Baldr ( dr. Scand. Baldr ), or Balder (the spelling “Baldur” [2] is also incorrect) is one of the aces , the god of spring and light, in German-Scandinavian mythology .
| Balder | |
|---|---|
| Baldr | |
 At the instigation of Loki, a blind Hyud kills his brother Balder | |
| Mythology | |
| Greek spelling | Μπαλντρ |
| Floor | |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Brothers and sisters | , , , , , and |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
Balder is similar to the deities of a dying and reviving nature present in the mythology of many peoples, who patronize agriculture or vegetation in general. Such gods are common for mythologies and religions of peoples living or living in territories whose nature is characterized by seasonality [3] . Researchers associated this image also with Christian influence, with ideas about the origin of death and the first victim, with rites of initiation , and with the ritual killing of the king witnessed in Scandinavia to avert disaster.
Mythological plot
Balder is the son of Odin and Frigg . He is so beautiful and pure in soul that radiance emanates from him. Balder is the brightest among the aces, with his arrival on earth life awakens, and everything becomes more beautiful.
Balder's wife is Nanna , their son is Forseti . Suddenly, the young man began to dream ominous dreams foreshadowing death. Worried, Odin saddled his eight-legged stallion Sleipnir and went to the kingdom of the dead. The sorceress-seer told him that Balder would die at the hands of his brother, the blind god Hyud. Saddened by the news, Odin returned to Asgard , but his mother Frigg figured out how to save Balder. According to legend, Frigg took an oath from every metal, from every stone, from every plant, from every beast, from every bird and from every fish that none of them would harm Balder. But Loki , having learned that Frigg had not yet taken an oath from the mistletoe (Mistlteinn - literally translated “Hazy Blade”) [4] , made an arrow out of this plant and cunningly forced Hyud to shoot at Balder. The arrow hit right in the heart.
Hermod went to the kingdom of the dead to offer a ransom for his brother. Hel , the ruler of the underworld, said she would bring Balder back to life if the whole world cried about him. Ases dispersed in different directions to go around the whole world, but they met the giantess Tokk (whom Loki turned to) and said that she would not cry about Balder. So Balder remained in the kingdom of the dead.
Later, the aces learned that Loki gave the arrow to Hyoudou, after which he was tied up and placed in a cave, where he was enclosed in a chain, and a poisonous snake was hanged over his head, from which poison was constantly dripping. This poison fell into a bowl held by Loki Shigyun's wife. When the bowl was filled to the brim, Shigyun took it and poured poison. While she poured poison, Loki writhed in torment from the poison falling on his face.
The Scandinavians believed that the renaissance of Baldr would occur after the day of Ragnarok , when a new green land rises from the sea.
Parallels in other mythological systems
The image of Baldr has parallels in Indo-Aryan mythology. Georges Dumezil discovered the similarity of the Baldr myth with the plot of Yudhisthira from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata [5] . In the Mahabharata, Duryodhana (an analogue of Loki), using the blind Dhritarashtra (Khod), calls Yudhishthira (Baldr) to a dice game in which, having become a victim of fraud, Yudhishthira loses everything and goes into exile. Also, the analogy is that both Balder and Yudhisthira ultimately receive fair rewards. According to Dumezil, the images of Balder and Yudhisthira date back to the time of Indo-European unity as symbols of friendship and unconditional trust. These qualities connect them with the god Mithra .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ed. I.E. Andreevsky , K.K. Arseniev , F.F. Petrushevsky - St. Petersburg. : Brockhaus - Efron , 1907.
- ↑ [dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/relig/1338 Baldur. Theosophical Dictionary.]
- ↑ Balder // Atheistic Dictionary / Under the general. ed. M.P. Novikova . - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - M .: Politizdat , 1985. - S. 7-8, 48, 466. - 512 p. - 300,000 copies.
- ↑ King D. Entry to Historical Tanatology: Nav. posіb .. - Kiev: NaUKMA, 2015. - P. 123-125.
- ↑ Dumézil, Georges . Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0-520-02044-8 .
Literature
- Dumezil J. Supreme gods of the Indo-Europeans. - M .: Nauka , 1986 .-- 234 p. (Series "Studies on folklore and mythology of the East")
- King D. Entry to Historical Tanatology: Nav. pos_b. Kiev: NaUKMA, 2015.
- Myths of the World: Encyclopedia. In 2 t. / Ch. ed. S. A. Tokarev. M .: Olympus, 1997.
- Younger Edda. Ed. prepared by O. A. Smirnitskaya and M. I. Steblin-Kamensky . L., 1970.
- Petrukhin V. Ya. Myths of ancient Scandinavia. - M: Astrel , AST , 2002 .-- 464 p. - ISBN 5-17-008799-3 , 5-271-02563-2.