Rigvedic deities

Rigvedic deities are deities mentioned in the sacred texts of Rigveda, the principal text of the historical Vedic religion of the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE).

Quotes

• In a paper published in the Journal of Indo-European Studies where I examined the cognate names of deities and some mythological themes in IE languages, I wrote:
  “no major mythological (or religious) feature appears in two or more branches to the exclusion of the Vedic. On the contrary, feature after feature appears in the RV in common with one or two other branches to the exclusion o the others – sometimes with the Greek and the Roman, sometimes with the Roman and the Celtic and so on... I do not consider [IE] traditions other than the Vedic as very reliable and would not draw definite conclusions from them unless the issue is attested in the Veda... I would concur with... ideas for the PIE period only if they were present in the Veda too”.
  • Kazanas, N. (2015). Vedic and Indo-European studies. Aditya Prakashan, chapter 1. page 37
  • Kazanas, N. (2002). Indigenous Indo-Aryans and the Rigveda: Indo-Aryan migration debate. Journal of Indo-European Studies, 30(3-4), 275-334. (2001: 285, 288).

• The higher gods of the Rgveda are almost entirely personifications of natural phenomena, such as Sun, Dawn, Fire, Wind. Excepting a few deities surviving from an older period, the gods are, for the most part, more or less clearly connected with their physical foundations. The personifications being therefore but slightly developed, lack definiteness of outline and individuality of character. Moreover, the phenomena themselves which are behind the personifications have few distinctive traits, while they share some attributes with other phenomena belonging to the same domain. Thus Dawn, Sun, Fire have the common features of being luminous, dispelling darkness, appearing in the morning. ... The universe appeared to the poets of the Rgveda to be divided into three domains of earth, air, and heaven, ... This is the favourite triad of the Reveda, constantly mentioned expressly or by implication. The solar phenomena are referred to heaven, while those of lightning, rain, and wind belong to the air. In the three worlds the various gods perform their actions, though they are supposed to dwell only in the third, the home of light.
  • A.A. MacDonell (1900) quoted in Levitt S.H. 2003 'The Dating of the Indian Tradition' Anthropos vol 98 (341-59).

• It is seldom difficult to doubt that the anthropomorphic forms but faintly veil phenomena of nature... [He notes that the outlines of the Greek gods are hopelessly blurred] “in comparison with the much clearer and more transparent figures of the Vedic hymns.” ... ‘The degree of anthropomorphism exhibited by the Vedic deities is extremely variable. In some cases the active clement is constantly present, and the view taken may be set down as almost animistic: the waters are indeed goddesses, but they are also wholesome to drink; the goddess Dawn bares her bosom like a beautiful maiden, but there is comparison here rather than identity, and, if in some cases the goddess seems to be considered as ‘one who appears morn after morn to men, in others each separate dawn is a fresh divinity. Surya, the sun, by his, rising is born as a child of the sky; the constant presence of the actual deity prevents any real development of anthropomorphism. The same consideration affects Agni, who never appears as a god disconnected from his element of fire: when he is hidden in the waters or in the clouds, it is as fire: as messenger of men he is the fire of the sacrifice flaming up to heaven to bring gods and men together. But the difficulties of this view were clearly felt in connexion with the question of the innumerable fires of earth and their relation to the god. Strictly speaking he must be present in each, and this view is often taken, but there appears also the conception that in some degree the god is free from the element and able to come to it, not merely to be manifested in it when it is produced. The evidence for this view is, however, it is important to note, late: ... The contrast ‘with the figure of Agni in later literature such as the epic is marked: in the epic the gods have long ceased to be nearly as closely connected with their natural bases as in the Rigveda, and Agni can figure as the main personage in tales which never had any relation to the fire as an element. Regarding theriomorphism, Keith (1925/1:61) notes, ‘While most Vedic nature deities are normally conceived as anthropomorphic, there did not prevail any rigid exclusion of theriomorphic conceptions of deities. It is often asserted, even by Oidenberg, that in earlier periods of religion theriomorphic conceptions were more frequent than anthropomorphic, but the proof for such & theory seems to be wholly lacking.
  • A.B. Keith 1925, quoted in Levitt S.H. 2003 'The Dating of the Indian Tradition' Anthropos vol 98 (341-59).