[Q] _nek_ in middle-Iranian

[n-iyanag at ppp.bekkoame.or.jp]

Dear Indologists,

I am reading an article by Mario Bussagli, "Royaute, Guerre et
Fecondite", Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, tome CXL, No 2 Oct-dec.
1951, p. 129-154. It is a very learned article, having many non
indological or buddhological references or allusions that I don't
understand well.

There is especially a passage that I would like to understand, but I
can't because it contains a reference to an Iranian word. Here it is (p.
149 and n. 3-4) (I'm sorry, I quote this passage in French):

...Or l'Inde connait Suurya, le Soleil, dont le culte a ete
particulierement repandu et important dans le N.-O., au point que
pendant longtemps, dans une grande partie de la peninsule indienne, le
dieu est represente portant le vetement caracteristique de ces
regions [n. 3: Cf. Foucher, La Vieille route de l'Inde de Bactres a
Taxila, II, p. 266 et n. 7 (p. 268)]. Mais Suurya a pres de lui Suuriyaa,
deesse homonyme, et des epouses qui sont Nik.subhaa et Raj~nii. Si l'on
admet l'etymologie que Scheftelowitz a proposee pour le premier de ces
deux noms (moyen-iran. _nek_ + sanscr. _'subhaa_), non seulement on
aurait ici l'indice d'une influence iranienne dans le cycle de Suurya,
mais on assisterait a la constitution d'un couple dont la composante
feminine aurait des caracteres assez proches de ceux d'Aarmati [n. 4:
I. Sheftelowitz, Die Mithra-Religion der Indoskythen und ihre
Beziehung zum Saura und Mithras-Kult, _Acta Orientalia_, XI, p. 304 et
n.], c'est-a-dire des rapports avec la terre et la fecondite. ...

I don't have access to the article of Sheftelowitz (and anyway, I don't
read German). I would be very gratefule if someone could be so kind as to
teach me the sense of this word "nek" in Middle-Iranian. I would
appreciate also any thought about this article (of Bussagli), or the
worship of Suurya in the North-West of India during the Kushan period,
etc.

On the other hand, I would appreciate any thought or information
concerning the relationship between the bodhisattva Maitreya and the
Iranian Mithra.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Nobumi Iyanaga
Tokyo,
Japan