Dyaus Pita
Encyclopedia : D : DY : DYA : Dyaus Pita
In vedic religion, Dyaus Pita is the Sky Father, husband of Prithvi and father of Agni and Indra (RV 4.17.4).
His origins can be traced to the Proto-Indo-European sky god *Dyeus, who is also reflected as Greek Zeus(accusative Día, genitive Díos; theos pater), Jupiter (from Latin Iovius pater, "father-god"; deus pater) in Roman mythology, Div in Slavic mythology and Tyr in Norse mythology.
Sharing a fate similar to nordic Tyr's, already in the Rig Veda, Dyaus Pita is all but featureless, appearing in hymns 1.89, 1.90, 1.164, 1.191 and 4.1 in simple invocations.
In RV 1.89.4b, Pita Dyaus "Father Sky" appears alongside Mata Prithvi "Mother Earth".
Details of the myth are sketchy, but Indra seems to have killed his father (RV 4.18.12). Thomas Oberlies tentatively identifies Asura and Dyaus in pre-vedic religion (both appear as Indra's father, but Asura is never associated with Prithvi, so there is a possibility of two conflicting myths).
In art, he appears in two different forms: as a red bull who bellows thunder, or as a black horse adorned with pearls, symbolizing the stars.
Literature
- Thomas Oberlies, Die Religion des Rgveda, Wien 1998.
- redirect
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.