Time and again, a similar theme emerges in the ancient and original religions of the world. The Sky-father, the Earth-mother, and all life as their descendants is so common a motif as to be almost universal.
Nor is it hard to see why. Ancient observers, noting how the sky sends rains to the lands and how crops will not grow without them, would unavoidably see the parallels with human reproduction, and see in the world around them an echo of their own experience, only on a massive scale.
This may indeed be the root of the prevalence of patriarchy in society. Following this line, the Sky Father is a title used to define the god of the heavens, a mighty god who lives in the Sky and looks upon the people below as his sons and daughters. Remote and ineffable, he is the ultimate figure who rules above and over everything else, from Mother Earth on down.
This framework represents the first attempts of human communities to understand the world, for in understanding it they hoped to turn it to their advantage. Nearly all of these communities worshipped nature in one form or the other because they depended on nature for all their needs.
The people would also worship the sky god or the cloud god. He is one of the oldest gods we have, so old that almost all worship of such a figure could perhaps be traced back to a single community, and their god. The god Dyeus.
The First Father Figure
In the stone age, Proto-Indo-European people spread out across Europe and western Asia from the northern Caucasus Mountains. As the people spread, their beliefs also spread, and their religion evolved.
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Over time, their religious beliefs and their imagination of the god forms included diverse gods and goddesses as they moved from parts of India to other parts of the world. The concept of Sky Father, of which Dyeus is an extremely early example, is not only connected to the Proto-Indo-European community but also found in other religions.
Dyaus or Dyeus is a Sky Father figure from the Proto-Indo-European Religion. He was the head of the Pantheon and the father of all other gods in Heaven. And from Dyeus we get almost every other “God” in history.
He is in the Vedics of India, and the Avestan verses of Zoroastrianism. He is Zeus in Greece, and through him Jupiter in the world of the Romans. His name is recognizable in the language of the Hittites, the Celts, and the ancient Armenians. He is everywhere, and everywhere he has this name.
The effect of Dyeus in history has even been such that common words like day and deity have been inspired by the primary form of his name. If ever there was a reductive concept of the word “god” it can be applied to this figure: he is essentially humanity defining the focal point for what worship and religion should look like.
When we trace the Indian roots of the God Dyeus, there are mentions of the God Dyaus, who is the paternal god of the Sky in Vedic mythology. According to studies in Vedic mythology, the old god Dyaus was later succeeded by his son Indra as the Sky God and the King of gods.
As Indo-European Religion progressed, forms of Dyeus, like Zeus, were given the title of King of Gods. However, in earlier times, Dyeus was simply the father of all gods. From Ireland to India, it is believed that all religious beliefs and forms of Gods have come from the form of Dyeus. The form and appearance of Gods have evolved, but at the root lies Dyeus.
He came before all other gods. And he, essentially, is all other gods, for he is the idea of god.
The different forms of Dyeus
The derived form and name of Dyeus has emerged from the root Di or Die, which has the meaning of giving off light. The words derived from the root Di or Die hold the meaning of Heaven, daylight, Sky etc.
The Latin word Dies means day, which is related to the Sky god. Similarly, the Vedic Sanskrit word Dive Dive has come from the root Di. The Greek word en-diwyos also comes from the root Di.
The Welsh word heddiw, which means today, also comes from the Di root of Dyeus. The sky god in Lithuania is called Diẽvas, which is a form of Dyeus’s name.
The sky god in the local culture of Latvia is called Dievs, who is the Baltic form of the Dyeus god. The word for god in many cultures is Deus or Dios, which comes from the word Dyeus. Therefore, there is enough linguistic and mythological evidence for an all-powerful Sky Father god, Dyeus or Dyaus.
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The Sky father is regarded as the singular paternal figure in different mythological records. Whether it is Dyaus Pitr in Vedic Religion or Zeu páter or Patrós Diós in the Greek Religion, and in Latin Jupiter (Deus Pater), there are multiple references to the Sky god or Father of all Gods.
In all the above religions, it is clear that Dyaus or Dyeus is the Sky father. His transition into kingship for Roman and Greek religions is however not seen in the Vedic Religion.
In fact, the supreme book of hymns for Vedic Religion, the Rigveda, does not address any hymns directly to Dyeus. It has six hymns that are addressed to the Earth Mother and the Sky Father as a couple. The basis may be the same, but even at this very early point we see division in how to worship these proto-gods.
The transition of Dyeus as a king of gods comes from his existence as the all-encompassing, vast Sky. He is seen as the personification of Heaven himself, and in many religions, Heaven and the figure who resides there is the most important God.
Philosophers and intellectuals of the bygone era, like Homer, referred to Dyeus as one who has a wide vision and is all-knowing. The Rigveda might not have proclaimed Dyeus as the King of gods, but it has called Dyeus the all-knowing god too.
This is the origin of God, or religion, and worship. Through our struggles to understand what we saw around us, all the rich tapestry of religion was built.
Top Image: From the Dyeus figure comes the very concept of what a God should be, and from his worship comes almost every religion. Source: Tomislav / Adobe Stock.
By Bipin Dimri
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