Indo-European Mythology and Religion

by Alexander Jacob

  cosmos, Brahman. However, the means of achieving this

  end apparently varied with the changes in the ages, or

  yugas, that constitute our present epoch, kalpa. According

  to Manusmriti, I,86, the chief means of enlightenment in

  the first of the four ages was austerities:

  In the Krita age the chief [virtue] is declared to be

  [performance of] austerities, in the Treta [divine]

  knowledge, in the Dvapara [the performance of]

  sacrifices, in the Kali liberality alone.

  215 See A. Jacob, Brahman, Ch.IX; cf. Ch.V below.

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  We see that the Brāhmanical sacrifices are not, like yogic

  ‘tapas’ and ‘jnana’, associated with the Krita Yuga or

  the Treta Yuga but only with the Dvāpara Yuga. These

  sacrifices, as we shall see, focus on the macrocosmic

  elements of the divine manifestation rather more than on

  the human microcosmic. The esoteric spiritual significance

  of the Vedas does not emerge in the predominantly

  liturgical Vedas so much as in the Upanishadic (Vedānta)

  literature, especial y in the Yoga-based Upanishads

  derived largely from the Krishna and Shukla Yajur Vedas.216

  It may be mentioned here that later Āgamic texts like

  the Tārapradīpa, Ch.1, state, contrary to the Manusmriti, that in the Satya (Krita) age Vaidika Upāsana [meditation]

  prevailed while in the Dvāpara there were both Smriti217

  and Purāna. Final y, in the Kaliyuga the Tantrika rather

  than the Vaidika Dharma has come to predominate. The

  Tantra Shastra was taught at the end of Dvāpara age and

  the beginning of Kaliyuga. However, we may rely on the

  Manusmriti rather than the Āgamic texts since we find

  the primacy of Yogic worship over sacrificial maintained

  also in the Rigveda and the epics themselves. RV I,84,2, for instance, declares—regarding the forms of worship

  of the sages and the sacrifices offered by householders—

  that Indra attended ‘eulogies’ sung by Rishis and ‘yajnas’

  conducted by humans. So it is apparent that Vedic

  sacrifices were necessary only for humans. In the MBh,

  VII (Anushāsana Parva), 16, too, Tandi, a sage of the Krita

  Yuga, is said to have “adored Shiva for 10,000 years with

  the aid of yogic meditation”.

  The “divine knowledge” (jnāna) mentioned in the

  Manusmriti as having prevailed in the following Treta

  Yuga may have been derived from the ascetic disciplines

  216 See K. N. Aiyar, op.cit.

  217 “Smriti” (=remembered wisdom) refers principal y to the epics and the Dharmasūtras.

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  practiced in the Krita Yuga. In the Treta Yuga, Manu

  himself is described in the MP as practicing tapas, or

  austerities, on “Mt. Malaya”, but also as sacrificing. As

  for the practice of austerities themselves, the Rāmāyana, Uttara Kanda, Sec.87, states that only the Brāhmans

  practiced austerities in the Krita Yuga. In the following

  Treta Yuga, Kshatriyas were born and, gaining equal

  spiritual dignity with the Brāhmans, practiced austerities

  alongside them, while the Vaisyas and Shūdras served

  them. Then in the Dvāpara Yuga Vaisyas started to

  practice austerities as wel , just as the Shūdras too began

  practicing austerities in the Kali Yuga.

  Dvāpara Yuga

  As regards the geographical origin of Brāhmanism, the

  Bhavishya Purāna, Pratisarga Parva I, maintains that the

  Dvāpara Yuga was marked by the establishment of three

  kingdoms, at Pratishthāna (this being related to the Aila

  dynasty of Purūravas himself), Mathura (associated with

  Krishna, the lunar/Aila deity)218 and Marudesh (ruled by

  Shamashrupal219 of the Mlecchas,220 and comprising Iran,

  Iraq, and Arabia). Marudesh clearly denotes the Hamitic

  cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt which must have

  started at the end of the Dvāpara age since their peak, in

  the late fourth millennium B.C., coincides with the start

  of the Kali Yuga, which is traditional y supposed to have

  begun around 3100 B.C.221 The Dvāpara age is supposed

  218 See p.32n.

  219 Shamash is the Akkadian word for the sun.

  220 In the Manusmriti, ‘mleccha’ is a general term for non-Āryan (see below). However, here it seems to refer particularly to the mostly Semitic Assyrians and Babylonians.

  221 See p.111.

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  to have lasted for 864,000 years, though there is, as yet,

  little evidence of the existence of enlightened mankind on

  earth until the end of the Dvāpara age. The Gandharvas

  and Purūravas represent the Āryan tradition marked by

  fire-worship, whereas the Hamitic is marked by temple

  worship and idolatry.

  The fire-rituals which form the backbone of the

  Brāhmanical religious practice are attested in the typical

  Indo-Āryan settlement detected in the BMAC. Elaborate

  fire altars are evident in the ruins of the BMAC which

  correspond to the Āryan fire-sacrifices. The temples also

  contain rooms with “all the necessary apparatus for the

  preparation of drinks extracted from poppy, hemp and

  ephedra” that may have been used for the soma-rituals.222

  The BMAC may have thus been the centre of cultural

  contact between the proto-Dravidian/Hurrian peoples

  of Mundigak and the later Indo-Āryans. It is interesting

  to note too, in this context, that the Avesta (which is

  geographical y centred in eastern Iran) mentions the

  Māzanian daevas as worshippers of the Indian gods.

  According to Burrow, Māzana is known in Iranian sources

  as the territory between the southern shore of the Caspian

  Sea and the Alburz mountains.223 It may be related also to

  Margiana and the Indo-Āryan culture detected there.

  It must be noted that there are indeed fire-altars even

  in the Harappan sites of Kalibangan, in Rajastan, and

  Lothal, in Gujarat, which may be dated to around 2500

  B.C. So it remains a moot question whether the BMAC

  fire-altars were introduced from the north or the south,

  or whether they formed part of an extensive north-south

  222 See J.P. Mallory and VH. Mair, The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, London: Thames and Hudson, 2008, p.262.

  223 See E.Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic culture: the Indo-Aryan Migration Debate, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, p.130.

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  Aryan cultural continuum. Indeed the Allchins surmise

  that there were probably also fire-altars in Harappa and

  Mohenjo-Daro though these have been missed in the

  mass-diggings conducted at these sites.224

  However, it is clear that fire-worship was maintained

  particularly by the Āryan branch of the Indo-Europeans.

  For fire-worship is also observed among the Prussian-

  Lithuanian cult of szwenta (holy fire), as well as among

  the Greeks and Romans who maintained a cult of hestia

  or vesta.225 Plutarch ( Numa, II) informs us that “Numa is said to hav
e built the temple of Vesta in circular form as

  protection for the inextinguishable fire, copying not the

  fire of the earth as being Vesta, but of the whole universe,

  as centre of which the Pythagoreans believe fire to be

  established, and this they call Hestia and the monad”. The

  Scythians too worshipped a goddess called Tabit whose

  name is probably related to the Sanskrit tapti denoting heat.

  On the other hand, we must remember Herodotus’

  statement that the Iranians did not worship fire original y.226

  We have seen that in the Purānas, too, Purūravas, the

  early Aila [Elamite?] king, is stated, in the Mbh I,75, to have obtained sacrificial fire from the “Gandharvas”, who

  also taught him the constitution of the three sacred fires

  of the Āryans.227 We have seen that Purūravas is stated

  224 See R. and B. Allchin, The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 , p.183; cf, also D. K. Chakrabarti, “The archaeology of Hinduism”, in T. Insoll (ed.), Archaeology and World Religion, London: Routledge, 2001, p.44f.

  225 See M. Sharma, Fire-Worship in Ancient India, Jaipur: Publication Scheme, 2002, p.19.

  226 See Herodotus, Histories, I,132.

  227 See F.E. Pargiter, op.cit., p.309. The three sacred fires of the Brāhmans are the the circular gārhapatya, representing earth and

  the world of men ( SB VII,I,1), the square āhavanīya representing heaven and the world of the gods ( SB VII,2,2) and the āgnīdhrīya fire representing the air of the Mid-region ( SB VII,1,2,12).

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  in the Purānas to be an Aila king of Pratishthāna. The

  Ailas themselves are designated as Karddameyas, which

  relates them to Kardama228 and the river Karddama in

  Iran, particularly in the region of Balkh, which was called

  Bactra in Greek.229

  The fact that the Purūravas are said to have learnt the

  fire-rituals from the Gandharvas suggests that the early

  Hurrians of Elam and the earliest Iranians did not worship

  fire and learnt it from a later Bactrian source, since the

  Gandhara culture follows the BMAC. However, even

  the Gandhāras are included among the Aila [Elamite?]

  dynasties in the Purānas. Herodotus (III,91) mentions

  the Gandaridae as one of the Indian tribes of the seventh

  satrapy of Darius I (550-486 B.C.) who can be located near

  the Bactrians of the 12th satrapy. The term “Gadara”, a

  form of “Gandhara”, occurs along with the term “Hindu”,230

  in an inscription of King Darius of Iran.

  The archaeological evidence of the early Gandharvas

  may be that found in the Gandhara Grave culture of the

  Swat settled from 1700-1400 B.C., which followed the

  BMAC. The occupants of the BMAC may have been

  related to the same family as the later Gandhara. Since

  the Gandhara culture also bears the first evidence of

  cremation rituals in South Asia, we may consider them to

  have indeed consolidated the Vedic customs of the Indo-

  Āryans. Cremation is evidenced also in the Andronovo

  culture. At the same time, the neighbouring Bishkent

  culture, which is contemporaneous with the Gandhara

  and is related to the northern BMAC type, exhibits also

  a curious quasi-Scythian custom of inhumation involving

  the removal of the entrails and their replacement with

  228 See p.71.

  229 See

  Rāmāyana VII,103,21ff.

  230 “Hindu”, a form of “Sindhu”, is used to denote the people or country on the river Sindhu conquered by Darius.

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  clarified butter which may have persisted among the Vedic

  Indians, as is suggested by SB XII,v,2,5.231 The Gandhara culture thus may have had a northern source. The

  northern and eastern branch of the original Noachidian

  race may have thus been constituted of “Japhetic” tribes

  that moved northwards to the Pontic-Caspian steppes and

  created the Yamnaya culture there232 which is considered

  the major source of the Āryan culture.

  The Purūravas who adopted fire-worship from the

  Gandhāras may thus represent an Elamite/Aila branch of

  the proto-Āryan family, while the Gandaridae, who may

  have arrived from the south-east Caspian region (since the

  BMAC culture is apparently derived from the latter)233 may

  be a typical y Indo-Āryan branch of the same family. It

  may be noted also that the probability that the Indic Vedic

  culture itself may have been developed after an original

  formulation at a proto-Indo-Iranian stage is suggested by

  the greater elaboration of the name of the god Tvoreshtar

  amongst the Iranians—representing the older religion

  of the proto-Āryans—compared to the Vedic Tvashtr.234

  Indeed, many of the characteristic traits of the rituals of

  ancient India derive from an Indo-Iranian period as is

  attested by the similarity of the terms, yajna/yaja, soma/

  haoma, mantra/manθra, nama/nəmô. Even the term

  atharvan, denoting the originator of the Atharvaveda, has only an Iranian etymology âθravâ.235

  231 See A. Parpola, op.cit. , p.365.

  232 W. Bernard suggested that the human remains from Period I of Gandhara bore resemblances to those of Bronze Age and early Iron

  Age crania of 2500 B.C.–A.D. 500 from the Caucasus and Volga region as well as from Tepe Hissar in Iran (see K.A.R. Kennedy, “Have Aryans been identified”, p.49).

  233 See J.P. Mallory and V.H. Mair, op.cit., p.262.

  234 Cf. A. Jacob, “Cosmology and Ethics in the Religions of the Peoples of the Ancient Near East”, Mankind Quarterly 140, no.1 (Fall 1999), p.96.

  235 The term means “priest” in Avestan (See P. Kretschmer, Kuhns 99

  indo-european mythology and religion

  However, it must be remembered that fire-worship

  is based on a vision of the cosmic creation that formed

  the basis of the solar religions of the Hamitic Sumerians

  and Egyptians as wel . In the Sumerian religion too, the

  chief solar god An is equated to Girra, the fire-god (in an

  Assyrian exegetical text)236 and Re in Egypt is the same

  as the solar force, Agni. So that it is possible that the

  adoration of the solar force as divine fire may have been

  an integral part of the original proto-Dravidian religion

  that was shared by Semites, Japhetites, and Hamites. But

  the worship of cosmic forces through fire-rituals seem

  to have been characteristic of the Japhetic Indo-Āryan

  stock that had migrated at a very early date northwards

  to the Yamnaya and Andronovo cultures whence they

  moved southwards again later, in the second millennium

  B.C., towards northern Mesopotamia, Iran, and India.

  The eastward movement of proto-Dravidians-Hurrians

  (Ailas as well as Ikshvākus) with Elamite forms of the

  Brahmanical religion may have encountered the more

  northerly fire-worshipping Gandaridae tribes to form the

  typical y Indian branch of the Āryan family.

  Pargiter has suggested that the Dravidian

  “brāhmanical” institution was also considerably

  transformed by the Āryans. While the original [proto-]

  Dravidian priesthood was characterised
by the practice

  of yogic austerities (tapas) which gave them magical

  powers, the Āryan was preoccupied with the performance

  of sacrifices involving the worship of fire.237 If Pargiter

  is right, it may be that the Tantric and Brāhmanical

  traditions were derived from a single proto-Dravidian or

  Zeitschrift 55, p.80; cf. J. Gonda, Religionen Indiens, I, p.107).

  236 RA 62-52,17-8 (see A. Livingstone, op.cit. , p.74); cf. K170+Rm520rev.

  ( ibid., p.30ff).

  237 See F.E. Pargiter, op.cit. , p.308f.

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  Noachidian source238 that split into fire-worshipping and

  temple-building tribes. We may, in this context, also recall

  Megasthenes' account of the early Indians:

  The Indians were in old times nomadic, like those

  Scythians who did not till the soil, but roamed about

  in their wagons, as the seasons varied, from one

  part of Scythia to another, neither dwelling in towns

  nor worshipping in temples;239 and that the Indians

  likewise had neither towns nor temples of the gods,

  but were so barbarous that they wore the skins of such

  wild animals as they could kill … they subsisted also

  on such wild animals as they could catch, eating the

  flesh raw – before, at least, the coming of Dionysus

  into India. Dionysus, however, when he came and had

  conquered the people, founded cities and gave laws to

  these cities, and introduced the use of wine among the

  Indians, as he had done among the Greeks, and taught

  them to sow the land, himself supplying seeds for the

  purpose … It is also said that ... the Indians worship

  the other gods and Dionysus himself in particular

  with cymbals and drums, because he so taught them

  … and that he instructed the Indians to let their hair

  grow long in honour of the god .240

  Since Dionysus is the same as the solar god of the

  Mesopotamians, An, and the Egyptian Horus the Elder-

  238 That the biblical Noah, a descendant of Adam’s son, Seth,

  represents the wisdom of Seth is evident from the Gnostic tradition (see G.G. Stroumsa, op. cit. , p.107). Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities, I, 70-71

  also makes clear the association of the line of Seth with cosmological learning (see A. Annus, op.cit., p.xxvii).

  239 The fact that the Scythians did not build temples or worship divine images is mentioned also by Herodotus, Histories, I,131.

  240 See Arrian, Indica, VII (in R.C. Majumdar, The Classical Accounts of India, Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1960 . p.220f.).