Mythology - Rig Veda
The Rig Veda is the primary source of data concerning recent
chaos in the solar system. Its great length, over a thousand
stanzas, is in itself a testament to the long period of complex
encounters comprising this cosmic chaos. The close encounters
of proto-Venus and priori-Mars took place repeatedly for over
3000 years, half again longer than the time from Christ to
the present. Another unique characteristic of the Rig Veda
is that it preserves the ordering of the events described.
The first deity mentioned, Aditi (proto-Venus), was born out
of Daushospitar (Jupiter). This confirms Velikovsky’s
hypothesis, deduced from the myths of other cultures, that
the birth of proto-Venus out of Jupiter triggered a long period
of cosmic chaos. Aditi was the first visible manifestation
of proto-Venus resulting from an enormous impact on Jupiter.
Aditi is claimed to be the mother of some eight deities, called
Adityas. These were not different planetary bodies. They were
different names given to the various aspects of proto-Venus,
which suited their appearance at a given time. The appearance
of proto-Venus depended on its temperature (luminosity), whether
in the day or night sky, and on its proximity to the Earth.
For example, when it appeared in the sky with the Sun, it
was called Surya, or ‘sun maiden.’ One verse in
the Rig Veda verifies this use of multiple names for the same
but one, the wise call (by) manifolds (names).
The second major deity, also an Aditya, was the feared Agni.
This was the Vedic name for the flaming proto-Venus (literally
fire) when it approached the Earth. The Vedas describe the
two tails of dark soot from proto-Venus, similar to those
associated with comets except for their great length, in terms
of three metaphors: two sticks rubbed together to make a fire;
two branding irons in the fire; and as two hands held in prayer.
The Veda then describes the scorching of the Earth during
one of the two close passes of proto-Venus to the Earth:
great god, thine awful anger glows,
And thou revealest thy destroying force,
All creatures flee before thy furious course,
As hosts are chased by overpowering foes.
Thou levellest all thou touchest; forests vast
Thou shear'st, like beards which barber's razor shaves.
Thy wind-driven flames roar loud as ocean waves,
And all thy track is black when thou hast past.
As a result of subsequent encounters with priori-Mars (Indra),
proto-Venus’ orbit was reduced to the degree that it
remained just inside that of the Earth. As it cooled and began
to form a tenuous crust, proto-Venus took on yet another,
less threatening, countenance, that of the noble Varuna. It
is not as though the common identity of Agni and Varuna is
without hints in the Rig Veda:
as I am come before his presence, I take the face of Varuna
When God Agni struggles toward the rta he is said in a remarkable
passage to become for the time being God Varuna...
The rta was the gravitational ‘locking up’ of
the two large planets when at close quarters, which could
actually be felt by the people because it disrupted the constant
rotation of the Earth.
Varuna is often referred to using a pair of names, Mitra-Varuna.
This has always been a mystery for interpreters of ancient
In the hymns
addressed to Mitra and Varuna together, almost the same terms
are employed as when Varuna is addressed alone. Both are spoken
of as righteous, and as promoters of religion. They are said
to avenge sin and falsehood.
Actually this is intimate relationship is a clue to the true
cosmic nature of the deities. To corroborate the idea that
Mitra and Varuna constitute a unique pair in the scheme of
the Vedas, note the following quotation:
is a close partner in a partnership which is expressed in
the dual number. It consists of himself and the god Mitra,
who is, however, little more than a silent partner in the
combination. Such partnerships are frequent in the Veda, but
exceedingly rare in the Persian Avesta. Yet the Avesta, in
a matter-of-fact manner, joins Ahura and Mithra in the same
dual partnership as the Veda does Varuna and Mitra.
The literal translation of Mitra is 'compact,’ and of
Varuna is 'envelop' or 'encompass'. Another clue lies in the
wearing golden mail, hath clad him in a shining robe.
In this quotation, lies the explanation for the special pairing
of proto-Venus deity names. Mitra was a reference to the solid
glowing body of proto-Venus, and Varuna, meaning referred
to proto-Venus’ atmosphere or 'shining robe.' The new
atmosphere was composed of hot gases, primarily sulfur, that
were being vented from the interior, combined with carbon
dioxide captured from priori-Mars during previous encounters.
As Mitra-Varuna approached the Earth, both could be clearly
the guardian of the day, while Varuna's part was reduced to
the guardianship of the night.
This confirms my hypothesis. The dully glowing body of proto-Venus
could be seen even during the day, but the atmosphere of proto-Venus
could only be seen during the night, because the daylight
sky of the Earth was too bright during the day.
Indra was the primary Mars deity in the Rig Veda. The evolution
of priori-Mars orbit as a result of encounters with proto-Venus
brought it from its ancient interior orbit, similar to that
of Venus today, into an orbit that intersected that of the
Earth. In this orbit it was alternately captured in, and 14
or 15 years later released from a geosynchronous orbit around
the Earth. This was repeated an amazing 99 or 100 times. When
captured, it remained stationary over the Transhimalayas as
the result of a temporary adjustment of the spin axis of the
lithosphere to Hudson Bay.
In Vedic myth, Indra’s primary fame stemmed from his
‘releasing the waters,’ which he accomplished
by doing battle with a race of mountain dragons, called vritra
(the confiners,) which were the great glaciers in the high
valleys of the Himalayas. To accomplish this feat Indra had
several mythical accomplices; maruts, parjanya and vayu.
The Maruts comprise a multitude of gods. In the Vedas they
are the constant companions of Indra. They are intimately
associated with parjanya, the god of the thunderbolt. The
following quote summarizes the Maruts in the Rig Veda:
youthful warriors, but they are also geniuses of the thunderstorm.
For whereas the interpretation of Indra as god of the storm
is frequently forced, the close connection of the Maruts with
thunder and lightning, wind and rain, cannot be denied...They
hold the lightning in their hands and the lightning is their
spear. Their golden wheeled chariots gleam in the lightning
as they rush forth like boisterous winds...They love to deck
themselves with golden ornaments ... They are always present
at the slaying of Vritra and they egg great Indra on with
This translation (transculturation) was written millennia
after the ‘dance encounters’ ceased. Not having
experienced true thunderbolts, the translator uses the terms
'thunderstorm' and 'lightning' because they comprised his
experience, but he had no idea of the awesome power of 'thunderbolts’
The following descriptions of the Maruts are direct translations
from the Rig Veda:
brilliant and mighty band of leading lights...whose arms are
decorated with bracelets (quoits) ... given to roaring, potent,
dispensing treasures...infinite in greatness.
This wide-extended Earth is for the Maruts; the spacious heaven
is for the spreading winds; the paths of the firmament are
provided for their course.
In the V/A scenario
priori-Mars was greatly disturbed by the enormous gravitational
field of the Earth when the two planets approached one another,
and many enormous volcanic vents were opened on the surface
of priori-Mars, which continued to blaze for the entire duration
of the encounter. At times of alignments of priori-Mars with
the Sun and Moon (solar and lunar eclipses and near eclipses)
the interior of priori-Mars convulsed and hot rocks as large
as 20 km were ejected from volcanic vents into space. Some
of these glided gracefully and beautifully toward the Earth.
They are described as appearing similar to sparks shooting
from logs in a fireplace. When they struck the upper atmosphere
they ionized the air around the site, which appeared as a
ring or bracelet. As they continued downward at high speeds
some created an ionized path which shorted out the ionosphere
to the Earth. An enormous discharge then occurred. This was
a thunderbolt. This explains the close association of the
maruts and parjanya,.which was the thunderbolt itself. Thunderbolts
were so powerful that some caused entire mountain ranges to
disappear while another rises up ‘instantaneously.’
Such great power would have been necessary to actually break
up large glaciers into millions of pieces.
The deity Vayu is described as follows in the Rig Veda:
described as being most handsome in form; one who moves noisily
in a shining car drawn by a pair of red or purple horses...
(I celebrate) the glory of Vata's (another name for Vayu)
chariot; his noise comes rending and resounding. Touching
the sky, he moves onward, making all things ruddy; and he
comes propelling the dust of the Earth. The gusts of air rush
after him, and congregate upon him as women in an assembly.
Sitting along with them on the same car, the god (Indra),
who is king of this universe is borne along. Hasting forward...he
never rests...His sounds have been heard, but his form is
Vayu was the 'wind' which traversed space from priori-Mars
(Indra) to the Earth across a temporary 'atmospheric bridge'
that formed between the two planets at times of the internal
convulsions. We suggest six reasons for this interpretation.
1. It is connected to the idea of the passage of Soma between
2. The two worlds generated it;
3. It could be seen moving across space from priori-Mars to
the Earth, with Indra in the background;
4. When it reached the top of the Earth's atmosphere it 'touched'
5. It carried sounds which could not have propagated across
6. It carried red dust and rain from the red planet to the
Earth, making everything 'ruddy.’
Additional clues are given by Vayu's epithets:
by which this deity is known are the following: - Anila, breath;
Marut, air that is necessary to life; Sparsana, he who touches;
Gandhavaha, he who carries odors.
The innumerable planet-wide atmospheric exchanges over a three
thousand year period, carried the bulk of the atmosphere and
water from priori-Mars to the Earth, leaving it the dry dessicated
planet it is today. The same exchanges brought all manner
of diseases from priori-Mars more than two thousand years
ago. These have long since been incorporated into our immune
systems, just as the vast oceans from priori-Mars have become
part of our bodies. This alleviates the concern for disease
contamination between Mars and Earth in future space missions.
In addition to the rocks and rain descending from priori-Mars,
the melting of the glaciers was facilitated by changes within
the Earth, the very nature of which imply each encounter be
of considerable duration. Continuous earthquakes rocked the
entire area, producing innumerable cracks in the rocks. At
the same time the reduced gravitational force due to the tidal
force of the nearby priori-Mars, caused the melting of subsurface
rock. This was subsequently drawn up through the cracks and
caused significant heating of the mountain region. Indeed,
the entire area of Tibet is underlain by a layer of melted
rock to this day. The other processes were the result of the
Earth-priori-Mars pair passing through alignments with the
Sun and Moon - i.e. at the times of solar and lunar eclipses.
The Vedas also describe the fact that Indra would suddenly
leave his earthly home over the Mt. Kailas in the Transhimilayas,
only to return at a later date. This occurred upon the close
approach of proto-Venus, which occurred every fifteen years.
This is evidenced by many passages in which conflicts between
Varuna and Indra are described. Some of these are stated directly
in the Rig Veda, and are recognized by many scholars. Others
are identified for the first time herein. The reason why these
have not been recognized is the old habit of the rishis of
giving different names to one and the same physical body.
Based on many myths, we maintain that there could have been
one and only one causative agent in the mythical 'birth' of
Indra (Mars), and that is proto-Venus. The following quote
shows that the rishis (the priests responsible for the maintenance
and writing of the vedas) understood this:
of different complexions, revolve for their own purposes,
and each in succession severally nourishes a son; in one Hari
is the receiver of oblations, in the other, the brilliant
Agni is beheld.
Here the rishi explains that there were just two heavenly
bodies circulating at the same time, Agni (Venus) and Hari
(Mars), and that each had its characteristic period of revolution.
The conflict of Varuna and Indra is described in the following
passages from the Rig Veda:
this conflict are already apparent in the Rig-Veda. Between
the two great gods, Indra and Varuna, there is cooperation
at first, but cooperation soon turns to rivalry, and rivalry
to discomfiture of the Asura king. In R.V. 7.82-85 the two
gods work together, but their functions are contrasted...In
another hymn (R.V.4-42), however, the rivalry between the
(two) comes to the surface: Varuna addresses Indra and asserts
his absolute sovereignty:
'I Varuna, am king,' he says, ‘To me was the dignity
of asura first assigned...I Varuna, am Indra [too]. I, knowing
the two wide, deep firmly established areas of space in all
their grandeur, [knowing] all creatures as their fashioner,
I have set in motion both the worlds and maintain them. I
made the dripping waters swell forth; in the seat of the law
did I establish the heavens. By virtue of the law is the son
of Aditi (Varuna) possessed of the law, and threefold has
he extended the Earth’.
Proto-Venus had indeed set the worlds in motion, that is,
created chaos, when it burst into the inner solar system.
It also maintained the pattern of chaotic planetary motion,
for some three thousand years, by influencing the interactions
between priori-Mars and the Earth.
Older translations use the term 'demons' for asura, because
they were seen to be in conflict with the suras, or gods.
This was based on the Sanskrit convention of negation by prefixing
an 'a.’ In other words asuras were 'not gods,’
and therefore were demons. This term, which Varuna proudly
applies to himself, is currently thought to be derived from
the word asu which means 'breath' or 'spirit.’ We claim
that in the Rig Veda this word is used to describe bodies
with 'atmospheres,’ which is closely related to 'breath.’
In other words, an asura was a body that had visible gaseous
envelope or a tail associated with it.
Varuna (proto-Venus) staked his claim to sovereignty on law
(rta, the counterpart of the later dharma) whereas Indra proudly
admits that he depended only on naked force, he says:
It is I
whom heroes (narah), rivaling each other in riding their goodly
horses, invoke when they are surrounded in battle. I, Indra,
the widely generous, stir up the battle. I, Indra, raise up
the dust. I whose might is overwhelming. All this have I done;
no power of the gods can restrain me, for I am invincible.
Once the Soma and the hymns have made me drunk, then are both
immeasurable worlds struck with terror.
Varuna’s power came from his greater rta, the invisible
power to influence other planets at a distance. We interpret
the mysterious rta as the tidal (gravitational) force of a
celestial body, which is directly proportional to its mass.
Due to its considerably greater mass, proto-Venus impressed
the Vedic people with its ability to change the rotation axis
of the lithosphere and cause earthquakes even when considerably
more distant than priori-Mars. The red planet had to swoop
down much closer to the Earth to have the same effect as proto-Venus.
As can be seen from the small sampling given here, the Vedas
are primarily descriptive in nature, like the television news.
It was not until the later Hindu period, when the period of
chaos was over or nearly so, that the events and deities became
anthropomorphized and organized into stories in which multiple
priori-Mars gods interacted and had more abstract functions.
But the reportorial nature of the Vedas ensures that the knowledge
is in the purest form and that it records the observations
in time ordered form.
| V/A Scenario
| Firmament Excerpt
| Chaos Excerpt
| Purchase Books
| Recent Papers
| The Planets - Moon, Jupiter, Venus, Mars | Mythology - Rig Veda, Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, Comparative Mythology | Links | About The Author | In The News | Newsletters - March 2004, October 2003, June 2003, April 2003 | Register for Newsletters
Archives - 2002, 2003
© John Ackerman