Indian Myth and LegendMackenzie, Donald A. (Donald Alexander)
History
Indian Myth and Legend
Mackenzie, Donald A. (Donald Alexander)
Hindu mythology; Legends -- India
The hammer god's close association with hilly countries suggests that
he was first worshipped on the steppes and then distributed by the
nomads whose migrations were propelled by changing climatic conditions.
He is found as far east as China, where, as P'an Ku, the dwarfish
“first man”, he smites primeval rocks with his thunder hammer while
engaged in the work of shaping the hills; he is found as far west
as Scotland, where, as the hunting giant Finn-mac-Coul, “in height
sixty feet”, he strikes with his hammer, “Ord na Feinne”, such mighty
blows on his shield that he is heard by his followers in Lochlann
(Scandinavia). From ancient Egypt come distant echoes of the world
artisan Ptah, now a dwarf and anon a giant, who hammers out the copper
sky, suggesting the presence in Memphis of early Asian settlers at
the very dawn of history. In southern Europe the deity is Zeus-pater
(Jupiter), the sublime wielder of the thunderbolt; in northern Europe
he is lusty Thor, hurling Mjolner through the air against Jotuns, or
cleaving valleys with it in the mountain range which he mistook for
the giant Skrymer. We find the hammer god as Tarku among the Hittites;
he is Indra in Mitanni as in the Punjab; he is Rammon, or Adad, who
is carried aloft in triumph by the soldiers of Assur-banipal, the
Assyrian Emperor; he is remembered in Palestine by the wail of Naaman,
who cried: “When my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship
there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of
Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon
thy servant in this thing....”[42] The thunder god is also known in
Babylon, which received many of its settlers from the hills of Elam
and where Kassites, associated with Aryans, established a dynasty
after successful invasion, prior to the discovery of the Punjab. The
authorities are agreed that Aryan culture shows traces of Babylonian
influence; it does not follow, however, that Indra is of Babylonian
origin.
[42] _2 Kings_, v, 18.
But although his name, which has been deciphered as “In-da-ra” at
Boghaz-Köi in Asia Minor, may belong to the early Iranian period, the
Vedic “King of the gods” assumed a distinctly Indian character after
localization in the land of the “Five Rivers”; he ultimately stepped
from his chariot, drawn by the steeds of the Aryan horse tamers, and
mounted an elephant; his Heaven, called Swarga, which is situated on
the summit of Mount Meru, eclipses Olympus and Valhal by reason of its
dazzling Oriental splendour; his combats are reflections of the natural
phenomena of Hindustan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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