LL-L "History" 2010.08.08 (01) [EN]

Sun Aug 8 19:52:18 UTC 2010

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 08 August 2010 - Volume 01
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From: Ben J. Bloomgren <ben.j.bloomgren at gmail.com>

Subject: LL-L "Names" 2010.08.06 (08) [EN]

The Isle of Rugia (Germany’s largest island, I believe) was of particular
significance among pre-Christian Slavs. It is there that certain pilgrimage
sites were found, mostly dedicated to

There usuallz is huge significance. Jesus is in everzthing!

Ben

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From: Mike Morgan <mwmbombay at gmail.com>

Subject: LL-L "History" 2010.08.06 (13) [EN]

ॐ श्री गणेशाय नमः

Larry wrote:

There may be some influence from Hindu through Iranian contact,

Well in fact it is generally accepted (which does not necessarily mena it's
true, but..) that the Slavic word fro God (e.g. Russian бог /bog/ or Czech
boh) is an Indo-Iranian loanword (as in Bhagwan) (nd the same root of course
is found in the Slavic word for "rich" (e.g. Russian богатый /bogatyj/) ...
via one (or more?) of the many Iranic tribes roaming the pains...

There is a distinction too between Triglav and Trimurti in that Trimurti is
an expression of the three supreme forms or names of Brahma or for some
groups Vishnu.

Triglav on the other hand was described as ruler of the three states of
being of man that are heaven, earth, and hell

Brahma = God of Heaven (more abstract and remote creator Deity ... you will
find very few *bhakti* followers of Brahma!)
Vishnu = God of Earth (i.e. he is the God who recurrently incarnated ON
earth, as Sustainer)
Shiva = God of various forms of Destruction (therefore death .. and Hell in
the Greek sense?) ... and who, despite use of the name Brahma also to refer
to the *advaita* ("non-dualistic" / monophysic) form of God, is also called
(among MANY names *Maheshvar*  "the Great God"...

- hence the three heads or three faces of the god. Various accounts state
that Triglav had three human heads, or Goat heads, or even Horse heads.

Well,in India the son of one of the three (i.e. Shiva's son Ganesh)  has an
elephant's head... and Vishnu was incarnated with VARIOUS heads (and
appropriate bodies): fish, boar, etc ... but to my knowledge no goat heads
or horse heads anywhere.

Horses were used for divination purposes by the ancient Slavs and were
housed/stabled? in temples and other holy places.

Horses of course were also an important part of some (esp. royal?) rituals
among the ancient "Hindus".

 Triglav is often shown with his eyes blindfolded tightly shut or golden
bands covering his eyes or his heads/ faces veiled so he could not witness
the transgressions of mankind such was his power and probable rage.

The easy beginners guide to recognizing the difference between statues of a
meditating Buddha sitting cross-legged and of one of the Tirthakaras (saints
of the Jain religion, another Hindu "offshoot) is whether the eyes are
wide-open (a Tirthakara) or closed (Buddha)

However Triglav was not the only multi faced/headed deity. Take for instance
Porenut who had 4 faces with a fifth one on his chest

Buddhism being, in many Hindu's eyes, a form of Hinduism (for example, the
Pashupati temple in Kathmandu is "For Hindus ONLY" ... but Buddhists and
Sikhs are freely admitted!), we see on Buddhists stupas 4 "faces"
(interestingly the "nose" on Nepali stupas is the Devnagari number 1) ,
facing 4 directions ... and tradition has it there is a fifth in the
centre...

or the protector god of Rügen called Rujievit/Ruzhavit who had seven heads
or faces and was armed to the teeth with 8 swords.

Rudra (रुद्र) is an "old" Vedic God of the Storm (and the Hunt) and is in
some ways a precursor of Shiva (e.g. in post-Vedic texts Rudra is often used
as an epithet of Shiva)... and as the Archer God, maybe a precursor of Ram
(incarnation of Vishnu) as well?

sthirebhiraṅghaiḥ pururūpa ughro babhruḥ śukrebhiḥ pipiśehiraṇyaiḥ |
īśānādasya bhuvanasya bhūrerna vā u yoṣad rudrādasuryam = "With firm limbs,
multiform, the strong, the tawny adorns himself with bright gold
decorations:The strength of Godhead never departs from Rudra, him who is
Sovereign of this world, the might." (Rg Veda 2:33:9, in translation of
Ralph T.H. Griffith, 1896)

ONE (though perhaps not the currently most accepted) possible etymology of
the name is from rud- "red," (as in ruddy").

Many forms of Shiva's "consort" and also his son Ganesh/Ganapati () have
multiple arms (often, but not exclusively) 8 in number (e.g. I have seen
Ganesh depictions with from 4 to 10 arms) ... and one of them, Kali, always
has swords in at least some of those hands...

So, there are many parallels to be seen ... even if some of them are just
imagined ;-)

         U C > || Mike Morgan
==========================
                 linguist

    soon to be @ IGNOU-UCLan

Applied Sign Linguistics Programme

            New Delhi, India

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