saved Bhujyu from drowning when he was abandoned in the sea at the ends
of the earth (1. 116. 3–5, 117. 14 f., 119. 4, 8, 182. 5–7, etc.), and also Rebha,
whom evil men had attacked and thrown into water. Their car comes from
the ocean (samudra ̄ ́d, literally ‘the gathered waters’, 4. 43. 5); their horses were
born in the waters (1. 184. 3).
The Baltic figures in whom we are interested are referred to as the Sons
of God: in Lithuanian Die ̃vo sune ̃liai, in Latvian Dieva de ̄li. Their similarities
to the As ́vins and Dioskouroi appear initially in this title, and in the frequent
references to their horses. Their number, where specified, fluctuates. They are
two in LD 33766 and 34023 (Jonval nos. 413 and 102), but in certain other
songs four or five, or only one; in the last case we may suspect the influence of
Christianity. And because of Christianity it is not surprising that they do not
have a religious but only a mythological status. They do not perform services
for mankind or rescue them from perils. There may, however, be an echo of
their ancient function in a song where they are urged to save the Daughter of
the Sun from sinking in the sea:
La Fille de Saule traversait la mer,
on ne voyait que sa couronne.
Ramez la barque, Fils de Dieu,
sauvez l’âme [var. la vie] de Saule!
(LD 33969, Jonval no. 402, trans. Jonval.)They ride every morning to see the Sun (LD 33977, Jonval no. 390). The
As ́vins too are associated with the dawn: they (and their car) are
pra ̄tarya ̄ ́va ̄n
̇
a ̄, ‘early-morning-going’ (RV 2. 39. 2; 5. 77. 1; 10. 40. 1, 41. 2), or
pra ̄taryúja ̄, ‘early-morning-yoked’ (1. 22. 1; 10. 41. 2). They accompany Us
̇
as,
the Dawn goddess (1. 183. 2; 8. 5. 2); she is their sister (1. 180. 2) or friend
(4. 52. 2 f.), born at the yoking of their car (10. 39. 12).
The Dioskouroi have no obvious connection with dawn or sunrise. But
we shall see in the next chapter that their sister Helen corresponds in a
most interesting way both to the Baltic Daughter of the Sun and to a Vedic
Daughter of the Sun with whom the As ́vins have much to do. We shall find
that these figures are bound together in a mythical complex that confirms
the identity of the As ́vins, the Dioskouroi, and the Dieva de ̄li beyond
peradventure.
Dimmer traces of these Sons of *Dyeus may be recognized elsewhere with
varying degrees of probability. In Greek myth, besides the Dioskouroi, who
are particularly associated with Laconia, we can find other pairs of twins
who have some of the right features. There are the Thebans Amphion and
Zethos, who were sons of Zeus, had a local cult as divinities, and are called
λευκο ́ πωλοι ‘white-colt’, ‘Zeus’ white colts’, or even ‘the white-colt
- Sky and Earth 189