{"id":52932,"date":"2023-07-06T00:12:04","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T04:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=52932"},"modified":"2023-07-05T22:35:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T02:35:59","slug":"anda-meaning-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/anda-meaning-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Anda, meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ashvins<\/p>\n

Article Talk
\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/p>\n

The Ashvins (Sanskrit: \u0905\u093f\u0936\u094d\u0935\u0928,\u094d romanized: As\u0301vin, lit. ‘horse possessors’), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau,[3] are Hindu twin gods associated with<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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36 languages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Contents [hide]\n(Top)
\nEtymology and epithets Origin and equivalents Literature and legends<\/p>\n

Vedic texts<\/p>\n

Post-Vedic text Associations See also
\nNotes References<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n

Further reading External links<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Edit View history<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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medicine, health, dawn, and the sciences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the Rigveda, they are described as<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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youthful divine twin horsemen, travelling in a chariot drawn by horses that are never<\/p>\n

weary, and portrayed as guardian deities that safeguard and rescue people by<\/p>\n[2][5]\n

There are varying accounts, but Ashvins are generally mentioned as the sons of the sun god Surya and his wife Sanjna. In the epic Mahabharata, the Pandava twins Nakula and Sahadeva were the children of the Ashvins.<\/p>\n

Etymologyandepithets [edit]\nThe Sanskrit name As\u0301vi\u0301n (\u0905\u093f\u0936\u094d\u0935\u0928)\u094d derives from the Indo-Iranian stem *Hac\u0301wa- (cf.<\/p>\n

Avestan aspa\u0304), itself from the Indo-European word for the horse, *H1e\u0301k\u0301wos, from<\/p>\n[6]\n

In the Rigveda, the Ashvins are always referred to in the dual, without individual<\/p>\n

names,[5] although Vedic texts differentiate between the two Ashvins: “one of you is<\/p>\n

respected as the victorious lord of Sumakha, and the other as the fortunate son of<\/p>\n

heaven” (RV 1.181.4). They are called several times divo\u0301 na\u0301pa\u0304ta\u0304, that is ‘grandsons<\/p>\n

of Dyau\u0301s (the sky-god)’. This formula is comparable with the Lithuanian Dievo<\/p>\n

su\u0304neliai, ‘sons of Dievas (the sky-god’), attached to the As\u030cvieniai; the Latvian Dieva<\/p>\n

De\u0304li, the ‘sons of Dievs (the sky-god)’; and the Greek Dio\u0301s-kouroi, the ‘boys of Zeus’,<\/p>\n[7][8]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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aiding them in various situations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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which also descends the Lithuanian name As\u030cvieniai.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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designating Castor and Pollux.
\nThe twin gods are also referred to as Na\u0304satya\u0304 (possibly ‘saviours’; a derivative of<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u0301<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n[8] epithet probably derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *nes- (‘to return home<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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nasati\u0301, ‘safe return home’), a name that appears 99 times in the Rigveda. \u030a<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The [safely]’), with cognates in the Avestan Na\u0304\u014bhai\u03b8ya, the name of a demon \u2013 as a<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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result of a Zoroastrian religious reformation that changed the status of prior deities \u2013,<\/p>\n[9][10]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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and also in the Greek hero Nestor and in the Gothic verb nasjan (‘save, heal’).
\nIn the later Mahabharata, the Ashvins are often called the Nasatyas or Dasras. Sometimes one of them is referred to as Nasatya<\/p>\n[11]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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and one as Dasra. Originandequivalents [edit]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n[12][13][5]\nthe Lithuanian As\u030cvieniai, the Latvian Dieva De\u0304li, the Greek Castor and Pollux; and possibly the English Hengist and Horsa, and<\/p>\n[12][7]\nSuppiluliuma and Shattiwaza, respectively kings of the Hittites and the Mitanni.<\/p>\n

Literatureandlegends [edit] Vedic texts [ edit ]\n

The Ashvins are mentioned 398 times in the Rigveda,[3] with more than 50 hymns specifically<\/p>\n

dedicated to them: 1.3, 1.22, 1.34, 1.46\u201347, 1.112, 1.116\u2013120, 1.157\u2013158, 1.180\u2013184, 2.20, 3.58,<\/p>\n

4.43\u201345, 5.73\u201378, 6.62\u201363, 7.67\u201374, 8.5, 8.8\u201310, 8.22, 8.26, 8.35, 8.57, 8.73, 8.85\u201387, 10.24,<\/p>\n[5]\n

Your chariot, o As\u0301vins, swifter than mind, drawn by good horses, comes to the clans. By which (chariot) you go to the home of the good ritual performer, by that, o men, travel your course to us.
\nYou free Atri, the seer of the five peoples, from narrow straits, from the earth cleft along with his band, o men\u2014confounding the wiles of the merciless Dasyu, driving them out, one after another, o bulls.<\/p>\n

O As\u0301vins\u2014you men, you bulls\u2014by the wondrous powers you draw back together the seer Rebha, who bobbed away in the waters, like a horse hidden by those of evil ways. Your ancient deeds do not grow old.<\/p>\n

\u2014 1.117.2\u20134, in The Rigveda, translated by Stephanie W. Jamison (2014)[15]\nAccording to the text, the Ashvins were born after the sun god Vivasvat and his wife Saranyu (Sanjna) engaged in love making in<\/p>\n[16]\nAt one mention, the Indus (Sindhu) River is stated to be their mother.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ashvins are an instance of the Indo-European divine horse twins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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the Welsh Bran and Manawydan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reflexes in other Indo-European religions include The first mention of the Nasatya twins is from a Mitanni treaty (c.1350 BCE), between<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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forest and tried to seduce her. They asked her to choose one of them as her new husband, but she refused and remained faithful<\/p>\n

to Chyavana. The twins were impressed by her chastity and asked her to wish anything. Upon their request, she told them to<\/p>\n

restore the youth and sight of Chyavana. Ashvins agreed but they had a condition. After curing Chyavana, they would also take<\/p>\n

similar form and she would have to identify Chyavana. Sukanya showed her consent after getting permission from her husband.<\/p>\n

Ashvins took Chyavana into a lake and cured him. When a young Chyavana emerged from the lake, Ashvins also took forms<\/p>\n[27][28]\n

The Mahabharata also narrates about the birth of Nakula and Sahadeva, who were the \u201cspiritual sons\u201d of the Ashvins. According<\/p>\n

to the epic, a king named Pandu was unable to make love due to a curse and didn’t have any heir. However, he advised his wives,<\/p>\n

Kunti and Madri, to invoke various gods and ask for sons. Ashvins Nasatya and Darsa blessed Madri with Nakula and Sahadeva<\/p>\n[21][29]\n

Associations [edit]\nThe Ashvins are often associated with rescuing mortals and bringing them back to<\/p>\n[30][b]\n

(u\u0301d…ai\u0301rayatam\u0323 sva\u0300r dr\u0323s\u0301e\u0301, 1.112.5).<\/p>\n

The Ashvins are associated with honey, which was likely offered to them in a sacrifice.<\/p>\n

They are the chief deities in the Pravargya rite, in which they are offered hot milk. They<\/p>\n

are also associated with the morning pressing of Soma, because they are dual deities,<\/p>\n

along with Indra-Va\u0304yu and Mitra-Varun\u0323a. They also are the last deities to receive Soma in<\/p>\n[32]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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similar to him and Sukanya successfully identified her husband.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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respectively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ashvins<\/p>\n

Gods of Health and Medicine<\/p>\n

Other Ashvini Kumaras, Ashvinau, names Nasatya, Dasra<\/p>\n

Affiliation Devas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Texts<\/p>\n

Parents Siblings<\/p>\n

Consort Children<\/p>\n

Greek equivalent<\/p>\n

Baltic equivalent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rigveda, Mahabharata, Puranas Personal information<\/p>\n

Surya (father) Sanjna (mother)<\/p>\n

Revanta, Yami, Yama, Shraddhadeva Manu, Shani, Karna, Tapati and Savarni Manu
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Nakula (spiritual son) Sahadeva (spiritual son)<\/p>\n

Equivalents<\/p>\n

Dioskuri
\nAs\u030cvieniai, Dieva De\u0304li<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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10.39\u201341, 10.143.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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the form of a stallion and a mare respectively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ashvins are also called “divo\u0301 na\u0301pa\u0304ta\u0304”, which is variously translated as either<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“sons” or “grandsons” of Dyaush.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ashvins were<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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the close companions of the Vedic mother goddess Ushas (dawn) and sometimes they are even mentioned as her sons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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marriage of the Ashvin brothers is narrated in the Sukta 117 of Rigveda. According to the legend, the sun god, Surya-Savitra, had<\/p>\n

a daughter named Su\u0304rya\u0304 (with a long a\u0304) and arranged a horse-race to choose her bridegroom. The Ashvins won the race and<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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thus, both of them married Surya\u0304.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n[21][2][a] [17][22] Pushan is also stated to have chosen the Ashvins to be his fathers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Ashvins are depicted as the helpers of mortals in various suktas of Rigveda. The sukta 112 describes that when the sage Dirghashravas prayed to Ashvins for rain, the twins poured sweet water from the sky. According to sukta 16, they also helped the sage Gotama, who was lost in a desert and begged for water. It is described that the gods dug a water well and helped the sage. [21] According to another account, Rebha was bound, stabbed, and cast into the waters for nine days and ten nights before being saved by the twins. He was explicitly described as “dead” when the twins “raised (him) up” to save him (RV 10.39.9). Similarly, Bhujyu was saved after his father or evil companions abandoned him at sea when the twins brought him home from the dead<\/p>\n[9]\n

The Ashvins also raised Vandana, rescued Atri from a fissure in the earth and its heat, found Vishnapu and returned him to his<\/p>\n

father, restored the youth of Kali, brought Kamadyu\u0304 as a wife for Vimada, gave a son to Vadhrimati\u0304 (whose husband was a steer),<\/p>\n

restored the eyesight of Rijrashva, replaced the foot of Vishpala with a metal one, made the cow S\u0301ayu give milk, gave a horse to<\/p>\n[2]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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ancestors (RV, 1.119.4).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pedu, and put a horse’s head on Dadhyan\u0303c.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to the Shatapatha Brahmana, Ashvins once tried to seduce Sukanya, the<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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daughter of king Saryati and wife of an old sage named Chyavana. However, she refused and claimed that the twins were<\/p>\n

imperfect and told them to restore the youth of Chyavana. Desperate to know the reason for her words, they fulfilled her condition<\/p>\n

and the sage finally revealed that Ashvins were excluded from a yajna (fire sacrifice) performed by the gods, and thus, they were<\/p>\n

incomplete. Ashvins went to the sacrifice but the gods don’t accept, claiming that the Ashvins were spending too much time with<\/p>\n[23]\n

In the post-Vedic texts of Hinduism, the Ashvins remain significant, and in these texts, one of them is referred as Nasatya and the other one is known as Darsa. Many of their legends are rewritten in various texts like the epic Mahabharata, Harivamsha, and the Puranas.<\/p>\n

According to these texts, Sanjna, daughter of Vishvakarma, was married to Surya, but she was unable to bear his heat and<\/p>\n

decided to abandon him. She ran away and roamed in the forest of northern Kuru kingdom in the form of a mare. The Vishnu<\/p>\n

Purana adds that she performed austerities in the forest to gain control over Surya’s heat. After Surya discovered Sanjna’s<\/p>\n[24]\n[24]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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the mortals. After many attempts of explanation, they were finally accepted.
\ndeities. In the sukta 117, they even destroyed an asura Vishvaka as well as his dynasty.<\/p>\n

Post-Vedic text [ edit ]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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disappearance, he located her and had sex with her in the form of a stallion. Sanjna gave birth to the twins.<\/p>\n[25]\nThese texts also elaborate the story of Chyavana, which was first narrated in Brahmanas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rarely, in some<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Puranas, Ashvins are mentioned as the sons (creation) of the god Brahma.
\nbeautiful daughter of the king Saryati\u2014 accidentally blinded the old Chyavana, who was performing austerities. She married him<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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to save her kingdom from his wrath and served him dutifully.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While traveling on their chariot, the Ashvins saw Sukanya in a<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Birth of the Ashvins, a folio from the text Harivamsha<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ashvins are sometimes presented as fierce<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In this version, Sukanya\u2014the<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Rigveda also describes the Ashvins as “bringing light”: they gave “light- \u0301<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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life.
\nbringing help” (sva\u0300rvati\u0304r…u\u0304ti\u0304r, 1.119.8) to Bhujyu, and “raised (Rebha) up to see the sun”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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the Atira\u0304tra, or Overnight Soma Ritual.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ashvins are invoked at dawn, the time of their principal sacrifice, and have a close connection with the dawn goddess, Us\u0323as: she is bidden to awaken them (8.9.17), they follow her in their chariot (8.5.2), she is born when they hitch their steeds (10.39.12), and their chariot is once said to arrive before her (1.34.10). They are consequently associated with the “return from darkness”: the twins are called \u201cdarkness slayers\u201d (tamoha\u0301na\u0304, 3.39.3), they are invoked with the formula “you who have made light for mankind” (ya\u0304v… jyo\u0301tir ja\u0301na\u0304ya cakra\u0301thuh\u0323, 1.92.17), and their horses and chariot are described as<\/p>\n

\u0301 [33] “uncovering the covered darkness” (aporn\u0323uva\u0301ntas ta\u0301ma a\u0304 pa\u0301ri\u0304vr\u0323tam, 4.45.2).<\/p>\n

The chariot of the Ashvins is repeatedly mentioned in the Rigveda. Their chariot has three chariot-boxes, three wheels, three turnings, and three wheel rims. The emphasis on the number 3 is symbolized in the sacrifice with its three soma pressings. The chariot is pulled by bulls, buffaloes, horses, birds, geese, and falcons. The chariot allows the Ashvins to be quick and mobile and travel to a number of places, which is necessary to fulfill their role of rescuing people. Su\u0304rya\u0304, the daughter of the Sun, is<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n[2]\nIt is also believed that the Ashvins were the first one to prepare the Chyawanprash formulation for Rishi Chyavana at his Ashram<\/p>\n[34]\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashvins Article Talk From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Ashvins (Sanskrit: \u0905\u093f\u0936\u094d\u0935\u0928,\u094d romanized: As\u0301vin, lit. ‘horse possessors’), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau,[3] are Hindu twin gods associated with 36 languages Contents [hide] (Top) … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area2","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 01:40:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}