There are two ways of hunting them. If possible, we find names in different
branches of the tradition that appear to correspond and that denote figures
who have features in common. Otherwise we can look for common features
distinctive enough to suggest historical identity even in the absence of a
shared name.
A whole series of divine names in the Rigveda can also be found in the
Avesta, even if only as reviled dae ̄vas: Mitra, Aryaman, Apa ̄m napa ̄t, Tvas
̇
t
̇r
̇,
Indra, Na ̄satya, S ́arva, Nara ̄s ́am
̇
sa, correspond to Avestan Miθra, Airyaman,
Apa ̨m napå,Θβo ̄rəsˇtar, Indra, Nåŋhaiθya, Saurva, Nairyo ̄.saŋha. The infer-
ence is that these go back to the Indo-Iranian period, sometime in the first
half of the second millennium . But we know from the similarity of the
languages that early Indic and early Iranian were closely related, so this does
not get us very far towards Indo-European.
*AryomenOne of those names, however, may have a cognate at the other end of the
Indo-European world. Aryaman/Airyaman has long been equated with the
Irish Éremón. All three names appear to go back to Aryo-men-, nominative
-me ̄n, a masculine counterpart of neuter aryo-men-, nominative -mn
̊
,
‘Aryan-ness’, just as the god Brahma ̄ (< -me ̄n) is the deified Prayer (bráhma
neuter, < -mn
̊
). It is no longer politically correct to call the Indo-Europeans
Aryans, but the name was conferred on them in the nineteenth century
because it was a term that they, or at least their ruling classes, used of them-
selves. It is reflected in Sanskrit aryá-, a ̄ ́rya- ‘trusty, honourable, worthy,
Aryan’ and Irish aire‘a noble, chief ’; it has given its name to Iran and
perhaps to Eire. A god *Aryomen might be expected to embody the social
ideals of the people and its rulers.^77
Aryaman is a god frequently mentioned in the Veda, usually in company
with Mitra and Varuna, the gods of justice and order. He is rather lacking in
distinctive profile, but he is associated with social and marital ties; as a com-
mon noun aryamán- means ‘comrade’.^78 His association with marriage
comes to the fore in the Atharvaveda (2. 36. 2; 6. 60; 14. 1. 17, 34, 39, 50; 14. 2.
13, 40; cf. RV 10. 85. 23, 36, 43). He provides the girl with a husband and the
man with a wife.
In the Ga ̄tha ̄s (Y. 32. 1, 33. 3–4, 46. 1, 49. 7) airyaman- stands in a hierarchy
of social units, above xvae ̄tu- (family, clan) and vərəzə ̄ na- (local community);
(^77) Cf. J. Puhvel in Cardona et al. (1970), 376–8; id. (1987), 49, ‘the deified embodiment of
social self-identification’; 182; Oberlies (1998), 183–5.
(^78) Macdonell (1898), 45; von Schroeder (1914–16), i. 384–8.
142 3. Gods and Goddesses