theydo - such elementsalso to NE
influences.No doubtmanyelementsin theGreekculture2derivefrom,or at
anyratewerecommonwith,thoseoftheNear East. ContactsbetweenMinoan
Crete and Syria and Egyptor otherNE countriesare in clear evidence from
about thelate 3rdmillennium(Hood 2000) and exchangesof goods, patterns
and techniquesearlyin thesecond (Warren2000 : 2-6); theremay have been
religiousinfluencesfromEgyptc 1990 (Carinci 2000 : 32-4) and certainly
soon aftertheEgyptianhippopotamusgoddessTaweretwas adoptedin Crete
intheextanticonography(Weingarten2000 : 114withminortransformations
5,118); undoubtedlythereare similaritsincultmuchealierbetweenMinoans
and Anatolians (atal Hyk) due to contacts,exchanges, perhaps even
migrationsfromAnatolia (Dietrich 1974 ; chapters 1,2). Such contacts,
exchanges and transmissionscontinuedin the Mycenaean and subsequent
periods so thatS Dalley can say "There was not simplyone 'orientalizing'
period,therewere several" (1998 : 86)3 . However,Dalley is quite probably
(as attestedina Greekinscription
wrongin suggestingthattheartofbirdangury
of the 6th century)derives fromMesopotamia (1998 : 100) - the two texts
anyway.4This
quoted fromGreece and Mesopotamia being quite different,
and west
earliest
Vedic
culture
attested
in
the
divination
is
kindof
very
amply
ofGreece,amongtheCelts (MacCulloch 1948 : 55-6). Now, whileitis possible
thatthisartof divinationspreadfromMesopotamia westwardto Greece and
otherwise
the
thatis 8thand7thcenturies,
indicate
thearchaic
2 Thiswillhereafter
period,
Thedatesgivenareofcourse
classical
orHellenistic.
as post-archaic,
erawillbespecified
BC.
ItdoesnotreallymeanthatGreek
is something
ofa misnomer.
3 Theterm
'orientalizing'
'oriental*
features
culture
times,ie after300). Greeks
(exceptin Hellenistic
acquired
this
all instances
transformed
muchmaterial
from
theNearEastbutinalmost
borrowed
render
inEpinomis
989D-E,"TheGreeks
AsPlato(?)wrote
Greekforms.
intodistinctly
from
whatever
morebeautiful
foreigners."
theyobtain
from
from
toleftdisappears
4 TheGreektext: If(a particular
view,(the
bud)flying
right
in a straight
itdisappears
from
leftto right,
... If,flying
omenis) favourable
course,
overa city,
thecity
text: "Ifmany
TheMesopotamian
unfavourable."
eagleskeepflying
willbe besieged."

Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda
Gaul, it is equally possible thattheCelts, Greeks and Indo Aryansinherited

thispracticefromthe ProtoIndoEuropean(PIE hereafter)phase.
In thispaper I traceparallelsbetweentheGreekcultureand theVedic
to otherIE peoples and usingphilologicalconsiderations
tradition,referring
whereverpossible. Whereverwe findGreek-Vedic parallels,these are very
probablyinheritedforms,since itis unlikelythatGreeksand IndoAryans had,
afterthe dispersal of the IE Peoples in the 3rd or 4th millenniumor before,
contactsofanygreatsignificance.The area ofMythologyhas beenextensively
explored since the 19th centuryof our Era by Max Mller, Cox, Fisko,
Oldenberg,Hillebrandt,et al (fora usefulbriefsummarysee Arora 1981 : 177
and n 1) and of course by manymore scholarsin the 20thcenturyDumzil,
Polom, Puhvel, et al). I do not thinkthatthe explorationof Comparative
Mythologyhas been exhausted,nor thata fulland correctevaluation of the
IE traditionshas been establisheddespite
realtionshipbetweenthe different
thevarioustripartite,structuralist
and otherapproachesto thissubject- and
I hope to show thereason forthisin thecourse of thisdiscussion.I shall not
examinemythologicalthemesand motifslike theDeluge or theFour Ages (in
India) or Five (in Greece), norcongnationslikeZeus/Dyaus, Ouranos/Varuna
etc,thathave beenrepeatedlydiscussed.However,inadditiontocircumstantial
mythologicalmotifis,I shall examine parallelsin social practices,ritualsand
magic, in the broadestsense of the term.5For instance,Cheiorn's school on
usedherewillbe mainly
5 Indiesources
thehymns
oftheRgvedaandAtharvaveda
andto
a lesser
extent
theBrhmanas,
andtheNirukta'
onfewoccasions
I haverecourse
Upanisads
totheStrasandtheepics,Mahbhrata
andRmyana
(MBandRa hereafter).
Themainstream
academic
on
the
dates
of
ancient
Indiantextsis thatafter
the
opinion
entered
North
Western
Indiac 1500,they
theRVc 1200-1000
(oreven
Aryans
composed
theAV c 1000,theBrhmanas
andUpanisads
c 800-600,
theStras600BC and
later),
after
andtheepics(intheir
downtoc 300CE. Inthelastdecadeofthe
form)
present
right
20thcentury
in theWesthaveraisedquestions
someSankritists
andobjections
to the
mainstream
view.ProfAklujkar
thedates
Columbia,
(British
Canada)doesnotconsider
incontestable
andstates"onlyrelative
hasbeenwellargued
for"(1996: 66
chronology
andn 14);seealsoFeuerstein
etal 1995,passim;
oftheVedicInstitute,
(Director
Frawley
SantaFe) 1992: 25-7.Havingaccepted
andtaught
themainstream
forsome20
theory
I tooabandoned
itinviewofthemounting
evidence
it.
I
thefull
years,
against presented
' 1
inThe RgvedaandIndo-Europeans
evidence
3100BC asthecompletion
( 999),positing
oftheRV.Onlya brief
canbe givenhere.
summary
TheIndoAryans
areindigenous
totheSeven-river
inwhatistoday
North
Pakistan
region
andN-West
isnoevidence
whatever
foranyintrusion
intotheareaprior
India,sincethere
toc 500 BC. (Allchins
1997: 191, 222;Shaffer
andLichtenstein
1995: 135).TheRV
on thenextpage)
(Continued

mountPelion wheremanyheroeslikeAchillesreceivedtheireducationsounds
very much like an old Druidic or Vedic school (today known as 'ashram'
< 1sram) wherethetraditionwas oral; verydifferent
weretheNE traditions
of education and learningwherewritingwas predominantand the teaching,
apartfromthemaster-apprentice
relationshipin Egypt(Aldred 1984 : 192-5)
and elsewhere,was conductedin schools thatwere royal establishmentsor
connectedto temples(Saggs 1989 : 100, 105).
II) Oral tradition (and literacy)
In myview themostimportant
featuresharedbytheIndoaryansand the
ie
the
and
Greeks,
Mycenaeans
subsequentIE-speaking entrants,is the oral
tradition.The Minoan civilization (non-IE) was literatebut its few written
(Continued
fromp. 3)
wascomplete
butforminor
culture
toarise.
passages
by3100whentheHarappan
begins
TheBrhmanas
andStras
knowoftown-life,
fixed
altars,
bricks,
cotton,
largebuildings,
riceandsilver-elements
intheHarappan
butunknown
culture
intheRV. Moreover,
present
intheRV(especially
river
which
11,41;VI,61;VII,95)praisetheSarasvati
many
hymns
flowsmightily
from
themountains
totheIndianocean,butc 2000hadbecomea minor
stream
lostinthedesert,
hundreds
ofmilesbefore
theoccan.Inaddition,
reaching
linguistic
andliterary
evidence
showsthatVedicis farolderthananyother
IE branch,
including
Hittite
orAvestan.
I takeitthat
RVwascomposed
inthe4thmillennium
atleast,
theBrhmanas
Consequently
andUpanisads
c 2500BC. TheRmalegend
earlyinthe3rdandsomeoftheSutratexts
is olderthanthegreatwaroftheMahbhrata.
Thecoreofbothmusthavebeenin
circulation
inepicnarrative
inthe3rdmillennium
butwas
(Rmatalesmuchearlier)
material
thesubsequent
enormous
expanded
bythebardswithmuchadditional
reaching
Era.
length
earlyintheChristian
Ofgreat
aretwoarticles
historian
ofscience
ASeidenberg
wherein
significance
byAmerican
he arguesthatEgyptian,
and
Greek
Mathematics
derive
from
the
Indie
Babylonian
ulbasutras
ofpastamba
andBaudhyana,
ora work
likethat,
datedatc 2000BC aslower
thusfurnishing
evidence
: inthesehetookaccount
ofthework
limit,
totally
independent
ofNeugebauer,
Cantor
etal (seeBibliography).
wrote
ofthisoriginal
work:
Seidenberg
"itsmathematics
wasverymuchlikewhatwesee intheSulvasutras
Inthe
[ulbasutras].
first
with
ritual.
there
wasnodichotomy
between
number
Second,
place,itwasassociated
andmagnitude.
...Ingeometry
itknewtheTheorem
ofPythagoras
andhowtoconvert
a
intoa square.
Itknewtheisosceles
andhowtocompute
itsarea...[and]
rectangle
trapeziod
somenumber
centered
on theexistence
ofPythagorean
[andhow]to
theory
triplets...
tendencies
hereencountered
computea squareroot.... The arithmetical
[ie in the
ulbasutras
andinconnection
withobservations
ontherectangle
ledto
] wereexpanded
A contrary
mathematics.
forexactness
ofthought
,namely
,a concern
Babylonian
tendency
... together
witha recognition
thatarithmetic
methods
arenotexact,ledtoPythagorean
mathematics.
(1978: 329)

documentshave not been decipheredas yet.Literacywas presentalso in the

Mycenaean period,thoughlimitedto palaces and temples,and the language
was IE, as revealed by the decipherementof Linear B (Ventris& Chadwick
1973). There followed 300 years of non-literacyafterthedestructionof the
Mycenaean centresof culturefromthe 12thto theearly8thcentury(Taylour
1983 : 41), usually termed'Dark Age' and thenliteracyre-emergedwiththe
with
adoptionby theGreeksof thePhoenicianalphabetand itstransformation
the introductionof writtensymbols for vowels and separate symbols for
consonants.But it is doubtfulwhethertheprotoGreeks who firstestablished
themselveson theshoresof theAegean c 1900 wereliterate.The laterwriting
is syllabic,resemblingotherNE types.It is safe to assume thattheybrought
no writingwiththemand eventually,in the 16thor 15thcentury,adopted the
Cypriot-Minoanmode of writing.
It is verydifficultto know exactlythattheprotoGreeks broughtwith
themfromthe PIE stock. The clay tabletsdiscovered at Knossos and other
spots on Crete and at Pylos, Mycenae and other places on the mainland
(= Mycenaean Documents) are mainlyinventories,containingno literature
and verylittleinformation
aboutreligion. However,among sporadicreferences
to votiveofferings,
some namesofdeitiesstandout,easily recognizableas IE.
Thus we find Zeus (V dyaus, Ht DSiu-s, RM ju[s]-piter , Gmc Tiwaz)'
Areimene (V Aryaman,Clt Ariomanus in Gaul and Eremon in Ireland);
Iqej -a/-o, names for a Horse-god/-goddess(Dietrich 1974 : 176, n 246 :
Chadwick 1976 ; 93) connected obviously with V Avin and Clt Epona,
a horse-deityin Gaul; Erinus is obviouslyconnectedwithDemeterErinysof
Arcadia, rather than the dreadfulFuries (Burkert1977 : 85), and with V
Saranyu;6 a goddes Diwija z S divija 'skyborn'or S divya'celestial'; Burkert
gives also Alle Gtter'All gods' (1977 : 83) whichis Men pa-si te-oi(Ventris
& Chadwick,p 3 10) and clearlyV visve-devh'all gods'. Thus we have some
evidence thattheMycenaeanspreservedelementsof theirIE heritageand this
oral tradition.
This tradition
continuedduringthesubsequentcenturies
through
ofnon-literacy;
for,apartfromZeus and Erinys,thenamesofHera and Athena,
and severalotherdeitiesre-emergedin thepoetryof Homerand Hesiod in the
late 8thcentury.(For continuityand innovationin archaicGreek religionsee
Dietrich 1974 : 246ffand Burkert1977 : 99ff.)
6 Thesaranyu!
erinuscognation
is rejected
byKEWAIII,442 (as also inFrisk1954ff).
sinceKEWAaccepts
theS/Gk
However,
sama/amo-then,
sarvalholo-lhoulo,
cognations
si-sarmilhallomai
andiallandsaipisdelpos-elphos
sarpami/herp,
(allinvolIII),there
canbe noreason,
orsemantic,
fortherejection
ofsaranyu/
erinus: non-initial
phonetic
S -a-often
appearsas -i-inGkas indadmi/didmi.

In the 12thcentury,itis thought,

theDorian tribes,anotherIE-speaking
northern
Greece, spreadand eventuallysome of them
people, sweptthrough
reached and settledin the Peloponese (Taylour 1983 : 16, 162). No writing
is attestedanywherein Greece untilc 800 and,whenwrittenrecordsappeared
inthe8thcentury
,onlyfewoftheolderMycenaeanculturalelementssurvived
in thebeginningsof what is regardedas theGreek civilization,culminating
in the brillianceof the classical period.
It may be thoughtthatwith the advent of writingthe oral tradition
ceased, but this is not so. Many examples are attesteddown to classical
times pertainingto 'esoteric' knowledge,throughthe teacher-discipleand
father-son
healing,divination,
relationship,in religionand priestlyfunctions,
and thelike (B 43ff).At thetimeof Euripides,whenliteracywas widespread
(Murray 1993 : 100), one of the charactersin Melanippe the Wise says
"How sky and earth separated is not my tale but one frommy mother"
(frag 4877) thus showing that cosmogonie or thogonie accounts still
passed fromone generationto the next by word of mouth. P. Kingsley
again stresses how oral transmission in esoteric cults like the
andotherspersistedintoHellenisticandevenRomantimes( 1995
Pythagoreans
: 322 ff).
Now while classicists like Burkertlink this oral transmissionwith
diviners,healers and the like in NE cultures(B,1 44-5), thisis a preeminent
featureof early IE as well. It is attestedamong theCelts, as Caesar writesin
De Bello Gllico VI, 13 : "[The Druids] are concernedwithdivineworship...
sacrifices...ritual...Numerousyoungmen gatherroundthemforthesake of
instruction
holdingthemingreathonour";ineh VI, 14 he adds,"In theschools
some
of theDruids theylearnby hearta greatnumberof verses,and therefore
it
And
do
not
think
remain
under
training.
they
proper
twentyyears
persons
to committhese utterancesto writing,althoughin almost all othermatters...
theymake use of Greek letters."The Germanicand Baltic peoples also must
have had an oral tradition,even thoughit is not so clearly attested,or so
retentive,otherwisetheywould not have preservedrespectivelythe deities
Fjorgynand Perkunas,whichz SI Perun(and variants)and V Parjany,much
with
oftheIE commonlexical stock;and IE legends,likeThor'sconfrontation
theserpentMidgardin theocean (Gmc) and thesongs aboutDieva Deli (Ltv;
TheTragedies
seeT B L Webster's
worksofEuripides
7 Forfragmentary
ofEuripides,
London1967.

or Dievo Snelai Lth) 'the [Sky-] god's sons' and theSun's daughter( Saules
meita Ltv or Saules dukterysLth) thisBaltic legendcorrespondingin partto
theGreekDioskouroi 'sons ofZeus' and Vedic Avinauwho accompanySry
'Sungod's daughter'(or Usas). It should be notedhere thatthereis no direct
parallel between the Greek and Baltic legends beyond 'skygod's lads.' The
Greek legend has two pairs of twins, Castor (one Dioskouros) and
Klytaemnstra(Agamemnon's wife), and Polydeukes (second Dioskouros)
and beautifulHelen (of Troy,ie Menelaus's wife) while thetwo Dioskouroi
areexperthorsemenand rescuepeople fromshipwrecks("HymntoDioskouroi'
in Loeb, 460-2; GM I, 245-50); the Baltic legend has sometimes one,
sometimestwo or many,Skygod's sons who woo theSun's daughterand save
her fromdrowning(Ward 414-5; Puhvel 228-9). The link between Greek
and Baltic is furnishedby theVedic lore about theAvin horsemen(one set
of twinsof Sarany and Vivasvat in RV X, 17, 1-2 & NiruktaXII, 10) who
are healers and rescuers (often fromshipwreck) and thus are connected
withDioskouroi, and who accompany the Sungod's daughterSry (and in
RV VI, 60, 2, rescueabductedUsas, who is sometimesidentifiedwithSry),
and thusare connectedwith the Baltic heroes. Although,the Slavs and the
Romans had no mythof the Divine Twins, theymust have had a similar
mode of oral transmission.
In theVedic culturetheoral traditionis verymarked.The Vedic texts
preservedmuchmoreof thePIE stockof legendrythanany otherIE branch.
In factno major mythologicalfeatureappears in two or moreIE branchesto
the exclusion of the Vedic one, while, on the contrary,featureafterfeature
appears in the Vedic lore in common withone or two otherbranchesto the
exclusion of the rest(disregardingthe affinitiesof Vedic and Avestan since
thesetwotraditionsformeda distinctbranch).Thus themotifof thesacrificial
dismemberementof primordialMan Purusa and the resultantcosmogony
of giantYmir (z V yama) in
( RVX , 10) has a parallel in thedismemberment
theNorse traditionbutnowhereelse; thenameof Vedic FiregodAgniappears
only as the Slavic Ogon (and variants) and nowhere else; the name of
V artificers
Rbhuis mostprobablycognatewithGk Orpheusand Gms //but
has no mythologicalconnectionin theotherbranches;thesame holds forV
Vstos-patiand Gk Hestia and Rm Vesta; and so on. Thus the Vedic corpus
seems to be a much more reliable source forPIE mythologythanany other
IE branch.This is all themoreremarkablewhenone considersthattheVedic
texts were transmittedfor many centuries througha well organised oral
tradition.

The systematic oral transmission of its voluminous sacred lore

oftheVedic tradition.
(and sacrificialritual)is a mostimpressivecharacteristic
The priestlycaste of the brahminsguarded well the knowledge of their
ruti (apocalyptic scriptureslike the Rgveda). It was the sacred duty of
certain families to transmitthis knowledge from one generation to the
next (Winternitz1981 : vol I, 29-32, 51-2). When the disciples reached
maturityand the teacher felt they could now proceed on their own he
instructedthem"learn and teach" ( Ch Up 1 IV, 9, 3, & VI, 14, 2; T Up 1, 9,
Iff). The teacher-disciple and inter-familyfather-sonrelationship is
exemplifiedin the Upanisads : "A fathermay declare this [teachingabout]
Brahmanto the eldest son or to a worthypupil" (Ch Up III, 11, 5); later on
his son vetaketu.Already,in the
(VI, 8ff)Uddlaka is presentedinstructing
RV itselfwe read of thefamiliesof Bhrgus,Agirases,Vasisthas et al, who
the sacred knowledge.
preservedand transmitted
Ill) Epic Poetry
1. "Greek literatureis a Near Eastern literature"wrote West in the
introduction
of his editionof Hesiod's Theogony(1997 : 31). The statement
is probablyexaggeratedforeffect,butotherscholarsexpress a similarview
in more moderateterms(B 88 ff;Dalley 1998 ; 101-3). Undoubtedly,many
incidentsand featuresfromNE poetryare embedded in the Homeric epics
(and other poems of the archaic period). Here, I present only a few of
themto indicatethisparticulardebt: inIliad 15,1 87ffPoseidon describeshow
the world was divided among the three sons of Rhea, the three high
gods, Zeus, Hades and Podeidon himself,by lots, a procedure otherwise
unknown in the Greek texts but present early on in the Babylonian
epic Atrahasis (MM p 9); Penelope's prayer afterher son Telemachus's
departurein Odyssey 4, 759 ff,could well derive froma similar incident
in the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh (Tablet III : MM p 65), where the
hero's motherNinsun offersa prayer after her son's departure; also in
Gilgameshwe findthatsometimestheactionof a new day beginswiththefirst
lightof dawn (Tablet VII, MM pp 91 , 95) and thisis employedby Homer in
the Odyssey(opening of rhapsodies2, 5 etc); thereare several more cases.
However,apartfromveryfew incidents,like Penelope's prayerwhichseems
to have somethingnon-Greekabout it(B 1992 : 99-100), it shouldbe and has
been noted thatmost such borrowings(like also the Phoenician alphabet
mentionedabove) are usually transformed
by the Greeks into termsof their
own culture(see n 3, above).

Despite all such borrowings,Greekepic poetryhas itsrootsin thePIE

traditionas is evidenced by some basic featuresit has in common withthe
poetryof the Rgveda, even thoughthe latteris not an epic. It is difficultto
understandwhat scholars mean when theywrite of "Indo-European heroic
tradition,"since apartfromHomer's worksthereare no otherIE epics until
verymuchlater.The Hittitesor Anatolians(also IE) leftus muchmaterialin
verseand prose,theearliestof whichwas writtendown 8 or 9 centuriesbefore
Homer's poems; butmostof thisderivesand is almostindistinguishable
from
otherNE literature.The Romans producedpoetryseveral centuriesafterthe
Greeks and mostlyimitatedthem. FortheotherIE branches,Germanic,Celtic,
Slavonic and Baltic, we findno writtenmaterialuntilaftermanycenturiesof
theChristianEra. Consequentlytheonlycomparisonsthatcan be made in this
contextare withtheRV hymns.We therefore
ignorestudieson (hypothetical)
IE epics or "IE poetics." Besides, featurescommon to, say, Greek and
Germanicheroic poetryare foundalso in the medieval TurkicAlpamyshor
the ancientNE Gilgamesh.
2. In theHomeric epic we find,broadlyspeaking,threetypesofstock
epithet(the examples are mostlyfromIliad 1) : a) Vague adjectives like dios
'
'divine,bright',used of anyone,ordiogens'noblyborn ofmanyheroes;these
areemployedmainlyforfillingthemetricalline.Othersareamumn'faultless,'
megathumos 'big-hearted' and hippodamos 'horse-taming' - all used
ofTrojans and Achaeans; potnia 'reverend'used of Hera and
indiscriminately
elder women and kallisphuros'with beautifulankles' of any beautifullady;
and so on. b) The second typeofepithetis used specificallyof a centralfigure
and denotes a distinctfeaturebut could apply to manyothers: eg Hera 'of
whitehands' leuklenos'Athena'of grey/blueeyes' glaukopis",
Dawn 'of rosyAcheans
'of
fine
etc.
fingers'rhododaktulos'
c) The third
greeves' euknmis'
typeis used exclusivelyof a particulardeityor warriorand denotesa feature
thatdesignatesa specificattribute
or functionnotfoundin anotherfigure: eg
hekbolos'aim-attainer/farshooting'
is exclusive to Apollo; asteropts'who
throwsthe bolt' and nephelgereta'cloud-gatherer'are exclusive to Zeus;
polumtis'of manycounsels' and polumchanos'of manydevices' are used
Odysseus; the epitherpdas kus 'fleetof foot' is used mainlyof Achilles;
thoughku-and tachu-are used of otherstoo.
All threecategories are found in the Rgveda - even thoughit is a
collectionofhymnsto gods and notan epic : a) daivya'bright,divine'ofSavitr
(1, 35, 5) and Rudra (II, 33, 7); ugra 'mighty,fierce'of Rudra (II, 33, 9) and

10
of a manof power(X, 34, 8); rtavan'holy,observingorder'of Divine Waters

(II, 35, 8) and of Mitra and Varuna (VII, 61, 2); citraravas 'of brilliant
fame' of the Firegod Agni (I, 1, 5) and of Mitra (III, 59, 4). b) somap
'soma-drinker'is exclusive to Indra (eg II, 12, 13), but it could be used
of any other god; Rudra is called jalsa 'cooling', but so could be the
Moongod Soma, the Raingod Parjanya and others;Agni alone is described
as jtavedas 'who knows all thingsmanifest'but so could be Varuna or the
Sungod who see all things,c) Agni is grhapati'lord of the house' (I, 45, 1)
since a fireis always lit,and daivya hoir 'heavenlypriest'(III, 7, 8 and 9);
vajrin 'he of the bolt' (VII, 49, 1) is an epithetexclusive to Indra; Visnu is
famousas urugya 'far-going'and urukrama'wide-striding'(1, 154, 3,5,6);
and so on. That Greek epic had a rich inheritanceof epithets is made
even clearer by its common lexical stock with Vedic : S ravas / sruta z
- 'fame(-d)'; S uru- z GK euru-'wide-' : S su z Gk ku- 'swift';
Gk kleos/kluto
S divya/daivya z Gk dios 'divine, celestial, bright'; S patni Gk potnia
'reverendlady'. (For additional"verbalas well as conceptualparallels,"West,
1988 : 154-6).
3. The similes in the N/E epics are not numerousbut varied as in
"His face was like thatof a long distance traveller"( Gilgamesh, MM 53)
or "To go on to the battlefieldis as good as a festival for young men"
(Erra and Ishum, MM 287) and "splendour like the stars of heaven"
(ibid, 290). The RV contains a large varietyof similes: simple ones as
in "[Rudra] kills like a terrifying
beast" (II, 33, 11); a humorous comparison
in "[Frogs] like brahmins at the overnight Soma-sacrifice, speaking
around as it were a full lake" (VII, 103, 7); lyrical and elegiac in "As a
mothercovers herson witha robe,so shroudthou,o Earth,this[dead] man"
(X, 18, 11); elliptic and pregnantin "As a cunning gambler carries off
thestakes,so the goddess [Dawn] wears away a mortal'slifespan"(1,92, 10);
and one almost Homeric - "Like the rays of the sun that make men
hasten, exhilerate, then send to sleep, so flow forthtogether [Soma's]
swifteffusions..."(IX. 69, 6). The Greeks may have retainedsimiles (and
idioms) from the PIE phase but even if parallels could be established
between Greek and Vedic (or Avestan) these could equally well be due to
independentdevelopment,since the movementsduringthe centuriesafter
the dispersal and the settlementin new environmentswould naturally
produce new usages. So in thisarea, what is of importanceis thecontinued
use of similes, not so much verbal and conceptual parallels which may be
fortuitous.

11
4. An additionalaspect of styleis thattheR V Hymnsare composed in

various fairlystrictmetres(Anustubh,Jagati,Tristubh,etc), as the Greek
epic line has its own strictmetre(the hexameterwith its iambic, trochaic,
dactylic and othervariants),whereas the Mesopotamian epic has only one
metrical feature, that of the accent usually resting on the penultimate
syllable of the line (Heidel 1965 : 15-6). Moreover,we findin the Hymns
alliteration and assonance : ... prasasr aps' s piydsam dhayati
prvasnm'he has stretchedforthin thewater;he sucksthenew milkofthem
thatfirsthave givenbirth'(II, 35, 5); tvmagne vjas tamamvprvardhanti
sstutam'Wise singers exalt you, Agni, well-praised,best giver of gain!'
(V, 13, 5); s dundudhe sajr ndrena devar drd dviyo pa sedha
atrn'O drum,along withIndra and thegods, do driveour foes to farthest
distance' (VI, 47, 29). Thus it is as thoughthe metricalline foreshadows
Greek poetryand the alliterationforeshadowsthe alliterativepoetryof the
Celtic (Irish) and of the Germanic peoples. In Greece alliterationappears
fullydeveloped in Pindar's poetry(early 5th century)but traces of it are
foundin theepics, earlylyricsand some epigraphicmaterial;thedevelopment
of all poetic devices in Greece was veryrapid.The riddleis anotherfeature
common to the Hymns and Celtic and Germanic poetry: eg tigmmko
bibhartihsta yudham, cir ugr jlsabhesajahll ... trny-kaurugy
vi cakrame ytra devso madanti//
(RV VIII, 29, 5 and 7) : 'One, bright,
fierce,withcooling remedies,carriesin his hand a sharpweapon' (5) where
the"cooling remedies" signal Rudra; 'One far-going,has made threestrides
to where the gods rejoice' (7) where "far-going"and "threestrides"signal
Visnu.
Many more details of form,styleand specificpoetic devices will be
foundinC Watkins200 1 ( 1995) passim.. Watkins's studyis invaluableforany
studentof IE comparative literature,but unfortunatelyit contains many
parallels thatare not parallels and manythatare universal(or independent
developments)and not specificallyIE inheritedforms(21-2, 25, 31, 38, 53,
99, etc,etc). Italso takesforgrantedthenotioncommonamongcomparativists
thatall traditions,Vedic, Hittite,Greek,Celtic, Slavic, etc,standon thesame
footing,even thoughtheHittiteone is heavilyinfluencedby theNE cultures
(thisis admittedon (p 52), whileCeltic and,moreso,Slavic literarytraditions,
which are of late attestation,may well carryelementsdiffusedfromGreece
and Rome ~~ a point outside the framework of our present discussion.
Nonetheless,Watkinsdoes state : "The language of India fromits earliest
documentationin theRig-vedahas raisedtheartofthephoneticfigureto what
manywould consider its highestform"(p 109).

12
Note. Earlier,in sectionII, we saw thatthelegend of theAvins in the

RV providesinformation
thatconnectstheGreekDioskouroi and Lithuanian
Dievo Snelai. Here we see thattheRV can be said to anticipatebothGreek
poetic metreand Germanicalliterativepoetry: it alone preserveswhatmost
probablywere commonoriginalelementsin thePIE but got separatedin the
otherbranches.
5 . Thereare inadditionseveralincidentsinHomerwhichhave parallels
intheVeda andcan thusbe regardedas PIE inherited
forms,despitesimilarities
in NE texts.We examine only threeof themhere.
In Iliad 15, 34-42, Hera swears the oath to the riverStyx, which is
regardedas the most severe and weightyoath by the gods (as it is also in
Hesiod's Theogony401 ff).In this instanceit has cosmic dimensionsbeing
accompanied by Heaven and Earth,and Burkertlinks it with a parallel in
Aramaic (1992 : 93-4). However,thisis also a distantrelativeof theoath to
Varuna and cosmic watersas foundin AtharvavedaXIX, 14, 8-9. As Keith
observes,"Mitra is primarilytheLord of thecontract... [and] Varuna of the
oath ... as in the case of the Styx in Greek religion(1989 : I, 103-4).
Rhapsody 21 of the Iliad is concernedwith Achilles's fithtingwith
various Trojans by theriverScamander,in it and withtheriver-deity
itself.
This too has been linkedwithriverbattlesin NE texts(B 119) buttheincident
may well derive fromthe battle scene in RV VII, 19 (and 33, 3-6) where
king Suds was hemmedin at the riverParusnby the confederationof the
10 kings and won withthe help of his hierophant,the greatsage Vaisistha,
and the intervention
of Indra (cf theintervention
of Hera and Hephaestusin
11328-77 in the Greek text). As usual the Hymns give no details but the
slaughterand the gory corpses are suggested in brief touches. (Detailed
descriptionsof battles,chariots,corpses and flowingblood will be foundin
theIndian epics, especially the second day of thewar in theBhsma Parvan,
book VI of MB.)
The thirdincidentis theflightofArtemisandApollo fromthebattlefield,
one compelled by Poseidon, the otherby Hera, while theirmotherLeto is
drivenoffby Hermes (Iliad 15, 435-503). This is reminiscentof RV IV, 28,
2 and 30, 4, whereIndra attackstheDawn and theSun crushestheirchariot
and causes themto flee. The echoes are faint,admittedly,
but Apollo is also
Phoibos whichz (Avestan bar/aand) V bhaga who is clearlyan aspect of the

13
Sungod, while Artemismay be linked withUsas as I suggestfurther

down,
sect V, l.8
An additional featurein the Iliad is the mode wherebysome heroes
reflecton things,ie "theyspeak to theirown 'great-hearted
thumos'or to their
'heart' This too Burkert(B 116) connectswithNE prototypes;but,ofcourse,
we find a similar formulationin the RV - speaking with one's self/spirit
(,tanu : VII, 86, 2).
There are several otherincidentsin Homer (and Hesiod) thatcan be
linkedwiththeVedic textsbutenoughhas beensaid on this.I am notsuggesting
thatGreek archaic texts,or even thepointsdiscussed above, have not been
infuencedbyNE traditions
,butI am claimingthat,whatevernon-IEinfluences
have affectedtheseGreeknarratives,theyhave manyaffinitieswiththeVeda
and thatthereforetheirIE heritagecannotbe denied.
IV) Divination
Divination was practisedextensivelyin ancientIndia as is obvious in
the Brhmanas. Not only the flightof birds but also the directionof cows'
movementsin theSoma sacrificeservedas omens forthesacrificer'sfortune
(SB IV, 5, 8, 11); an omen was also takento be theclarityor otherwiseof the
fire.The RV hymnsII, 42 and 43 alreadymentionbirdsof omen. In II, 42 the
kapijala (a kindof heath-cock)is begged to be auspicious ( sumagala) : it
is so, if it calls fromthe rightor south ( daksinatah) of the house, fromthe
regionof theAncestors- thenno thiefor evil-wisherwill do harm.Here we
have thebird's call fromthesouthor right,as in theGreek textmentionedin
n4 it is the bird's flightfromrightto left.VIII, 47, 15 regardsas a bad omen
8 DrBhattacharji
linksArtemis
withDurg,yetonthesamepageshe linksAthena
with
thatalldeities
aremanifestations
Durg(1988: 164).Fromtheviewpoint
oftheAbsolute,
thisconstant
identification
ofdifferent
deitieswithdifferent
deitiesobviously
doesnot
matter.
Butwhenwecompare
andcontrast
soas todiscover
such
precise
correspondences,
a method
is notsatisfactory.
toother
ManyofDrB' s references
mythologies
(especially
themother-goddess
Greek)arewrong: eg : "Demeter
oftehMinoans
[sic!]wascalled
Demeter
Demeter
seesection
[sic!]"(p 86); fortheArcadian
Erinyes
II, above.
Erinys,
thebookthere
istheunderlying
notion
oftheconflict
between
Throughout
invading
Aryans
andDravidian
natives
werenot
(pp 10,45,90, 160,163,178,etc).Itisa pitycorrections
madeforthe1988edition
hadmadeitclearthatthere
had
(bywhichtimeArchaeology
beenno invading
itis an immensely
usefulstudyof he historical
hordes).Otherwise
ofVedicmythology.
development

14
a dreamof makinga garlandor neckband.Many otherphenomenaserve as

omens- one's shadow appearingupsidedown in wateror in a mirror;meteors
and lightning;the scream of a jackal or the neighingof a horse; and so on.
However, it must be emphasized thatthe inspectionof entrails,including
hepatoscopy(B, 46-53) is not evidencedeven in late literature.
Burkertmentionsalso divinationandprophesying
byecstatic(or raging)
women (B, 80ff).This phenomenonis not at all attestedin theRgveda. The
Vedic Index gives two referencesforfemale magiciansytudhnl,I, 191, 8
and X, 118, 8, but in boththeword means 'femalefiend,demonness' : in the
firstpassage the sun is to destroythesefiendsof night;in the second, Agni
will burn themup. The same applies to its referencesto the Atharvaveda.
(Of course, there may have been some women who practisedsome kindof
witchcraft
: see V, 2, below.) Womenwerepresentinritesand inphilosophical
gatherings, as shown by the intrepid Grgi who challenges the sage
Yjavalkya in BUp III, 8, 1 ff,but,accordingto the texts,therewere no
seeresses nor priestesses.
areattestedintheearlyCelticculture.
Bothpriestessesand haruspication
Citing PomponiusMela, MacCulloch refersto 9 'priestesses'antistitson an
wieldedpowerover sea
islandoffBrittany"who Uvedin perpetualvirginity",
and wind throughspells, healed incurableillnesses,predictedthe futureto
sailors and could assume animal forms(1948 : 76). This account is clearly
exaggeratedfantasybutthereis evidence of 'druidesses' bandruior ban-filid
(Kendrick1994 : 96-97). Tacitus writesthattheCelts in Gaul consultedtheir
humanentrails(Annals XIV, 30). Among theNordic people
deitiesthrought
also, goddess Freyja had a divinationriteperformedby a seeress vplva who
fellintoa tranceor ecstasy(Davidson 198 1 : 117) . The Baitstoohad priestesses
(Puhvel 1989 : 224-5).
So theGreeksmighthave broughtsuchpracticeswiththemto theshores
of theAegean. On theotherhand,it is possible thatthiscustomspreadfrom
theNear East westwardand to the north.
V) Magic and Purification
The Greek,like otherpeoples, believed in demons,ghouls and ghosts
and thatthesecould enterand possess thehumanorganismcausingmentaland
physicalillness,even death; also thatthesecould be manipulatedby means

15
of magical rites,to guardagainstthemor directthemagainstenemies.A large

aspect of the Greek religionconsisted in securingprotectionagainst these
demonic forcesor in purification.
1. Demons and spirits of the dead. In his well-documentedstudy
(1992), Burkert discusses extensively demons attacking and causing
disease (pp 59, 65), guilt-spirits
murderers(56-7) and ghostsof the
torturing
unappeased dead possessing men (pp 65-6). All these he links with
Mesopotamian parallels, but theyare all found also in great abundance in
the Veda.
Attacks of demons causing disease are well attestedthroughoutthe
Vedic tradition.The Atharvavedaespecially is fullof such cases. Takmanfor
instance,"god of yellow hue ... son of Varuna" (AV I, 25 2-3) causes much
troublebeing thedemon of fever: he attacksin autumnand therainyseason
(V, 22, 3) like burningfire(VI, 20, 1) and is invoked in a briefspell - one
of many - to enterintoa frog(VII, 116,2). There are raksasas, demonsthat
assume variousforms,like dog or ape (VI, 37, 11) or deformedhumanshapes
(VII, 6, 13), and piscas, thatassume insectformsand the like : theyattack
a man (or an animal), enterand cause bodilyor mentaldisorder(IV, 37, 11;
V, 29, 5-9) and mayfinallybringdeath;theyalso infesthumandwellingsand
whole villages (IV, 36, 8; etc). Such fiendsare foundin action in the RV
too - I, 133, 5; VII, 104, 10; etc.
The Mesopotamianor Vedic "carnivorousdemons" do not,of course,
cover exactlythecase of theErinyeswho pursueOrestes "as beasts of prey,
'dogs' who want to suck his blood" (B, 59). The Veda, however,
provides such canine figures.First there are Rudra's dogs that howl and
swallow unchewed theirprey (AV XI, 2, 30). Then thereis Sarama which
pursues and finds the thieves of cattle and then Indra recovers the
animals (RV X, 108); Sarama is not expresslysaid to be a bitch in the RV
but is so taken by subsequent texts (Nirukta XI, 25). However, the Veda
has two more dogs, those of Yama, the guardian of the dead in heaven
(RV X, 14, 10-12). Descendants of Saram (with the epithetSrameya)
they are called abala (? z Gk Kerberos) 'brindled' and Syma 'black',
and guard the path of the dead to Yama's abode. "It is possible that
they were conceived as going among men, and taking to the abode of
death [in heaven] the souls of the dead" (Keith 1989 : II, 406). Be it
noted thatsome thinkSaram z Hermes (so SGD, but KEWA III, 442-3

16
thinksit improbable).Sarama is Indra's and the gods' (in NiruktaXI, 25)

messenger, as Hermes is of Zeus; she finds the stolen catties while
Hermes does the stealing of cattle; her offspringSrameya guide on
the path of the dead, as later Hermes is psuchopompos,escort of the dead
to Hades. (Here Burkertsees only the influenceof NE gods' messengers
in 1977 : 244).
The guilt of murder,which attaches to Achilles in Aithiopisand to
Orestes (B, 56), is fully recognisedin the Veda as well; even the slaying
(by Indra) of a demon like Vrtrabringsthe taintof bloodshed. The killer
becomes an outcastto be avoided, as is Orestes(B, 60), and is hauntedby his
deed ( Pacavima Brhmana XIX, 4, 10). The Stra texts, which come
somewhatlater,have the murderercarrythe skll of his victimand wear the
skinof an ass or dog, thusat once lesseninghis guiltby thisdeclarationof his
crimeand warningothersto stayaway fromtheuncleanperson(pastamba
Dharmastra I, 9, 24, 11-13).
Then thereare the ghostsof unappeased dead causing "all mannerof
illnesses on the living" and here Burkertcites numerouscases fromGreek
texts(pp 65-5). Possession by ghostsis, of course,commonin post-Vediclate
textsbutitis unknownas such in theearlytexts.However,some spiritsof the
souls perhapsundergoingsome punishment,
dead, ghoststhatare guilt-ridden
do wanderamong and pestertheliving( RV X, 15,2; A V XII, 3, 9). In Vedic
texts,possession itselfis an action of demons and ghouls only, as we saw
earlierin this section.
2. Protection. Many and various means forprotectionagainst these
demonicforces(and forpurification)were used by theGreeks : spells,votive
amuletsof all kinds,even effigies,today's"voodoodoll" (B, 60-1,
offerings,
65-7, 82, 87, 100). It should notcome as a surprisethatall such means,with
some variants here and there, are amply presented in the Veda. The
Atharvaveda(and muchof theSutraliterature)abounds in variousprotective,
means: spells (V, 3 1, 1; etc; in 3a, below,
expulsive,offensiveand retaliatory
theverses fromRV are anothersuch incantation);amuletsof all kinds(1, 16,
ofall kindswhich
3 ; etc,etc); use ofplants(I V ,7 ; VIII ,7 ,3 ; etc) and ointments
are sometimesgunuinemedicinalremedies(IV, 9,8; etc); carryingroundof
fire(VIII, 64, 1); and ofcoursewaterforall occasions. Anotherfeaturein these
practicesis the makingof effigies(our of wax and othersubstances)which
are melted,buriedor piercedthrough.These are made by womenalso and one

17
descriptionis in AVX, 1, 1-3,whichalso has incantationsforprotection,they

areplaced in wells or cemetaries(V, 3 1,8). More detailsare foundin theStra
texts(Keith, II, 389).
Burkert(pp 53-5) mentionstwotypesof foundationdepositsduringthe
constructionor consecrationof a house, templeor otherbuilding,bothin the
Near East and Greece: one typeconsistsof precious metals and / or stones,
guardianfiguresand tabletswith inscriptions;the otherconsists of animal
sacrificeand libations.The firsttype,essentiallyan extensionof thesecond,
is unknownin the Vedic tradition.A beautifulHymn(AV III, 12) describes
theconsecrationof a house invokinggods Savitr'Sun', Vyu 'Wind', Indra,
Brhaspati'Lord ofprayer,priestofgods', theMaruts'gods ofrainand medicine'
(also warriorcomradesof Indra),and Bhaga 'Bestowerof fortune.'Offerings
are made of milk,corn,jars of purifiedbutterand curdledmilk,honey and
water.In latertexts,theSutra-literature,
a black cow or a whitegoat maybe
offeredand in this Keith findsa similarityto "the black cock killed at the
foundationof a new house in Greece" (II, 363).
3 . Purification. Of all purificatory
practicesinarchaicGreece, herewe
shall concentrateon thecatharcticritualwhichreleases murderersfromtheir
blood guilt,althoughothercatharcticpracticesare employedin circumstances
of plague or otherformsof pollution.
ritualwherebya murderer
likeOrestesgetscleansed
a) The purification
consists in having the blood of a slaughteredpigletrunningdown
and overtheculpritand thentheblood beingwashedoffwithrunning
water(B 56-7). This procedure is unknownin the Vedic tradition.
Such a blood-bath is never used and the animals sacrificed in
ritualsare horse,ox, sheep and moreusuallygoat (Keith,1,279 and
n 5). Instead of blood, the Vedic people invariablyused running
waterwhich removedall sin such as lying,cursingand any crime
of violence : "O Waters (pah ), carryoff whateversin is in me,
whatevercrimeI have done, whatevercurse or lie" ( RV I, 23, 22,
repeatedin X, 9,7).
mustbe carefullydisposed
b) "Anythingleftoverfromthepurification
of", writesBurkert,as muchin Greece as in Mesopotamia (B, 62).
The same is truein the Vedic tradition: all remnantsof the rite
mustbe burntthoroughly
and whateveris leftmustbe buriedsecretly

18

(SB III, 8, 5, 9ff); then all get washed and the last vestiges of
uncleannesfloataway withthe runningwater.
is the"young
c) AnotherMesopotamian/Greekparallelforpurification
[man] holding...a tamarisk, rod of purification"and "Branchos
the Apollonian seer" frees the Milesians of the plague by
sprinklingthem "with laurel branches" while they "spoke the
responses" (B, 61). In the Veda we find the use of the plant
Apmrga 'which drives away' (AV IV, 7; etc) as well as of other
plants (AV VIII, 3, 7, 3ff;etc) against diseases, evil dreams and
the like. Water and incantationsare used simultaneously.
d) Of theotherdetailsmentionedby Burkertin relationto purification,
of interestis Apollo nad Karmanor,thepriestwho purifiedthegod
on Crete afterhe had slain the Delphic dragon (B, 63).
at
Apollo's adventureand slayingof Typhaon's dragon-fostermother
Delohi (Hymnto Apollo 349-86) is reallya repeatof Zeus's slayingof Earth's
Typhoeus(Theog 820-68). The nameApollonis ofuncertain
dragon-offspring
derivationbut his epithetPhoibos sounds cognate with(Avestan baya and)
S Bhaga 'Bestower of fortune',a Vedic deitythatis clearly an aspet of the
'
Sungod the S/GK correspondences bh/ph and gib are quite normal.
witha solar aspect also, who
However itis IndratheThunder-and-Storm-god,
kills the demon-dragonVrtra;Indra is also the 'bolt-bearer'vajrin and so
related to Zeus; mentionis also made of Vrtra's dragon-mother
(R VI, 32, 9).
The Vedic and thetwo Greekmythsare obviouslyone and thesame in origin.
Connected withthis is the Teutonic mythof Thor, who wields the hammer
Mjolnir and slays the serpentMidgard thatencircles the world (as Vrtra
encompasses sayna the Waters),but is himselfkilled in the process
(Edda, 46-7 and 54).
The Apollo mythhas the elementof water with the presence of the
streamTelphusa, as Midgardlives in theocean and Vrtracovers and wallows
in the Waters; thusit is closer to the Vedic tale thanthe Zeus mythologem.
Moreover,Indra, like Apollo, feels guilt afterslaying Vrtraand rushes off
distraught(RV I, 32) - whereas Zeus has no blood-guilt.Indra's guilt and
expiationis mentionedin latertextsand is developed withepic exuberance
in theMahbhrata (V, 13 and XII, 272) whereIndragets purifiedwiththe
performanceof a horse-sacrifice.(For additionalApollo-Indraaffinitiessee
VI, 2, below.)

Kazanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda
19
Burkertfeels thatthe name Karmanor"does not seem to be Greek"

(B, 63). We are not told who officiatedin Indra's horse-sacrifice.Karmanor
sounds like S ramana 'a wanderingascetic' or, moreprobably,like -arman
'refuge,delight', which oftenformsthe last element of a brahmin'sname
(eg thecommonVisnu-arman)-theS/Gkcorrespondence/kbeingfrequent,
.
as in rad-lkrad-and ruta/klutoVI) Three deities :
1. Artemis: Most of our information
about Artemiscomes fromlater
sources. The archaic textsand iconographygive littleinformation.
Earlier (in III, 5) I suggested this goddess may be connected
with the Dawngoddess Usas afterciting the incident where she and her
brotherflee fromthe battlefield.In the two Homeric Hymns to Artemis
(Loeb 434-5 and 452-3), Artemishas certaintraitsthatcannot be directly
related to Usas, eg hunting with hounds and "destroying the race of
wild beasts." Other featurescan be related to Usas, even Artemis's chief
aspect as Moongoddess can be envisaged to derive from Dawn, elder
sisterof Night; then she delights in arrow-shooting,she causes an outcry
among beasts and tremblingon land and sea, and loves music, singingand
dancing.
In RV VI, 64, 3 Usas is likenedto a heroicarcher/throwerst and a
swiftwarriorvlh againstfoes and darkness.She is nota huntressat all, but
sets birdsand beasts astirearly (1, 49, 3; IV, 51, 5), while in theMycenaean
documents "Artemis ( atimite [Dat.], atemito [Gen.]) was not obviously
associated with animals" (Dietrich 1974 : 172, n 218). She shares some
features with the Artemis of the two Homeric Hymns : sister of Bhaga
(z Gk Phoibos) in RV I, 123, 5, golden-hued,she has a glitteringchariot
(III, 61 , 2), is likened to a dancer (I, 92, 4) and sings (I, 113,4; 123, 5). In
RV IV, 28, 2 and 30, 4 Indra attackstheDawn and theSun and crushestheir
chariot and they flee : this is faintlyreminiscentof Apollo and Artemis
fleeing fromthe battlefield,one compelled by Poseidon and the otherby
Hera, and withthemLeto compelled by Hermes(//,15, 435-503). One might
even linkthename ArtemiswiththeMitannitheophoricnamesArtatamaand
Artamanya(Puhvel 1989 : 99) and manyIraniannames and nounswithartaas theirfirstelement.This initialcomponentarta- is connectedwithVedic rta
'cosmic order',which Usas is repeatedlysaid to follow. (Cf V rj- z Gk are-

20
es and V rs - z Gk ars-n; the-r-was lost in Men Atimi-?) Admittedly,

these
are verytenuousthreads.
2. Apollo. In section IV, 3 above, we noted certain close parallels
betweenApollo and Indra.Since thetwonames are so verydifferent
it would
be difficultto identifyhimwithIndra.On theotherhand,Zeus bears a name
thatis cognate withV dyaus but, unlikeDyaus, he is a veryactive king of
heaven sharingcommonfeatureswithVarunaand Indra.It is therefore
worth
that
has
a
few
more
affinities
with
Indra.9
noting
Apollo
Apollo's birthintheHomericHymnTo Apollo (11115-9) resemblesvery
muchtheaccount(s) of Indra's birthin theRgveda. The presenceofEileithyia,
goddess of child birth,in theGreekhymnmaybe of NE derivation,since this
motifis notpresentin theRgveda' but itcould also come fromGreek poetic
inspirationsince a midwife'spresenceat a difficultbirthis not an unnatural
deliverance:
phenomenonanywhere.Like Leto, Indra's motherhad a difficult
she carriedthechild in herwomb for1000 monthsand he came out fromher
side ( RV IV, 18, 1-4). Then, as soon as born, Indra illuminatedthe sky
(III, 44, 4) as Apollo leapt into thelight(119). Indradisplayedhis warrior's
prowess at once (III, 51,8), drankthe divine Soma, put on his garmentand
filledwithhis presence the two world-halves(IV, 18, 3-5) - as Apollo got
washed and clothed, was given nectarand ambrosia,thenburstout of his
golden bands,asked fora bow and lyreand strodeforth,and thewhole island
of Delos blossomed withgold (120-35). The amazementof thegoddesses at
Apollo's swiftemergenceand development(11119, 135) and thegods' alarm
as he enters into the palace of Zeus (11 2-3) are paralleled by the Vedic
descriptionthatHeaven and Earthtrembledin awe at Indra's coming forth
(1,61,14). The detailsare notabsolutelyexactequivalents,butthenagain they
are not foundin thedescriptionof any otherdeityin Greek,Near Easternor
Vedic texts.
3. Aphrodite. Not only modern scholars, but ancient writerslike
Herodotus(1, 105 & 13 1) see theoriginof thisGreekgoddess in theNear East
and (modern scholars) connect her with Sumerian Inanna, who became
connects
9 DrBhattacharji
ApollowithVivasvat
(p 243)andKrsna(p 303)andGkPython
with
S Ptan(p304)whereas
shehadlinked
GkPuthon
with
(= Python)
Budhnya
(p 150)!
Shedoesatleastmention
theparallel
ofApolloandIndra
thedragon-serpent
briefly
slaying
(P 259).

21
AkkadianIshtar,Semitic Ashtorithand Astarte.However, thereare enough

indicationsto show thatin partAphroditederivesfroma goddess oftheVedic
tradition.Firstlet us examine her parentage.
a) Most of us thinkof Aphroditeas bornout of sea-foamwhile some
mayknowthatshe rose fromOuranos's severedgenitalsthatfloated
on the seafoam (Hesiod's Theogony,188 ff).However, in Iliad 5,
369ff,Aphrodite'smotheris Dione who lives on Olympus,and her
fatherZeus; in 20, 105, Apollo tells Aeneas, son of Trojan king
Priam,thathis motherAphroditeis thedaughterofZeus. This means
thatthe goddess had a normalbirthborn of a female,divine or
mortal,withwhom Zeus had coupled - and not out of Ouranos's
bloodied genitals in the seafoam long before Zeus came into
existence. Dione does not appear anywhereelse in Homer's epics,
butshe is attestedin thecultof Zeus at Dodona. (Kernyi 1982 : 68;
Burkert1992 : 98 and n 8), while the Mycenaeans had goddess
Dione is mentionedby
Diwija, who may be related.Furthermore,
name alone in a long list of deities (Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena,
Leto, et al) in Theogony17 ,and again in 353 as one of thekeaninai
'Ocean's daughter's- but it is not clear if it is one and the same
Dione. She is also mentionedas one ofthe"best" goddesses present
at Apollo's birthtogetherwithRhea and othersexcept Hera ( Hymn
to Apollo, 92-5). Now, in thecontextof all thesehighdeities,Dione
could hardlybe thehumblerOceanid, unless she bore Aphroditeto
Zeus. So eitherthereare two Diones, one on Olympusand theother
in ocean, or theOceanid, havingbornAphroditeto Zeus, was, like
Leto, takenup to Olympusby him- thoughHomer and Hesiod say
nothingabout this!
Be that as it may, Hesiod gives a totally differentaccount for
Aphrodite'sbirth.Clearly we have two differentversions of the
goddess's origin.
Here theRgveda is of no help. ApartfromDawngoddess Usas and
RivergoddessSarasvati who are endowed withdistinctfeatures,no
other female deity appears in the hymns having individual
personality.Skygod Dyaus, who in the contextof our discussion
may be regardedas the equivalentof Zeus, has no consortand is
invariablymentionedwithMothergoddessEarth,Prthivlor Ksam
or Bhiimi; Indra has a consortIndrni and Varuna Varunnl and

22

Rudra (in theStras) Rudrn.We findthe (secondary,marginal)
cognates diva/divan'sky, day' and divya 'divine' but no *divn.
Keith wrote, "the pale figure of Dione, beside Zeus, suggests
that the process which produced Indrnl and her fellows was
already workingin the Indo-Europeanperiod" (I, 61). So Dione
looks like an inheritedformbut it is most probablya much later
Greek production.Whetherit was coined by the poet(s) of the
Iliad, as Burkertseems to think(B 97-8), or is of a much earlier
date, it is not easy to decide on the available evidence, as forthe
Mycenaean Diwija, thisclearlyz S divija 'skyborn'or divya'divine,
celestial'.
b) According to Burkert,the name Aphrodite may be a "Greek
form of Western Semitic Ashtorith,who in turn is identical
with Ishtar" (B, 98 and n 7). However, if we forgetabout the
Aphrodite-Adonisaffairwhich is parallel to Ishtarand Dumuzi /
Tammuz and is of late report,thereis verylittleleftto connectthe
two goddessess' characterand deeds. Here, I ignoretheevidence of
(Farnell,1896 : II, 618), ofHermaphrodites,
Paphos and architecture
ornaments,votiveofferings,
figurinesand the like, manyof which
are doubtful,as presentedby Burkert(1977 : 238ff) : all these
,repulsivefigurinesofa nakedgoddess witha birdface)
(particularly
have littlebearingon thecharacterwe see intheIliad, Theogonyand
the Homeric Hymns ( Odyssey 8 being a differentmatter: see c
below).
To being with,we face serious difficultieswith the derivationof
Aphrodite'sname, whicheverway we look at it. Be thatas it may,
thename does reflectthemythologemof herbirthout of sea-foam
in Theogony178-97. Even if we accept a putativederivationfrom
theNear East, and Aphrodite'sbirthfromZeus-Dione (be itanother
borrowing),we stillhave to account forher rise fromsea-foam in
Hesiod. Ishtarhas to all appearancesa normalbirthfromherparents
Anu and Antu.In addition,unlikeAphrodite,Ishtaris passionateand
explosive wherevershe appears ( Gilgamesh VI; The Descent of
Ishtar...; Erra and Ishun: MM 77, 80-1; 155 ff;305). Goddess of
sexual love, stormsand war, she had "countless lovers" and an
"ability to engage in incessantsexual intercoursewith numerous
menwithouttiring... Inanna [Sumeriangoddess = AkkadianIshtar]

23
was known for her ambition and cruelty" (Dunstan 1998 : 59;
Penglase 1994 : 19). Aphroditehas no such traits.It is claimed that
she may be armedand can bestow victory(Burkert,1977 : 238 n 8)
but we see nothingof this in Homer and Hesiod. Her coercion of
Helen to go to Paris afterhis defeatby Menelaus (II 3, 380-420) is
of littlesignificancewhen set beside Inanna : "You are knownby
ofrebel-lands,/... byyourmassacring(theirpeople),
yourdestruction
/ ... by yourdevouring(their)dead like a dog" wroteEnheduanna
in herhymnto thatgoddess (Pritchard,1975 : 131). No, Aphrodite
is not a furchtbare Gttin,a terriblegoddess, as Burkertwrites
(1977 : 240; and nothingmoreis added by Penglase in 1994 : 162ff).
c) The archaic texts present Aphrodite in two differentversions.
In the Iliad (5, 31 Iff) Aphroditehas had her son Aeneas with
Anchises (underZeus's influence,in thelong Hymnto Aphrodite
)
and Hephaistos is married to Charis, who is well disposed
towardsThetis,motherof Achilles (II 18, 368-409), and therefore
cannot be Aphrodite under another name, as Kernyi suggests
(1982 : 72), since the latter is pro-Trojan. In Theogony 945
HephaistosmarriesAglaea, theyoungestCharis(thusagreeingwith
Iliad), while Aphroditebears to Ares two sons, Phobos 'fear' and
Deimos 'terror'and a daughter,Harmony(Theog 933 ff).However,
in Odyssey8, 276-381 ,she is marriedtoHephaistosbutgives herself
to Ares and, in a scene thatis bothburlesqueand softpornography,
is caught in the act. (Clearly, the Homer who wrote the Odyssey
scene is eithera different
or a veryforgetful
one.) This incidentis
probably the beginningof her reputedpromiscuityand the later
affairswithHermes,Dionysos and Adonis (GM 1,68ff),in contrast
to thetimid,conciliatoryand ratherchastefigurein theothertexts.
Althoughshe is thegoddess ofbeautyand herfunctionis to stirlove
and passion in gods and in mortalsbringingaboutunion(Theog 203;
in II 5, 429 'marrigage'rga gmoio) by usinghermagic girdle,she
does this not forherselfbut forothers.She is docile and not very
acute : Hera dupes her veryeasily in borrowingher magic girdle
(II 14, 170-214). The sexualitythatBurkertascribes to her is also
not borne out by the veryearly texts(except Odyssey8).
It may be thatwe have two different
aspects of one goddess, butthe
details of herbirthand her marriagesuggesttwo (or more) distinct

24

figures.The two versionscontainconfusedelementsand overlap :
theyfurnishthe originof the later Ourania 'Celestial' Aphrodite
(Herodotos I, 105; Plato Symposium180D) as distinctfromthe
Pandemos 'Vulgar' (Burkert1977 : 242 and n 34).
withan Indie goddess. This
d) In origin,Aphroditehas some affinities
is not Usas, the Dawn, as many scholars have speculated. D. D.
Boedeker argued forAphrodite'sorigin in the PIE (really Vedic)
Dawn-goddess; seekingsupportin philology,she examinedearlier
attemptsat thederivationofthename and finallysettledforS abhra
'rain,cloud, sky' and thePIE * fe-'shine'(1974 : 7-12). Following
a different
route,P Friedrichalso arrivedat thePIE Dawn-goddess
(1978 : 22-53) and mentionedbrieflyBeodeker's work(p 44). Such
an origin is not impossible,of course; the Greeks formedDione
> dyaus 'sky' etc : see a, above) as theRomans formed
(z S V/i'v
Venus(z S Vvm'love, gain' > vanas 'beauty,desire'). The Greeks
could have formedthename 'Aphroditefroma compound,though
notabhra and *dei butperhapsabhra- and -udita(*abhroditis not
attestedin Sanskrit)in the sense 'risen fromsky-water'(or even
abhra- and - aditi'theboundlessmothergoddess
ofskywaters' which
* abhrditialso is not attested).Nonetheless,it is
verydifficultto
see whjitAphroditehas in commonwithUsas. Nor is it necessary
to speculate about innovationand developmentof theUsas figure,
beause thereis another Vedic goddess thathas several affinities
- and itcould be
withAphrodite. This is ri/Laksm
argued,ofcourse,
thatthisgoddess was in some earlierphase an aspect of Usas, who
is daughterof Dyaus (RV 1, 48, 1).
In the Vedic traditionwe findgoddess Sri 'goddess of beautyand
abundance'. (The name appearsperhapsin Gk Kr/Kar'goddess of
doom' and Roman C er-s 'goddess of agriculture'.)In theRgveda
and Atharvavedathenoun means simply'beauty,splendour,glory,
prosperity'and thelike, butit may have a tingeof divinityin RV I,
85, 2 and AV VI, 73, 1. As a fullyrecognizedgoddess she appears
in atapatha Brhman XI, 4, 3 and in thelatericonographyshe is
often seated on a lotus, thus being connected with the (later)
appellationPadm 'She of the lotus'; of course the lotus floatson
waters.We do not hear of her originuntilthe epics where she is
identifiedwithLaksm as consortof Visnu. Here rfis said to rise

25
fromthe(butter-)foamofthe(milk-)ocean whengods and demons

'
cooperatedto obtainamrta'theelixirofimmortality(MB I, 16; with
variantsRa 1,45) : as theocean was churnedand churned,
important
firstrose out of it the Sun, thenthe Moon and thenri clothed in
white. (Other wonders rose also and eventuallyDhanvantari,the
gods' physician,holding a gourd with amrta). Strangely,West is
unaware of thismyth(1997 : 4-5, where theMB is discussed, and
pp 222-6, where a Maori mythis mentionedon the separationof
earthand sky).10
Apart from her birth,r has another affinitywith the Greek
goddess in thatas Laksmi she is consortof Visnu. As we saw, in
TheogonyAphroditeis associated withAres, theWargod. Now, in
action Ares is a ratherpitiable god of war. Zeus, his father,is
utterlycontemptuous of him (// 5, 765-6), Athena invariably
defeats him (// 21, 40), he gets wounded by Diomedes, with
Athena's help (II 5, 858), and in fact he never wins a fight
(GM I, 73-4); nonetheless,he is the Wargod and Aphroditebears
his children. Not of major importance in the RV, Visnu 'the
active, expansive one' displays a martial streak in aiding Indra
slay Vrtraand himselfslayinga mightyboar (1,61,7; VIII, 77, 10).
He becomes a highgod in theBrhmanas(B XIV, 1, 1, Iff;AB V,
1, Iff) and in the epics he is incarnated in the warrior caste
of ksatriyas,as the mightyand wise Krsna of the Mahbhrata
and as prince Rma, the incomparablewarriorof the Rmyana.
Visnu's consort Laksmi is the goddess of Good Fortune and as
Sita, Rama's wife,she bears two sons (but of opposite characterto
Ares's sons).
The noun laksmiinitiallymeans 'sign' (RV, X, 71 , 2) as also given
in Nirukta IV, 10. It acquires the meaning 'good sign' puny
laksmi in the Atharvaveda as also 'prosperity,good fortune',
and in the later textsbecomes the name of the goddess of Good
io Thecritical
ed oftheMahbhrata
(Poona1970,BORI,Bk,I, ch 16) andJAB van
Buitenen
inhistranslation
vol1,pp74-442n30)acceptri's
( 1980,Univofchicago
Press,
riseas belonging
totehmainstream
of
the
story
epic.
Theemergence
ofId from
themilk-offerings
poured
{B 1,8,
byManuontothewaters
tori/LaksmI
thisis notcertain.
1-11)maybe related
also,though

26

Fortune.(In fact both Sri and Laksmi are juxtaposed as "wives"
of PrimordialMan, Purusa, in the (White) Yajur-Veda XXXI, 22.)
In this there is an additional affinitywith Aphrodite, who
was at Athens regarded as the eldest of the three Fates
(Pausanias, I, 19, 2; X, 24, 4; GM I, 72). Kernyi mentions
also Aphrodite'srelated aspect as Genetullis 'caring over childbirth' which places her close to Hekte, another Fate-figure
(1982 ; 67).
Aphrodite'sgirdleprovidesyetanotherlink.In theVedic tradition,
women as compared withmen are always the inferiorpartof the
sacrificialriteand impureand mustwear a girdle(SB I, 3, 1, 12).
It is notimpossiblethatthisgirdlebecame in courseof timea means
forincitingpassion.
e) In conclusion,we have at least two figuresof Aphrodite,one with
a birthfromZeus-Dione and theotherfromthegenitalsof Ouranos
in the sea-foam.The two have contradictory
aspects and don't fuse
We findcontradiction
notonlybetweenthefigurein
satisfactorily.
theHomericepics and thatin Hesiod's Theogony,butalso between
thefigurein theIliad and that in theOdyssey.Penglase writesthat
"The birthmyth[of Aphrodite]has some featureswhich parallel
those foundwithIshtarin her myths"(p 165); but aftergiving an
account of Aphrodite'sbirthin Theogony,he states"this mythhas
no parallels of narrativeto those mythswhich survive about the
Mesopotamian goddess" (p 166). The phrase "which survive"
suggeststhattherehave been a mythof Ishtarrisingfromthe sea.
The suggestionis legitimate,
ofcourse,butitignoresthefundamental
and irreconcilabledichotomyin Aphrodite,if taken as a unitary
figure.
The two figuresor the two birthsof the Greek goddess suggest
two differentsources. The foam-borndeity seems to be of IE
descent while the otherone, the figurein the Odyssey and later
myths, comes from the Near East. This view alone would
accommodate all the relevant elements in the myths and
cult of Aphroditeand thetestimoniesof Herodotus(1, 105; 1, 131)
and of Pausanias (I, 14, 7) about her origin in the Near
East.

27
VII) Miscellany
In this section I examine some otherelementsin the Greek culture.
1) Some Historical considerations
A. D. Napier,H. Zimmer,think
Accordingto S. Kak (2000) art-experts
that the Gorgo representationsin Greece owe much to Indie art. This is
plausible,butsuchiconographywould notbe partoftheIE heritagetheGreeks
broughtwiththem.Any similaritieswould be due to contactsbetweenGreeks
and Indians afterthe 9th centuryand mainlydue to the presence of Indians
in thePersianarmiesthatinvadedGreekareas inthe6th(in Ionia in theeastern
Aegean) and early 5thcenturies(mainlandGreece). From thetimeof theIE
dispersalin the4th or 3rd millennium,no contactof greatsignificancecould
have takenplace betweenGreeksand IndiansbeforeAlexander'spenetration
intoBactria.Therearereportsbywritersofthe Hellenisticand Romanperiods
thatGreeks had visited India in much earliertimes; Plutarchin his Lives...
reportsthatlegendaryLycurgusof SpartavisitedIndia (.Lycurgus, 6). In fact
Plutarch,Diodoros Sikeliotes(knownas Siculu) andDiogenes Laertiusmanage
between themto send just about everyGreek sage into the East (including
Pythagorasand Democritus,but notablynot Socrates and Aristotle).Even if
suchjourneysdid takeplace, thesesages are morelikelyto have broughtback
withthemphilosophicalor scientificideas ratherthaniconographie.It is much
morelikely that iconographiematerialwould have reachedGreece through
conscriptedsoldiers in the Persian armies or throughmerchants.11
between
GreeceandIndiafrom
contacts
mostancient
toRoman
times
havebeen
11 Possible
examined
extensively
byJW Sedla(1980).Forthisparticular
periodseep 79.
: 'According
ProfS Kakwrites
toLomperis
thePythagoreans
and
(1984),"Plato,throught
wassubjected
alsotheOrphies,
totheinfluence
ofHindu
but
he
not
have
been
thought may
India"' (Kak,2000). I havenotreadLomperis;
awareofitascoming
from
hisviewsounds
ofearlyGreeksources,
itis possible.
but,ofcourse,
conjectural,
giventheinsufficiency
Laterinthesamearticle
KakcitesZimmer
(1946)andNapier
(1986,1992)whoarguethat
theGorgonandtheCyclopshaveelements
fromIndia;thistoohas some
deriving
HealsocitesKrishna
thenameofthemycenaean
(1980)whothinks
plausibility.
cityTiryns
"is thesameas thatofthemostpowerful
Indiansea-faring
peoplecalledtheTirayans."
Thissoundsutterly
withstemtirun, genitive
improbable.
Tiryna'(tirun-th-os
singular,
cannot
a
be
or
derivative
'Ti
an'
:
Greek
with,
of, ray
th-)
[m]
philologically cognate
upsilon
cannot
Sanskrti
to,orderivefrom,
[aya](cfGreekki'move,go',keanos
correspond
'ocean'andtreis'three'andSanskrit
as wherethe
cognatescay-a.ayanaandtray
is strictly
ofpalatalphonemes);
wewouldhavetoaccount
forthe
then,
correspondence
on thenextpage)
(Continued

28
Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 ;
thereis very littleevidence available forthis subject;

Unfortunately
all
mustentail much conjecture.In any case, the
discussions
consequently
here
is
concerned
post-Archaic.
period
2. Lamia and Gorgon.
Burkertis mostprobablycorrectin seeingborrowingsof iconographie
of the Lamia and Gorgo monstersfromNE sources (1992 :
representations
.
The
he presents( 1992; also 1987 : 30-33) are convincing
82-7)
reproductions
and are matchedby similarreproductionsin Dalley (1998 : 89, 90, 99, 102).
Even archaeologistswho minimizethetotaleffectofNE influenceson archaic
Greek artsand craftsaccept thattherewas imitationof and inspirationfrom
NE forms(eg Starr 1962 : 213 ff;Snodgrass 1971 : 417 & 1980 : 64-7).
However, we mustrememberthatoftenartistsand craftsmenin one
cultureimitateformsof anotherculturein orderto improvetheirown and
express bettertheirown ideas. These demonesses / monstersthatsnatchup
children(mainlyLamia) and eat up people may have belonged to theIE side
of theGreek culture.Such monstersare foundin mostcultures.Thus in RV
IV, 18, 8 occurs - this once only! - kusav: according to Sayana she is
demonness 'Evil-birth'who swallows children;according to some modern
scholarsshe is a riverwho swallowed Indra(O' Flaherty198 1 : 142 and n 14).
Nothingmore is knownabout kusav. However theDharmasstraStrasdo
referto demons snatchingchildren(eg Praskara's GrhyastraI, 12, 4).
Here a small parenthesismay not be out of place. In the Rigvedic
is downtoa minimumand so is theriomorphism
mythology
anthropomorphism
in
the
case of demons) : humanor animalfeatures
but
not
exclusively
(mainly
(Continued
fromp. 27)
thismost
event
tookplace,wewould
Ifweassumed
that
consonant
theta.
unlikely
linguistic
before
the17thcentBCE somehow
havetosuppsethenthata bandofIndianseafarers
inthePeloponnese,
tosailintotheMediterranean,
gotintothegulfofArgolis
managed
established
a cityormanaged
togivetheir
travelled
inlandandsomehow
landedthere,
at
that
or
the
while
ownnameto an existing
time, afterwards, advancing
community,
ThisI find
owncitiesat Mycenae,
Greeksweresetting
Pylosandelsewhere.
uptheir
incredible.
: Krishna
N 1980.TheArtandIconography
Kak'sbibliography
Relevant
titlesfrom
of
on GreekPhilosophy,
T 1984,Hinduinfluence
, Bombay;Lomperis
Vishnu-Narayana
andParadox.
AD 1986,Masks,
1992,Foreign
Calcutta;
Transformation
Berkeley,
Napier
Zimmer
H 1946Myths
ArtandSymbolic
Bodies: Performance,
Anthropology,
Berkeley;
Princeton.
inIndianArtandCivilization,
andSymbols

29
are minimaland, of course, at thattime(whether4th millenniumor c 1000)

Thus scholarsat different
therewere no iconographierepresentations.
periods
interpretedthese deities and demons as forces of nature (Max Mller,
Oldenberg,Hillebrandt,Macdonell), as psychosomaticor spiritualforceswith
and
man (Shri Aurobindo,1982; Frawley 1982 & 1992), as forcesof fertility
sexuality (O'Flaherty in almost all her publications), as forces in
theRV
ThermonuclearPhysics(Rajaram 1999) and so on. How one interprets
hymnsobviously depends on what circulatesin one's mindat the time.
3. The Greek legend of the Seven against Thebes (in the drama of
Aeschylus,c 467, whichmaycarryechoes ofeventsfromtheMycenaean era)
has certainsimilaritieswith(and manydifferencesfrom)theNE mythof the
terribleSeven (Sebbiti) who ridewithWargodErra{MM 282ff).Burkertthinks
theAssyrianlegendmayhave influencedtheGreekone even ifthelatterwere
originallyan historicalevent(B 107-114). In supportof theNE influenceare
adduced the Seven sages and the seven-headedHydra (B, 114). Althoughit
is notstatedexplicity,itmaybe thattheseevil Seven are an aspectof theSeven
Sages or original Craftsmen{MM 291, 294) who, aftercivilizing mankind
before the flood, were banished back to the Underworld of Apsu
{MM 327-8).
In theVeda thereis no (allusion to a) legendofSeven evil-onesattacking
theworldor a city- only the 10 againstkingSuds (III, 5, above). The only
approximatemotifis Indra's destructionof Seven Fortsof a tribe'of insulting
speech' mrdhravc,whom Keith calls (1989 : 234) Dsas, a common name
fordemons, in RV I, 174, 2; but no more is said of this. There are many
allusions to the Seven Sages sapta-rsi (eg RV IV, 42, 8) and to monstrous
Visvarpa who is called 'three-headed'and 'seven-rave (II, 11,19; X, 8,8).
In later textsthereappear seven-headed monstersalso. However, the most
likelycandidates,if at all, are the Seven Marutsof RV VIII, 28, 5, who are
sometimespresentedas 7 bands of 7 {RV V, 52, 17), and are companionsof
Indra.
The Vedic threadsare admittedlyveryslenderbut no more thanthe
Akkadian ones. Many strangetransmutations
of motifsare observed in oral
transmission.Thus Indra,the mightydivine hero of theIndoAryansis but a
minorfiendin the IranianAvesta; he appears as Inar(a) in Hittitemythsand
as goddess Andara(or Andrasta)amongtheCelts of Gaul and Britain.Again,
Parjanya, a Vedic minorgod of rain, is Perenu (and variants) in Slavonic

30
a greatWargod (who, like Indra,killed a serpentto release cattle

mythology,
and waters)or theLord of theuniverse;in theearlyBaltic textshe is a mere
namePerkunas in a listof gods and latertheoracularThundergod;amongthe
Norsemenhe appears as male Fjorgynand femaleFjorgynn,motherof Thor.
Similarlyazugallatu, the titleof the Babylonian goddess of healing , Gula,
becomes in Greek masculineasgelatas and perhapsAsklpios(B 75-9). So it
would not be all thatincredibleif the seven godly Maruts appear in Greece
as seven evil attackersand the seven fortsas theseven-gatedfortof Thebes
- possibly withNE influences.
4. Plato devotesthewhole ofhis Republicto show thata societywould
reallyprosperonly if it were governedby wise men or philosopherkings;he
reiteratesthisthemein his Laws 71OB. This themegoes back to archaictexts
wherewe read thattheland and thepeople thriveunderthegood government
of a faultlessking ( Odyssey 19, 106-13) or thatpeace and happinessprevail
wherejust men rule(Hesiod's Worksand Days 216-37). This view sounds so
superblyreasonable thatit comes as no surpriseto findit expressedin other
distantcultures,like the Chinese (eg Chuang Tzu in Giles 1980 : 30, 76-7,
109-12), which enquiredwithsagacity intothe natureof things.
This thememay have been developed indigenouslyby theGreeks.On
theotherhand,itis adequatelypresentedalso in theVeda. The bareprinciples
of kingship(its inviolability,thedefenceof Law and of the people) and the
structured
social classess are enunciatedin theBrhmanas(eg SB V, 1, 5, 14;
V, 4, 4, 7ff;etc). In these textsthereare several storiesof righteouskings
whose realmprospered.The bestexample is perhapsthatof AvapatiKaikeya
in whose kingdom"thereis no thief,no miser,no drunkard,no man without
thesacrificialfire,no ignorantperson,no adultereror courtesan"because he
himself"had realized the Universal Self" (C/i Up V, 2, 4-6).
5. The substitutionof sacrificialvictimsis anotherpracticein archaic
in Greece forvarious
Greece thathas parallels in theVeda. This substitution
reasons in differentcircumstances, including pestilence, is examined
extensivelyby D Hughes (1991 : 79ff).The practiceis well attestedin the
Veda too. In the Vedic textsthistakes manyformsand is done in a variety
of circumstances (Keith, I, 268 : "the victimis really offeredas a ransom
for oneself"). The best known case is that of young unahepa whose
release is mentioned in RV I, 24, 12-3 and whose entire predicamentis
narratedin Aitareya Brahmano VIII, 13ff: an avaricious brahminsells his

31
son. unahepa to king Haricandra, who is suffering from dropsy

having avoided to sacrifice his own son to Varuna as he had promised
to do; the lad takes the place of the king's son and is tied to the post but
prays to the gods and theyrelease him. The theoryof substitutionis stated
in atapatha Brahmano I, 2, 3ff and in Aitareya Brhmana II, 8. Since
this practice is found also "in the provision of the old Law of the
Twelve Tables in Rome where a human being is substitutedby a Ram"
(B, 74), we can safely assume that the practice has its root in the IE
tradition.
6. The castration of Ouranos by Kronos in Hesiod's Theogony
(11 178ff) is a most curious mythological motif.Since the discovery of
theHittitetextsKingshipin Heaven and The Mythof Ullikummi,orientalists
and classicists invariably cite the NE parallel of Kumarbi castrating
Anu as the originforKronos castratingOuranos in Hesiod.12 No classicist
ever mentionsin thisconnectionanyaffinitieswiththeVedic mythologemof
Indra's slayingthedragonVrtra (RV 1,32); neitherdo comparativists,as far
as I know, mentionany relation,albeit hypothetical.
The RV hymn I, 32 is one of many about Indra and his heroic
deeds and is devoted wholly to Indra's fightingand slaying Vrtra. The
most relevantstanza is 7 : vrsn vdhrihpratimnam bbhsan purutr
vrtrasayad vastah. The more recent translationsI have seen by W O'
Flaherty(1975 : 75; 1981 : 150) and by J Puhvel (1989 : 52) are misleading
in presenting the contrast between a "steer" (ie Vrtra, a castrated
young ox) and a "mighty bull" (i.e. Indra). I don't see why vadhri
should be taken only as a metaphor; in RV X, 69, 10 the attestationof
vadhryavh 'the gelded horse' or "one whose horse is gelded' indicates
that vadhri does not on its own automaticallymean a castrated anomal.
A more correcttranslationwould read, "Emasculated, Vrtralay withlimbs
dissevered / scatteredin many places - he who strove to be the equal of
the mightyone." In otherRV hymnswe read thatVrtrawas struckin his
'vital part' (= mrma : I, 16, 6; III, 32, 4; etc) and then hacked to pieces
(I, 16, 12; VIII, 6, 13). Vrtra had genitals since there was a brood of
Vitras and he was theeldes or foremost.So he got castratedin thecourse of
fighting:his genitals were among the otherparts of his body strewnhere
and there. And the next stanza (8) says that these scattered parts got
12 See Penglase(1997: 185-6)forfullBibliogaphy.

32
submerged in billowing waters. When, moreover, we learn that Indra

himselfgetsemasculatedby a cursefromsage Gautama afterhe, in thesage's
form,wentto bed withhis wifeAhaly (Ra ,1,47-8 ,developingthemotiffrom
SB III, 3,4, 18 & XII, 7, 1, lOff),thenwe can withgood reason suspectthat
thecastrationof Ouranos may well be an inheritedmotifreshapedand retold
by Hesiod, perhapsunderNE influences.
There is anotherpoint of resemblance in this incident that should
be taken into account. Stanza 4 of the RV hymn says that when Indra
killed thedragon"at thatmoment[he, Indra] broughtforththeSun, Heaven
and Dawn"; in RV I, 51, 4 again at the killing of Vrtra Indra raises the
Sun in the sky. Here then we see cosmogonie action beyond the release
of the imprisoned waters. But the cosmogony here is quite different
from the thogonie results of Ouranos 's castration. Here the Sun,
Heaven, Dawn and Waters already exist and are covered up or wholly
encompassed by Vrtrawho is himselfencompassedby darkness(RV X, 113,
6); Indra merely brings them forthagain. The Hesiodic narrative has
different proliferations : Ouranos disappears completely from the
and Kronos (born wily,most terribleand hatinghis father)
scene thereafter
ascends the heavenly throne;fromthe blood of Ouranos on earthemerge
the Erinyes (the terribleinstrumentsof divine punishment),giants and
nymphs,while in the sea rises the goddess of beauty and love, Aphrodite.
These complications seem to relate to the Vedic sacrifice of Purusa
(= primordialMan) by the gods and its cosmogonie result (RV X, 90);
in the Scandinavian myththe gods Odin, Vili and Ve dismemberthe giant
Ymir (z V Yama) again withcosmogonie results;castrationis not involved
in either - nor in the cosmogonie dismembermentof Tiamat by Marduk
in the Mesopotamian Epic of Creation (MM 256-7). Even strangerseems
the Hurrian / Hittitemythwhere Kumarbi, skygod Anu's son, bites off
and swallows his father'sgenitals,becomes pregnant(!) and begets three
gods, one of them being the Weathergod who overthrows in turn
Kumarbi. I suspect the Greek and NE mythsare both developmentsof the
PIE motifsas preservedin the Vedic tradition.The Hittitesafterallwere
IE and musthave broughtwiththemsome inheritedmaterial,even though
this underwent,much more than the Greek IE heritage,"heavy substratal
exposure and adstratal influence... vertical diffusion from the local
past and lateral diffusionfromthe contemporaryvicinity",as Puhvel says
of the Greeks (1989 : 22). The Kassites again were IE or had absorbed
strongIE influences since many of their names and some of their gods

33
wereof Indo Aryandescent13: undertheirrulein Babylonia,especially under

invention
,collection
AgumII (early16thcentury),therewas "a surgeofliterary
and recording"(MM 41, 229); Heidel 1965 : 13-4; Roux 1992 : 251).
7. Manyothermotifsand themescommontothemythologiesofarchaic
Greece and Vedic India could be mentionedbut most of them have been
indicatedand discussedbyotherscholars(eg Keith,Bhattacharji
,Arora,Puhvel
et al). In this studyI have examined aspects thathave not been indicatedor
,religionand magic
adequatelytreatedso farand especiallyaspectsofliterature
(sections III, IV, V and VII). No doubt thereare others.
VIII) Conclusions
One firstconclusion concernsthearchaic Greek cultureitself.It has a
distinctstrandof IE tradition.This would nothave been puresince theGreeks
musthave assimilatedotherelementsfrompeoples theymeton theirway to
the shores of the Aegean. A second strand is the indigenous culture the
immigrantsmet when they arrived in Greece : this too would have been
composite,consistingof the mainlandculture,theMinoan on Crete and the
Cycladic (and otherislands of theAegean). A fourthstrand,also composite,
came fromtheNear East. These fourgotinterwovenand producedthemiracle
ofclassical Greece. PuhvelthoughttheGreektraditionwas nota conservative
repositoryof IE heritage1989 : 22). This is true,of course, but only if one
comparestheGreekculturewiththeVedic; otherwisetheGreeksseem to have
preservedmuch more thanany otherEuropean traditionand the Anatolian
one. The fact thatthe Greek language is centumwhile Vedic is atam (or
satdm) sufficesto show thatthe Greeks and the IndoAryanswere not close
companions forany lengthof timeto theexclusion of theotherIE branches
(ie Celts and Slavs, forexample). Thereforethe Greek correspondencesor
parallelswithVedic elementsorpracticescannotbe coincidental(thoughsome
ofthemmaybe due to independentdevelopment): theyderivefroma common
soure, the PIE culture.
Anothermotifcommon to NE mythologies,Greek theogonyand the
Veda, is theincestuousrelationshipof manydeities.In thepeoples of theNear
13 Leaving
outuncertain
ordisputed
wefind
somenames,
oranelement
incompound
names,
thatareindubitably
: - inda< S Indra-,
names,
Indo-Aryan
-buga< S Bhaga'- Marutta
< S Marutas
< S Srya
-uria
from
JA Brinkman's
; etc.Allaretaken
(plural);
chronology
andlistsofKingsinA L Oppenheim
(1977: 338).

34
East thisrelationshipis also a factof life,at least among royalfamilies.This

is notso in thearchaicGreekand Vedic cultures: incestis condemnedin both,
as is evidentin theOedipus legend(mother-sonrelation)and theYama-Yami
dialogue in RV X, 10 (sisterwants to mate withbrotherbut he resists).The
explanationI would offeris thattheVedic culture knew thatthegods were
notrealand did notexistas autogenousand autonomousentities.Karel Werner
arguedconvincinglythattheRgveda containstwo concurrentbeliefs : one in
polytheismwithmanyindividualgods, and one in monotheism(1989). Indeed
theCreationHymnRV X, 129 presentsa mostprofoundview of theprimal
Unityas the origin of all divine, cosmic and human phenomena.Scholars
somewhatgrudginglyconceded to theancientIndian seers thisview placing
itas a latedevelopmentofVedic speculativethought
(eg Keith,11,446).Werner
(acknowledgingtheworkof R Otto and others)showed thatthiswas not so,
butthatmonotheismis intheRV as old as polytheism.He shouldhave utilized
at least fourmore hymns.Two, which may be late (1, 164, 6 and X, 114, 5),
say thatpoets speak of It,beingOne, in manyways naming.It Agni,Yama,
Indra etc. The othertwo belong to the Family Books and are probablyvery
early: hymnVIII, 58, 2 says "It beingOne has variously(vi ) become thisAll
(and Everything)";then,therefrainof III, 55 statesplainly"Single is thegreat
of
god-power( asuratva) of thegods." Since thedeitieswere representations
it
would
matter
of
the
then
not
cosmicforcesand manifestations
One,
obviously
if theyunitedand generatedotherdeitiesjust as cosmic forces mingleand
generatenew phenomena.In social life incest was not practisedin ancient
India, nor among the otherIE branches.
The idea of a primordialUnityas theoriginativeprincipleof all cosmic
phenomenais absentin theGreek(and otherIE) and NE mythologies,though
in Greece some threecenturiesof philosophicalenquiryinto the natureof
of thatUnity(by Parmenides,Melissos
thingsled eventuallyto formulations
of Samos and Plato). The Greeks retained the incestuous relationships
relationshipamong thegods but,probablybecause of theirIE heritage,notin
theirordinarylife. So did the IndoAryans.The odd thingabout the Greeks
is that while theirPhilosophy found that primordialUnity,theirreligion
continuedwith its polytheism.Of course, the same thingprevailed much
earlier in ancient India. Obviously the One Primal Source of all, being
Itself unmanifest,cannot so readilybecome an object of Worshipas other
deities.
The second conclusionconcernstheVedic culture.Withoutit muchin
the ancient European cultures would have remained unconnected and

35
unexplained- bothin language and in religionor mythology.The legend of

Greek Dioskouroi and Lithouanian Dievo Sunelai would not have been
connectedif it had not been forthe Vedic Avins. The practiceof sacrificial
substitute(above VI, 5), to mentionan example fromreligion, would be
considered(as Burkerttakesitin 1992 : 73-5) a resultofborrowingordiffusion
fromthe Near East to Greece and thenceto Rome. Phiologistsin the West,
and no doubt many in India who follow westerntrends,place almost all IE
brancheson the same level in linguisticand broaderculturalconsideration.
Thus O'Flaherty refersto "Indo-European attitudes"and "Indo-European
cultures" in her examinationof the IE mythof twinsand horse-deitiesand
begins witha discussion of theCeltic materialand thentheVedic - and first
theritualof thehorse-humancopulationand thenthemyths(1980 : 15ff);at
least Puhvel startshis comparativestudywith the Vedic tradition(1989).
It is understandablethatall culturesshould be studiedwiththesame zeal but
not thatall should be accorded thesame statusor importance.Why? Firstof
all, it is obvious thatsome preserveonly a verysmall amountof inherited
formswhile othershave a veryrichinheritanceand theVedic traditionseems
to be the wealthiestof themall. Then the Vedic heritage,even by the most
niggardlydatingat c 1000 BC, is older by at least 300 yearsthantheearliest
Greekrecords(barringthescantyMycenaeanones). Thereis no disagreement
amongscholarsthat"Vedic is a languagewhicinmostrespectsis morearchaic
and less alteredfromoriginalIndo-Europeanthanany othermemberof the
family"(Burrow1973 : 34, emphasisadded). Herewe can add some phiological
considerations. Greek has huios for 'son' (z S sunu, Gmc sun-, SI syn,
Tocharian A/B se!soy, A v hunu) and hus/sus for'sow (she-swine)' (z S skara, Gmc su-lgu-, L ss, Av h). Curiously,in Greek (and in the otherIE
languages) the tow stems stand isolated withouta root or otherverb- and
noun-cognates.Only Sanskritprovides a root (common forboth 'son' and
'sow') withthedhtu Is (> ste) 'beget' and cognatesbothinnounsand verbformations.Again Gk thugatr'daughter'standsrootlessand isolated,as do
its cognates in theotherIE languages (Av dugddar, Gmc tochter, Lth dukt,
butonlyS duhitr,
etc); thereare secondary, laterformations
eg Gk thugatrion,
shows a connectionwithduh 'milk,derive' and othercognates. We observe
thesame situationwithGk meter'mother'(z L mater,Gmc muoter,etc) ormus
'mouse' (L ms Gms ms/maus, etc) : here too only Sanskrithas mus 'steal'
and other primarynominais and verbal formations.Another, somewhat
different
considerationconcerns the IE names for'sun' : all brancheshave
cognates like S srya, Gk helios, L sol , Lth sule etc, all masculine,except
theGmc sunn-(Old English sunne OHG sunna) whichis femininie;yethere
again Sanskrit ha fem sry 'sunmaiden' and thus provides a probable

36
explanationforthedifference.It is strangethat,given all these simple facts,

the Vedic cultureis not given the higherstatusit deserves and it is a pity
sanskritistsacquiesce in thissituation.14
An examinationof archaic Greek cosmogonie materialwould reveal
further
parallelsin theVedic texts. NeitherintheMycenaeannorinthearchaic
Greekperioddo we findtheconceptoftheUnitythatis theoriginativeprinciple
of all creation.This is true,of course, of all otherIE and NE mythologiesexcept theJudaicreligion;even in Egypt,Atum(= theComplete One), who
'evolves' or 'becomes' (= kheper)out of the primevalWaterNun, is only a
correctto see
secondarypower,havingsomethingpriorto him.It is therefore
in all thesemythologies"mattercreatedfromtheactionof heaton water"and
dualismthatpervadesIndo-Europeanmythand religion"
also "a multi-layered
(Stone 1997 : 79). However,itis misleadingto ascribethisview (as Stonedoes
on thesame page15) to the Vedic traditionas well, which,moreclearlythan
anyotherancientdocument,assertstheprimordialUnityas theFirstPrinciple
of all cosmogony.Such an examinationwould, however,requirea separate
study.
The evidence of parallelsbetweenarchaic Greece and India leads to a
thirdconclusion - thatthereare connectionsbetwenthe Vedic traditionand
NE cultures.In thecourse of our discussionwe saw manysimilaritiesbothin
mythologicalmotifsand ritualpractices.16Many of themcould perhapsbe
andthe
fortheseniority
andimportance
ofSanskrit
haveargued
14 Somenotable
exceptions
BookDepot,Delhi;S
: eg L DharTheHomeoftheAryans
Vedicculture
1930,Imperial
here
Problem
S MisraTheAryan
Delhi;etal. I disregard
Manoharlal,
1992,Munshiram
and
rather
thanscholarly
method
that
Indianpublications
shrill
feeling
relyonnationalist
evidence.
: "Fireandice/water
distinction
were
theright
with
states
thesituation
15 Puhvel
care,making
a
alike.
'Fire
in
water'
is
theme
that
recurs
and
in
Norse
both
cosmology eschatology
present
ofclearIndo-European
IrishandRomanlore,ina complex
inIndo-Iranian,
mythologem
(1989: 277)
significance"
thinks
thatIndielegends
like
16 Manya scholar
(egWest1978: 175-6,withbibliography)
M Eliadebelieves
that
havea NEorigin.
others
the4 Yugas(Manusmrti
1,81-6)andmany
andearlierBrhmanism
of sevenor nineheavensfoundin Buddhism
theconception
ofBabylonian
theinfluence
(1972: 406)butadduces
cosmology"
represents
"probably
is madeatall.Arora,
fotthisandI can'thelpwondering
noevidence
whythestatement
:
and
Greek
texts
influenced
Vedic
that
NE
thinks
(1981 183-4) that
legends
legends
again,
on thenextpage)
(Continued

37
ascribed to independentcoincidental growth,arising fromobservationof

the
naturalphenomenalike sunrise,rain,stormand lightning,thenight-sky,
take
and
so
Such
to
seasons
on.
of
, the
maybe,
Egyptianmythology
repetition
separationof Earthand Sky by Shu, god of Ari and Light who corresponds
to Indra in his aerial and solar aspects. That Hathorshould be thoughtof in
termsof a divine Cow of plenty,while theall-nourshingCow of heaven is a
verycommonmotifin theVeda, would also fallinthesame category;thesame
can be said of Earthappearingin themidstofWaters,a conceptsharedbyboth
theEgyptianand Vedic people. This, however,cannotbe said of theidea that
the souls of heroes or noblemenafterdeath go to heaven and join the sun or
stars: thisconcept could not have arisen fromobservation,nor the concept
of "the cosmic egg" in theVedic lore ( mrta-anda'sprungfromthedead egg'
in RVX, 72, 8; hiranyagarbha'golden germ'in X, 121, 1; division of egg in
Ch Up III, 19, 1-4) and in theEgyptianBook oftheDead , spell 85 (also Coffin
Texts, spell 223 : for both, see Faulkner). However this matteralso would
requirea separate study.
(Continued
fromp. 36)
influenced
theIndian
caseisvery
ifwetake
epicsandfables(177-82).Thelatter
probable
intoaccount
thesettlement
ofGreeks
intothenorthwestern
ofIndiaafter
Alexander.
regions
Theformer
casecanbemaintained
and
onlyifweacceptthe"Aryan-immigration"
theory
all itentails,
a theory
thathasnobasiswhatever
infact(see n 5, above).

38

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Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

ARCHAIC GREECE AND THE VEDA

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AND THE VEDA

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

broughtwiththema largeamountof inheritedformspertainingto all aspects

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

Gaul, it is equally possible thattheCelts, Greeks and Indo Aryansinherited

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

documentshave not been decipheredas yet.Literacywas presentalso in the

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

In the 12thcentury,itis thought,

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

The systematic oral transmission of its voluminous sacred lore

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

Despite all such borrowings,Greekepic poetryhas itsrootsin thePIE

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

of a manof power(X, 34, 8); rtavan'holy,observingorder'of Divine Waters

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

4. An additionalaspect of styleis thattheR V Hymnsare composed in

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

Note. Earlier,in sectionII, we saw thatthelegend of theAvins in the

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

Sungod, while Artemismay be linked withUsas as I suggestfurther

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

a dreamof makinga garlandor neckband.Many otherphenomenaserve as

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

of magical rites,to guardagainstthemor directthemagainstenemies.A large

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

thinksit improbable).Sarama is Indra's and the gods' (in NiruktaXI, 25)

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Razanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

descriptionis in AVX, 1, 1-3,whichalso has incantationsforprotection,they

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

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Kazanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

Burkertfeels thatthe name Karmanor"does not seem to be Greek"

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

es and V rs - z Gk ars-n; the-r-was lost in Men Atimi-?) Admittedly,

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Kazanas : ArchaicGreeceand theVeda

AkkadianIshtar,Semitic Ashtorithand Astarte.However, thereare enough

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Annals BORI, LXXXII( 2001 )

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