Druid Magazine 8 ews Dharma & Druidry: eatures My Personal Journey into Belief and Science, Part 2 NF By Renu K. Aldrich he Dharmic religions, in my case Hinduism specifically, have a rich his- Ttory linking it to ancient Celtic worship. In the first part of this series, I explored the connections between Dharma and Druidry in my personal life and through associations in linguistics, spiritual traditions, beliefs, sacred chant and meditation, and festivals and holidays. In this second part, I explore commonal- ities in mythology and folklore, symbols, astrology, music and poetry, and laws, customs, and training. Join me in my exploration into the mists of time, back into the present where we strengthen our ties to one another. Myths & Folklore symbolism and inspiration. Celtic deities Evidence of common folklore from had multiple functions and represented Ireland to India is purported by Peter the forces of nature, dispensing ideas on Berresford-Ellis (2000) as well as Stith ethics, justice, knowledge, arts, crafts, Thompson (2007) in his book The Folk- medicine, speech, and harvests (Ralls, tale, which traces stories from Ireland 2008). They were called deuos or “shin- to India. Many surviving Irish and Welsh ing one” (Hinduism Today, 1994). myths show remarkable resemblances to Meanwhile, the stories of Hindu the themes, stories, and even names in Gods and Goddesses teach dharma, the the sagas of the Indian Vedas (Berres- spiritual code of right from wrong, and ford-Ellis, 2000). other important life lessons. The ear- As a historically oral tradition, ly Vedic pantheon included deities with Druids believe in myth and the power overlapping functions, such as natural of storytelling to heal and enlighten as forces, speech, crafts, arts, harvest, well as entertain. Teachings are trans- medicine, ethical order, and war (Hin- mitted through the creative arts—most duism Today, 1994; Ralls, 2008). They especially via parables and songs full of were invoked as devas or “shining ones.” CELTIC VEDIC The God of thunder was Taranus, The God of rain and thunder was who carried thunderbolts Indra, who carried thunderbolts God of fire is Aedh (pronounced uh-ee) The God of fire was Agni The sun deity is Sulios The solar being was Surya The Celtic word for invocation is gutuater The Sanskrit word for invocation is hotar Figure 1. A comparison of Celtic and Vedic Gods (Hinduism Today, 1994) 9 Summer - 2016 (See Figure 1 for a few comparisons.) waters created the Danuvius River. From this sprang the pantheon of gods known According to Berresford-Ellis as the Tuatha de Danaan, who taught (2000), the parallels among Hindu and wisdom to humankind and fought val- Druid Gods and Goddesses are almost iantly against invaders. This race was endless. One common myth correlates also known as the sidhe. Interesting- the Hindu Goddess Ganga and the Celtic ly enough, in Sanskrit the word siddha Mother Goddess Danu. Hindu myth says means “power” and danu means “waters Ganga was a Goddess resting in heaven of heaven.” There is a temple in Bali when Lord Siva brought her to the earth dedicated to the Goddess of the Lake, in the form of water to save and puri- Devi Danu. A Hindu Danu is depicted fy the sons of King Sagar and to rinse in the Vedic story “The Churning of the away the sins of mankind. According to Oceans,” a story with parallels in Irish an early Celtic creation myth, Danu fell and Welsh mythology. from heaven in the form of rain and her © Pumpkin Tripsa © Raja Ravi Varma Ravi © Raja (Left) Hindu Goddess Ganga descending to Earth; (Right) a depiction of the Celtic Goddess Danu Druid Magazine 10 in 1891 and has been dated to at least the 1st century BCE. Analysis of the cup has challenged experts to re-think what we believe about prehistoric society: Ethnicity, gender and mythology may all have been more complex than previously supposed. Firm cultural boundaries may not have existed, humanity and its gods may have been viewed as having more than simply male and female A section of the Gundestrup Cauldron— depicting the Celtic God Cernunnos or the Hindu God Pashupati? genders, and religious beliefs may have been flexible and multifacet- Other deities are also comparable. ed (Taylor, 1992, p. 84). The Celtic God Cernunnos, or Horned The cup has both what is consid- One, is the God of fertility, produce, and ered to be extensive Celtic imagery and the underworld. He has long hair and a Indian iconography, but experts have beard, and sits cross-legged in a medi- also suggested Thracian or Scythian tative state when not hunting. He wears origins. This has led scholars to debate torcs, which are ornate neck-rings. He how Indian culture could have been is associated with a serpent, which has transmitted from the East to the West the horns of a ram. Pashupati is the (Taylor, 1992). Horned God of the Indus Valley and the proto-God of Lord Siva, the long-haired Symbols Hindu God who spent time immersed The similarities in symbols be- in the forest in the form of a deer. He tween the two cultures occur in many often assumes a meditative pose, is other areas. In modern times, the re- garlanded with snakes, and is associ- semblance between the Indian and Irish ated with fertility a la the Siva Lingam. flags is no coincidence. Both are repre- He also uses a Bisana, a long horn. As sentative of a truce between cultures part of the Trimurti, he is the Destroyer and living in peace: Hindus, Muslims, in order for re-creation to occur and, and all other religious communities (Flag thus, wears the ashes of the dead on of India, 2016); and Roman Catholics his body. Both are known as Lord of the and Protestants (Col, 2010). Animals. Ancient symbols illuminate the Gundestrup Cauldron is a silver enormous connections among Druids vessel that was found in a Danish bog and Hindus, most notably the signif- 11 Summer - 2016 icance of dalas. Hindus perceive threes all the number throughout creation. In addition three. Druid to having three letters and three teachings in- hidden sounds, the word Aum clude a store- consists of three curves repre- house of pow- senting the erful triadic three states poems. One of con- of the most sciousness: Indian (left) and important Celt- Irish (right) flags moving ic symbols is the wakeful, in- triple spiral, which is found in ner moving many types of images, including dream, and a triskele or triskelion, and offers an ar- deep sleep state (Jayaram, 2010). The ray of associations to the sacred three, Hindi language’s devanagri script de- including the realms of land, sea, and picting Aum even looks like the numeral sky, or mind, body, and soul. The spiral three. of life represents the cycle of life, death, In Hinduism, the three strands of and rebirth as well as the Triple God- creation themselves are called gunas: dess—the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Raja, which means activity, passion, It also symbolizes the male, female, desire, and movement; Sattva, and child on the path of life. The which means truth, goodness, OBOD symbol has three outer intelligence, and conscious- circles representing the circles ness; Tamas, which means of creation, three bars of inertia, darkness, and light representing the heaviness (Doran, Triple Deity, and a 2010). The gu- triad of sunrises nas entwine to symbolized by make everything dots (Summer in creation, Solstice, the including human Equinoxes, and the consciousness. There Winter Solstice). are numerous other Hindu In traditional Buddhist triadic associations, including art, triskeles are frequent- the three duties of a Brah- ly seen in the center of Dharma min (sacrifice, study the Vedas, wheels, four-pronged vajras, and charity), three paths to and auspicious symbol man- Four-pointed Buddhist vajra self-realization (knowledge, Druid Magazine 12 love, and action), and the three lines of sacred site where the famous Khumb ash worn by Saivites (those who wor- Mela religious festival occurs. Temples ship Lord Siva) on their foreheads (Ja- line the area, and hundreds of thou- yaram, 2010). sands of worshippers bathe in the water to purify themselves of sin. As mentioned previously, Hindus also have Trimurti, a Triple Deity—Brah- Astrology ma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, Berresford-Ellis (2000) cites nu- and Siva the Destroyer. Siva is known merous references linking Celtic and as Tryambaka, the three-eyed Lord Vedic cosmology in addition to their use (Gradinarov, 2005). The of the same word for three eyes have multi- the planet Mercury. ple associations and can Celtic astrologers used represent triloka, the a system of 27 lunar three worlds: the phys- mansions similar to ical, astral, and causal the nakshatras in Ve- (Subramuniyaswami, dic Sanskrit. Both the 2003); the three aspects Hindu God Soma and of time: past, present, King Ailill of Connacht, and future (Baba, 2010); Ireland, had a circular or the sun, moon, and Aum, the Hindu symbol for the seed of creation palace constructed with fire (Pandit, 2010). The 27 windows to gaze third eye signifies spiritual knowledge upon the 27 star alignments. A 1st cen- and power. Siva is third in the trinity, is tury BCE Celtic calendar (the Coligny often represented as a triangle to mean Calendar) discovered in 1897 had par- ‘absolute reality,’ and has three braids of allels to Vedic calendrical computations hair that represent the integration of the (Berresford-Ellis, 2000; Hinduism Today, physical, mental, and spiritual energies. 1994). He carries a trident that some say rep- resents God’s three fundamental shaktis Both cultures conceived of cosmic or powers: icchha (desire, will, love); creation as a sacrifice of a primal per- kriya (action); and jnana (wisdom) son or being, and they recognized four (Subramuniyaswami, 2003).