A Nature Deity? The Ṛgvedic Savitṛ Revisited

The problematic identity of the deity Savitṛ in early Vedic religion has sparked more than a century of discussion. Harry Falk, for instance, argued that this god, whose name literally means "Impeller", can be identified with the Milky Way and associated with the rainy season. Others have...

全面介紹

Saved in:  
書目詳細資料
主要作者: Haas, Dominik A. (Author)
格式: 電子 Article
語言:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
載入...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
出版: [publisher not identified] 2020
In: Studia Orientalia Electronica
Year: 2020, 卷: 8, 發布: 1, Pages: 153-174
Further subjects:B Crepuscular rays
在線閱讀: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
實物特徵
總結:The problematic identity of the deity Savitṛ in early Vedic religion has sparked more than a century of discussion. Harry Falk, for instance, argued that this god, whose name literally means "Impeller", can be identified with the Milky Way and associated with the rainy season. Others have suggested that he becomes visible in the zodiacal light or crepuscular rays. The aims of this paper are to review the most important theories about Savitṛ’s manifestations in nature in Ṛgvedic times and to reassess whether and in what ways different natural phenomena and celestial luminaries may have been associated with this deity. In discussing the theories proposed so far, I not only consider the Vedic sources but re-evaluate the archaeoastronomical arguments with modern software. As it turns out, there is no conclusive evidence that Savitṛ was associated with any single phenomenon or luminary at all. Rather, he was an anthropomorphic deification of what was perceived as a certain "cosmic" or "natural" force.
ISSN:2323-5209
Contains:Enthalten in: Studia Orientalia Electronica
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.23993/store.89288