ZUM URSPRUNG DER GÖTTER MITRA UND VARUṆA

The name of the god Varuṇa may be explained as the re-interpretation of the gen. sg. of a neuter substantive *váru- 'wide space' being used in a supposed designation of the god Mitra either as *mitró váruṇas 'the performer of exchange / the mediator of the wide space' or – rather – as *mitró rā́jā váruṇas 'Mitra, the lord of the wide space'. This seems to be confirmed by many passages of the Ṛgveda where Varuṇa or Mitra and Varuṇa are described as ruling over wide space or where the adjective urú- plays a prominent part. The expression urú- antárikṣa- 'the wide space between heaven and earth' is perhaps a more exact synonym of *váru-. Mitra and Varuṇa can be understood as the double aspect of the planet Venus (cf. von Simson 1984) as morning- and evening-star (although this distinction is not carried through consistently in the Ṛgveda), the normal position of this planet being just in the area of transition between day and night (this explains its 'mediating' aspect) at a moderate altitude above the horizon. As a consequence of this identification of Mitra and Varuṇa with the Venus, some passages and terms of the Ṛgveda (like vyòman: sometimes = antárikṣa; gárta: 'pit', 'ditch'; ṛtá: sometimes apparently 'joint (of light)') need a more concrete and graphic interpretation. – In post-vedic sources too, there are many traces of close connections between Varuṇa (and – to a lesser degree – Mitra) and the planet Venus, which now appears as Śukra Uśanas. On the Iranian side, the original identity of the god Mithra with the planet Venus seems to be confirmed by Herodotus and other Greek writers who place him (or Aphrodite) between other phenomena of nature. In the Avestan hymn Yašt 10 ('Mihir Yašt') Mithra shows both aspects of the planet as morning- and as evening-star. His standing epithet vouru-gaoyaoiti- 'he who owns extensive pastures' may express the same idea as the Vedic rā́jā váruṇas 'the lord of the wide space', its first element (vouru-) corresponding to *váru-which according to our hypothesis generated the name of the god Varuṇa. The Roman god Mithras as killer of the bull (= the moon) still reflects an ancient mythologem connected with Venus as morning-star having its counterpart in halfhidden Vedic allusions to Mitra killing Soma. Whereas Mithra (via his aspect as morning-star) eventually became identified with the sun, the function of the planet Venus was taken over by the goddess Anāhitā. This seems to have happened under the Achaemenids in the 5