ancient being, who, however, does not belong to the number of celestial
divinities which surround the highest god, Ahuramazda, but must be
counted among "the mortals," to the oldest seers and prophets of
antiquity. A hymn of sacrifice, dedicated to the sacred mead, the
liquid of inspiration (_homa_, the _soma_ and _soma-madhu_ of the
Rigveda-Aryans, the last word being the same as our word _mead_),
relates that Jima and his father were the first to prepare the mead
of inspiration for the material world; that he, Jima, was the richest
in honour of all who had been born, and that he of all mortals most
resembled the sun. In his kingdom there was neither cold nor heat,
neither frost nor drought, neither aging nor death. A father by the side
of his son resembled, like the son, a youth of fifteen years. The evil
created by the demons did not cross the boundaries of Jima's world (The
Younger _Jasna_, ch. 9).
Jima was the favourite of Ahuramazda, the highest god. Still he had a
will of his own. The first mortal with whom Ahuramazda talked was Jima,
and he taught him the true faith, and desired that Jima should spread it
among the mortals. But Jima answered: "I am not suited to be the bearer
and apostle of the faith, nor am I believed to be so" (_Vendidad_).
[In this manner it is explained why the true doctrine did not become
known among men before the reformer Zarathustra came, and why Jima the
possessor of the mead of inspiration, nevertheless, was in possession of
the true wisdom.]
It is mentioned (in _Gosh Jasht_ and _Râm Jasht_) that Jima held two
beings in honour, which did not belong to Ahuramazda's celestial circle,
but were regarded as worthy of worship. These two were:
1. The cow (_Gosh_), that lived in the beginning of time, and whose
blood, when she was slain, fertilised the earth with the seed of life.
2. _Vajush_, the heavenly breeze. He is identical with the ruler of the
air and wind in Rigveda, the mighty god _Vâyu-Vâta_.
In regard to the origin and purpose of the kingdom ruled by Jima, in
which neither frost nor drought, nor aging nor death, nor moral evil, can
enter Vendidad relates the following:[7]
_Avesta._ _Zend._
21. A meeting was held A meeting was held with
with the holy angels of Ahuramazda, the best men of Jima, the king,
the creator. To the one rich in flocks. To
this meeting came, with the this meeting came, with the
best men, Jima, the king rich holy angels, Ahuramazda, the
in flocks. creator.
22. Then said Ahuramazda In the material world there
to Jima: "Happy Jima Vivanghana! shall come an evil winter,
In the material world consequently much snow
there shall come an evil winter, shall fall on the highest
and consequently a hard, mountains, on the tops of the
killing frost." rocks.
23. From three places, O From three places, O Jima,
Jima, the cows should be the cows should be driven
driven to well-enclosed shelters; to well-enclosed shelters;
whether they are in the whether they are in the
wildernesses, or in the heights wilderness, or on the heights
of the mountains, or in the of the mountains, or in the
depths of the valleys. depths of the valleys.
24. Before the winter this
land had meadows. Before
that time the water (the rain)
was wont to flow over it, and
the snow to melt; and there
was found, O Jima, in the
material world, water-soaked
places, in which were visible
the footprints of the cattle
and their offspring.
25. Now give this enclosure Now give the enclosure the
(above, "the well-enclosed length of one ... on each of
shelters") on each of its four sides as a dwelling for
its four sides the length of men, and give the same length
one ... and bring thither to each of the four sides as a
the seed of your cattle, of field for the cows.
oxen, of men, of dogs, and of
birds, and red blazing fires.
26. Gather water there in a
canal, the length of one hâthra.
Place the landmarks
there on a gold-coloured spot,
furnished with imperishable
nourishment. Put up a house
there of mats and poles, with
roof and walls.
27. Bring thither seed of all
men and women, who are the
largest, best, and most fair on
this earth. Bring thither seed
of all domestic animals that
are the largest, best, and
fairest on this earth.
28. Bring thither seed of all
plants which are the highest
and most fragrant on this
earth. Bring thither seed of
all articles of food which are
the best tasting and most
fragrant on this earth. And
make pairs of them unceasingly,
in order that these beings
may have their existence
in the enclosures.
29. There shall be no pride,
no despondency, no sluggishness,
no poverty, no deceit,
no dwarf-growths, no blemish
... nor aught else of those
signs which are Angrô-mainyush's
curses put on men.
30. Make, in the uppermost
part of that territory, nine
bridges; in the middle, six; in
the lowest part, three. To the
bridges of the upper part you
must bring seed of a thousand
men and women, to those of
the middle the seed of six
hundred, to those of the
lower, of three hundred....
And make a door in the enclosure,
and a self-luminous
window on the inside.
33. Then Jima made the
enclosure.
39. Which are those lights,
thou just Ahuramazda, which
give light in the enclosures
made by Jima?
40. Ahuramazda answered:
Once (a year) the stars and
moon and the sun are there
seen to rise and set.
41. And they (who dwell within
Jima's enclosures) think that
one year is one day. Every
fortieth year two persons are
born by two persons. These
persons enjoy the greatest
bliss in the enclosures made
by Jima.
42. Just creator! Who
preached the pure faith in
the enclosures which Jima
made? Ahuramazda answered:
The bird Karshipta.
Jima's garden has accordingly been formed in connection with a terrible
winter, which, in the first period of time, visited the earth, and it was
planned to preserve that which is noblest and fairest and most useful
within the kingdoms of organic beings. That the garden is situated in the
lower world is not expressly stated in the above-quoted passages from
Vendidad; though this seems to be presupposed by what is stated; for the
stars, sun, and moon do not show themselves in Jima's garden excepting
after long, defined intervals--_at their rising and setting_; and as the
surface of the earth is devastated by the unparalleled frost, and as the
valleys are no more protected therefrom than the mountains, we cannot
without grave doubts conceive the garden as situated in the upper world.
That it is subterranean is, however, expressly stated in _Bundehesh_, ch.
30, 10, where it is located under the mountain Damkan; and that it, in
the oldest period of the myth, was looked upon as subterranean follows
from the fact that the Jima of the ancient Iranian records is identical
with Rigveda's Jama, whose domain and the scene of whose activities is
the lower world, the kingdom of death.
As Jima's enclosed garden was established on account of the
fimbul-winter, which occurred in time's morning, it continues to exist
after the close of the winter, and preserves through all the historical
ages those treasures of uncorrupted men, animals, and plants which in the
beginning of time were collected there. The purpose of this is mentioned
in Minokhird, a sort of catechism of the legends and morals of the Avesta
religion. There it is said that after the conflagration of the world, and
in the beginning of the regeneration, the garden which Jima made shall
open its gate, and thence men, animals and plants shall once more fill
the devastated earth.
The lower world, where Jima, according to the ancient Iranian records,
founded this remarkable citadel, is, according to Rigveda, Jama's
kingdom, and also the kingdom of death, of which Jama is king (Rigv.,
x. 16, 9; cp. i. 35, 6, and other passages). It is a glorious country,
with inexhaustible fountains, and there is the home of the imperishable
light (Rigv., ix. 7, 8,; ix. 113, 8). Jama dwells under a tree "with
broad leaves." There he gathers around the goblet of mead the fathers of
antiquity, and there he drinks with the gods (Rigv., x. 135, 1).
Roth, and after him Abel Bergaigne (Religion Ved., i. 88 ff.), regard
Jama and Manu, mentioned in Rigveda, as identical. There are strong
reasons, for the assumption, so far as certain passages of Rigveda are
concerned; while other passages, particularly those which mention Manu
by the side of Bhriga, refer to an ancient patriarch of human descent.
If the derivation of the word _Mimer_, _Mimi_, pointed out by several
linguists, last by Müllenhoff (_Deutsche Alt._, vol. v. 105, 106), is
correct, then it is originally the same name as _Manu_, and like it is to
be referred to the idea of thinking, remembering.
What the Aryan-Asiatic myth here given has in common with the Teutonic
one concerning the subterranean persons in Mimer's grove can be
summarised in the following words:
The lower world has a ruler, who does not belong to the group of
immortal celestial beings, but enjoys the most friendly relations with
the godhead, and is the possessor of great wisdom. In his kingdom flow
inexhaustible fountains, and a tree grown out of its soil spreads its
foliage over his dwelling, where he serves the mead of inspiration, which
the gods are fond of and which he was the first to prepare. A terrible
winter threatened to destroy everything on the surface of the earth.
Then the ruler of the lower world built on his domain a well-fortified
citadel, within which neither destructive storms, nor physical ills,
nor moral evil, nor sickness, nor aging, nor death can come. Thither
he transferred the best and fairest human beings to be found on earth,
and decorated the enclosed garden with the most beautiful and useful
trees and plants. The purpose of this garden is not simply to protect
the beings collected there during the great winter; they are to remain
there through all historical ages. When these come to an end, there
comes a great conflagration and then a regeneration of the world. The
renewed earth is to be filled with the beings who have been protected by
the subterranean citadel. The people who live there have an instructor
in the pure worship of the gods and in the precepts of morality, and in
accordance with these precepts they are to live for ever a just and happy
life.
It should be added that the two beings whom the Iranian ruler of the
lower world is said to have honoured are found or have equivalents in
the Teutonic mythology. Both are there put in theogonic connection with
Mimer. The one is the celestial lord of the wind, Vayush, Rigveda's
Vâyu-Vâta. Vâta is thought to be the same name as Wodan, Odinn (Zimmer,
Haupt's Zeitschr., 1875; cp. Mannhardt and Kaegi). At all events, Vâta's
tasks are the same as Odin's. The other is the primeval cow, whose
Norse name or epithet, _Audhumla_ is preserved in Gylfag., 6. Andhunla
liberates from the frost-stones in Chaos Bure, the progenitor of the Asa
race, and his son Bor is married to Mimer's sister Bestla, and with her
becomes the father of Odin (Havam., 140; Gylfag., 6).
[7] The outlines of the contents are given here from the interpretation
found in Haug-West's _Essays on the Sacred Language of the Parsis_
(London, 1878).
55.
THE PURPOSE OF MIMER'S GROVE IN THE REGENERATION OF THE WORLD.
We now know the purpose of _Odainsakr_, Mimer's land and Mimer's grove
in the world-plan of our mythology. We know who the inhabitants of the
grove are, and why they, though dwellers in the lower world, must be
_living persons_, who did not come there through the _gate of death_.
They must be living persons of flesh and blood, since the human race of
the regenerated earth must be the same.
Still the purpose of Mimer's land is not limited to being, through this
epoch of the world, a protection for the fathers of the future world
against moral and physical corruption, and a seminary where Balder
educates them in virtue and piety. The grove protects, as we have seen,
the _ásmegir_ during _Ragnarok_, whose flames do not penetrate thither.
Thus the grove, and the land in which it is situated, exist after the
flames of Ragnarok are extinguished. Was it thought that the grove after
the regeneration was to continue in the lower world and there stand
uninhabited, abandoned, desolate, and without a purpose in the future
existence of gods, men and things?
The last moments of the existence of the crust of the old earth are
described as a chaotic condition in which all elements are confused
with each other. The sea rises, overflows the earth sinking beneath
its billows, and the crests of its waves aspire to heaven itself (cp.
Völusp., 54, 2--_Sigr fold i mar_, with Hyndlulj., 42, 1-3--_Haf gengr
hridum vid himinn sialfann, lidr lond yfir_). The atmosphere, usurped by
the sea, disappears, as it were (_loft bilar_--Hyndlulj., 42, 4). Its
snow and winds (Hyndlulj., 42, 5-6) are blended with water and fire, and
form with them heated vapours, which "play" against the vault of heaven
(Völusp., 54, 7-8). One of the reasons why the fancy has made all the
forces and elements of nature thus contend and blend was doubtless to
furnish a sufficiently good cause for the dissolution and disappearance
of the burnt crust of the earth. At all events, the earth is gone when
the rage of the elements is subdued, and thus it is no impediment to the
act of regeneration which takes its beginning beneath the waves.
This act of regeneration consists in the rising from the depths of the
sea a new earth, which on its very rising possesses living beings and
is clothed in green. The fact that it, while yet below the sea, could
be a home for beings which need air in order to breathe and exist, is
not necessarily to be regarded as a miracle in mythology. Our ancestors
only needed to have seen an air-bubble rise to the surface of the water
in order to draw the conclusion that air can be found under the water
without mixing with it, but with the power of pushing water away while
it rises to the surface. The earth rising from the sea has, like the old
earth, the necessary atmosphere around it. Under all circumstances, the
seeress in Völuspa sees after Ragnarok--
upp koma
audro sinni
iord or ægi
ithia græna (str. 56).
The earth risen from the deep has mountains and cascades, which, from
their fountains in the fells, hasten to the sea. The waterfalls contain
fishes, and above them soars the eagle seeking its prey (Völusp., 56,
5-8). The eagle cannot be a survivor of the beings of the old earth.
It cannot have endured in an atmosphere full of fire and steam, nor is
there any reason why the mythology should spare the eagle among all the
creatures of the old earth. It is, therefore, of the same origin as the
mountains, the cascades, and the imperishable vegetation which suddenly
came to the surface.
The earth risen from the sea also contains human beings, namely, Lif
and Leifthraser, and their offspring. Mythology did not need to have
recourse to any hocus-pocus to get them there. The earth risen from
the sea had been the lower world before it came out of the deep, and
a paradise-region in the lower world had for centuries been the abode
of Lif and Leifthraser. It is more than unnecessary to imagine that the
lower world with this Paradise was duplicated by another with a similar
Paradise, and that the living creatures on the former were by some magic
manipulation transferred to the latter. Mythology has its miracles, but
it also has its logic. As its object is to be trusted, it tries to be
as probable and consistent with its premises as possible. It resorts to
miracles and magic only when it is necessary, not otherwise.
Among the mountains which rise on the new earth are found those which
are called _Nida fjöll_ (Völusp., 62), Nide's mountains. The very name
Nide suggests the lower world. It means the "lower one." Among the
abodes of Hades, mentioned in Völuspa, there is also a hall of gold on
Nide's plains (_a Nitha vollum_--str. 36), and from _Solarljod_ (str.
56) we learn--a statement confirmed by much older records--that Nide is
identical with Mimer (see No. 87). Thus, Nide's mountains are situated
on Mimer's fields. Völuspa's seeress discovers on the rejuvenated
earth Nidhog, the corpse-eating demon of the lower world, flying, with
dead bodies under his wings, away from the rocks, where he from time
immemorial had had his abode, and from which he carried his prey to
Nastrands (Völusp., 39). There are no more dead bodies to be had for him,
and his task is done. Whether the last line of Völuspa has reference to
Nidhog or not, when it speaks of some one "who must sink," cannot be
determined. Müllenhoff (_Deutsche Alt._) assumes this to be the case,
and he is probably right; but as the text has _hon_ (she) not _han_ (he)
[_nu mun hon seyquas_], and as I, in this work, do not base anything
even on the most probable text emendation, this question is set aside,
and the more so, since Völuspa's description of the regenerated earth
under all circumstances shows that Nidhog has naught there to do but to
fly thence and disappear. The existence of Nide's mountains on the new
earth confirms the fact that it is identical with Mimer's former lower
world, and that Lif and Leifthraser did not need to move from one world
to another in order to get to the daylight of their final destination.
Völuspa gives one more proof of this.
In their youth, free from care, the Asas played with strange tablets. But
they had the tablets only _i arladaga_, in the earliest time (Völusp.,
8, 58). Afterwards, they must in some way or other have lost them. The
Icelandic sagas of the middle ages have remembered this game of tablets,
and there we learn, partly that its strange character consisted in the
fact that it could itself take part in the game and move the pieces, and
partly that it was preserved in the lower world, and that Gudmund-Mimer
was in the habit of playing with tablets (Fornalder Sagas, i. 443; iii.
391-392; iii. 626, &c. In the last passages the game is mentioned in
connection with the other subterranean treasure, the horn.) If, now, the
mythology had no special reason for bringing the tablets from the lower
world before Ragnarok, then they naturally should be found on the risen
earth if the latter was Mimer's domain before. Völuspa (str. 58) also
relates that they were found in its grass:
Thar muno eptir
undrsamligar
gullnar tavlor
i grasi finaz.
"There were the wonderful tablets found left in the grass (_finaz
eptir_)."
Thus, the tablet-game was refound in the grass, in the meadows of the
renewed earth, having from the earliest time been preserved in Mimer's
realm. Lif and Leifthraser are found after Ragnarok on the earth of
the regenerated world, having had their abode there for a long time
in Mimer's domain. Nide's mountains, and Nidhog with them, have been
raised out of the sea, together with the rejuvenated earth, since these
mountains are located in Mimer's realm. The earth of the new era--the era
of virtue and bliss--has, though concealed, existed through thousands of
years below the sin-stained earth, as the kernel within the shell.
_Remark_--Völuspa (str. 56) calls the earth rising from the sea
_idjagræna_:
Ser hon upp koma
audro sinni
iord or ægi
ithia græna.
The common interpretation is _ithia græna_, "the ever green" or "very
green," and this harmonises well with the idea preserved in the sagas
mentioned above, where it was stated that the winter was not able to
devastate Gudmund-Mimer's domain. Thus the idea contained in the
expression _Haddingjalands oskurna ax_ (see Nos. 72, 73) recurs in
Völuspa's statement that the fields unsown yield harvests in the new
earth. Meanwhile the composition _idja-græna_ has a perfectly abnormal
appearance, and awakens suspicion. Müllenhoff (_Deutsche Alt._) reads
_idja_, _græna_, and translates "the fresh, the green." As a conjecture,
and without basing anything on the assumption; I may be permitted to
present the possibility that _idja_ is an old genitive plural of _ida_,
an eddying body of water. _Ida_ has originally had a _j_ in the stem (it
is related to _id_ and _idi_), and this _j_ must also have been heard
in the inflections. From various metaphors in the old skalds we learn
that they conceived the fountains of the lower world as roaring and in
commotion (e.g., _Odreris alda thytr_ in Einar Skalaglam and _Bodnar bára
ter vaxa_ in the same skald). If the conjecture is as correct as it seems
probable, then the new earth is characterised as "the green earth of the
eddying fountains," and the fountains are those famous three which water
the roots of the world-tree.
56.
THE COSMOGRAPHY. CRITICISM ON GYLFAGINNING'S COSMOGRAPHY.
In regard to the position of Ygdrasil and its roots in the universe,
there are statements both in Gylfaginning and in the ancient heathen
records. To get a clear idea, freed from conjectures and based in all
respects on evidence, of how the mythology conceived the world-tree and
its roots, is of interest not only in regard to the cosmography of the
mythology, to which Ygdrasil supplies the trunk and the main outlines,
but especially in regard to the mythic conception of the lower world and
the whole eschatology; for it appears that each one of the Ygdrasil roots
stands not alone above its particular fountain in the lower world but
also over its peculiar lower-world domain, which again has its peculiar
cosmological character and its peculiar eschatological end.
The first condition, however, for a fruitful investigation is that we
consider the heathen or heathen-appearing records by themselves without
mixing their statements with those of Gylfaginning. We must bear in mind
that the author of Gylfaginning lived and wrote in the 13th century, more
than 200 years after the introduction of Christianity in Iceland, and
that his statements accordingly are to be made a link in that chain of
documents which exist for the scholar, who tries to follow the fate of
the myths during a Christian period and to study their gradual corruption
and confusion.
This caution is the more important for the reason that an examination
of Gylfaginning very soon shows that the whole cosmographical and
eschatological structure which it has built out of fragmentary mythic
traditions is based on a conception wholly foreign to Teutonic mythology,
that is, on the conception framed by the scholars in Frankish cloisters,
and then handed down from chronicle to chronicle, that the Teutons were
descended from the Trojans, and that their gods were originally Trojan
chiefs and magicians. This "learned" conception found its way to the
North and finally developed its most luxurious and abundant blossoms in
the Younger Edda preface and in certain other parts of that work.
Permit me to present in brief a sketch of how the cosmography
and eschatology of Gylfaginning developed themselves out of this
assumption:--The Asas were originally men, and dwelt in the Troy which
was situated on the centre of the earth, and which was identical with
Asgard (_thar næst gerdu their ser borg i midjum heimi, er kallat er
Asgardr; that köllum ver Trója; thar bygdu gudin ok ættir theirra ok
gjördust thadan af mörg tidindi ok greinir bædi á jord ok á lopti_--ch.
9).
The first mythic tradition which supplies material for the structure
which Gylfaginning builds on this foundation is the bridge Bifrost. The
myth had said that this bridge united the celestial abodes with a part of
the universe situated somewhere below. Gylfaginning, which makes the Asas
dwell in Troy, therefore makes the gods undertake an enterprise of the
greatest boldness, that of building a bridge from Troy to the heavens.
But they are extraordinary architects and succeed (_Gudin gjördu brú til
himins af jördu_--ch. 13).
The second mythic tradition employed is Urd's fountain. The myth had
stated that the gods daily rode from their celestial abodes on the bridge
Bifrost to Urd's (subterranean) fountain. Thence Gylfaginning draws the
correct conclusion that Asgard was supposed to be situated at one end of
the bridge and Urd's fountain near the other. But from Gylfaginning's
premises it follows that if Asgard-Troy is situated on the surface of
the earth Urd's fountain must be situated in the heavens, and that the
Asas accordingly when they ride to Urd's fountain must ride upward, not
downward. The conclusion is drawn with absolute consistency ("_Hvern dag
rida æsir thangat upp um Bifröst_"--ch. 15).