Pra-Indo-European religion

General Theories

By comparing the linguistic material and myths of various Indo-European peoples, the French comparativist Georges Dumésil concluded that the Pra-Indo-European society was functionally divided into three classes ^[1] - priestly (cf. brahmanas ), military (cf. kshatriyas ) and agricultural (cf. vaisyas ). Each caste corresponded to a special deity: for example, among the priests it was a formidable but fair god-judge ( Zeus - Jupiter - Odin - Ormazd - Mihr - Mitra - Varuna ), among the warriors - the god of war ( Thor - Mars - Ares - Vaagn - Indra - Perun ^[2] - Pyarkunas ), among the farmers - the god of fertility ( Freyr - Quirin ).

Gamkrelidze and Ivanov, in denying Dumézil’s theory, put forward the dualistic principle of Indo-European social organization ^[3] , which, in their opinion, was reflected in the twin cult and in the myth of twin incest , as well as in the myth of the enmity of the Pandavas and Kauravas (the main plot of the Mahabharata ) . In addition, the gods appear to be divided into two opposition groups, which are at the same time in kinship relations ( virgins and asuras in India, virgins and akhuras in Iran, vans and aces in Scandinavia, partly also Olympic gods and titans in Greece).

Heavenly Deities

According to linguistic data, a number of names of Indo-European deities can be restored ^[4] :

• “Father God” (* dyeus ph _a ter ) is a clear-sky deity (Indian Dyaus- pitar, Baltic Dievas , Greek Zeus , Roman Jupiter , Luvian Tiwaz , Hittite Siu , Armenian Tiu) ^[5] .
• The deity of thunder and fighting squad (* per (k ^w ) unos ^[6] ; Hittite Pierva , Vedic Parjanya , Baltic Perkunas , Slavic Perun , Icelandic Fjergin ).

J. Audrey put forward a special theory: in his opinion, the Indo-Europeans had deities of three heavens: the good "white" god of the day sky, the angry "red" god of the morning and evening dawn, and the "black" god of the night ^[7] . Linguists V.N. Toporov and Vyach. Sun Ivanov developed the so-called " theory of the main myth ", according to which the main Indo-European mythologeme is the opposition of the Thunderer to the Serpent. They restore the name of the main adversary of the thunder god: Slavic Veles , Lithuanian Velnias , Indian Vala and Vritra , Armenian visap . A number of characters associated with water are also associated with the adversary of the gods ^[8] , whose names include the root * dhon (from which the names of the Don , Dnieper , Dniester , Danube rivers come) - the Indo-Aryans have the mother of Vritra Danu and Danava , the ancient Irish tribes of the goddess Danu .

It is possible to restore a number of other deities of the pan-Indo-European pantheon. Among them, the goddess of dawn and summer (* h _a eusos ) is especially clearly drawn ^[5] : in the Greek tradition - Eos , in the Roman - Aurora , in the Vedic - Ushas , in the Baltic - Aushra . Slavic Yarila and Armenian Arai are male personifications of dawn, summer and the sun, combined with the male power of the rage.

Although early scholars imagined the proto-Indo-Europeans (“Aryans”) as fire or sun worshipers, these characteristics are more correctly attributed only to Indo-Iranians . In Indo-European languages, the grammatical gender of the sun is unstable. On the one hand, the male solar deity travels across the sky in a chariot (the solar wagon of Surya , the chariot of Helios , the chariot of Ahura-Mazda , Indian Wimana ). The symbolism of the so-called Solar Cross : Four-spoke sun chariot wheel. On the other hand, the opposition of the Sun as a feminine principle ("mother") to the month - as a masculine principle ("father") is also traced ^[9] . The mythological motif of the wedding of the month and the daughter of the sun is best preserved in Baltic mythology ^[10] .

Mythology

Indo-European peoples are characterized by mythologies that are common to the tribes of the whole world, such as the world tree and the unclean snake. However, among the Indo-Europeans, the world tree is associated with the cult of horses ( Yggdrasil - “ Odin 's horse ” in Scandinavia; ashvattha , from the root of ashwa (“horse”) - the name of the world tree in India).

There was an idea of ​​the ancestor of the human race, whose name meant "man, man" (Indian Manu , German Mann ). The ancestor was also considered the first dead person to open the way for other people to another world and become his master. In addition, the mythological motif of the incest of the divine twins from which humanity descended (the Vedic Yama and Yami , the Baltic Yumis and Yumala , cf. the Russians Ivan da Maria ) was widespread . The motive for sacrificing the first man (Scandinavian Ymir or Vedic Purusha ) is rooted in ancient Indo-European antiquity. In many traditions, the world is created by dismembering the body of a primitive creature (stones from bones, earth from flesh) ^[11] . The motive for the marriage of heaven and earth ( Uranus and Gaia in Greece, Dyaus and Prithivi in India) is also spread outside the Indo-European community.

According to the conclusions of Yu. E. Berezkin , in the Eurasian steppes of the Bronze Age a motive arose that spread with Indo-European migrations that God sculpts the figures of a man and a woman from clay and leaves to dry in the sun. They are broken by a horse, fearing that people will harness it in the future. After that, the creator creates a dog to drive away the attackers. ^[12]

A distinctive feature of the Indo-European peoples is their belief in the existence of the afterlife , which is usually separated from the living world by the river. At the same time, paradise , as a rule, was located in distant lands ( blessed islands ), and hell was represented as a cold cavity underground, the entrance to which is guarded by a ferocious dog ( Kerber - Garm ).

Dumezil saw in different Indo-European traditions the rudiments of the trickster figure, most clearly represented in German Loki , but also inherent in the Greek Hermes , Iranian Ahriman , as well as a number of Indo-European heroes ( Odysseus among the Greeks, Syrdon among the Ossetians, Brikren among the Celts) ^[13] .

The myths of various Indo-European peoples sometimes show amazing similarities. So, in many countries there is a myth about a herd of cows (or clouds) stolen by the god of the wind. The favorite motif of the folklore of the Indo-European peoples is the newlyweds, who are separated by a naked sword on the bed. Dumezil noted that in the Nart epic (reflecting the Scythian-Sarmatian tradition) there is an episode that corresponds to the smallest detail to the Celtic legend of the Lady of the Lake giving the hero of the sword Excalibur to the hero (this motive was studied in detail by the pupil of Dumezil, J. Grisvar) ^{[14] [15]} .

It seems likely that the pra-Indo-European religion allowed the existence of forest and field spirits, both male ( elves , gnomes , satyrs , goblin ), and women ( nymphs , mermaids , huldras , apsaras ).

Cult of Heroes

Among the Indo-European peoples, a cult of heroes was developed - husbands endowed with extraordinary qualities, which from childhood stood out among their peers, and gained immortal fame in battles. Wandering poets ( bards , skalds , vitias) were called to glorify heroes in their songs. The plots of many heroic myths are built on the ups and downs of the relationship of the hero with his father .

Many Indo-European myths depict the image of an invincible hero who dies due to the presence of a single weak spot on his body, usually in the area of ​​his legs:

• Achilles Vulnerability - Achilles heel .
• Siegfried's vulnerability is on his back, which Hagen did not fail to take advantage of.
• Krishna's body is invincible, with the exception of the soles of his feet, and it is in this place that his fatal arrow strikes.
• In “ Shahnam ” Isfandiyar’s body is invulnerable, but Rustam strikes him with a special arrow in the eye.
• Soslan , born of a seeded stone, was tempered in ice water, wolf’s milk and molten iron, but his knees were left unprotected, and it was they who were hit by a flying wheel.
• The Irish hero Conganknes, son of Dedad , has such a hard skin that cold weapons bounce off her (his very name consists of congna 'horn, horns' + cnes 'skin'). However, the unfaithful wife found out from him that it was possible to kill him by driving red-hot knitting needles through the sole into the lower leg. Having lulled the husband, the wife resorts to this method.

In many myths, the main feat of the hero is the killing of a snake (this motive was studied in detail by K. Watkins ) ^[16] .

The cult of horses

In many Indo-European traditions, and especially in the Indo-Iranian , the cult of horses is traced. Connected with this are horse sacrifices and chariot burials , which are especially characteristic of Andronovo culture . Separate features of these rituals were preserved in later times ( equiry in Rome , ashwamedha in India).

The horse cult is associated with the figures of divine twins , who in a number of traditions were considered the sons of the horse goddess ^[17] . In Greece, these figures were called Dioscuri , in Germany - the Alcoves , in India - the Ashvins , in Lithuania - the sons of Dievas , in Rome they were played by Romulus and Remus , “horse” names are also the first kings of Kent brothers Hengist and Khorsa ^[5] .

Information about the rites of initiation and marriage in proto-Indo-European society is scarce and contradictory. Many Indo-Europeans had a custom before the initiation to expel young men from the settlement. During their stay in such a detachment, young men had to behave “in a manly way”, that is, deliberately rude and unbridled, neglecting social institutions. The cult of a dog or a wolf did not yet fully understood in this: perhaps the dog was a companion of the young man in the detachment, or it was customary to dress in wolf skins (hence the latest ideas about werewolves , lupercalia ) ^[18] .

In many Indo-European societies, there was a rite of collective tasting of a certain divine drink, which allows a mortal to join the gods with dancing, music and songs. Before the battle, the priests prepared a drink and distributed it to the soldiers, to whom he gave fearlessness and invulnerability in battle. In the Vedic tradition, the drink is called “ soma ”, in Iranian - “ haoma ”. Among European nations, the consumption of a hallucinogenic drink was replaced by the ritual use of spicy alcoholic beverages ( honey on feasts and blots of the northern peoples, wine on Hellenic sympathies ).

This rite, apparently, goes back to the archaic and characteristic of many peoples idea that the gods should be fed and watered with a drink of immortality, otherwise they will die and the world will end . In Greece, this drink was called ambrosia , in India - amrita ("non-dead"). It was prepared by the priests. Food sacrificed to the gods was burned at the stake: fire was considered “the mouth of a deity,” as smoke rises to heaven.

In historical times, human sacrifices were rather exceptional (in Rome - at the height of the war with Hannibal , in Kiev - under Vladimir Svyatoslavich , in Scandinavia - on a blot in Old Uppsala ), however, the Mergel ridge mounds investigated in recent years in the Luhansk region indicate the spread rite among the holders of the pit culture . Almost all Indo-European peoples in ancient times burned the dead on funeral pyres, although in an earlier period, apparently, inhumation was practiced in the mounds (according to the materials of the pit culture - on the back with bent legs). Often during the funeral, the horse of the deceased and his wife or concubine ( sati ) were sacrificed. They could also sacrifice goats, sheep and other animals. Archaeological evidence of such sacrifices is in Greece, among the Hittites and other Indo-European peoples ^[19] . A similar custom is known in the tombs of the catacomb culture : for example, about forty horse skulls were found in one male burial ^[19] . Following the burial, funeral games and tridents were performed ^[20] . Horse games and other competitions usually took place at funeral games ^[21] .

• Armenian mythology
• Baltic mythology
  • Latvian mythology
  • Lithuanian mythology
• Praindo-Iranian religion
  • Vedic mythology
    • ( Hinduism )
  • Iranian mythology
    • ( Zoroastrianism )
    • Scythian mythology
    • Hindu Kush religion
• German mythology
  • German-Scandinavian mythology
• Greek mythology
• Italian mythology
  • Roman mythology
    • Romanian mythology
• Celtic mythology
  • Irish mythology
• Slavic mythology
• Hittite mythology

• Gorshunova O.V. Before Zarathustra said ... Indo-European expansion and the religious crisis in Central Asia during the Late Bronze Age // Religion in the XXI century: Archaic and modernity. Moscow: Calligrapher, 2012. 119-137. - ISBN 978-5-90363-021-9 .
• Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, ed. JP Mallory , Douglas Q. Adams, Fitzroy Dearborn, London, 1997.
• West ML Indo-European Poetry and Myth . Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Watkins, Calverts . How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics. Oxford, 1995.
• Ivanov Vyach. Sun , Toporov V. N. Indo-European mythology // Myths of the peoples of the world . M., 1991-92. T. 1. S. 527-533.
• Boroday S.Yu. About the Indo-European worldview // Questions of linguistics. 4.2015. S. 60-90.