Thread by @vakibs

There are many human cultures in the world. But we share 2 things: we all need to grow food, and we all live under the same sky.

In this thread, I will discuss various deities for agriculture: how they have similar names and how they are influenced by astronomical observations.

The Greek goddess for agriculture is Demeter, or the cow mother. Damos means a cow in Greek. Dimitra is a very popular name even today in Greece (as is Dimitry in Slavic cultures). Here, we see Dimitra with her children - the seasons. She is also known as Gaia, the earth.

The Roman equivalent is known as Ceres. This Latin root word is related to Sanskrit "Kṛshi" or agriculture. The image of Ceres is still present in words such as "cereal".

These goddesses for agriculture are loved by all - nobility and peasants alike.

In Slavic countries, the goddess of agriculture was called "Uroda". This word relates most directly to water (oda/udaka) which is the basis of agriculture. The prefix "ur" is an ancient root, connected to Sanskrit "Ara" and "Ārya", which refer to planned "irri"gation of canals.

In this earlier thread, I discussed the ancient origins of agriculture by canals and gardening. But I didn't discuss an important necessary element for farming, which is keeping track of time.

For a good harvest, crops have to be sowed at the right time.

https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/987351257139630080

The great civilizations of the ancient past: Egypt, Mesopotamia and Saraswati-Sindhu (the largest of them all) developed ingenious methods for time-keeping, through deities representing astronomical phenomena, which were shared across each other, through trade relationships.

The Egyptian goddess of agriculture is "Hathor", who is also the cow mother. You can see that in her head-dress with cow horns. Her name literally means the house (Hat) of the sun (Hor). She is a cow that is present in the sky. Much like Aditi in Sanskrit, also called Surabhi.

So what is this cow in the sky ? We still remember her in the name "Milky way". The stars are her children. By observing astronomical phenomena, we humans can learn when to prepare for floods of a river, when to sow the crops and when to harvest.

The sun, who is reborn every year at spring time, and who nourishes all life on earth, himself drinks from the milk of this cosmic cow to be reborn. This means the astronomical observations that pinpoint when the joyous spring season will arrive on earth.

This is a trope that repeats across many cultures. In India, the sun as the harbinger of Rta, is represented by the Ādityas who are the children of Aditi. The most principal amongst them is Vishṇu. But there are 12 Adityas, referring to the 12 solar months of the zodiac.

In the earliest times, the most prominent Āditya was Varuṇa, the king of the cosmic waters. He is remembered as Uranus by the Greeks. But his position as the king shifted over time, due to precession of the zodiac. Indra (Zeus) now became the most prominent solar deity.

In Egypt, the ancient deity was called Osiris, who is remembered as a dead deity. I think the name looks very close to Asura, which were the names of the ancient deities headed by Varuṇa. This same Varuṇa is remembered as Odin by the Norsemen, who heads the group of Aesir.

When an astronomical phenomenon is no longer valid, in most cultures, the old deities are invalid and lose their prominence. However, in India, strangely this does not happen. This is eternal religion (Sanātana Dharma). The deities are present now as then. Only the play changes.

A star or a constellation that served as marker of a key point in time (equinox or solstice) would lose its prominence over centuries, due to precession. So we need a star, that serves as a solid anchor for the elliptic. That was the star Sirius, which represents Shiva in India.

In India, Sirius is known as Mrigavyadha (the arrow for the deer). The deer itself was the constellation Orion. When this knowledge got transmitted to the Greeks, they called Orion itself the hunter.

Sirius is also the most prominent star in Egyptian calendar. While Indians were concerned about precisely tracking the monsoon, Egyptians were concerned about the time when the Nile floods. Knowing the precession of equinoxes was essential for this. Then calendars can be updated.

Shiva as the stabilizing force of the universe, and Vishnu as its dynamic force that moves the seasons forward form a pattern through the different Yugas in Indian cosmology. At the level of meditation, Shiva is the hunter that pacifies the deer, which is the wandering mind.

In Kerala, one of the most advanced astronomical cultures of the world, Sirius is known as "makarajyoti" - the light which establishes the Makara (capricorn) which determines the monsoon season. It is revered by the devotees of Ayyappa, who symbolizes the union of Shiva & Vishnu.

Makara was the mount of Varuṇa, the oldest deity for agriculture. The Ganges fed by the rains, also rides the Makara. Varuṇa's Asi (another word for Makara) gives the name of the ancient city Varanasi. I discussed the origin of Ganges in this thread.

https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1018421214707093504

Due to precession, the zodiac sign for Varuṇa itself became unstable, and the importance shifted to the star Sirius (Shiva), that can stabilize the calculations. Varanasi became consecrated to Shiva. The mother deity of Varanasi is Annapūrṇa, who represents agricultural bounty.

The immediate marker for the seasons keep shifting over time due to precession. When this astronomical marker shifts, that is denoted as the end of a Yuga. Vishṇu keeps reincarnating in each Yuga, to give a new marker. He is Upēndra, the friend of Indra (the sun himself).

In the list of Avatars of Vishṇu, Vāmana (the dwarf) is the 5th. He is known for the 3 steps with which he occupies the whole universe. This refers to the discovery of the synodic period of mercury (Budha) which was considered as the form of Vishṇu in the Vedas.

This is explained in a brilliant manner by Dr. @subhashkak1. The 3 steps of Vāmana (mercury) became an extremely useful tool in establishing the length of the tropical year, which can thereby help in planning for the agricultural harvest.

These 3 steps got to Europe, now embedded in the word "triumph". It comes from a Greek hymn for the deity Dionysus called "Thriambus", which was borrowed from Phrygian, where it meant 3 steps.

Dionysus was celebrated as coming from India. Originally, he was an Avatar of Vāmana.

Who were these Phrygians ? In an earlier time, they were called the Brygians. The Greeks said they came from the Balkan states.

But their journey was far longer, coming from Russia and before from the Oxus valley, and ultimately from India, where they were called the Bhrigus.

The Bhrigus had one of the earliest astronomical treatises in India, the "Bhrigu Samhita" which discusses their theories. Along with other tribes like the Anus, some of them migrated from India. But some still remained, giving names like Bhrigukaccha (Bharuch in Gujarat).

These astronomical models were also applied for navigation in the sea. Using the stars, they could successfully navigate deep oceans. This might explain the presence of Indian genes in Australian aborigines. And the curious resemblance of Indus script with Easter island signs.

One important constellation is the Pleiades, which is called the Krittika in India. They are considered the Sapta Matrikas (7 divine mothers) from whom life on earth is supposed to derive spiritual energy.

Now a curious name for the Pleaides in the Maori language: "Matariki"

An astronomical phenomenon related to Pleiades is encoded through the story of Skanda / Kārtikēya. He is the son of Shiva and a human woman (Pārvati), who is nourished by the 7 Matrikas. He heralded the summer solstice for harvest.

The exact same story for Dionysus/Bacchus !

Of course, the name Bacchus is related to the Sanskrit name of a deity : Bhaga. The Bhaga who gave the name Bhāgirathi for the Ganges. And the word Bhagavān, used to describe Vishṇu today.

Bhaga is the lord of fortune, for celebrating the harvest, since far earlier Vedic times.

At some point, Bacchus (Bhaga) got associated with the phenomenon related to Kārtikēya/Skanda. The Greeks probably borrowed this indirectly from the Egyptians. However, disaster happened due to the precession: Pleiades stopped being visible in the northern hemisphere in summer.

This is a moment of crisis in Egypt and Greece. A god has been deposed. A god is dead.

In India, people just chilled and took it easy. Kārtikēya continued to be worshipped in South India (where Pleiades is still visible). North Indians moved to a different marker in the sky.

The Egyptians had this tradition about a dead god who is still active, like Osiris. They adapted this to Bacchus in the form of Orpheus. He was represented as a corpse on crucifixion (no longer visible in summer), but who still rises above every spring in rebirth.

Well, I will not comment about the peculiar similarity of this form of Bacchus to a more popular religion and its festivals.

A good point to end the thread ? As good as any. 🙃

May Bhaga be with all of you.. Thanks for reading.