Editing Bhaga

{{short description|Hindu god associated with fortune}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2020}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Hindu
| deity_of = God of Wealth
| parents = {{ubl|[[Kashyapa]] (father)|[[Aditi]] (mother)<ref name="Garg1992">{{cite book|author=Gaṅgā Rām Garg|title=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pmo51lRnYC&pg=PA170|year=1992|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-374-0|pages=170–}}</ref>}}
| affiliation = [[Adityas]]
| planet = [[Sun]]
| image = 
| caption = 
| spouse = Siddhi {{small|(according to ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'')<ref name = "BhP" >[https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-bhagavata-purana/d/doc1127162.html#note-t-190332 Bhagavata Purana,  Book 6 - Sixth Skandha, Chapter 18]</ref>}}
| children = Mahiman, Vibhu and Prabhu (sons)<br>Āśis (daughter)<ref name = "BhP" />
}}
'''Bhaga''' ({{langx|sa|भग}}), is the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic]] god of wealth,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kulasrestha |first=Mahendra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OIoRWGSfMikC&dq=bhaga+wealth+book&pg=PA90 |title=The Golden Book of Rigveda |date=2006 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-81-8382-010-3 |language=en}}</ref> as well as a term for "[[lord]], [[patron]]" and "wealth, prosperity". He is an [[Ādityas|Āditya]], a group of societal deities who are the sons of [[Aditi]]. Bhaga's responsibility was to make sure that people received a share of the goods in life. He is associated with his brother, [[Aryaman]], regarding the expectation of a successful marriage.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|author=Stephanie Jamison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ|title=The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India|last2=Brereton|first2=Joel|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0190633394|pages=44}}</ref>

== Etymology ==

The cognate term in [[Avestan]] and [[Old Persian]] is ''{{lang|peo-Latn|baga}}'', of uncertain meaning but used in a sense in which "lord, patron, sharer/distributor of good fortune" might also apply.<!-- Uncertain: Since adjectives follow the noun, it might be an epithet of the preceding name, eg "Lord X". Alternatively, it might be part of a [[dvandvah]] compound, i.e. read as "X (and) Baga," which would imply Baga is a specific figure (cf. Ahura Mazda for various considerations). --> The cognate in [[Slavic languages]] is the root [[wikt:Appendix:Proto-Slavic/bogъ#Etymology|bogъ]] ("god"). The [[semantics]] is similar to [[English language|English]] ''[[lord]]'' (from ''[[:wikt:hlaford|hlaford]]'' "bread-warden"), the idea being that it is part of the function of a chieftain or leader to distribute riches or spoils among his followers. The name of the city of [[Baghdad]] derives from [[Middle Persian]] ''⁠bag-dād⁠'', "lord-given".

== Role ==
=== In Sanskrit religious literature ===
In the [[Rigveda|Rigveda Samhita]], Bhaga is invoked and praised as the "sustainer of the world", "giver of wealth", "chief leader of rites", and "possessor of opulence". He is asked to bestow upon his adherents cattle and horses, male issue, felicity, and riches.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tf0xYQRrsgC&dq=bhaga+wealth+book&pg=PA108 |title=Rig-Veda Sanhitá a Collection of Ancient Hindú Hymns, Constituting the Fifth Ashtaka, Or Book of the Reg-Veda ... Translated from the Original Sanskrit by the Late H. H. Wilson |date=1866 |publisher=N. Trübner |language=en}}</ref>

In the Sanskrit [[Rigveda]], ''bhaga'' is an epithet of both mortals and gods (e.g. of [[Savitr]], [[Indra]] and [[Agni]]) who bestow wealth and prosperity, as well as the personification of a particular god, ''the'' Bhaga, who bestows the same. In the Rigveda, the personification is attested primarily in ''RV'' 7.41, which is devoted to the praise of the Bhaga and of the deities closest to him, and in which the Bhaga is invoked about 60 times, together with Agni, Indra, the [[Dvandva|dual]] [[Mitra-Varuna]], the two [[Ashvins]], [[Pushan|Pusan]], [[Brahmanaspati]], [[Soma (deity)|Soma]] and [[Rudra]]. Bhaga is also invoked elsewhere in the company of Indra, [[Varuna]] and [[Mitra (Vedic)|Mitra]] (e.g. ''RV'' 10.35, 42.396). The personification is occasionally intentionally ambiguous, as in ''RV'' 5.46 where men are portrayed as requesting the Bhaga to share in ''bhaga''. In the Rigveda, the Bhaga is occasionally associated with the sun: in ''RV'' 1.123, the Dawn ([[Ushas]]) is said to be the Bhaga's sister, and in ''RV'' 1.136, the Bhaga's eye is adorned with rays.

The 5th/6th-century BCE ''[[Nirukta]]'' (''Nir.'' 12.13) describes Bhaga as the god of the morning. In the Rigveda, the Bhaga is named as one of the [[Adityas]], the seven (or eight) celestial sons of [[Aditi]], the Rigvedic mother of the gods. In the medieval [[Bhagavata Purana]], the Bhaga reappears with the Puranic Adityas, which are by then twelve solar gods.

== Legacy ==
Elsewhere, the Bhaga continues as a god of wealth and marriage, in a role that is also attested for the [[Sogdian language|Sogdian (Buddhist)]] equivalent of the Bhaga.

The common noun ''bhaga'' survives in the 2nd century CE inscription of [[Rudradaman I]], where it is a fiscal term; in ''[[bhagavan]]'' for "one who possesses (''-van'') the properties of a ''bhaga-''", hence itself "lord, god"; and in ''bhagya'', and "that which derives from ''bhaga''", hence "[[destiny]]" as an abstract noun, and also ''Bhagya'' personified as the proper name of a son of [[Surya]].

Bhaga is sometimes said to be the presiding deity of the [[Purva Phalgunī]] Nakshatra based on Rg Veda. However, based on other texts, such as the nakshatra-focused ''Taittiriya Brahmanam'', Bhaga presides over [[Uttara Phalgunī]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Rigveda}}
{{Hindu Deities and Texts}}

[[Category:Hindu gods]]
[[Category:Adityas]]
[[Category:Rigvedic deities]]
[[Category:Abundance gods]]