[INDOLOGY] the late fate of the the Rig Vedic Dyaus Pater?

Hock, Hans Henrich hhhock at illinois.edu
Tue May 31 17:00:24 UTC 2022


Thanks, Dean.

This is not something that I have actively worked on. My impression is that there may be a fair amount of disagreements. But checking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology#Sky_Father yields several references to well-known scholars:


  *   West, Martin L.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Litchfield_West> (2007). Indo-European Poetry and Myth<https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC>. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)> 978-0-19-928075-9<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-928075-9>.

Lincoln, Bruce<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lincoln> (January 18, 2020). "Indo-European Religions: An Overview"<https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/indo-european-religions-overview>. Encyclopedia.com<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia.com>. Encyclopedia of Religion.


  *   Mallory, James P.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Mallory>; Adams, Douglas Q.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Q._Adams> (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture<https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC>. London: Routledge. ISBN<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)> 978-1-884964-98-5<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-884964-98-5>.
  *   Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World<https://books.google.com/books?id=tF5wAAAAIAAJ>. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)> 978-0-19-929668-2<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-929668-2>.

I hope that consulting these publications will provide directions for further investigations.

All the best,

Hans Henrich


On 30 May2022, at 13:26, Dean Michael Anderson <eastwestcultural at yahoo.com<mailto:eastwestcultural at yahoo.com>> wrote:

Thanks Hans Henrich,

I was aware that he was not widely mentioned in RV but I hadn't thought of the ramifications of that until your post.

I realize this may be the wrong place to ask this, but are you aware of any studies on the origin and fate of Dyaus/Zeus/Tiu across or within the other Indo-European languages?

Best,

Dean

On Monday, May 30, 2022, 10:21:02 PM GMT+5:30, Hock, Hans Henrich <hhhock at illinois.edu<mailto:hhhock at illinois.edu>> wrote:


Dear Dean,

Even in the RigVeda dyauṣ pitṛ appears only six times; dyauḥ by itself, of course, occurs frequently, but often in feminine gender. In addition, there is the compound dyāvāpṛthivī.

So, while dyauṣ pitṛ (and his relation to pṛthivī mātṛ) may be important from the perspective of comparative Indo-European mythology, his role in the Vedic tradition is highly diminished from the beginning. Other deities (Agni, Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, etc.) play a more important role, and in Vedic Prose, Viṣṇu, as personification of the sacrifice, becomes more important (as well as Rudra), and of course Prajāpati, the ‘lord of creatures’.

I hope this at least partly answers your query.

All the best,

Hans Henrich



On 30 May2022, at 08:43, Dean Michael Anderson via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

Dear Indology List,

Can anyone point me to any studies that discuss what happened to the Vedic Dyaus Pater who was important in the Rig Veda but who seems to have been supplanted in later times?

It's particularly interesting for Indo-European studies because Dyaus is related to the Greek Zeus and the Germanic Tyr/Tius and Dyaus Pater to the Roman Ju-piter.

Best,

Dean

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