Indo-European Mythology and Religion

by Alexander Jacob

  worship of the Āryans is transformed into worship of

  divinised idols in the Tantric tradition that culminates

  in the divinisation of religious adepts themselves. The

  religious traditions of Brāhmanism and Tantra are indeed

  contiguous in several aspects and, though Tantra is more

  exoteric than Brāhmanism, it is at the same time more

  elaborate in its worship of the divinity as Purusha. On

  the other hand, the Shramana tradition deriving from

  Sāmkhya-Yoga sees no value in performing rituals in

  its effort to abjure the world altogether. Consequently,

  neither the severe world-abjuration of Jainism nor the

  less ascetic and more ethical heterodoxy of Buddhism

  exhibits the prisca theologia in its full cosmological

  complexity as the Brāhmanical and Tantric traditions do.

  And of the latter two traditions, it is clear also that it was

  the Hamitic Āgamic tradition—with its elaborate temple

  structures, idolatry, and sacred music- and dance forms—

  that crystallised the later 'Hindu' culture of India just as,

  in the West (through Anatolia and Egypt), it informed the

  powerful 'Humanism' of Graeco-Roman civilisation.

  301 See the summary of Jnāna Yoga in the ' Bhagavad Gita' quoted above.

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  IV. Vedic and Tantric Rituals

  A Comparison

  We have seen in our survey of the earliest

  religious forms of the ancient Indo-European

  wisdom that, among the Krita Yuga avatārs

  of Vishnu listed in the Bhāgavata Purāna I,3,302 Kapila

  (the name of the historical founder of Sāmkhya Yoga)

  precedes Yajna (representing Vedic sacrifice), who in

  turn precedes Rishabha (the name of the historical

  founder of Jainism). The avatārs of the Krita Yuga are of

  course cosmic phenomena rather than earthly, but the

  sequence of these names suggests that Sāmkhya-Yoga may

  indeed have preceded Vedic Brāhmanism, which in

  turn preceded Jainism. While the origins of Yoga and of

  Jainism and Brāhmanism are difficult to date since they

  locate their founders in the very remote Treta and Dvāpara

  Yugas, the Tantric religions associated with the temple-

  worship of the Hamitic303 cultures that followed them are

  relatively easier to place since they flourish around the

  beginning of the Kali Yuga, which is traditional y fixed

  at the historical date of.3102 B.C.304 – even though early

  302 See p.70n.

  303 The Hamitic civilisations would include those of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Dravidian India.

  304 This is the calculation of the early (ca. 6th c. A.D.) astronomical 139

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  temple cults are attested already in the sixth millennium

  B.C., in Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia.305

  As regards Buddhism, which is the last of the ascetic,

  as opposed to sacrificing, sects, it must be noted that it too

  incorporated various Tantric rituals from the 7th century

  A.D. onwards especial y in its Vajrayāna branch, which,

  unlike the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna schools, emphasises

  the importance of ritual rather than mere meditation.

  Scholars such as A. Sanderson and S. Hatley have

  suggested that Tantric practices may have penetrated

  Buddhism already in the 5th century from Shaivaite

  sources.306 The Manjushri Mūlakalpa text attributed to the Boddhisattva Manjushri of the Mahāyāna tradition, and

  dating from the 6th century A.D., is, for example, based on

  Shaiva as well as Vaishnava Tantric texts.

  Jainism too adopted Tantric practices to a certain

  extent but mostly focused on the use of mantras and

  yantras rather than visualisation or meditation.307 Jain

  Tantra, unlike Buddhist, does not aim at liberation but

  rather at achieving worldly gains such as health, wealth,

  and power. Nevertheless, it must be noted that the

  canonical scriptures of the Jains are called—exactly as in

  the Tantra tradition—Āgamas (inherited scriptures), and

  traced back by the Jains to the first tirthankara, Rishabha,

  though they were compiled by a certain Gautamaswami

  treatise, Sūrya Siddhānta.

  305 See H. Frankfort, Archaeology and the Sumerian Problem, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1932, p.19.

  306 See, for instance, S. Hatley, “Converting the Dākini: Goddess Cults and Tantras of the Yoginis between Buddhism and Saivism” in Tantric Traditions in Transmission and Translation, (ed.) D.B. Gray and R.R.

  Overbey, N.Y., NY: Oxford University Press, 2016, Ch.2.

  307 See John E. Cort, ‘Worship of Bell-Ears the Great Hero, a Jain Tantric Deity’, in D.G. White (ed.), Tantra in Practice, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, p.417.

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  around the 6th or 4th century B.C. in Prākrit, rather

  than Sanskrit These Āgamas are said to be based on the

  discourses of the first tirthankara of the present era,

  Rishabha.

  In all of the most ancient religions of the Āryan as well

  as of the Hamitic peoples of Mesopotamia and Egypt the

  understanding of the relation between the macrocosm

  and the microcosm may be traced back to a Yogic source.

  For instance, the Tantric Yogic notion of the Kundalini

  serpent and the awakening of this serpentine form to the

  light of Brahman lies at the basis of the Egyptian drama of

  Osiris in the underworld, as well as of the concept of the

  universal Tree of Life which features in the cosmologies of

  all the ancient Indo-European cultures. All of the ancient

  Indo-European religions are, furthermore, based on a

  vision of the Godhead as a Supreme Soul (Ātman) that

  manifests itself first as an Ideal and then as a Cosmic Man,

  or Purusha. This Purusha is castrated by his son (Chronos/

  Shiva/Time), though his seminal force is restored in our

  universe as the sun by a son of Chronos (Zeus/Dionysus/

  Muruga).308 This Purusha, as we shall see, is the same as

  the Self of the human microcosm as wel .

  While the Purusha cosmology informs all the early

  religious forms of the Indo-Europeans, Brāhmanism,

  Zoroastrianism, and Tantra employ this mythology

  in their various rituals mostly in order to recover the

  divine dimensions of both the macrocosm and the

  microcosm. Sāmkhya-Yoga and the ascetic Shramana

  traditions following it, on the other hand, use it mostly as

  a theoretical background for ethical systems that seek to

  escape from cosmic manifestation and earthly incarnation

  308 For a full discussion of this cosmology see A. Jacob, Ātman: A Reconstruction of the Solar Cosmology of the Indo-Europeans, Hildesheim: G. Olms, 2005, and A. Jacob, Brahman: A Study of the Solar Rituals of the Indo-Europeans, Hildesheim: G. Olms, 2012.

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  altogether. In this focus on the escape from the cycle of

  birth, death and rebirth they take special care to stress

  the importance of the precept of non-dualism which was

  particularly crystallised in the Advaita Vedanta [Non-

  Dualistic Upanishadic] school of Indian philosophy

  associated with the sage Shankara
(8th c. A.D.).

  The aim of all enlightenment, whether it be through

  the fire-worship of the Āryans or the forms of worship

  evident in Tantra, is, however, the ultimate identification

  of the individual soul, ātman, with Brahman. The term

  “yoga” itself means “yoking” and may signify the union

  of the individual soul to the supreme which is brought

  about through several strict physiological and mental

  austerities. 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 [tapas], in the Treta

  [divine]

  knowledge [jnānam], in the Dvapara

  [the performance of]sacrifices [yajnam], in the

  Kali liberality [dānam] alone.

  We see that the Brāhmanical sacrifices are not, like

  yogic ‘tapas’ and ‘jnāna’, associated with the Krita Yuga

  or the Treta Yuga but only with the Dvāpara Yuga. 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 [Vedic

  meditation] prevailed. In the Treta age, worship followed

  the Smriti prevailed. while in the Dvāpara there were

  both Smriti and Purāna. Final y, in the Kaliyuga

  the Tantrika rather than the Vaidika Dharma has come

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  to predominate. The Tantra Shastra was taught at the end

  of Dvāpara age and the beginning of Kaliyuga. However,

  we may assume that the meditation associated with the

  Krita age was indeed yogic meditation 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 practised in the Krita Yuga. In the Treta

  Yuga, Manu himself is described in the MP as practising

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

  ( BP VIII,24). Manu, the survivor of the “flood” and

  the counterpart of Noah is also called Satyavrata, King

  of Drāvida. In the Biblical account of the ‘deluge’, Noah

  is the counterpart of Manu and said to be a descendant

  of Adam’s son, Seth. That Noah represents the wisdom of

  Seth is evident from the Gnostic tradition.309 Seth himself

  is described by Josephus as one who

  strove after virtue and, being himself excellent, left

  descendants who imitated the same virtues. All of

  these, being virtuous, lived in happiness in the same

  309 See G.G. Stroumsa,

  Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic

  Mythology, Leiden: E.J. Bril , 1984, p.107. Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities, I, 70-71 also makes clear the association of the line of Seth with

  cosmological learning.

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  land without civil strife, with nothing unpleasant

  coming upon them until after their death. And they

  discovered the science with regard to the heavenly

  bodies and their orderly arrangement.310

  Josephus identifies the land of Seth as located around

  “Seiris”, which is also the land of Noah. In the

  Christian Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum of Pseudo-

  Chrysostom, the books of Seth were supposed to have

  been hidden by Noah in the land of Šir, and the so-called

  “cave of treasures” in which they were hidden is identifiable

  with Mt. Ararat.311 In Genesis 14:6, the Horites, or Hurrians, are particularly identified with Mt. Seir, and we note a

  close identification of the proto-Hurrians with the proto-

  Dravidians of BP, according to which Manu is King of

  Drāvida. The brāhmans who are considered to be the “sons

  of Seth” must have original y constituted the priesthood of

  the proto-Hurrian/proto-Dravidian population, though

  it is true that the Āryan (Indo-Iranian), and particularly

  Indo-Āryan, line deriving from this original population, as

  well as the later Dravidians of India, seem to have retained

  the Brāhmanical tradition best of al .

  We have noted that all the accounts of the religious

  practice characteristic of the Krita Yuga declare it to have

  been marked by austerities and tapas, or internal heat. 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

  310 See Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, I:70-1.

  311 See G.G. Stroumsa, op.cit. , p.117.

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  practicing austerities in the Kali Yuga.

  The statement in the Rāmāyana that these austerities

  were original y the privilege of Brāhmans contrasts with

  the general view that ‘yajna’ or sacrifice was the typical

  custom of the Āryan Brāhmans. Yajna appears only in

  the Dvāpara Yuga, according to the Manusmriti, and were

  followed by Puranic beliefs and Tantric. However, some

  maintain that fire-worship began already in the Krita

  Yuga. Shriram Sharma, for instance, has suggested that

  “yajnas” were performed intensively already in the Krita

  Yuga:

  The yajnas were … performed in the divine Krita Yuga,

  by the rishis [i.e. the seven sages] and the demigods

  since the demigods themselves were manifest on

  earth.312

  These “yajnas” of the Krita Yuga performed by the seven

  sages and demigods may, however, have been different

  from the human fire-sacrifices which appeared after

  Manu Vaivasvata. Shriram Sharma313 points out that “In

  comparison to what man attains via yajnas, great Rishis

  attain much more via sankalpa/strength of resolve and

  eulogy to God ( YV 17,28).” However, he suggests that

  “this power of eulogy was attained by the Rishis via fire

  worship ( AV IV,23,5)”.314 The Atharvavedic reference he

  gives represents Indra as being aided by Agni in his battle

  against the sources of resistance (Panis) which obstruct

&n
bsp; the rise of the solar force into our system. It is possible

  that both yoga and fire-worship may have original y

  312 Shriram Sharma, Scientific Basis of Yajnas along with its wisdom aspect, ed. A.N. Rawal and tr. H.A. Kapadia, Ch.20.

  313 S. Sharma, Ibid.

  314 AV IV,23,5:“With [Agni] as friend the Rishis gave their power new splendour, with whom they kept aloof the Asuras’ devices”.

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  developed from a focus on the thawing power of fire

  required to release the solar force in microcosm as well

  as macrocosm. In the former, it is manifest as the “heat”

  of yogic austerities or “tapas”. Fire-worship, on the other

  hand, is a more external dramatic recreation of the

  macrocosmic solar force.

  It is interesting to note in this context that Pargiter

  suggested that Brāhmanism was original y a Dravidian

  religious institution and that it was considerably

  transformed by the Āryans. While the original 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.315 Pargiter may indeed have

  been right if he were referring to a ‘proto-Dravidian’, rather

  than a later Dravidian, source, for it is not improbable

  that the Brāhmanical and Tantric traditions may have

  been derived from a single proto-Dravidian/Noachidian

  source that split into fire-worshipping and Tantric temple-

  worshipping cultures.

  ***

  The Vedas in their present form are primarily sacrificial

  liturgies aimed at restoring the creation to its ideal status

  as the Primordial Man. These sacrifices focus on the

  macrocosmic elements of the divine manifestation rather

  more than on the human microcosmic. The esoteric

  spiritual significance of the Vedas itself 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.316

  315 See F.E. Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, p.308f.

  316 See K.N. Aiyar, Thirty Minor Upanishads, Madras: Vasanta Press, 146

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  Indeed, the Upanishads, and particularly the yoga-

  based ones, give a clear account of the actual spiritual