Indo-European religion
The existence of similarities between the gods of the Indo-European peoples, indicates that whatever population they actually formed had some form of polytheistic religion that was maintained by a class of shamans.Various factors aid and hinder a more detailed reconstruction of this ancestral religion. Theories on the nature of such a religion are difficult to validate using archeological sources, and much by necessity therefore remains speculation. While similar religious customs among Indo-European peoples can provide evidence for a shared religious heritage, a shared custom does not necessarily indicate a common source for such a custom; some of these practices may well have evolved in a process of parallel evolution. The best evidence is the existence of cognates in the Indo-European languages, e.g. Jupiter, Diaus Pita, Dievs, etc.
In short, enough tantalizing hints of this ancestral religion can be detected in commonalities between languages and religious customs of Indo-European peoples to presuppose this ancestral religion did exist, though any details of such an ancestral religion remain conjectural.
This religion may have had a pantheon of gods among whom the chief god was named: *Dyeus PaterÃÂù from which we know Zeus, Jupiter, Dyaus Pita, Dievs, Tiwat and Tyr (cf. the alternative forms Dias, in Greek, and Tiwaz in Germanic).
It may also have included a sky god whom we know as Varuna and Uranos.
There also seems to have been a god of thunder, whom we know, with various etymologies, as Thor, Taranis, Tarhunt, Perun, Perkunas and Indra.
A possible goddess of dawn, *aus-os-, seems to appear in Greek mythology as Eos, in Rome as Aurora, in Germanic mythology as Eostre, in Baltic mythology as Ausra, and in Hinduism as Ushas.
They may have distinguished between different races of gods (Jotuns, Titans), and (Asa, Asura, Ahura).
They seem to have had a class of Shamans as testified by the later existence of Druids and Brahmins. The Germanic peoples were an exception in having relegated this role to women, the Volvas (see also witches).
There seems to have been a belief in a World tree, which in Norse mythology was an ash tree (Yggdrasil), and in Hinduism a banyan tree.
It is also likely that they had three fate goddesses, see the Norns in Norse mythology, Moirae in Greek mythology and Laima in Latvian mythology.
The religion of the Proto-Indo-European and early Indo-European peoples seems to have been based around two concepts: *ghosti and *artus.
- *Ghosti is a PIE word which means "one with whom one has a reciprocal obligation of hospitality." Our words guest and host both come from this root. This principle stood at the basis of religious sacrifice: because the people were obligated to sacrifice to their gods, the gods in turn were obliged to fulfil the people's desires.
- *Artus is the pattern of the universe. It comes from the root *ar-, meaning "to fit together, particularly according to a pleasing pattern." Artus is the root of the Vedic rta, and is similarly in operation to the early Germanic wyrd (see Urd). It deals with the PIE concept of the cosmos (which was held as pleasing: cosmos and cosmetic come from the same root): our cosmos was an island (see Midgard) of order in the midst of chaos (see Utgard). Order, allowed to remain unfed, becomes brittle and dead. Chaos is dangerous and not capable of supporting life. It is only through the interplay of these two, in a sort of *ghosti-principle way, that the cosmos can live.
See also:
- Hinduism
- Norse mythology
- Greek mythology
- Roman mythology
- Celtic mythology
- Latvian mythology
- Slavic mythology
- Polish mythology
- Vedic