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The Prehistoric Gods I41

Adam. She is, however, not Yama’s bone, but his independent, self-poised sister. As a truthful histo- rian I have been compelled to record that Yami‘, like

Eve, was the prime mover in the nefarious bat ne- cessary act of peopling the world.

Both Mann and Yama are primarily nothing but ﬁrst men. Yama’s father Vivasvant is probably pri... marily the sun, whose divine character is, however, at that time quite completely forgotten: old as is this afﬁliation it is probably not original, because the ﬁrst twins, Yarns. and Yami‘, are in reality an attempt to beg the question of the origin of the human race al- together. The descent of man from the sun represents another start towards solving the difﬁculty; of course this conception must and does blend with the Yama pair. In the same way Mann begins quite early to adept Vivasvant for his father, and he remains so for all time. The myths begin to interlace very much, and to sprout shoots in unexpected directions. A famous pair of riddleustanzas, Rig—Veda 10. I7. I and 2, expand the theme in an interesting fashion, ac- cording to an interpretation which I have pro- poSed‘: it is worth while to present it as an extreme example of the blend of original mythic roots into a real myth:

Tvashtar, the creator, offers his daughter Saranyﬁ

‘ yam-no! of ﬂu: American Oriental Society, xv., 172%