Who The Ashvins is
The Ashvins are twins, and the Rigveda never speaks of one without the other. Their name means "the two who have horses". The poets also call them the Nasatyas, an old name whose meaning was already uncertain, and Dasra, "the wonder workers". More than fifty hymns belong to them. Only Indra, Agni and Soma are called on more often.
They are young, bright and fond of honey. They ride a golden chariot with three wheels and three seats, built for them by the craftsmen called the Ribhus. Sometimes horses pull it. At other times the hymns give them eagles or swans, and once it is a single ass. The chariot comes at the very end of the night, when the sky is still dark among the first red streaks. Dawn wakes them, and they follow her across the sky. The daughter of the Sun, whose name is Surya, saw them race and chose their chariot for herself, and she rides between them.
What the poets love most about the Ashvins is that they help. Other gods are praised for power. These two are praised with a list of people they pulled out of trouble, and the hymns repeat the names. Bhujyu was left to drown in the middle of the sea, and they carried him home in ships that flew. Atri lay in a burning pit, and they cooled it for him. Rebha had been tied up and thrown into the water, and Vandana was buried in the ground, and both came out alive. Vishpala lost a leg in a battle at night, and they gave her one of iron so that she could run again. A blind man got his eyes back. A quail was taken out of a wolf's mouth. The old sage Chyavana was made young, and a woman who had grown grey in her father's house found a husband.
So they are the physicians among the gods. One hymn calls them healers of the blind, the thin and the man with broken bones. They are also the gods a person calls when nobody else is coming.
You are the luck of the woman growing old at home, and you help the slow one who comes last. People call you healers of the blind, the weak and the one whose bones are broken.