SV: method of dating RV, III

[N. Ganesan]

Prof. Vassilkov wrote:
<<< another element of "royal" mythology: the story of the king's
marriage to the Sun-maiden, Scythian Tabiti, Sanskrit TapatI, both names
meaning "The One who heats" - G.Dumezil proved the genetic identity of
Indian
and Scythian/Ossetic goddesses in his "Romans de Scythie et d'alentour.
Paris,
1978, pp.125-145). By the way the image of TapatI underwent a remarkable
transformation on Indian soil: she starts as the Sun-maiden, heavenly
spouse
of a human king, but even in Mbh I.163-164 her heat is already dangerous
and
should be controlled; and later, due to the climatic conditions of
India,
where the
sun's heat is rather a curse than a blessing, this Sun-maiden eventually
turns into a river-goddess (in the PurANas)! >>>

Reminds me of the Dravidian notion of 'aNangu' - controlling
female sacred power; This occurs in earliest Tamil sangam poetry at many
instances.

V. S. Rajam, Ananku: a notion semantically reduced to signify
female sacred power, JAOS, v. 106, n.2, 1986, p. 257-272.

For other views, a) G. L. Hart, The poems of ancient Tamil,
b) Susan Wadley, The powers of Tamil women, In Tamil
stalapuraanams, how this aspect is occuring is in
D. Shulman, Tamil temple myths, 1980.

May be a similar process is at work in the case of TapatI on
Indian soil.

Regards,
N. Ganesan








______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com