At the close to our previous installment, our attention had turned briefly towards a particular prominent Hellenic iteration as to the ‘myth-in-motion’ for the Dual-Goddess(es) – namely, Her flight whilst in Form(s) Dark, Wrathful/Avenging, and Equine from Her Husband, the Sky Father as Stallion ; and with the “Daughter” deific often attested with relation to all of this (in fact, as we had within our previous kanda demonstrated – an “Emanation”, a “Parallel Form”, rather than a “Descendant”) providing the ‘other half’ to our “Dualis”. [The art utilized for this piece, from one Louise Green, rather readily conveying the ‘twofold’ dimensions to the relevant equiform visage of the Goddess]

Most would know of this (whether directly or otherwise) thanks to the wonderful efforts of Pausanias at collecting various local (in that case, chiefly Arcadian) religious traditions within his justly-renowned travelogue of second century (AD) Greece. Yet the roots to these perspectives run back far Deepa than that, just as their ‘branches’ also stretch out across time and space much more expansively, as well. 

And, speaking of such – we would (briefly, for we have gone on a much more circuitous venture than I had initially intended) observe the essential correlation for the mythology around Poseidon and Demeter in these regards, with that prominent Hindu mythos for the ‘Wide-Shining One’ (‘Vivasvat’) in similarly equiform pursuit as to His Wife, Saranyu (and we shall refrain from the temptation to delve into matters etymological here in the mere name of bashing heads); a most determined rapprochement that results in the famed Ashvins, the ‘Horse Twins’ (these being, in Classical terms, the ‘Dioskouroi’ / ‘Dioscuri’ – better known as Castor & Pollux / Polydeuces) .

Now, as applies our mytheme(s) under discussion: right from the oldest account available to us, that at RV X 17 1-2, we have this ‘Dual’ of feminine Divinities to be encountered. Two Forms, it should seem, united via the fact of Their being (as the text puts it) “savarṇa” – that is to say, of the same quality or ‘same essence’ (although as applies ‘same quality’, it can potentially also refer to ‘same appearance’). Albeit seemingly encountered ‘sequentially’ – Saranyu having ‘vanished’ (“nanāśa”) and becoming ‘hidden’ (“apāgūhann”) either from Mortals or for the sake of Mortals (“martyebhyaḥ” can mean either) afore this sudden arrival of a ‘same quality’ but evidently different in appearance or expression in some way ‘second’ figure. If you can manage to cast your mind back into Part One as to this series – Where else have we just recently heard of a Goddess, One of Two, that ‘vanishes’ and goes beyond the visual ken of humanity (ref. the direct meaning of ‘Hades’ there – viz. that ‘Unseen’ and the barrier between our world and that of the Underworld / Death …), only for the Other of the Two to become rather Terrifically Prominent in Her (Other Visage’s) Place … 

The detailing around the Horse Forms for both Goddess and God comes attested later, most saliently in the Pauranika texts … as that  (the actual general detailing and telling of the stories) is what (amidst other purposes) they are there for (contrary to what people often seek to presume – the Samhitas of the Vedas … aren’t really there as ‘mythology guidebooks’, for the most part; they do not need to do more than but briefly allude to or cursorily mention various things – everybody actively involved in a Vedic Rite is generally either a Priest or a God (or Both) … and thus already knows the mythology being referenced, particularly if They were there when it happened in the first place!).

The scenario of Saranyu is a particularly pronounced exemplar – as there’s literally only about two lines across the entire RigVeda that attest to it, along with some slight slivers of additional context potentially gleanable through the (slightly altered) re-using for these RV verses within two Atharvanic Funerary Hymnals [AV-S XVIII 1 53 & XVIII 2 33] . This sort of ‘gradual unfurling’ has occasionally lead to the presumption that various of those later-attested significant points for characterization are thusly creatures of a similarly novel construction – that is to say, that they have only come into existence towards the time of their later (and most prominent) textual occurrence. And, I seem to recall a “discussion” of sorts I’d had with an academic upon the matter wherein it was asserted that the clear coterminity for certain of these by the time of the Puranas with the Hellenic IE mythoi’s presentation as to such might even have been a case resultant from the Hindusphere having directly absorbed such therefrom. 

Except art not so. One finds a somewhat more archaic pair of profferencies within the Bṛhaddevatā (of Śaunaka) [VI 162-3 & VII 1-7] and the Nirukta of Yaska [XII 10-11]. The former – a sort of compendium-encyclopedia for the RigVeda congealed precisely for this kind of purpose (it is rather briefer and more specific hymn-oriented than the Pauranika extollings); and the latter, a commentary ostensibly oriented toward the linguistics and the ‘poetic’ interpretation of hailings and allusions of the relevant Shruti. Whilst there is some … heated debate as to the dating for Shaunaka’s work, Yaska is reasonably securely dated to somewhere around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. 

And as for why these accounts are of such value for us in our present mood – it is because therein we find components that are ‘confirmed’ in their essence-tial antiquity via their co-occurrence also (in various somewhat differing arrangements or stylistic appellations) via those Ancient Greek (and later Roman) texts … yet with the somewhat ‘fragmented’ and ‘diffuse’ status for these through the Classical rendering it singularly improbable for that to have somehow (even anachronistically) proven the origination for these ‘broader’ strokes to the story. Indeed, even the Vedic (and here I mean this ‘expanded’ Vedic) account does not quite possess everything all in the ‘one stop shop’ – but we shall address some of those more ‘peripheral’ stars to the constellation as to the myth in due course. 

One of the most remarkable detailings to be found within both the Nirukta and Brhaddevata concerns the maternity for the young Manu (i.e. the First Man – and First Priest, a ‘Royal Rsi’ (“rājarshir”), no less) … with this being assigned in both cases to the ‘savarṇa’ Form for the Goddess (a concept also drawn forth by Sāyaṇa in his RV commentary, inter alia); something which contrasts rather heavily (and has seemingly caused … quite a few issues, that we do not intend to delve into within this piece) with the Pauranika iterations – and which harmonizes most remarkably when read properly in concert with an array of Hellenic and even Nordic mythology to a significant spectra of the First Man mythoi for the archaic Indo-Europeans. But more upon that some other time.  

We also ought make mention (following Patton) for the apparent slight difference between the Brhaddevata account and the RV verses [X 17 1-2] which it seeks to elucidate upon. Namely, that whereas in the RV rendition, the apparition for the ‘savarṇa’ figure is declared the doing of an unspecified ‘They’ [assumedly The Gods – and if so, given what we know about the ‘Wrathful’, ‘Avenging’ associations for the ‘Dark Facing’ to the Wife of the Sky Father, I would wonder as applies the ‘making’ as to such a Goddess-Form, whether it is something resemblant to how the arrival of the wrathful Rudra (Vastospati) as terrific Upholder of Law is similarly a ‘team effort’ by the outraged Gods at various points in the Shruti (RV X 61 7, for instance); or in later texts, Durga’s formidable parodos …], within the Bṛhaddevatā this ’emanation’ or ‘duplication’ and (consequent) swift escaping is undertaken by Saranyu Herself. 

Patton also highlights a potentially vital point of distinction within the RV iteration itself – the “martyebhyaḥ” often simply translated along the lines of ‘from mortals’ [as in, the Goddess, Saranyu, being hidden from mortals – ‘the World of the Living’, perhaps …], per Sāyaṇa’s interpretation being for the sake of mortals (the aforementioned “martyebhyaḥ” proving capable of interpretation as either – perhaps, one might suggest, both and simultaneously … ), and for the purpose that Manu (i.e. the First Mortal) be enabled to be born (which is, for reasons which ought prove rather readily apparent, rather important for all the mortals to come afterwards). [Patton’s own text has  “”for the sake of the mortal” (martyebhyaḥ) which Sāyaṇa takes to mean ”so that Manu may be born.”” ; whilst H.H. Wilson’s translation for the RV, which draws strongly from Sayana, maintains the determined plural (i.e. mortals). The meaning is quite viably the same in its implication, so assumedly Patton is simply ‘jumping ahead’ to get there with her phrasing for it.] 

We would also find Yaska’s rendition [this time, at XII 11] to be of additional pertinent interest to us due to his expansion upon a verse also encountered within the funerary liturgies of the AtharvaVeda [Śaunakīya recension – XVIII I 53; I say “also encountered” because it is basically RV X 17 1 with minor alteration]. Following Tvastr having constructed a bridal chariot for Saranyu (per Whitney’s translation for the first part to the line from the AV-S), Sarup’s rendition for the Nirukta declares the following (and I ought emphasize that those square-brackets immediately to follow are his rather than my own): “[This entire universe comes together.] All these created beings come together. Being married, the wife of the mighty Vivasvat, and the mother of Yama, disappeared, […]”, with this being immediately chased by Yaska’s interpretation as to the thing – as he puts it, “i.e. the Night, Who is the Wife of the Sun, disappears at Sunrise.”

It’s not quite what I think is going on there – but it’s not incorrect, either. Only … incomplete, so to speak. Because it seems rather readily apparent to me that whilst yes the ‘Light / Dark’ alternating Visage is keyed to ‘Night’ / ‘Daylight’ (even ‘Dawn’ – and we would note that occurrence for ‘Ushas’ as theonymic for the pointedly ‘Two-Faced’ Aditi [RV I 113 19 has Ushas as ‘Aditer Anīkaṃ’, a ‘Face’ of Aditi], yon Wife of the Sky Father [c.f. SBr I 7 4 & Ait. Br. II 33 1 in constellation with an array of other materials for ‘Ushas’ in relation to ‘Rudra’]) … that’s not all that’s touched upon via the ‘transition’. 

For one thing, there is the transit to the Underworld to be considered. How can we tell? Well, other than that being a rather significant dimension to the myth within one of its major Hellenic presentings (i.e. the equiform Demeter Erinys / Melaina, and Persephone) and my own earlier aforementioned contemplation viz. the Goddess becoming ‘hidden’ (“apāgūhann” – ref. the ‘Guhya’ descriptor for the relevant Goddess elsewhere … and, of course, the seeming suite of ‘Hidden One’ potential interpretations for Odin’s Wife in various (later-attested) theonymy – which we may return to look upon more in due course) in particular syzygy with the substantially ‘negative’ dimension to “nanāśa” (‘disappeared’ –  Naś ( नश् ) also entailing death, destruction, and other such more overtly privative elements rather than simply ‘becoming invisible’ (although it also can connote that – and c.f. ‘Hades’, etc., as well … Helmet-wise included !) …

… There’s also that aforesaid pair of occurrences for the lines (RV X 17 1 & 2) within those Funerary liturgies of the AtharvaVeda [AV-S XVIII 1 53 & XVIII 2 33]. The first of which, AV-S XVIII 1 53 features Saranyu in Her wedding-chariot and seemingly undertaking a wedding processional thence ‘disappearing’ … with the next line [AV-S XVIII 1 54] speaking of a journey undertaken via the Roads of the Dead Ancestors to the City reigned over by Yama & Varuna. (Goddess going in a Chariot ends up disappearing to Underworld with this linked to a Marriage – sound familiar, yet?) And the second of which, AV-S XVIII 2 33, is situated immediately between a verse speaking as to the cosmological placement for Yama and one which calls forth the Ancestor-Spirits and Agni to receive an offering (interestingly, beginning with The Buried Pitrs – something perhaps rather unanticipated for Vedic funerary liturgy, for a number of reasons … and yet, there it is. One would note the ‘Sepulchral’ or perhaps ‘Barrow’ saliency shared there. ‘Chthonic’, indeed!). In both cases prominently near to a ‘Svadha’ (the very next line – AV-S XVIII 1 54, for the former; two lines after, AV-S XVIII 1 34, for the latter) … something quite fitting, in its fashion, for the ‘Dualis’ typology : Svāhā as Wife of Agni and fulfilling the role of essential invocationary that offerings might go to the Gods, ‘Svadhā’ performing likewise as the correlate ‘magic word’ (to drastically oversimplify things) when the offerings are to the Dead (as is particularly the case in the seasonal transition of Autumn … ).

And, speaking of Autumn – that is the other style of ‘transition’ that I would hold to be pertinent there (entirely unsurprisingly, I know). Although not, perhaps, simply for the reason one might think (i.e. simply “because Persephone / Demeter”, and extrapolating from there). 

The dual major NavRatris – Chaitra & Ashvini for Spring (Vasanta) and Autumn (Sharada) respectively – are similarly correlated to the ‘Jaws of the Underworld’ [viz. Devi Bhagavata Purana III 26 3-8] and are, of course, major Devi observances; with archaic foundations for these correlating to both the Autumnal significance for Ambika (Rudra’s Female Counterpart – ‘Sister’,  ‘Svasā’ (स्वसा), per the Tryambakah liturgies of the Yajurveda [VS III 57 / SBr II 6 2 9, inter alia]; His Wife more usually) lethally attested for Her  [ref. Tait. Br. I 6 10 4] and as applies Chaitra NavRatri, the First Man situation (c.f. Phoroneus) for reasons which we shall explain more fully in a future effort. For now, it is enough to know that the undertaker in question is also identified as the ‘Savarni’ Manu that is Son of Chaya (and, again, leave aside the ‘reconciliations’ entered into in the Pauranika era corpus to try to temporally relocate this figure to a future cycle rather than accept him as the same figure as the ‘Vaivasvata’ Manu that was first in this one … again, long story – and for another time). 

But we can go further. 

The Taittiriya Brahmana, in its Nakshatra oriented sections, declares something interesting as to the asterism of Punarvasu (‘Double Vasu’, indeed – more aptly, “Again/Restoration” (‘Punar’) [of] Abundance / Wealth / (Solar) Radiance / Water / Good (‘Vasu’)”) – which is, in Western terms, Gemini (i.e. the constellation of the Dioscuri). 

Here [Tait. Br. III 1 1 5 & Tait. Br. III 1 4 5], the Deific for the Stars is given as Aditi – and with i) the Goddess described as, per DuMont’s translation, a ‘Swift Mare’ [III 1 1 5b], as well as ii) bringing about the (restorative?) growth of “plants and trees” (again, per DuMont’s translation; “osadhibhir vanaspatibhih”) [III 1 4 5]; and we might also make overt mention for Her being called upon in the same breath as the former for protection [“sprnotu”] of us, Her children.

In a spirit of ‘full disclosure’ – we do acknowledge that there might be some degree of controversy with the “Swift Mare” translation proffered by DuMont, insofar as it is a bit figurative and hinges in part around the occurrence for the relevant word in other Vedic texts and the prospect of a disappearing accent. That said, as applies the ‘other Vedic texts’ – Sayana assents for ‘Horse’ at RV I 158 3 & RV I 166 4; and as applies this specific Tait. Br. verse, DuMont is in fairly illustrious company – Weber, as he notes, had gone for “Stute” (that is to say, “Mare”) here … and as I note, with Weber’s Mare proving to be “brünstige”, a term meaning something along the lines for “fervent”, which reminds one of ‘Erinys’ – or “in heat”, which reminds one of … well, a few things, including exactly that which happens to lead to the conception / arrival of the Ashvins, featuring Saranyu in Horse Form, if you recall. Or, phrased another way … given this is the Asvin / Dioscuri Nakshatra / Constellation – it all starts looking rather suspiciously on-point to be correct, in earnest. (And one also notes that the stem at issue, ‘Eva (एव)’, can also be read as “Earth” [per Mahīdhara upon VS XV 4 & 5], “Course” [per Griffith upon VS XV 4 & 5], and Custom – with this last one resonating quite pleasingly with, of course, ‘Themis’ (both the Goddess and the rather coterminous ‘Divine Law’) and in a sense, one might suggest, ‘Hora’, as well.).

It is an interesting thing, this notion for Aditi as both Goddess presiding with regard to the ensuring for the abundance of the natural world (i.e. ‘Life’ – and vibrant greenery upon this Earth of ours), as well as being the Ruler of the Pitrs [per SBr VIII 4 3 7], the Ancestral Dead. Simultaneously, She is the Earth (as directly extolled repeatedly) and also the Sky – we would contemplate RV X 68 11, wherein the Pitrs (in the manner of Stars) adorn the Dark [veil of] Heaven [“Dyām”], the (Bright) Sky’s manifestation as Night, as a ‘Dusky’ / Dark  Horse [“śyāvaṃ […] aśvaṃ “] with beautiful strings of Pearl [“kṛśanebhir”]. 

Of course, it is not only Aditi who should seem to be of somewhat of a ‘dual nature’ – the Dioscuri / Dioskouroi / Divo Napata / Asvins ought appear likewise to stand ‘liminally’ astride such as well. 

This, to my mind, is likely at least partially what has underpinned the rather curious situation of Castor & Pollux / Polydeuces – wherein various Classical accounts seek to present one of the Twins as being, in effect, ‘mortal’, and not a ‘Dioscuri’ (i.e. not a Son of Zeus / Jupiter) due to having allegedly actually been fathered by Tyndareus (the mortal husband of Leda). The result of this being the famed ‘alternating’ arrangement for the Brothers between Underworld and Celestial sphere following the death of Castor.

We would suggest that it is the opposite way around – that is to say, that the associations for the Horse Twins with such a duality of two realms is what was already there; the ‘explanatory inference’ that it was allegedly due to a ‘split paternity’ being the (decidedly unnecessary) post-facto interpolation. One of several, in fact – the most prominent of which proving to be the readily attested reworking of the role of the Goddess in all of this to instead have Her position be (at least partially) held by a mortal queen in various versions, an act of quasi-euhemerism which in some ways renders the corresponding insertion for a human king seeking to take up half the role for Zeus perhaps a little less surprising. However, I shall (with considerable effort) restrain myself from endeavouring to elaborate more comprehensively upon all of this here, as it is rather adjacent to our purpose. As would be a rather more exhaustive run-through for the attested occurrences within the Shruti for the ‘dual’ linkages for the Asvins with relation to Earth and Heaven [SBr IV 1 5 16], the Sun and Moon [per Sayana’s commentary upon Their Hailing as ‘Sons of the Sindhu’ (‘Sea’ – or ‘River’) at RV I 46 2], the Day and Night [per the reference within Nirukta XII 1], Their prominence at both Evening and Morning [RV VIII 22 14], inter various alia, and what is expressed via such. 

Instead, we shall simply observe this: Their essence-tial characteristics are, with relation to various for these things, very much ‘inherited’ ones. It is, in other words, the case of ‘Like Mother(s), Like Sons’. 

Not for nothing, it would seem, were They hailed through that verse quoted by Yāska in his Nirukta: “One is called the Son of Night, the Other [is] Son of Dawn.” [XII 2, Sarup translation]

Just as we behold ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’ Forms or Visages for the Goddess – well, so too do we appear to have a pair of Twins (and yes, yes I mean that in both senses … in much the same way, perhaps, as there is that delightfully perplexing ambiguity in the original RV verse from which much of this has stemmed … a pair of Twins as in four, and a pair of Twins as in two; the other pair, of course, being Manu & Yama) that likewise are to be found ‘resonant’ upon either sides to the ‘Death’ and ‘Life’ (or, if you prefer, ‘Earth’ and ‘Heaven’) divide.

And yet – it is not a thing so directly akin to that Regimen of Yama, wherein it is the Underworld that is the demesne upon a more exclusive basis as compared to His Brother, Manu (and, indeed, with the exception of some trace linkages like the ‘Pradana’ of Yama at RV I 116 2, or the various lines of potential significance within RV X 40, there isn’t a huge amount for the Aśvins on the ‘Dead’ side to the equation) .

Rather, the Asvins – as we have attested – are to be observed supporting in the truly ‘Chthonic’ manner as that term would be known to the Ancient Greeks – i.e. ‘Earth’ , which , whilst it contains ‘Underworld’, is also where the Plants grow from. Hence why we find those mentions for the Ashvins acting with a Vrka, a Wolf [often, perhaps not entirely unfeasibly, translated as ‘Plough[share]’ in the RV], in order to ensure a positive harvest [RV I 117 21 & VIII 22 6]. The Wolf in question we would take to be Sirius – Ardra, that well-known ‘Moisture-Bringer’ Nakshatra that is Rudra (and which assumedly also underpins Tishya, given the Iranic Tishtrya in relation to Sirius, also; c.f. the invocation mentioned by Apollonius of Rhodes in the second book to his Argonautica for Zeus Ikmaios which occurs proximate to Sirius’ celestial saliency, as well); the Aśvins correlating to the Gemini / Punarvasu and ‘following’ on from Ardra / Sirius within the Nakshatra processional.

And we would also make reference to the rather prominent occasions of Vedic myth wherein it is through immersion in a pool [see, for instance, SBr IV 1 5, particularly 12 onwards] and removal of the skin [RV I 116 10] via which the Aśvins are said to enable the sage Cyavana to recover his youth – you know, exactly that which Their Mother should seem to undertake, within the comparative Indo-European theological understanding. Hence, as applies an ‘Underworld’ or ‘Dead’ saliency – it should seem that the Asvins are not entirely unconnected.

The Water, as we know, entails within it that Portal thereto : as illustrated via that archaic IE Anatolian salience for the ‘Divine Roadway of the Earth’ in such regard [“ᴰᵉᵘˢVIA TERRA” per the Luwian hieroglyphic transcription, “ᴰKASKAL.KUR” for the Hittites’ borrowing from Cuneiform], and the Cyan pool upon Sicily where Hades ‘rent the Earth’ (assumedly with His Bident; Ovid has a ‘royal scepter’ (“sceptrum regale”) at Metamorphoses V 409) as roadway in relation to Persephone. And, of course, through the Vitasta current flowing from Rasātala (‘the Underworld’), which is both likewise identified in relation to Gauri (Shiva’s Wife in ‘Fair’ Facing, per Rajatarangini I 29; the Nilamata Purana goes somewhat further as applies the array of Her Names linked to this), and (the otherwise prominently deceased) Sati (viz. Nilamata Purana 262 & 310, inter alia) … as well as being presented as having its terrestrial origination via Lord Shiva rending the Earth with His Spear (explicitly described as occurring in the manner of a plough, no less!) so as to open the way for His Wife, Sati, to come back from the Underworld via such watery pathway.

The Kashmirian exemplar to this typology, entirely unsurprisingly, being linked to the pool named Nila (i.e. ‘Blue-Black’) therefore resonates most strongly with both the place [‘NilaKunda’] for Kali’s ritual immersion and cleansing bath in Her transition back to Her ‘Gauri’ Facing, and of course with that ‘Cyane’ [‘Κυάνην’] designation for the Sicilian spring via which Hades had brought Persephone to the Underworld. The colouration is also in common with Demeter’s Dark ‘Veiling’ [“κυάνεον”] – which is entirely as we should anticipate. 

This is not simply for the obvious reason – that it is the dark exterior Visage that Demeter might be regarded as transitioning from (and here, I am indeed aware that I am – not unwarrantedly – bringing together two ‘strands’ of the same narrative; the Dark Cloak etc. being as prominent in the Homeric Hymnal etc.; the notion for Demeter as Black and Furious being what we find attested more via Pausanias as local understanding), but also due to i) how this inter-relates with the water within which the ritual immersion / bathing of ‘purification’ is to have occured ; and also, ii) as the transition is, once again, closely connected to the quite specifically Equiform as well as the ‘Dark’ Facing(s) to the Diwija Dualis. 

As applies the former, pertaining to the Horse … other than the fact of those various mythic narratives in which Demeter adopts such a Form tending to end up at such a place, we have the iconographic presentation Pausanias attests for us for the Murti of Her as Demeter (‘surnamed’ / ‘epitheted’) Melaina (“ἐπίκλησιν Μελαίνης”) at Mt Elaius , of wooden construction and housed underground within a Cave as sanctum (the place thereupon remarkably, per Frazer, being known amidst the locals in his time quite ‘resonantly’ as the ‘Gully of the Virgin’ / Stomion tes Panagias’ and even having the Hellenic legend ‘observed’, so to speak, by ‘the Madonna’ in the local Christian folklore)  – the cave reportedly having been where She had retreated to for that protracted period of wintry famine that characterized Her discontent. (The Goddess going Underground and this coinciding with the opposite to Spring / Summer … sound familiar ? There’s a ‘Despoina’ [” Δέσποιναν”] directly emanated here, per VIII 42, as well)

“The image, they say, was made after this fashion. It was seated on a rock, like to a woman in all respects save the head. She had the head and hair of a horse, and there grew out of Her head images of serpents and other beasts. Her tunic reached right to Her feet; on one of Her hands was a dolphin, on the other a dove. Now why they had the image made after this fashion is plain to any intelligent man who is learned in traditions. They say that they named her Black because the goddess had black apparel.”

The notion of ‘serpentine-hair’ is by now a familiar one – the famed Phersipnai [Etruscan Persephone] of the ‘Tomb of Orcus’ springs instantly to mind, here, as do the Erinyes clade in various descriptions … and, further to the East, Chamunda and other such Destroyer Faces of the Devi. Some have linked the Gorgon – Medusa – and in a way, this too is pertinent .. in the same fashion that Athena has Her ‘Gorgoneion’ (featuring just such a face most prominently) as Terrific Visage.

As applies the latter, the situation of the water and ritual immersion for the Dark Form – we shall quote from our earlier work:

“Per  Photius’ Bibliotheca (190) Ptolemy Chennus asserts that the Styx flowing in Arcadia has its black colouration  (‘μέλαν’ – ‘Melan’) as the result of Demeter in a state of χαλεπήνασα , which effectively works out as ‘Harsh’, ‘Savage’, ‘Fierce’, ‘Dangerous’, ‘Severe’, ‘Provoked / Incited’, and so forth [ref. ‘Kruram’, ‘Ugra’, etc. in our Sanskrit / Hindu utilization for the same style of Aspect].

The Hartley translation for the Ptolemy Chennus section aforementioned makes for interesting reading in this light – “enraged [Demeter] changed Herself into a Horse and coming upon the spring and seeing Her reflected form, She hated the sight and turned the water black.” This, Hartley notes, has “Ptolemy [create] a pun by having Demeter hating  (ἐστύγησε from the verb στῦγέω), Her Own transformed appearance that is reflected in the Styx, which means ‘the hateful’. One might just as well, I think, take it at ‘face value’ – Demeter Erinys / Demeter Melaina having an appearance reflected in the Styx not merely due to the obvious dimension of water reflecting visual light … but because Her Appearance, and the [Goddess of the] Dread River of the Underworld’s Aspect, are indeed quite coterminous. That is to say – Demeter the Furious ‘Seeing Herself’ in the Styx might be readable rather literally indeed. Given the strong saliency for Demeter Erinys in relation to Divine Order [Rta, Orlog, Themis, &c.] and the Upholding of same … this Furious Form for the Goddess Who carries out such ‘Active Enforcement’ measures should surely make it quite logical for the most dire and serious of Oaths to be Sworn upon Her. “

I had also, at the time, made the observation that “Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca (I 3 1) produces a most interesting attestation for the Mother (by Zeus) of Persephone being the Styx (“ἐκ δὲ Στυγὸς Περσεφόνην”); something which he doesn’t seem to view as presenting any inherent contradiction to everywhere else in his work having Persephone’s apparent Mother be Demeter in-line with the more usual tellings. There is an obvious answer for why this might be so.”

This would logically be explicable via the same effective dimension whereby the Devi undertaking Her ritual bathing leads to the ’emanation’ for Kaushiki (i.e. Kali – and other pertinent Destroyer Form epithets may be encountered here also) Who is simultaneously described as Her ‘daughter’ (Kanyaka etc. – ref. Ancient Greek ‘Kore’) and yet is quite clearly another Facing as to the Mother Goddess, Herself (Kaushiki is also encountered with a labelling for Shiva as Her ‘Father’ alongside Uma / Bhavani as Her ‘Mother’ [Skanda Purana III 67 19-20] … however considering Shiva was nowhere near the NilaKunda site where Kaushiki as ‘dark skin’ (‘krsnam koshim’, per Skanda Purana III 58 2) was ‘separated out’ from Kali to enable Her return to ‘Gauri’ status and reunite with Shiva in the first place – it can be clearly observed how non-literal this must, of course, be.). 

We ought also make reference, I think, to the Skanda Purana account once more – wherein, likewise, at III 69 51-70, we hear of a prominent Pool within which the Devi has undertaken Her bathing of ritual purification, and with this having become blue-black as the result. And, most intriguingly, with the exterior garmentry which She had removed in this process (said to be of bark – something which we shall be returning to as applies a Hellenic co-expression within due course; along with the mountain upon which all of this is taking place) being likewise rendered into a river that bears the descriptive name for these in concordance as to its origins. 

And, as we have sought to ‘draw together’ the Hindu and the Hellenic expressions to the myth(eme) – the mind’s eye is inexorably drawn also to the syzygy for certain details attested amidst the Phigalian account preserved by Pausanias [VIII 42] via way of the Shiva Purana [VII 1 25]. We shall not indulge the reader’s patience by seeking to quote both recountings in full – but it is worth pointing out some particular points of both similarity and seeming / surface-level distinction. 

In specia, this of the Pausanian presentations, which features the by-now no doubt familiar panoply of the Goddess (Demeter) in a state of wrathful and dark-clothing covered Aspect (as well as, earlier, the equiform escape, and the anger being most specifically directed (also) at Poseidon – i.e. the Sky Father deific), also highlights the situation of famine which has accompanied this and the necessity for the local community to re-engage with the pious propitiation of Her in order to avert a presumably subsequent outbreak as to same (the burning but not replacement for a representation perhaps pertaining to an interruption for the cyclical rites directly pertinent here for Hera which we shall be considering in due course). It also makes particular emphasis for the role of another deific – Pan – in being able to track down the sojourning Goddess amidst the Mountains and play an essential role in helping to convince Her to come home and cast off the ‘darkened’ exterior of death and woe.

The particular telling at VIII 42 does not directly reference a bathing – however, it is identifiably enough the same basic narrative as that encountered amidst the Thelpusians which Pausanias had priorly put forward at VIII 25; and we might also (not least for the sake of completeness) make reference to a Boeotian form for the myth [majorly attested via the Scholiast upon Homer’s Iliad, XXIII 347] wherein instead of Demeter Erinys at Telphusia, we have ‘Erinys’ at Tilphusa (with the specific siting of ‘Oncae’ for the Boeotian event being clearly of shared derivation, as noted by Dietrich, with the ‘Onceum’ [sic] (it’s ‘Onceium’ in the Jones & Ormerod translation) where one finds Demeter Erinys proximate to Thelphusa amidst Argos [VIII 25 4]; Palaima making the most interesting observation that the Third Homeric Hymn, to Apollo (in syzygy with the Fourth Homeric Hymn, to Hermes), features Apollo moving from Onchestos (amidst the Boeotians, and surely part of the same patterning to my eye as Onceium and Oncae) to Telphousa, and thence to Delphi, with Horses prominent at each of the first two sites as recounted therein, along with prominent Poseidon linkages elsewhere attested); and we would additionally note with interest Colonel Leake’s comment viz. ‘Delphi’ and ‘Delphusa’ with relation to these due to a situation of coterminous “etymological origin, and derived also from its remarkable fountain”. Fountains and Springs – well, you see the obvious point for interleavening herein; and hence we are additionally unsurprised to find ‘Lusia’ (‘The Bather’) in-use as an epithet for Demeter at Thelpusa [VIII 25 6] … given that it is, in both directions, ‘right there within the name’.

The Shiva Purana accounting, meanwhile, whilst of course co-expressing directly the situation of the Goddess (Kali , that is Parvati) in Her dark-visaged and wrathful Form, does not expressly feature ‘famine’ as going on as part of the vital necessity for Her being sought out and convinced to Return Home from Her mountainous retreat (where a transition from ‘Kali’ to ‘Gauri’ exteriors is being undertaken by Her, completed upon the emissary’s intercessive arrival). Instead, in that telling it is the aggression of a force of demons, the Daityas, that necessitates Her being found and positively engaged with via a Divine emissary. In that case, it is Brahma – and it is interesting to speculate upon various other points of potential connexion viz. Brahma and Pan; the goat-head characteristic prominent for that of Prajapati’s other Pauranika era ‘carrying forward’ of prominence, Daksha, springs to mind … as does the detailing encountered within Macrobius’ Saturnalia [I 24] for Faunus, an ‘Interpretatio Romana’ for Pan acting in a manner suspiciously similar to Prajapati in a certain other archaic Indo-European myth – but more upon this some other time. 

The ‘difference’ between these two accounts as to the hazard that has characterized the Goddess / Devi’s Absence is but a surface one. How can we tell? Because the circumstance is actually ‘resonant’ in both directions to another evidently rather foundational Indo-European typology. That best-known which I have so often written with relation to, featuring Durga (Shakambhari) contra Durgamasur. To very briefly summarize – where the forces of Order (Cosmic Order – Rta, Themis, Orlog, etc.) are undermined and in retreat in terms of Their saliency (and ‘Her’ saliency – Divine Order being pointedly Goddess / Female expressed and expressive, across various IE religious spheres), the results are most readily apparent in twin formulations: the disruption of the cycles of the natural world and consequent famine ensuing (rainfall being a rather key ‘cycle’ – as with that of vegetation and seasons and the weather to go with it), and the ascent of demon would-be usurpers as to the Divine station. Them Daityas – well, these are ‘Opposites to the Gods’, in the sense that the Gods are of Aditi (hence – ‘Adityas’, although this is, strictly speaking, a more specific appellation for a Solar clade therein), with Aditi, ‘the infinite’, being Cosmic Order / Divine Law (as we have illustrated elsewhere) … and ‘Diti’, in this context, well, you see how it is the opposite; and, likewise, the ‘tribe’ of Diti, the Daityas, are identified with the A’Suras [‘Opposites-to-Suras’ – ‘Suras’ as in ‘Solars’, i.e. Gods]. 

In the course of both scenarios – they are to be overcome via the same (quite literally foundational) approach : the pious propitiation (‘amelioration’, indeed, viz. Demeter!) for the Goddess, with the view to petitioning for Her Return. Which is not simply some form of (regular) ‘seasonal migration’ in the arguably somewhat mundane sense – indeed, it is quite the opposite. It is the resolving of something (the universe – or local portion thereof) out of order so that Order is restored. By asking Her (She Who Is Order) very nicely to please return to us (and set things back to rights). 
The famine situation recounted in both the ‘general’ Greek myth as well as the much more specific one for the Phigalians, did not result from the ‘orderly’ passage of the yearly cycle : the latter, in particular, had as its origins the failure upon the part of the relevant human grouping to properly uphold the relevant righteous religious conduct (and therefore – the loka-lized immanency & saliency for the Divine Order, Herself … not least, it would seem, evidently within their own minds and community as a start!). A circumstance only corrected for the Phigalians upon their receiving the sage counsel of the Pythian Oracle to work to bring Her back amongst them properly once more [VIII 42 5-7]. 

Correspondingly, the demonic would-be Worlds-emperor Durgamasur (Shiva Purana V 50 5 onward) likewise inculcates a dire state of drought and famine through his attempt to dethrone the Gods – a gambit fundamentally accomplished via his managing to successfully (if temporarily) suppress all knowledge for the proper Vedic rites, ensuring these quite simply could not be performed (and we might also observe that as applies the Shumba & Nishumba to be fought by Kaushiki, that their effort had featured hijacking the sacrifices so the empowerment would flow to them rather than to the intended Divine Recipients [viz. Markandeya Purana 85, Devi Bhagavata Purana V 21, Shiva Purana V 47 37, and so forth]). A matter which would prove most favourably resolved when the Devi, having been directly petitioned by both Gods and mortals alike, arrived upon the scene to act as a trouble-shooter. 

Durgamasur was the ‘Trouble’. So She Shot him. Repeatedly. And, rather handily, with the ‘Shaka-‘ component to Her Theonym also indicating them other ‘Shoots’, those of the restored vegetation which the restoration of the saliency of Divine Order enables to spring up through the ground, once more. Irrigated – figuratively or otherwise – via the blood of demon armies thusly vanquished, accordingly. And, as connected to all of this, with the functioning performance for the Rites also restored so that Mankind can continue to play our part in this Divine War Effort, as well.