Parjanya, Perkunos, Perun, Thunaraz, Taranis-a Comparison

Whilst in Germanic mythology *Thunaraz became eclipsed by the increasingly more dominant *Wodanaz, in the Balto-Slavic world His equivalent maintained His dominance, although He was not always the most prominent deity in their pantheons:

"We will now examine it a little more in detail, commencing with the ideas attached to the early inhabitants of Russia to those solar gods who are supposed by many eminent scholars to have originally held higher rank than the wielder of the Thunderbolt, Perun." (Songs of the Russian People, William Shedden Ralston, 1872)

Readers of my blogs will realise that I have maintained consistently that over the millenia there has been a shift of power from *Tiwaz to *Thunaraz and then to *Wodanaz which is mirrored in the Celtic mythology also or at least the transfer of power from Nuada to Lug is. Taranis does not appear to be so prominent as *Thunaraz at the time of the recording of the Irish myths. The primary divine archetype that the folk requires does change from era to era to meet their current needs. We see a similar thing happening today with the gradual eclipse of the Woden archetype by Widar, His son. Referring to the early solar deities of the Slavs Ralston states:

"The most ancient among these deities is said to have been Svarog, apparently the Slavonic counterpart of the Vedic Varuna and the Hellenic Ouranos. His name is deduced by Russian philologists from a root corresponding with the Sanskrit Sur-to shine, and is compared by some of them with the Vedic Svar, and the later word Svarga, heaven."

The Sun is the child of Svarog and is called Dazhbog. Dazh is identical with the Germanic Dag which in modern German is Tag, day. Thus Dazhbog is the Day God. Bog of course means God. Another son of Svarog is Ogon, fire and is cognate with the Indian Agni, which is where we get the modern English ignite from. As mentioned in an earlier article  the Indian Thunder God Parjanya is a more ancient God than Indra and performs very similar functions but appears to be less war-like. Clearly Parjanya is etymologically linked with Perun and Perkunas, being derived from the ancient Proto-Indo-European *perkunwos.

"Russian mythologists identify the name of Perun with that of the Vedic Parjanya. Whether the latter was an independent deity, or whether his name was merely an epithet of Indra, does not appear to be certain, nor are philologists agreed as to whether Parjanya means 'the rain' or 'the thunderer;' but 'it is very probable that our ancestors adored, previously to the separation of the Aryan race, a god called Parjana, or Pargana, the personification of the thundering cloud, whom they believed to rouse the thunder-storm, to be armed with the lightning, to send the rain, to be the procreator of plants, and the upholder of justice. Afterwards the Graeco-Italian nation, bent on the adoration of Dyaus, forgot him entirely; the Aryans of India and the Teutonic tribes continued to worship him as a subordinate member of the family of the gods, but the Letto-Slavonians raised him to the dignity of a supreme leader of all other deities." (Ralston)

The description of Parjanya, more so perhaps than Indra corresponds more closely to the Balto-Slavic Thunder God:

"The desription of Parjanya is in all respects applicable to the deity worshipped by the different branches of the Slavo-Lettic family under various names, such as Lithuanian Perkunas, the Lettish Perkons, the Old Prussian Perkunos, the Polish Piorun, the Bohemian Peraun, and the Russian Perun." (Ralston) 

The Balts and Slavs lit a sacred fire before the image of the Thunder God:

"In Lithuania Perkunas, as the God of Thunder, was worshipped with great reverence. His statue is said to have held in its hand 'a precious stone like fire,' shaped in the image of the lightning,' and before it constantly burnt an oak-wood fire. If the fire by any chance went out, it was rekindled by means of sparks struck from the stone. His name is not yet forgotten by the people, who say, when the thunder rolls, Perkuns grumena, and who still sing dainos in which he is mentioned. In one of those a girl who is mourning for the loss of her flowers is asked,-

"Did the north wind blow,

Or did Perkunas thunder or send greetings?

In another it is told how when

The Morning Star held a wedding-feast,

Perkunas rode through the doorway,

Struck down the green oak" (Ralston)

There are many more such dainos or heathen hymns preserved by the Lithuanians which refer to Perkunas. It would serve us well to study them in more detail. According to Jaan Puhvel the Goddess Frigg's father or lover was called Fjorgynn. Also a Fjorgyn is named as the mother of Thor. This is possibly an alternative name for Jord (Earth). These names Fjorgynn and Fyorgyn are cognate with Perkunas and they in fact have been a divine couple. 

The German language Prussian Chronicle from about the year 1520 refers to the worship of a divine triad of Patollo, Potrimpo and Perkuno by  a high priest called Bruteno. The icons of the Gods were installed in three niches of an oak tree. A perpetual fire was burned before the icon. As Lithuanian heathenism was not abolished until as late as the 15th century and it still continued to linger on it would serve us well as Germanic heathens to study closely the Baltic myths to gain greater insight into our own closely related Germanic deities. It should be noted that heathenism is growing in the Baltic and Slavic lands at an apparently faster rate than in Germanic countries.

The Goat and its Relationship to the Northern European Thunder God

Misinformed bloggers on mythology would cite the evidence of Thor's goats in the Eddas as an indication of His 'lowly' status amongst the Aesir, particularly when compared to Odin. Believe it or not I have seen these foolish comments made by charlatans dabbling in mythology who have probably never even read the Eddas!

Most of my regular readers will know that I give great primacy to Thunor/Thunar/Thonar/Thor for He is more than likely the most ancient of our Germanic deities and unlike any other has close mythological cognates with the Baltic, Slavic, Celtic and Finno-Ugric peoples. However He is more often than not compared unfavourably with Odin but these who make such comparisons lack genuine understanding not only of our historical and sacred writings but of the very essence of the God Himself. I do not wish to digress further as this issue alone deserves a separate article and I wish to focus here on the goat and its significant relationship to the Thunder God amongst northern Europeans.

We know from both the Eddas that Thor's chariot was pulled by two goats. The Younger Edda gives the names of these goats:

Thor has two he-goats, that are called Tooth-Gnasher and Tooth-Gritter, and a chariot wherein he drives, and the he-goats draw the chariot; therefore is he called Öku-Thor. (Gylfaginning, translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur)

Rudolf Simek in his Dictionary of Northern Mythology defines Oku-Thor as 'driving Thor' and that the rumbling of thunder is likened to the driving of a chariot. There is a close resemblance between Oku and the name of the Finnish Thunder God Ucco although Simek discounts this as an explanation of the term, arguing that the flow of cultural transfer tends to be from the Germanic to the Finno-Ugric peoples but that is not in my opinion a sufficient argument for ruling it out altogether! Ucco or Ukko is derived from the Finnish terms for 'old man' and 'grandfather'. Ukko may originally have been called Perkele, a Baltic term. Like Thor Ukko possessed a Hammer, called Ukonvasar, 'hammer of Ukko'. Sometimes His weapon is depicted as an axe and called Ukonkirves. 

Heathen Finns like their Germanic, Baltic and Slavic counterparts would wear hammer or axe shaped amulets. The Sami had a similar deity, Horagelles whose name is similar in meaning to Ukko: 'grandfather' or 'great grandfather'. Interestingly the Sami also called this deity Thoron and even Thor!

It is natural that our ancestors conceived of the rumbling thunder as the sound of a chariot being driven across the sky but we must ask ourselves why it was pulled by goats rather than say horses? Both the Germanic Thunder God and the Balto-Slavic equivalents feature a chariot being pulled by goats

Perkunas, the Lithuanian Thunder God was seen a red-bearded man with an axe whose mode of transport was a chariot pulled by a billy goat. (See European Myth & Legend by Mike Dixon-Kennedy, 1997) The chariot of Perkunas is sometimes pictured as pulled by horses but often by goats, one black and one white which is a very obvious hint of solar symbolism. The goat is of course a solar symbol but the presence of both black and white ones strengthen this association. Additionally the male goat is a symbol of masculine virility, potency and vigour. The German Donar is particularly associated with mountains, many being named after Him. The Donnersberg in the Rheinland-Pfalz is a particularly well known example. The goat is also an animal which is at home in mountainous regions and its milk and meat would have formed a staple part of our ancestors' daily diet.

It is clear from Gylfaginning that Thor regarded His goats Tanngrisnir ('teeth barer') and Tanngnostr ('teeth grinder') as sacred due to the anger which He displayed when He discovered that Thjalfi had split the thighbone of one of the goats causing it to become lame. Scholars such as Simek point out that the names of the goats "are surely an invention and probably from Snorri himself as they are nowhere to be found except in Gylfaginning 20 and the thulur." The fact that the names are not mentioned in the Elder Edda does not make them an 'invention'. Snorri could have obtained his information from other sources including oral tradition but regardless of whether he 'invented' the names or not the fact remains that the goat has a long association with the northern European Thunder God as is evidenced from Slavic and Baltic sources. It is relevant for me to point out at this point that the Baltic mythology contains material so ancient that it can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European times.

PPe

Fire and Oak and their Associations with Thor

Dr H.R. Ellis Davidson in her Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, 1964 (in my opinion the best book of its kind in the last 55 years) points out that there is an association between Thor and fire. She states that in the Kjalnesinga Saga that there is a description of a temple dedicated to Thor in which there is an "altar made of iron on top". She explains that the fire was regarded as being 'sacred' and it was not permitted to go out.

Some scholars dismiss this description as an invention purely on the grounds that the saga is a 'late' on. Dr Ellis Davidson though considers the association of fire with Thor to be genuine and I am inclined to agree with her. She offers as supporting evidence the fact that a perpetual fire burned in the temple of Perkunos, the Thunder God of the Old Prussians, in an oak tree sanctuary. The oak as my readers will know is sacred to all of the Indo-European Thunder Gods, especially here in Northern Europe (with exception of Iceland) and the tree itself plays such an important part in the mythology and spiritual life of heathen England and Germania.

Thor as lord of the lightning is thus the lord of the fire from heaven. In her book she gives us a good description of the practices of the Old Prussians in respect of Perkunos. At the chief sanctuary at Romove there was situated a 'holy oak'. Images of the Gods were placed by the worshipers in the trunk of the tree. A sacred fire was maintained before the image of Perkunos and as with the fire of Thor it was not permitted to be extinguished. She explains that this sacred fire was surrounded by curtains and within this precinct the High Priest would commune with the God. She speculates that Thunor and Donar were worshiped in a similar way.

Interestingly Dr Ellis Davidson draws our attention to the existence of a grove dedicated to Thor that still existed until the year 1000 CE on the north bank of the river Liffey outside Dublin when it was destroyed by King Brian Boru. However it took him a month to complete its destruction so this must have been a sanctuary on a grand scale.

The oak tree of all trees of the forest is the most susceptible to be struck by lightning and thus we have an association between fire and the oak, both of which are sacred to Thor. In a sense the oak tree acts as a conductor of Thor's lightning power and thus a medium of not only His power which fills us with awe of Him but it is a way that He can most powerfully communicate with us. The study of Baltic mythology and heathen religious practice should be of importance to us as Germanic heathens for they give us insight into the beliefs and practices of our ancestors. Germany had a number of Donars Eichen (Donar's Oaks) but the most famous of these was located in Gaesmere in the state of Hesse. This sacred oak was cut down by the servants of the Anglo-Saxon missionary Boniface in the year 723 or 724, an act of sacrilege and religious and cultural vandalism.

"Now at that time many of the Hessians, brought under the Catholic faith and confirmed by the grace of the sevenfold spirit, received the laying on of hands; others indeed, not yet strengthened in soul, refused to accept in their entirety the lessons of the inviolate faith. Moreover some were wont secretly, some openly to sacrifice to trees and springs; some in secret, others openly practiced inspections of victims and divinations, legerdemain and incantations; some turned their attention to auguries and auspices and various sacrificial rites; while others, with sounder minds, abandoned all the profanations of heathenism, and committed none of these things. With the advice and counsel of these last, the saint attempted, in the place called Gaesmere, while the servants of God stood by his side, to fell a certain oak of extraordinary size, which is called, by an old name of the pagans, the Oak of Jupiter. And when in the strength of his steadfast heart he had cut the lower notch, there was present a great multitude of pagans, who in their souls were earnestly cursing the enemy of their gods. But when the fore side of the tree was notched only a little, suddenly the oak's vast bulk, driven by a blast from above, crashed to the ground, shivering its crown of branches as it fell; and, as if by the gracious compensation of the Most High, it was also burst into four parts, and four trunks of huge size, equal in length, were seen, unwrought by the brethren who stood by. At this sight the pagans who before had cursed now, on the contrary, believed, and blessed the Lord, and put away their former reviling. Then moreover the most holy bishop, after taking counsel with the brethren, built from the timber of the tree wooden oratory, and dedicated it in honor of Saint Peter the apostle." (Willibald's Life of St. Boniface, translated by Robinson0n) 

This act of heinous sacrilege was repeated time after time in Germania and we are reminded of Karl the Butcher's destruction of the Irminsul at Heresburg in Nordrhein-Westfalen in 772 CE during the Saxon Wars. Both Donar's Oak and the Irminsul were types of representations of the world tree Yggdrasil.

In Songs of the Russian People (1872) by William Shedden Ralston we have this interesting observation:

"In Lithuania Perkunas, as the God of Thunder, was worshipped with great reverence. His statue is said to have held in its hand a 'precious stone like fire', shaped 'in the image of the lightning', and before it constantly burnt an oak-wood fire. If the fire by any chance went out, it was rekindled by means of sparks struck from the stone."

The Lapps worshipped Thor who was known to them as Horagelles (Old Man Thor) or Toora/Taara in Estonia and Torym to the Ostyaks. In a 17th century engraving of a Saami sacrificial site Horagelles has a long handled hammer, and nails in the head. Suspended from the nail is a flint which the God can use to make fire. This reminds me of the story of the whetstone stuck in the forehead of Thor after his duel with the giant Hrungnir in Skldsakaparmal in the Younger Edda. As an interesting aside Wulf Ingessunu in his book Ar-Kan-Rune-Lag. The Secret Aryan Way (2015) associates this stone with the rune Stan and alludes to the Graal Stone which fell from the Light-Bearer, Lucifer's crown.

The Thunder God as Portrayed in Northern European Mythology

Much can be learned about the religious beliefs of our pre-Christian Germanic ancestors by exploring the mythologies and folklore of neighbouring peoples such as the Balts, Slavs and Celts. Indeed we should not confine ourselves to just exploring Indo-European belief systems but also of those other peoples who share our northern European living space such as the Finns, Estonians and Sami. The similarities between the beliefs of the northern Indo-Europeans and the Finno-Ugric peoples is due to two factors: cultural exchange and an ancient common racial inheritance.

For the purpose of this article I intend to focus on one particular example-the northern European Thunder God. Our knowledge of the Germanic Thunor/Thunar/Donar/Thor is limited to primary sources such as the Poetic and Prose Eddas and secondary sources such as folklore and place name evidence. By exploring how this God was viewed by neighbouring peoples we can enrich our knowledge of this most important deity.

In Finland the Thunder God was known by various names, one of which was Tuuri. Tuuri is less well known than Ukko (derived from the Finnish word for thunder, Ukkonen) but at one time was considered to be the same axe and hammer wielding Thunder God. Over time He was relegated to the status of being a God of the harvest, luck and success and became effectively a separate being. Interestingly the modern Finnish word tuuri means luck. There is a village called Tuuri in Alavus, western Finland which appears to have been named after Him. Tuuri's name is cognate with the Estonian Taara who is likewise a Finno-Ugric Thunder God.

Those of you who are interested in Celtic mythology will no doubt have noticed the similarity between Tuuri and the Irish Thunder God Tuireann. Likewise there is an apparent similarity between Taara and the Celtic Taranis. Taranis was not confined to the British Isles but appears to have been a pan-Celtic deity, also worshipped in Gaul and Gallaecia, the Roman name for the north western part of Iberia. Taranis was part of the Celtic triad of Gods with Esus and Teutates. Triads of deities are a common feature in Celtic and Germanic mythology and of course the number 3 is significant in the symbolism and mythologies of the Indo-European peoples, representing the tripartite division of both divine and human societies. Taranis is derived from the Proto-Celtic word for thunder, *Toranos. Likewise the Germanic peoples also personified thunder as their (at one time) primary deity *Thunraz.

My recent studies of the extant heathen beliefs and customs of the Chuvash of the Russian Federation have revealed two very important aspects of their belief system, Vattisen Yaly (meaning 'Tradition of the Old'), the world tree (the Keremet) and their primary sky deity, Tura! Although speakers of a Turkic language their DNA is primarily a mix of Finno-Ugric and Slavic with a hint of Germanic and Turkic! This is reflected in the wide spectrum of facial profiles amongst the Chuvash. The worship of Tura and the centrality of the world tree in their belief system are reminiscent of course of our own Germanic mythology.

Also related to the Germanic Thor is the Sami Thunder God, Horagelles, derived from 'Thor karl' or 'Thor kalle' (Thor- fellow). The Finnish epic The Kalevala, a collection of Finnish and Karelian oral myths and songs also refers to Thor several times in Rune 47. It should be noted that the word ‘Rune’ in the context of The Kalevala refers to songs rather than the Runes as symbols. They were spoken or sung utterances. Likewise in our own Germanic system the term ‘Rune’ actually means the whispering of a secret rather than the Rune stave itself. There is thus the connotation of oral transmission of secret or esoteric knowledge.

As already stated Ukko is a far better known deity than Tuuri and His name is equated with Perkele which means 'devil' in modern Finnish. This is no doubt the result of the demonisation of this important deity by the Christian church. What the church did not incorporate into their own mythology they demonised! It is more than likely that Perkele was His original name and its similarity to the Slavic and Baltic Thunder Gods should be noted. The Baltic variants Perkonis (Prussian), Perkunis (Lithuanian), Perkons (Latvian) and the Slavic variants Pyerun (Russian), Perunu (Old Russian), Piorun (Polish) and Perun (Czech) show a marked etymological common origin. They are all traceable to the reconstructed PIE *Perkunos as is the Germanic Fjorgyn (the mother of Thor). I believe that the Sanskrit rain God Parjanya may also be derived from *Perkunos but scholars are divided over this issue.

Breaking down the elements of *Perkunos we get some valuable details about this God. Firstly *perkus-oak. The oak tree is considered sacred to the Thunder God, no doubt because of its susceptibility to being struck by lightning due to its comparative tallness and high moisture content. The prefix *per has the meaning of 'strike' which of course is what the club, axe or hammer of the Thunder God does. Closely related to these two terms is *pelekus, PIE for 'axe'. The axe, not the hammer was the original weapon of the Anglo-Saxon/Saxon Thunor/Thunar. “Se thunor hit thryscedh mid theare fyrenan aecxe” translated into modern English as “Thunor threshes with a fiery axe.” (Dialogue of Solomon and Saturn). The origins of the thunder axe can be traced back to the Neolithic and it is extremely interesting that the symbol of the axe can be found at Stonehenge. Seventy one axe engravings appear on five of the mighty sarcens. This should not surprise us as phases II and III of the building of Stonehenge is the product of incoming Indo-European peoples into Britain. The dominant culture at the time of phase III was the Wessex Culture, a highly aristocratic warrior culture as evidenced by the Bush Barrow burial find, consisting of a gold lozenge breast plate, three bronze daggers, a bronze axe, a helmet and a sceptre of rare fossiliferous limestone from Devon. Clearly this magnificent monument was dedicated by the Indo-Europeans to their supreme sky deity who we know as the Thunder God.

Whilst the thunder axe morphed into a hammer amongst the Germanic tribes the Balts, Slavs and Finno-Ugric peoples retained the weapon as an axe in their mythologies and folklore. However even more ancient than either axe or hammer is the thunder stone, the original projectile of the Thunder God. Amongst the Anglo-Saxon peasantry a whole array of different types of fossils, flints, stones, belemnites and ammonites were used and carried as amulets for protection against lightning. Naturally holed stones known as holey stones, hag stones and Odin stones were hung on nails in barns and houses for protection. According to the scholars J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams in The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed that they lived under a stone vault and stone axes fell from the sky so this belief is extremely ancient indeed. They state that the Lithuanian Perkuno akmuo-thunder stone means literally Perkuna's stone! Thus we have three important elements in the term *Perkunos-the oak, the axe and stone, all integral aspects of the mythology of the northern Indo-European Thunder God.

There are many aspects of the worship of the Baltic Perkonis/Perkunis/Perkons that can be incorporated into the worship of our own Thunor/Thor such as the placing of brass or bronze images of the God under oak trees or on remote hill tops. On our own household altars a perpetual fire can be lighted and maintained before an oaken image. Such practises can help to deepen our own faith and daily walk with the Gods of our ancestors. By showing honour and devotion to the Gods in these small ways we will inevitably reap their blessings and enjoy their protection.

Due to the comparatively late christianisation of the Baltic lands in the 15^th century a great deal of genuine heathen lore has been retained amongst the Lithuanians and Latvians and I believe that much of this lore can help us to understand our own heathen Germanic heritage if we recognise that there are common elements of belief amongst the various Indo-European peoples.

Relevant works:

The Divine Thunderbolt. Missile of the Gods, J.T. Sibley

The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams

Stonehenge: The Indo-European Heritage/Stonehenge and the Origins of Western Culture, Bruce Kraig and Leon, E Stover

Stonehenge City: A Reconstruction, Leon. E Stover

Stonehenge of the Kings, Patrick Crampton

Perun: The God of Thunder, Mark Yoffe

Dictionary of Northern Mythology, Rudolf Simek

Comparative Mythology, Jaan Puhvel

A History of Pagan Europe, Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick

Pagan Celtic Britain, Anne Ross

The Kalevala

The Poetic Edda

The Prose Edda