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Vedic Gods and their Appearances

Chakra

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hi everyone,
I was just wondering about the appearances of the Vedic Gods (for right now, I'm going to restrict these to the Adityas and the Rudras) and whether the descriptions of the deities are symbolic or if they are perhaps trying to mimic the inhabitants of the Central European regions (where Vedic religion evolved). Since I'm not so familiar with the Vedas, I was wondering if @Aupmanyav , @Spirit_Warrior , @sayak83 , @Kirran , @Vinayaka and others could provide some quotes from the Vedas indicating the appearances of the Vedic deities so we could start this conversation.

Trust me, I've tried looking for some references on the internet, and my search led me to weird conspiracy blogs, white supremacist forums (lol), and other wacky places, so I truly have no way of confirming the idea of "blond, blue-eyed Indra" etc.

(BTW, I'm not trying to invoke any racist comments or provoke a Aryan Migration debate again; I just want to analyze the references regarding their appearances for my own curiosity.)

Thank you!
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
To begin with, A Vedic Reader (Excerpts) IMHO is the best. Wikipedia is the next best that I know of. By Rudras, do you mean the Maruts (just like Pandavas, sons of Pandu)? There is only one Rudra. The number of Adityas ranges from 8 to 12. "The number of Maruts is thrice sixty or thrice seven. They form a troop (ganá, sárdhas), and are mentioned in plural only." (A Vedic Reader (Excerpts)).

Thanks, Chakra, for starting this topic, which brought the word (Excerpts) to my attention and which I never noticed. So I searched for the book, A VEDIC READER
For Students by Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1854-1930) and found it unsurprisingly at Archives.org. I am going to download it (in PDF*), keep it along with my other favorites and give it a thorough reading. The excerpts were my favorite all along.

A wonderful find. Are there as
diligent researchers of RigVeda in India now?

* Downloaded and begging to read it.
ps - That also gives me the meaning of the word Purohita. it is Purah + Hitam = Benefactor of the city/village (RigVeda 1.1.1, the book parses the words in RigVedic hymns and goves their Greek, Latin and other equivalents also). :)
 
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Chakra

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Thanks for the references Aup, I will check them out first and then restart this thread!
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
No, I am not into drugs. It was hurry that made me make a few mistakes. So the correction (since I cannot edit my post):

* Downloaded and beginning to read it.
ps - That also gives me the meaning of the word Purohita. it is Purah + Hitam = Benefactor of the city/village (RigVeda 1.1.1, the book parses the words in RigVedic hymns and gives their Greek, Latin and equivalents in other languages also). :)
 
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