The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or written materials, but scholars of comparative mythology and Indo-European studies generally agree on the motifs they have reconstructed by way of the comparative method.
The Ashvins (Sanskrit: अश्विन्, lit. 'horse possessors', IAST: Aśvin), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau, are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, healing, sciences, and the twilight. In the Rigveda, they are described as youthful divine twin horsemen, travelling in a chariot drawn by horses that are never weary, and portrayed as guardian deities that safeguard and rescue people by aiding them in various situations.
There are varying accounts, but Ashvins are generally mentioned as the sons of the sun god Surya and his wife Sanjna. In the epic Mahabharata, the Pandava twins Nakula and Sahadeva were the children of the Ashvins.
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Indo-European speakers lived in preliterate societies – scholars of comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities in mythological concepts found in Indo-European languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Indo-Europeans' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions.
The Proto-Indo-European pantheon includes a number of securely reconstructed deities, since they are both cognates—linguistic siblings from a common origin—and associated with similar attributes and body of myths: such as *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr, the daylight-sky god; his consort *Dʰéǵʰōm, the earth mother; his daughter *H₂éwsōs, the dawn goddess; his sons the Divine Twins; and *Seh₂ul and *Meh₁not, a solar deity and moon deity, respectively. Some deities, like the weather god *Perkʷunos or the herding-god *Péh₂usōn, are only attested in a limited number of traditions—Western (i.e. European) and Graeco-Aryan, respectively—and could therefore represent late additions that did not spread throughout the various Indo-European dialects.
Nakula (Sanskrit: नकुल) is a major character in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He is the elder twin brother of Sahadeva and the fourth of the five Pandava brothers. He is the son of twin physician gods, Ashvins, and Madri, the second wife of King Pandu of Kuru dynasty. In the epic, Nakula is described as the most handsome man of his lineage, and was renowned for his skill in swordsmanship and horse keeping.
He was married to Draupadi, as were his four brothers. He was also married to Karenumati of Chedi Kingdom. He had two sons Shatanika and Niramitra from his two wives respectively. During the Rajasuya of his eldest brother Yudhishthira, he conquered the kings of the Sivis, the Rohitakas and other dynasties. After Yudhishthira lost all his possessions to his cousin Duryodhana in a dice game, the Pandavas and Draupadi were exiled for thirteen years. During the Pandavas' year of incognito exile, he disguised as a horse trainer named Granthika, and worked in the kingdom of Virata. Nakula was a skilled warrior who fought in the Kurukshetra War between the Pandavas and their cousins Kauravas. At the end of the epic, during the Pandavas' journey to the Himalayas to enter heaven, Nakula was the third to fall, following Draupadi and Sahadeva, due to his excessive pride in his beauty.
Lugal-irra (𒀭𒈗𒄊𒊏) and Meslamta-ea (𒀭𒈩𒇴𒋫𒌓𒁺𒀀) were a pair of Mesopotamian gods who typically appear together in cuneiform texts and were described as the "divine twins" (Maštabba). They were regarded as warrior gods and as protectors of doors, possibly due to their role as the gatekeepers of the underworld. In Mesopotamian astronomy they came to be associated with a pair of stars known as the "Great Twins", Alpha Geminorum and Beta Geminorum. They were both closely associated with Nergal, and could be either regarded as members of his court or equated with him. Their cult centers were Kisiga and Dūrum. While no major sanctuaries dedicated to them are attested elsewhere, they were nonetheless worshiped in multiple other cities.