Ribhus

In Vedic accounts the Ribhus appear as a recognized group of skilled makers; later narratives personalise them as three artisan-sages. A well-attested episode (reported in later retellings of Vedic material) recounts that when the Devas learned of the Ribhus' skill they sent Agni to command them to fashion four cups from the single cup of the divine artificer Tvashtar. Having succeeded, the Devas received the Ribhus among themselves, granted them immortality, and allowed them to partake in sacrifices. Some Puranic texts also ascribe genealogical placements (for example, one text names Ribhu as a son of Brahma), though commentators and reference works dispute whether that Ribhu is identical with the leader of the three Ribhus.

The hymns and later commentary do not supply a fixed anthropomorphic portrait. Early Vedic readings and classical commentators such as Yaska and Sayana interpret the Ribhus as solar rays, stars, or constellations, while later Vedic and Puranic material personifies them as three artisan-sages. Thus sources present both luminous/astral readings and individualized seer-craftsman portrayals rather than a single, detailed physical description.

The Ribhus are credited with exceptional artisanal and ritual-creative powers: in Vedic summaries they fashion the horses of Indra, the chariot of the Ashvins, the miraculous cow of Brihaspati, restore youth to their parents, and perform other wondrous works described as done 'by the dawn.' Commentators such as Yaska ascribe to them foundational roles in the sacrificial economy (Yaska credits them with founding sacrifices). They are also described in ritual-cosmological patterns: they rest for a twelve-day period each year in the house of Agohya (an Aditya epithet) and then resume their labors, a motif variously interpreted as calendrical or intercalary.