The Ashvins

The twin horsemen of the Rigveda, always named together, also called the Nasatyas and Dasra. More than fifty hymns are theirs. They drive a three-wheeled chariot before dawn, love honey, carry the Sun's daughter Surya, and are praised above all as rescuers and physicians: Bhujyu from the sea, Atri from the burning pit, Vishpala's iron leg, Chyavana's youth. The Yajurveda and Brahmanas tell how these healers, at first kept from the Soma, won their cup. In the Mahabharata they are the physicians of the gods and fathers of Nakula and Sahadeva; the Puranas make them sons of the Sun and his wife in the form of a mare.