Ashwini - Physician to the Gods
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 2:38 pm
Ashwini - Physician to the Gods
https://arvind-bhagwath.medium.com/myth ... ac027e24c9
Ashvini
Asvaḥ (अव) is the Sanskrit word for a horse, one of the significant animals finding references in the Vedas as well as later Hindu scriptures. The Ashvins are mentioned 376 times in the Rig Veda, with 57 hymns specifically dedicated to them: 1.3, 1.22, 1.34, 1.46–47, 1.112, 1.116–120 , 1.157–158, 1.180–184, 2.20, 3.58, 4.43–45, 5.73–78, 6.62–63, 7.67–74, 8.5, 8.8–10, 8.22, 8.26, 8.35, 8.57, 8.73, 8.85–87, 10.24, 10.39–41, 10.143. Ašvieniai are divine twins in the Lithuanian mythology, identical to Latvian Dieva dēli and the Baltic counterparts of Vedic Ashvins.
Reference as per Rig Veda:
Indra (King of the Gods in Vedas) had knowledge to produce elixir of immortality referred as Soma and he did not want this knowledge to get into the wrong hands and had taught it only to sage Dadichi but laid a curse upon him: “If you teach this to anyone your head must come off. “The Aśvinī twins wanted to learn this secret and being master surgeons, they cut off the sage’s head and the head of a horse and swapped the two. Through “the horse’s mouth” they learned this secret of Vedas and then they swapped the heads back to their original owners.
They are referred as twin Gods of Health and the Prayer of Brahmavadin Gosha can be found in Mandala 10 of Rig-Veda. It is a story of miracle of Ashwini-Kumaras curing Gosha of her skin problem and restoring her beauty.
आ वामगन सुमतिर्वाजिनीवसू नयश्विना हर्त्सु कामायंसत |
अभूतं गोपा मिथुना शुभस पती परियार्यम्णो दुर्यानशीमहि ||Rv. 10.40.12 ||
Explanation: O Ashwinikumaras full of wealth and food. Be pleased with us, be helpful to us in fulfilling our desires, and be graceful to us. Let us decorate the home of husband by becoming his beloved.
There are several such hymns in the Rig Veda in praise of the Ashwini Kumaras and below are few more references:
To he who was blinded, O Asvins, ye gave eyes. Great and weal-giving is your aid, O Asvins, ye made whole the cripple. Ye saved Rebha from tyranny. Ye made the barren cow of Sayu stream refreshing milk, and Vandana was helped with extended life. Doers of marvels, skillful workers, ye restored Vandana, like a vehicle worn out with length of days. From earth ye brought the sage to life in wondrous mode. As charioteers skilled in driving, ye then went to him who mourned in a far distant place, him who was left forlorn by treachery of his sire. Rich with the light of heaven was then the help ye gave, and marvelous your succor when ye stood by him.”
However, in few later Hindu Puranic scriptures (Shiv Purnana), Asvini is one among 27 constellations as the Daughters of Daksha and these Nakshatras were married to Chandra (Moon). Daksha’s 27 daughters are 27 Nakshatras in night sky and these are the 27 divisions of the zodiac based on the moon’s daily motion of 13 degrees and 20 minutes. 27 daughters of Daksha(Creator God) who got married to Moon God form 27 days of a month. The Moon travels the zodiac in 27.3 days spending roughly one day in each Nakshatra.
The ancient Vedic civilization concept of the month was based on lunar cycle which was approximately 28 days based on 28 Nakshatras (28th nakshatra was Abhijit) which as later ignored.The earliest ancient Roman calendars also had months that were 28 or 29 days. Julius Caesar modified the Roman calendar in 46 B.C. to make each month have either 30 or 31 days to sync with Solar cycle in 12 Zodiac, since the lunar cycle is approximately 29.5 days, which does not divide evenly into the 365.25 days that make up a year. The current Gregorian calendar was a modification of the Julian calendar.
https://arvind-bhagwath.medium.com/myth ... ac027e24c9
Ashvini
Asvaḥ (अव) is the Sanskrit word for a horse, one of the significant animals finding references in the Vedas as well as later Hindu scriptures. The Ashvins are mentioned 376 times in the Rig Veda, with 57 hymns specifically dedicated to them: 1.3, 1.22, 1.34, 1.46–47, 1.112, 1.116–120 , 1.157–158, 1.180–184, 2.20, 3.58, 4.43–45, 5.73–78, 6.62–63, 7.67–74, 8.5, 8.8–10, 8.22, 8.26, 8.35, 8.57, 8.73, 8.85–87, 10.24, 10.39–41, 10.143. Ašvieniai are divine twins in the Lithuanian mythology, identical to Latvian Dieva dēli and the Baltic counterparts of Vedic Ashvins.
Reference as per Rig Veda:
Indra (King of the Gods in Vedas) had knowledge to produce elixir of immortality referred as Soma and he did not want this knowledge to get into the wrong hands and had taught it only to sage Dadichi but laid a curse upon him: “If you teach this to anyone your head must come off. “The Aśvinī twins wanted to learn this secret and being master surgeons, they cut off the sage’s head and the head of a horse and swapped the two. Through “the horse’s mouth” they learned this secret of Vedas and then they swapped the heads back to their original owners.
They are referred as twin Gods of Health and the Prayer of Brahmavadin Gosha can be found in Mandala 10 of Rig-Veda. It is a story of miracle of Ashwini-Kumaras curing Gosha of her skin problem and restoring her beauty.
आ वामगन सुमतिर्वाजिनीवसू नयश्विना हर्त्सु कामायंसत |
अभूतं गोपा मिथुना शुभस पती परियार्यम्णो दुर्यानशीमहि ||Rv. 10.40.12 ||
Explanation: O Ashwinikumaras full of wealth and food. Be pleased with us, be helpful to us in fulfilling our desires, and be graceful to us. Let us decorate the home of husband by becoming his beloved.
There are several such hymns in the Rig Veda in praise of the Ashwini Kumaras and below are few more references:
To he who was blinded, O Asvins, ye gave eyes. Great and weal-giving is your aid, O Asvins, ye made whole the cripple. Ye saved Rebha from tyranny. Ye made the barren cow of Sayu stream refreshing milk, and Vandana was helped with extended life. Doers of marvels, skillful workers, ye restored Vandana, like a vehicle worn out with length of days. From earth ye brought the sage to life in wondrous mode. As charioteers skilled in driving, ye then went to him who mourned in a far distant place, him who was left forlorn by treachery of his sire. Rich with the light of heaven was then the help ye gave, and marvelous your succor when ye stood by him.”
However, in few later Hindu Puranic scriptures (Shiv Purnana), Asvini is one among 27 constellations as the Daughters of Daksha and these Nakshatras were married to Chandra (Moon). Daksha’s 27 daughters are 27 Nakshatras in night sky and these are the 27 divisions of the zodiac based on the moon’s daily motion of 13 degrees and 20 minutes. 27 daughters of Daksha(Creator God) who got married to Moon God form 27 days of a month. The Moon travels the zodiac in 27.3 days spending roughly one day in each Nakshatra.
The ancient Vedic civilization concept of the month was based on lunar cycle which was approximately 28 days based on 28 Nakshatras (28th nakshatra was Abhijit) which as later ignored.The earliest ancient Roman calendars also had months that were 28 or 29 days. Julius Caesar modified the Roman calendar in 46 B.C. to make each month have either 30 or 31 days to sync with Solar cycle in 12 Zodiac, since the lunar cycle is approximately 29.5 days, which does not divide evenly into the 365.25 days that make up a year. The current Gregorian calendar was a modification of the Julian calendar.