Re: [tied] Religion

Hello!
Well, maybe Dumezile de-emphasized Varuna as the Binder. I have few books
from Dumezil, so I can't answer.
But de-emphasized the etymology or the function?

Varuna has a night aspect to oppose Mitra's day aspect. The duo Varuna/Mitra
have many oppositions, like yin/yang, but it's hard to say if it's a typical
Indian development or an IE basis.

Joao SL
Rio

----- Original Message -----
From: Julianus <julianus@...>
To: <cybalist@egroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2000 2:47 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Religion


>
> Hello!
>
> João Simões Lopes Filho wrote:
>
> > OURANOS: The dialetal forms point to WORWANOS or WORHANOS
> > There's the etymology *WORS-ANOS "he of the rain", as a Sky-God.
> > VARUNA : Can be IE *Wer- or Wel-
> > 1) Dumezil considered Varuna from *WER- "to bind". Indeed Varuna was a
> > "Binder". Indeed, Ouranos "bind" his children, the Titans. Dumezil saw
it as
> > a IE myth, mixed with some Mediterranean myth.
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Dumezil de-emphasize the
> 'binder-god' idea in his later works? I'm still working my way through
> his books as I can get hold of them.
>
> > 2) Other authors considered Varuna from *WEL-, like Lithuanian Velnias
> > "devil", vele "dead", ON valr "dead", Slavic Volos, Veles . So, *Welunos
> > would be a shapeshifting, terrible god, perhaps underworld.
> >
> > Personally, I don't believe Varuna was a subterraneous god. The concept
of a
> > Dark, Underworld God, facing the shining Sky-Father, is more a
symmetrical
> > concept than a mythical support.
>
> Such a relationship would make Varuna the antithesis of the Sky-Father,
> giving us something like the God/Devil pattern in popular Christianity
> don't you think? Since we don't see this in IE mythology, I'd say we
> can rule out the 'cthonic Varuna' altogether.
>
> > In many IE people this Terrible Sovereign was absorbed by the Sky-Father
> > *Dyeu- P@... In India, I think this god was influenced by Sumerian Ea
and
> > acquired a water-symbolism, turning into a Sea God.
>
> I'd say that's a stretch. True, there were apparently Sumerian/Indus
> Civilization contacts but I'd look for something more local and
post-Vedic.
>
> -- John
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> 'Nothing on the face of this earth -- and I do mean nothing -- is half
> so dangerous as a children's story that happens to be real, and you and
> I are wandering blindfolded through a myth devised by a maniac.'
> -- Master Li Kao (T'ang Dynasty)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>