Hoof symbol indicates Vedic god Pushan (Pan)

/in /by

‘Hoof’ symbol indicates the Vedic god ‘Pushan’ (Pan)

Abstract

The hoof symbol appears 59 times as per the database of Mahadevan and Sundar. (1) (2) In Greek mythology, the god with hoofed animal legs was ‘Pan’. The Vedic god ‘Pushan’ had similar qualities of a ‘psychopomp’. And the ‘hoof’ symbol shown in Indus scripts could have indicated ‘Pushan’.

The above-given seal shows the ‘hoof’ symbol in the Indus seal inscription. The seal inscription reads as given below: (Read from left to right). Smasana-Cayana Yajna- for Pushan God -Ka (soul) -Kavu (Sacrifice) – man sacrificed.

See the Greek god Pan having an animal hoof.

Picture courtesy -Wikipedia (3)

Pan

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan was the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. (4) He had a goat’s hindquarters, legs, and horns, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. he was also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan was connected to fertility and the spring season. (3)

Origins

The Rigvedic god Pushan is believed to be a cognate of Pan. The connection between Pan and Pushan was first identified in 1924 by the German scholar Hermann Collitz. (5) (6)According to Edwin L. Brown, the name Pan is probably cognate with the Greek word for “companion”. (3)

Pushan

Pushan is a Vedic solar deity and one of the Adityas. He is the god of the meeting. Pushan was responsible for marriages, journeys, roads, and the feeding of cattle. He was a psychopomp (soul guide), conducting souls to the other world. He protected travellers from bandits and wild beasts and protected men from being exploited by other men. He was a supportive guide, a “good” god, leading his adherents towards rich pastures and wealth. He carried a golden lance, a symbol of activity. (7) The ideas expressed about ‘Pushan’ more or less tallies with later day god ‘Krishna’.

16

This pair of symbols indicating the word ‘Pushan Kavu’ appears 16 times as per the data available in the research paper of Iravatham Mahadevan and Sundar. (1) (2) However, the hoof symbol appears individually 59 times, as said earlier. This frequency is quite significant, which shows the importance of this god ‘Pushan’ in the Indus valley civilization.

In the above-given seal inscription, the ‘hoof’ symbol appears along with the ‘sastha’ symbol. This symbol pair read as ‘Pushan-sastha’. It is additional evidence to show that the ‘hoof’ symbol indicated a god.

Another notable point is that this hoof symbol appears along with the god symbol, who has projections on his shoulders. Earlier, I had explained that this god could be Ninguishzida, a Sumerian psychopomp. Anyhow, it tallies with ‘Pushan’ also, because both of them are ‘psychopomps’.

Acknowledgements

  1. The seal pictures are taken from the book of Sue Sullivan (8)
  2. The logos are made from the book of Asko Parpola (9)
  3. The data is extracted from the research papers of Iravatham Mahadevan and Sundar. (1) (2)

Bibliography

1. Mahadevan.I. The Indus script -Text, Concordance and Tables. http://www.rmrl.in. [Online] http://www.rmrl.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/papers/5a.pdf.

2. Sundar. -The-Indus-Script-Text-and-Context.pdf. http://45.113.136.87/wp-content/uploads/. [Online] http://45.113.136.87/wp-content/uploads/43-The-Indus-Script-Text-and-Context.pdf.

3. wikipedia(Pan_(god). Pan_(god). wikipedia. [Online] March 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god).

4. “The Lycidas of Theocritus Idyll 7”, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Edwin L. Brown. s.l. : Harvard University, 1981.

5. “Wodan, Hermes und Pushan. Collitz., H. s.l. : Festskrift tillägnad Hugo Pipping pȧ hans sextioȧrsdag den, 1924, Vols. pp 574-587.

6. Beekes., R. S. P. Etymological Dictionary of Greek. 2009.

7. Wikipedia. Pushan. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushan. [Online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushan.

8. Sullivan, Sue,. Indus script dictionary. 2011.

9. Parpola, Asko. Deciphering the Indus Script. New Delhi : Cambridge University Press, 2000.