The earliest Aryan myths, from India to Ireland, mention homosexual warrior bands. In the Indian Rig Veda, composed after the Aryan invasions (c1500bce) and the earliest of Hindu sacred texts, they are called gandharvas (divine youths) and maruts (storm gods, sons of Rudra the ithyphallic proto-Siva). Maruts, although they “adorned themselves like women” are essential in helping Indra to destroy the Soma-demon Vrtra, performing “joyous deeds in the ecstasy of drinking Soma”.
