The plainest example of the Dawn goddess’s becoming attached to a single
festival, and that in the spring, is that of the Anglo-Saxon Eostre and her
postulated German counterpart Ôstara, who have given us Easter and the
Ostertage. Our source does not connect Eostre with dawn, but that is
undoubtedly the meaning of her name.
THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUNThe Vedic evidenceBesides the Sun and the Dawn, the Rigveda makes frequent reference to a
figure called Su ̄ ́ryasya (or Su ̄ ́re,Su ̄ ́ro)duhitr ́
̇
, ‘the daughter of the Sun’, or
Su ̄rya ̄ ́, which is a feminine form corresponding to masculine Su ̄ ́ryaˇ- (only
with a shift of accent).^105 In most cases she appears in connection with the
As ́vins, that youthful equestrian pair whom we met in the last chapter and
found to be a close parallel to the Greek Dioskouroi. It is often mentioned
that Su ̄rya ̄ joined them in their car. She chose it, or them (1. 117. 13; 4. 43. 2;
- 3 f.), and her beauty added to their lustre; all the gods approved (1. 116.
17; 6. 63. 5 f.). It was a bridal car: the As ́vins mounted it for her sake, and their
swift riding made them her husbands (7. 69. 3; 8. 22. 1; 4. 43. 6; cf. 1. 184. 3).
In the wedding hymns RV 10. 85 and AV 14. 1–2 she has a special role as the
divine model for the mortal bride. In RV 10. 85 (largely repeated in AV 14. 1)
she has the As ́vins as groomsmen or suitors, but her marriage is to Soma, to
whom Savitr
̇
- 3 f.), and her beauty added to their lustre; all the gods approved (1. 116.
gave her with her consent. Soma in this hymn (1–5) is identified
with the moon. Su ̄rya ̄ appears in some of the Soma hymns of book 9 as
somehow connected with the Soma ritual.
According to the Aitareya Bra ̄hman
̇
a (4. 7–9; cf. Kaus
̇ı ̄taki Bra ̄hman
̇a 18. 1)
Su ̄rya ̄’s father had intended to give her in marriage to Soma. But all the gods
desired her, and to decide who should have her a race was arranged, from
Agni (the house-fire) to the Sun. The As ́vins were the winners. Some of the
Rigvedic allusions make sense in terms of this story, though we cannot be sure
that it is not in part a later construction.
(^105) Su ̄rya ̄ ́ 1. 167. 5, 184. 3; 4. 43. 6, 44. 1; 5. 73. 5; 6. 58. 4, 63. 6; 7. 68. 3; 8. 22. 1; 10. 85. 6–17, 20,
34–8; Su ̄ ́ryasya (or Su ̄ ́re,Su ̄ ́ro)duhitr ́
̇
- 5, 116. 17, 117. 13, 118. 5; 3. 53. 15; 4. 43. 2; 6. 63. 5; 7.
- 4; 9. 1. 6, 72. 3, 113. 3. She is alluded to also in 8. 8. 10 (as yós
̇
an ̇a ̄, ‘the young woman’) and 8.
- Sun and Daughter 227