Nāsatya

Elder of the twin Aśvinī Kumāras; Vedic divine physician. With his twin Dasra, the Aśvins are healers of the sick, restorers of youth, and dawn-associated deities. Named in the 14th-c. BCE Mitanni-Hittite Mitra-Varuna-Indra-Nasatya treaty (the four gods invoked as guarantors), confirming the Indo-Iranian antiquity of the pair. Father of Nakula by Mādrī.

Parentage

• parent: Sūrya

Children

• Nakula

Domains

• healing medicine
• dawn and twilight

Powers

• Holds the Madhuvidya, the honey-doctrine of life-restoring medicine learned from Dadhyañc
• Heals the sick and cures the incurable
• Restores youth and revives the dying

Epithets

• नासत्य devanagari · Nāsatya'The Truthful / non-deceiving one' — Vedic name of the Aśvin physicianṚgveda 1.116–117 (Aśvin hymns) (primary)
• दस्र devanagari · Dasra'The Wondrous / accomplishing one' — paired Aśvin epithetṚgveda 1.116 (primary)
• अश्विन् Sanskrit · Aśvin · nameThe horse-possessor / horsemanRigveda 1.117 (primary)

Relations

• sibling: DasraTwin of Dasra; the two are paired in nearly all Vedic invocations as "the Aśvins."Ṛgveda 1.116-119; Mahabharata (primary)
• lover: MādrīInvoked together with Dasra by Mādrī using Durvāsā's mantra (Kuntī taught it to her); Nāsatya fathered Nakula.Mahabharata, Adi Parva 124 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Ṛgveda 1.116-119, 7.69-72 (the Aśvin hymns, ~50 dedicated); Mahabharata Adi Parva 124; Bhāgavata Purāṇa (primary)