Dyaus Pita
In
vedic religion,
Dyaus Pita is the
Sky Father, husband of
Prithvi and father of
Agni and
Indra (
RV 4.17.4).
His origins can be traced to the
Proto-Indo-European sky god
*Dyeus, who is also reflected as
Greek Zeus(
accusative Día,
genitive Díos;
theos pater),
Jupiter (from Latin
Iovius pater, "father-god";
deus pater) in
Roman mythology,
Div in
Slavic mythology and
Tyr in
Norse mythology in Albanian (Zoti).
Sharing a fate similar to nordic Tyr's, already in the
Rig Veda, Dyaus Pita is all but featureless, appearing in hymns 1.89, 1.90, 1.164, 1.191 and 4.1 in simple invocations.
In RV 1.89.4b,
Pita Dyaus "Father Sky" appears alongside
Mata Prithvi "Mother Earth".
Details of the myth are sketchy, but Indra seems to have killed his father (RV 4.18.12). Thomas Oberlies tentatively identifies
Asura and Dyaus in pre-vedic religion (both appear as Indra's father, but Asura is never associated with Prithvi, so there is a possibility of two conflicting myths).
In art, he appears in two different forms: as a red
bull who bellows thunder, or as a black
horse adorned with pearls, symbolizing the stars.
*Thomas Oberlies,
Die Religion des Rgveda, Wien 1998.
