The Prehistoric Gods 121
tinguishing title. But Varuna 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 com- bination. Such partnerships are frequent in the Veda, but exceedingly rare in the Persian Avesta. Yet the Avcsta, in a matter-ofufact manner, joins Ahura and Mithra in the same dual partnership as the Veda does Varuna and MitrafiI Since Ahura is the paramount divinity of the Avesta his pairing with Mithra has every appearance of a fossil, left over from a time when Ahura’s supremacy had not yet become absolute, in other words, from a time when Ahura and Mithra were on a par of dignity. It seems to me an almost unimaginable feat of scepticism to doubt the original identity of the two pairs. Ahura figures, however, by himself also. Again, it seems unlikely that Ahura Mazda, when mentioned by himself, is not the same Ahura that appears in the combination Ahura and Mithra, be- cause Ahura Mazda, taken by himself, is so very like Varuna, the Vedic partner of Mitra. In the Zoroas~ trian system Ahura Mazda orders the world, and assigns to all good creatures and entities their re.— spective places and activities. Ahura creates the divine order (data), the good waters and plants,
1 See Spiegel, Di: Ariscke Parieu’a, p. 18 5
