Indo-European Mythology and Religion

by Alexander Jacob

  ‘Dingir’ (god) is a plural indicator. 256

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  may be noted that the castes in the Germanic literature are

  depicted as racial distinctions since the thral s are black,

  the karls red-haired and the jarls blond, whereas the Āryan

  castes are spiritual y based professional divisions of the

  Āryan peoples themselves into philosophical brāhmans,

  warrior kshatriyas and labouring vaisyas (=the common

  people). The three colours (‘varnas’) associated with the

  three principal Hindu castes,564 white, red and black (the

  last turned into yellow with the addition of the shūdras,

  who were then associated with black), are based on the

  colours traditional y used to represent the three ‘gunas’ or

  primal energies, sattva, rajas and tamas, attributed to the

  brāhmans, kshatriyas and vaisyas/shūdras respectively.

  In the Prose Edda, “Gylfaginning, or The Deluding of

  Gylfi”, the end of the universe, Ragnarök, is heralded by a

  long winter exactly as in the Yima story of the Vendidad.565

  Also, the German form of the god of Wind, Wotan, is

  recognisably related to the Āryan Wāta, a god of Wind

  who is more prominently mentioned in the Iranian sacred

  literature than in the Indic.566 This may suggest that the

  Aesir that emigrated from the Anatolian region belonged

  to the Indo-Iranian tribes before the separation of the

  Indic from the Iranian Āryans. Furthermore, a trace of the

  transmission of the early religion to the European north

  through the Sumerians and their Anatolian neighbours

  564 The fourth caste of shūdras was probably added to accommodate the indigenous non-Āryan inhabitants of India.

  565 See H. Usener, Die Sintfluthsagen, Bonn: Friedrich Cohen, 1899, p.208ff.

  566 The Avesta (Yasht 14, Yasht 8) uses the form Wata to denote the more corporeal form of the god of wind Vāyu (cf. RV X, 136,4 which refers to “the steed of Vāta, the friend of Vāyu”). The name Wata is also reflected in the Hittite divine name, Huwattassis, god of Wind (see E.

  Laroche, Recherches sur les noms divins hittites, RHA VII, 45 (1946-7), p.69). The Germanic Wotan/Odin is etymological y related to Otem/

  Atem (breath) and mythological y to Vāta/Vāyu.

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  may be found in the name of the Eddic Ocean-god, Aegir,

  which resembles that of his Sumerian counterpart, Enki

  (=Lord of Earth).567

  ***

  To understand the identities of the two major Germanic

  deities, Wotan and Thor, we may briefly consider

  the cosmological basis of the mythology of both

  the Germanic and the Indic peoples – which I have

  reconstructed in my study Ātman. 568 At the end of the first cosmic age, the supreme Soul (Ātman/Shiva), desirous

  of creation, assumes an ideal, and androgynous, form as

  a macroanthropos (Purusha). From the nostrils of this

  macroanthropos emerges the wind-form of the deity,

  Vāyu (in the form of a Boar) which recovers the Earth

  sunk at the bottom of the cosmic ocean during the flood

  that brought the first cosmic age to a close. The boar/Vāyu

  then impregnates and spreads Earth, producing as a result

  extended Earth (Prithvi) and its “cover” primal Heaven

  (Dyaus) in a closely united complex.

  However, the temporal concomitant of the rapidly

  moving Wind-form of the supreme deity, Shiva/Kāla/

  Chronos, divides the united Heaven and Earth by

  castrating the Purusha. The semen that fal s from the

  castrated phal us of Heaven impregnates the Purusha

  itself with the Cosmic Egg, from which then emerges

  the manifest cosmos constituted of Earth, in the form

  of a lotus, crowned with a Heaven of divine Light and

  Consciousness (Brahman/Helios).

  567 Earth is the infernal region of the cosmos and is surrounded by an Ocean (Okeanos). Hence the Lord of Earth is also the Ocean-god.

  568 See A. Jacob, Ātman: A Reconstruction of the Solar Cosmology of the Indo-Europeans, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2005.

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  This ideal Light (Ouranos/Horus the Elder) is,

  however, shattered by the stormy aspect (Zeus/Ganesha)

  of the Light itself and forced to descend into the nether

  regions of the “lotus” Earth. Zeus/Ganesha, nevertheless,

  preserves the castrated phal us of the ideal Man

  (containing the life of our yet unmanifested universe) by

  swallowing it.

  In the underworld, where the solar force lies moribund

  as the Lord of Earth (Enki/Aegir/Varuna), the stormy and

  vital aspect of the same force (Indra/Thor) destroys the

  serpent of material resistance and divides its body into the

  heaven and earth of our own universe so that the divine

  phal us may emerge between these regions in the Mid-

  region of our universe.

  The entire universe—which is informed by the vital

  force of Soma—is now shaped in the form of a “tree” [an

  analogue of the divine phal us itself] whose roots are in

  the underworld, branches in the mid-region and peak in

  heaven. When the passionate force of the storm-god is

  also controlled and the Tree of Life has been purified of

  all its chthonic elements, the life and light of the original

  Ideal Man are final y free to emerge in our universe as the

  sun.

  In the Vedic literature, the fiery force of the divine

  Soul, Agni, is said to have been born three times, first

  from Heaven, then from Earth ( Shatapatha Brāhmana,569

  VII,iv,1,9)—or in the navel of the Earth ( SB VI,vi,3,9)—

  and final y from the Waters (his third birth, as Mitra/

  Āditya). The second birth of Agni in our universe is as

  Vāyu, the Wind-god. In KYV IV,2,2, the second birth of

  Agni from Earth is described thus:

  From us secondly [was born] he who knoweth al

  569 Henceforth abbreviated as SB. 259

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  The first person refers to the Vedic brāhman priests who

  represent Agni, while the reference to the god “who

  knoweth al ” is clarified by the Eddic reference to Wotan’s

  acquisition of higher knowledge on the Yggdrasil.570

  In the Brahmānda Purāna I,ii,10, the different forms of

  Agni are presented. The first form of Agni is Rudra, and is

  said to be embodied in the sun, the second, called Bhāva,

  in the waters, the third, called Sarva, in the earth, the

  fourth, called Īshana (Desire) in the wind (Vāyu), the fifth,

  called Pashupati (Lord of Creatures), in the fire, the sixth,

  called Bhīma in the ether, the seventh, called Ugra, in the

  initiated brāhman priest and the last, called Mahādeva

  (the Great God), in the moon. The order of manifestations

  in the BrdP is as a series of concentric circles, for we note that the first and last forms, in the BrdP account, are

  constituted by the sun and moon respectively, the second

  and seventh by the waters and the Mind, the third and

  sixth by Earth and Heaven, the fourth and fifth by the

  Wind (Vāyu) and plantal life (Pashupati).

  In BrdP I,ii,10,76ff, the corporeal manifestations
of

  these fiery forms are presented. The corporeal form of

  Rudra is called Raudri and his son is the planet Saturn.

  Similarly, the body of Bhāva is Apāh (the waters), and

  his son is Venus, the body of Sarva is Earth and his son

  is Mars, the body of Īshana is Wāta and his sons are

  Avignātagati (“of inscrutable movement”) and Manojava

  (“rapid as the mind”), the body of Pashupati is Agni (fire)

  and his son is Skanda (Muruga), the body of Bhima is

  the Ether and his son is Heaven, the body of Ugra is the

  Brāhman priest and his son is Santāna, the body of the

  Moon is Mahat and his son is Budha. In the Wāta form

  of Agni and his ‘sons’, we clearly recognise the original of

  Wotan and his ‘ravens’ Huginn and Muginn.

  570 See p.274

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  ***

  The Germanic Wotan must be the same cosmic force

  as the Indo-Iranian Wāta, who is coupled with Vāyu,

  the god of ‘Wind’ (the source of Prāna/life-breath). We

  have seen that Vāyu is closely associated with Time

  (Kāla) in the original separation of Heaven from Earth,

  or the ‘castration’ of the former. While Wāta is not a

  clearly defined deity in the Vedas, he is, in the Middle

  Persian version of Zoroastrianism called Zurvanism

  (from ‘Zurvan’, Time/Chronos/Shiva), represented as a

  companion of Vāyu and denoting the spatial aspect of the

  original Wind.

  As regards the cosmological background of the

  Germanic literature, we find that, in the Prose Edda

  (“Gylfaginning”), the Mid-region (Ginnungagap) of our

  universe between Muspell (Heaven) and Niflheim (the

  underworld) is said to be vitalised by the sacrifice of

  the First Man, or “giant”, called Ymir. Ymir, who is the

  Germanic counterpart of the Indic Purusha/Prajāpati/

  Brahman and the Avestan Ymir, is sacrificed by Wotan

  and his brothers, Wili and We. From the corpse of

  Ymir are fashioned the firmament (his skull) and earth

  (his flesh) and the surrounding ocean (his blood). The

  ocean represents the waters whence the sun of our

  system emerges, and corresponds to the Greek Okeanos

  surrounding Earth. The substance of the sacrificed Ymir

  thus constitutes the material universe of the Mid-region

  between primal Heaven (Muspell) and Earth (Niflheim).

  In the Indic literature, the attack on Brahman or the

  Divine Light (as the Cosmic Man Prajāpati) is attributed

  to the son of Shiva, Ganesha, who is akin to Indra.571 In the

  Shiva Purāna, Ganesha, who is delineated with sinister

  traits, attacks Brahma (Phanes) after he attacks his father

  571 See p.228.

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  Shiva (Chronos). Also, like Zeus, who, according to the

  Orphic Theogony, swallows the phal us of Ouranos/

  Chronos, Ganesha too is depicted with a “pot-bel y”

  which contains the entire universe.572

  Ganesha’s alter ego, Indra, is characterised by

  the violent rage called Manyu ( SB IX,i,1,6). Indra is

  particularly identified with Angra Manyu in RV X,83, as

  well as in AV IV,31,5. Indra is said to have “slain” his father:

  “What God, when by the foot thy Sire thou tookest and

  slewest, was at hand to give thee comfort?” ( RV IV,18,12).

  Indra’s father is said to be Dyaus in RV IV,17,5, but in KYV

  V,7,1, Indra is directly identified with Prajāpati, suggesting

  that he is not merely a son of Prajāpati but indeed an

  aspect of him (just as Odin must be an aspect of Ymir).

  The sacrifice of the Purusha/Prajāpati is thus a self-

  sacrifice. This is confirmed by KYV IV,6,2, which declares:

  “Do thou thyself [Vishvakarman=Prajāpati] sacrifice

  thyself to thyself, rejoicing”.

  Further, in the Skanda Purāna and Shiva Purāna, 573

  Shiva himself is represented as once losing his phal us,

  when he is cursed by some sages for his lasciviousness.

  The phal us, however, becomes an immense fiery pil ar

  which pierces the three worlds until it is fixed in the

  vulva of Shiva’s consort and worshipped as the “source

  of the universe”.574 In the BrdP I,ii,27,23, it is Indra who loses his phal us when he is cursed by the sage Gautama

  for violating his wife Ahalyā. This incident reinforces the

  association of Indra with his father Shiva/Chronos.

  In RV X,90 (‘Purushasūkta’), Purusha is offered as

  a sacrifice by the gods and out of him are formed the

  572 See S.L. Nagar, The Cult of Vinayaka, N.Delhi: Intellectual Publishing House, 1992, p.115.

  573 Henceforth abbreviated as ShP.

  574 ShP XII:17ff. (see A. Daniélou, Shiva and Dionysus, tr. K.F. Hurry, London: East-West Publications, 1979, p.62f).

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  universe and its creatures. The sacrifice of Prajāpati/

  Purusha has the result that “three-fourths” of him remains

  in heaven as life eternal, whereas one-fourth of him

  descends to the manifest universe as the creation (v.3).

  The creation itself involves the emergence of animal life,

  the Vedic hymns, and the castes of men. The moon arises

  from Purusha's Mind (v.13) and the sun from his eye,

  Indra and Agni from his mouth and Vāyu from his breath.

  From his head is formed the sky and from his feet, earth,

  while from his navel arises the mid-region (v.14). We see

  that the emergence of the entire universe is due to this

  original sacrifice.

  The Zoroastrians who abhor Indra seem not to

  appreciate the Promethean significance of this cosmic

  phenomenon. Indeed, the Zoroastrian reform, like

  the Hebrew religion dependent on it, seems not to be

  based on comprehensive cosmological insight so much

  as on a moralistic obsession with the perfection of the

  ideal Heaven and the relative corruption of the material

  universe which will emerge from Earth after the violent

  separation of Heaven and Earth by Chronos.575

  In the Bundahishn, Ch.IV, Angra Mainyu attacks

  and draws part of the ethereal expanse of Heaven into

  the Mid-region, the Void, where the solar system ruled

  by the sun will be final y located. The text reports that

  Angra Mainyu attacked the sky in its ideal form [i.e. as

  Heaven] and “dragged it down into the Void”, so that only

  “one-third of the sky was above the station of the stars on

  the inner side”. The Void thus becomes the region of the

  material universe.

  575 The rather negative view of the creation of our universe as a sinful one in the Avestan literature is perhaps the source of the story of the Fall of Man in the Hebrew Bible. However, the Hebrew literature does not possess the cosmological understanding that impels the higher idealistic and ascetic impulses that have become so highly developed in Indian and, to a certain extent, Christian thought.

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  In the Avesta, too, Angra Mainyu destroys all the

  pure creations of Ahura Mazda and is considered to be

  a completely evil force that counteracts the
splendid

  goodness of Ahura Mazda and his creative aspect,

  Spenta Mainyu. That is why the Daivas (Indic ‘Devas’)

  and their leader, Indra, are considered demons by the

  dualistic Zoroastrians. It is interesting to note that Indra

  is considered by the Zoroastrians not as identical to Angra

  Mainyu but as an evil assistant of this arch-fiend.

  The Germanic Wotan too is akin to Angra Mainyu in

  that he possesses a praeternatural and passionate energy

  that he imparts to his warriors, the Berserkers, in war. This

  is confirmed in the ‘Ynglingasaga’, ch.6:

  Óðinn could bring it about that in battle his opponents

  were struck with blindness or deafness or panic, and

  their weapons would cut no better than sticks, while

  his men went without mail and were as wild as dogs or

  wolves, biting their shields, being as strong as bears or

  bul s. They killed the people, but neither fire nor iron

  took effect on them. That is called berserk fury.

  Wotan is thus closely identifiable with the Vedic Indra,

  and through him to Ganesha, the son of Shiva, and Zeus.

  ***

  In the Sumerian and Indic mythologies the solar force

  that is sunk in the underworld, or Earth, after it has been

  castrated by the storm-force, is represented by the gods

  Enki (Lord of Earth)/Varuna (Ouranos). It is these gods

  who are revived by the storm-god and who sustain the

  phallic Tree of Life that rises from them.

  Like the Sumerian Enki, the Vedic Varuna is the Lord

  of Earth, or the Underworld, from whence arises the Tree

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  of Life. RV I,24,7 states that Varuna “sustaineth erect the Tree’s stem in the baseless region [the Abyss/(Sumerian

  ‘Apsu’)]”. The roots of the tree arise from deep within the

  Abyss, while the trunk proper represents the Earth. The

  branches of the Tree of Life represent the Mid-Region of

  our universe. The summit of the tree, that is, the highest

  point of its branches, represents Heaven, the domain of

  the sun. There are three heavens and the highest of the

  three serves as the seat of the gods ( AV V,4,3,4). There

  the Ādityas enjoy their nectar of immortality, just as the

  Asuras/Aesir are located in Muspel .

  The Norse god, Aegir, represents Enki/Varuna, the

  castrated primal Heaven that is sunk in the underworld