Pushan goat dog

(Article on Daena’s dogs stored elsewhere, yama’s dogs here, on hermes .)

Next we come to the presence of Hermes in the image. As suggested by some, one connection is the link to saramA the mother of these dogs praised in mantra-s of the YV. However, multiple lines of evidence suggest that Hermes is a cognate of puShan. We shall see that there is tangled web of connections between puShan, the dog & the realm of the dead.

First, the shruti refers to a mysterious entity agohya in the context of the R^ibhu-s. When the R^ibhu-s are sleeping the house of agohya for 12 days (dvAdasha dyUn yad agohyasyAtithye raNann R^ibhavaH sasantaH |) they were woken up. They ask agohya who did so & he says:

shvAnam basto bodhayitAram abravIt
saMvatsara idam adyA vy akhyata |

The goat said “the dog woke you up”
You opened your eyes here today [at the end] of the year.

Thus, this agohya is identified as goat, which is the animal of pUShan. The RV seems to identify pUShan with the goat:

narA vA shaMsam pUShaNam agohyam
agniM deveddham abhy archase girA |

here we take the agohya as going with pUShan. Thus, the dog associated with the house of agohya, who is likely pUShan gives us a link between the two (also astronomically relevant – see BG Tilak).

The next more direct connection is the role of pUShan in the funerary ritual, where oblations are made to him. They made with the following mantra-s & invoke pUShan to guide the ghost of the deceased to the realm of yama:

पू॒षा त्वे॒तश्च्या॑वयतु॒ प्र वि॒द्वानन॑ष्टपशु॒र्भुव॑नस्य गो॒पाः ।
स त्वै॒तेभ्यः॒ परि॑ ददत्पि॒तृभ्यो॒ऽग्निर्दे॒वेभ्यः॑ सुविद॒त्रिये॑भ्यः ॥

Here pUShan is called to arouse the ghost of the deceased & deliver it to the realm of ancestors.

आयु॑र् वि॒श्वायुः॒ परि॑ पासति त्वा
पू॒षा त्वा॑ पातु॒ प्रप॑थे पु॒रस्ता॑त् ।
यत्रास॑ते सु॒कृतो॒ यत्र॒ ते य॒युस्
तत्र॑ त्वा दे॒वः स॑वि॒ता द॑धातु ॥

Here pUShan is called to lead the deceased along path – the equivalent of the Iranic chinvato peretu to the realm where those who have done good deeds sit. the god savitR^is also invoked to place the dead one there.

पू॒षेमा आशा॒ अनु॑ वेद॒ सर्वाः॒
सो अ॒स्माँ अभ॑यतमेन नेषत् ।
स्व॒स्ति॒दा आघृ॑णिः॒ सर्व॑वी॒रो
ऽप्र॑युच्छन्पु॒र ए॑तु प्रजा॒नन् ॥

pUShan is said to know these realms completely & leads the dead along a path that is least threatening.

प्रप॑थे प॒थाम॑जनिष्ट पू॒षा
प्रप॑थे दि॒वः प्रप॑थे पृथि॒व्याः । उ॒भे अ॒भि प्रि॒यत॑मे स॒धस्थे॒
आ च॒ परा॑ च चरति प्रजा॒नन् ॥

pUShan is said to have arisen in the path leading to the heavens & that leading to the earth & he moves along both these paths with full knowledge. This parallels the Orphic hymn 56 from the yavana world, where, Hermes (who wanders around) is invoked to lead the deceased to the realm of Persephone.

An Ainos coin with Hermes and his goat.

As bharadvAja says:

आजासः॑ पू॒षणं॒ रथे॑
निश‍ृ॒म्भास्ते ज॑न॒श्रिय॑म् । दे॒वं व॑हन्तु॒ बिभ्र॑तः ॥

The goats draw the chariot bearing the the god. Further, the RV mentions a peculiar rod of pUShan. e.g. the bharadvAja-s mention it thus:

या ते॒ अष्ट्रा॒ गोओप॒शाघृ॑णे पशु॒साध॑नी । तस्या॑स्ते सु॒म्नमी॑महे ॥

This rod the अष्ट्रा is often rendered as a goad, whose favor is implored by the yajamAna. Note that it is specifically described as गोओप॒शा – with a top like a cow. Note the Ainos coin showing Hermes with the caduceus on the opposite side. This iconography of the caduceus fits the description of pUshan’s aShTrA precisely. Hence, we may conclude that the RV vipra-s visualized the aShTrA of pUShan comparably to that seen in this iconographic tradition from Thrace.