Source: TW
IMO one of the last of the surviving yavana “purANa-s”, composed just before the destruction of Classical world by the preta, that of Nonnus the Egyptian on his chosen god Dionysus preserves several old strands. Its focus is the “holy war” waged by Dionysus on the Hindus to make them Bacchanalian wine-addicts. However, the account seems confused, melding African peoples, like Ethiopians, and West Asians with H.
The Egyptian’s topos of India begins in West Asia itself. His conquest of India is alluded to in several Greek sources but this late version is perhaps an expression of what could be called a “wishful” figment existing in the yavana world longing for revenge for the defeats of the yavana-s in India & loss of the Alexandrian conquests.
This material apart the Dionysiac epic preserves a good body of mythology that is useful for the comparativist who has a proper understanding of the IE mytho-religious tradition. Of particular note is the battle between Typhoeus and the gods. Typhoeus is the Greek cognate of vR^itra in mythographic terms. There are parallels to how tvaShTR^i generated vR^itra when he wished to avenge indra’s slaying of trishiras tvAShTra. Similarly, there is a yavana tradition that Gaia gave birth Typhon to avenge the overthrow of the earlier Titans by the Olympian gods.
The account of Nonnus is remarkable in providing a detailed account of Typhon’s attack on the heaven of the gods. At Gaia’s bidding, with his 200 hands, he started seizing various things. He is said to seize the snowy weapons of Zeus as also the fiery ones.
- For the snowy weapons note the parallel in the battle between ahi and indra: Sneha, snowstorms, the sun and the moon in enigmatic ṛk-s.
- Another parallel relating to the material described in my above-linked article is the hiding or stealing of celestial bodies that Typhoeus is said to have engaged in. With his many hands he started seizing the stars. Nonnus states:
One throttled Cynosuris(=dog’s tail, ursa minor) beside the ankle-tip of Olympos;
one gripped the Parrhasian Bear’s mane as she rested on heaven’s axis and dragged her off.
Clearly we are seeing an axial shift myth here (for some background see: daNDin’s pUrvapIThikA of dasha-kumAra-charitra) It is also notable that Cynosuris=Ursa Minor is the ankle of Olympos. This implies that, like its H cognate meru, yavana Olympos was conceived as the world axis.(5)
Also:
“He [Typhoeus] buffeted the Ram, that mid-nipple star of Olympos, who balances with equal pin day and darkness over the fiery orb of his spring-time neighbor.”
That relates to the spring equinox.
Another good astronomical flourish from the Egyptian: When Typhoeus sent a whole menagerie at the heavens, he says:
Orion the hunter, seeing these tribes of wild beasts/ drew his sword;
the blade of the Tanagraian brand sparkled bright as its master made ready for attack;
His thirsty dog shooting light from his fiery chin, bubbled up his starry throat and let out a hot bark, and blew out the steam from his teeth against Typhaon’s beasts instead of the usual hare(??).
The sky was full of din, and, answering the seven-zoned heaven,
the seven-throated cry of the Pleiades raised the war-shout from as many throats
and the planets as many again banged out an equal noise."
See if you recognize all the astronomical allegories here from a famous part of the sky.