Ushas

In the Vedas, the oldest and most
authoritative Hindu religious texts,
Ushas is a goddess associated and
sometimes identified with the dawn.
She is described as lighting the path for
the sun and driving away the darkness
and evil; her presence is thus associated
with the regularity of the cosmic order.
Ushas is most notable not for what she
does—she is a minor deity, mentioned
in only a handful of the Vedic hymns—
but because she is one of the few goddesses in the Vedas. The virtual absence
of female divinities in the Vedas is one of
the factors behind the notion that the
great Goddess, one of the three major
deities in later religious life, has her
roots in indigenous goddess worship.
For more information on Ushas and all
the goddesses of Hinduism, see David R.
Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, 1986.