DUYAUPS PITA. - The idea of the Sky as father, which precedes that of the Heavenly Father, dates back to the Indo-European unity, as shown by the correspondence between the Sanskrit vocative *dyauṣ pitā* and the corresponding vocative forms in Greek (Ζεύς πάτερ) and Latin (*djúpiter*).
The name *dyauṣ* derives from the root *dei-*, "to shine," the same from which come *deva*, "god," and *divus*, "divine"; it designates the luminous, diurnal sky, father of Uṣas, the Dawn. The Sky Father and the Earth Mother (*pṛthivī mātā*) are invoked together in two hymns of the *Ṛgveda*: I, 159; IV, 56. Yet, although celebrated as deities who bestow favors, the Sky and the Earth never acquired a distinctly anthropomorphic form nor great importance in worship. The *Ṛgveda* dedicates only one hymn to the Earth, V, 84, and none to the Sky. Far greater importance was attributed to them in classical mythology. In the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*, the good harmony between Sky and Earth is invoked as the cause of rain (I, 8, 3, 12), while the Earth is the source of the substances that serve as food for the Sky, that is, for the gods in sacrifice. From another passage we learn that, on the occasion of offering first-fruits to all the deities in spring and autumn, the gods assign one of their cakes to "Sky and Earth" together.
Ferdinando Belloni Filippi