Indo-Iranian kavi and blackmith's methology

This article studies archaic features within the mythology of Indo-Iranian kavi. Many indo-european studies describe their main activities to be religious. However, connection between Indo-Iranian kavi and blacksmith activity has been revealed at the linguistic indo-european level. Similar situation is typical for many archaic societies, in which blacksmiths were perceived as a sacral group and their actions were mythologized. Ancient blacksmiths fulfilled a broad spectrum of closely-related tasks in both religious sphere and craft. Based on blacksmith mythology analysis core features of their image were distinguished: creative, ambivalence, chthonic, magic, relation to gods and demons. Study of ancient Indian and ancient Iranian sources suggests that main kavi's activities are those that draw them together to mythological blacksmiths: mediative, magical (mastery of fire), healing, crafting. Altogether it allows us to view kavi as an Indo-Iranian polyfunctional figure, which organically combines features of blacksmith, poet, priest and shaman.