A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

NOTES ON CORRESPONDING SYMBOLS: WHEELWRIGHT 89ETHKAY-NAH-ASHI AND ASVINSIn connection with the Navajo Ethkaynah-ashi,2 it is of interest to turn to comparablefigures in the earliest Vedic mythology ofIndia. Of the divine pair of horsemen calledAsvins in the Rigveda, Keith (pp. 30-32)writes: "They are beautiful, strong, and redand their path is red or golden. They havea skin filled with honey and touch the sacrificeand the worshipper with their honey-whip.Their chariot alone is described as honeyhuedor honey-bearing, and it also hasthe peculiarity of possessing three wheels,three felloes, and all the other parts triple.The time of the Asvins' appearance is atdawn; they follow dawn in their car. . . .They are wedded to a deity described asSurya, the sun-maiden, or the daughter ofthe Sun, and it is for her perhaps that theircar has three seats and three wheels. . . .Moreover they are physicians who heal diseases,restore sight to the blind, and ward offdeath from the sick. . . ."The Indian interpreters of the early periodwere at a loss to decide the nature of theAsvins, whom they regarded as heaven andearth, sun and moon, day and night, or even astwo kings who were performers of holy acts.It is clear that in essence thev are one withthe Dioskouroi and with the two sons of theLettic god who came riding on steeds to woofor themselves the daughter of the Sun or theMoon and who, like the Dioskouroi, are recuersfrom the ocean. The older identificationwith sun and moon has been supported, andthey have been regarded merely as succouringgiants who have no mythical basis, butthe more probable view is either that theyrepresent the twilight (half dark, half light),or the morning and the evening star." Guardiansof immortality, who can ward off death,restore life, rejuvenate and make fertile, they2 Their name means "the-two-that-go-together."They are mysterious, and so holv that they are onlyshown on creation paintings and always in whitecolor. In vol. I, Navajo Creation Myth, Navajo ReligionSeries, published by the Museum of Navajo Cerewereonce shut off in a lower rank from othergods because of their healing of men. In theRigveda they rank below Indra, Agni andSoma. When they rejuvenated Cyavana, theancient husband of Sukanya, he obtained forthem the previously denied right to the Somadrink of the gods. In the later epics they arecalled Nasatya and Dasra, and appear in higherstatus as physicians of the gods and healers ofmankind. Some accounts reported one Asvinas bright and the other dark, in as striking contrastas the black and white eagles of Aeschylus.These twins, sometimes alike, sometimeslight and dark, are conceived of both as meansof reinforcement and in opposition; most generallythey are transmitters and healers.Like the Asvins, the Greek Dioskouroi,Castor and Polydeuces (latinized Pollux) — thesons of Zeus by Leda — were handsome horsemen,who rescued many men, especially inbattle and at sea. Kerenyi (p. 87) also tells ofDioskouroi, who were represented in Samothraceby two brazen phallic statues, similarto those of Hermes, at the entrance to themost secret shrine of the Great Mother. Dawson(p. 374) mentions the ruins of an earlyIron Age temple at Nesactium in the south ofIstria which contains remarkable statues oftwin figures — ithvphallic horsemen — and agoddess of birth, and says that the worship ofa triad consisting of the Mother Goddess andtwo divine horsemen was still prevalent inPannonia during the Roman period. In Spartathe Dioskouroi were exponents of virtues andvalor, called by Plutarch "Guardians." Farnell(p. 210) speaks of their worship at Epidauros,where "they were evidently attractedinto the circle of Asklepios as healers, andcame to share with him the ministrations ofhis priest and were — probably in the healingsense — entitled the 'Saviour-gods'."monial Art, they are called transmitters of life to allcreation and are always mystically present at ceremonies.See page 8 in Part I of this study, fig. 3,and section on "Notes on Parallel Symbols and Ritesin India, Tibet and Ancient Persia" in Part III, page 95.