Investigations Into Germanic Mythology, Vol. II

Viktor Rydberg’s

Investigations into Germanic Mythology, Vol. II

Translated by William P. Reaves

32.

The Breach between the Gods and the Primeval Artists.

The Fimbul-Winter.[1]

126) The primeval artists, their grouping and their position in the Indo-European mythology, have already been touched on in ch. 15 of this treatise. The discord that arises between them and the gods and the consequences this has on world-order forms the second great crisis in the ancient world-epic of our family of people. The intrusion of evil into creation forms the first.

Three brothers, who in Rigveda are mostly called the Ribhus[2] play a leading role in the second crisis against their will. They are artists of extraordinary skill, one of the three in particular. In Rigv. IV, 36, 5, one of them is distinguished as a strong runner; the second as an eloquent rishi (i.e. a priest conversant with powerful formulas), that is to say a man, who, through acts of offering, prayer and formulas, can exercise the greatest influence on natural phenomena. He can dispel darkness, invoke the rosy dawn and the light, cause rain to fall, cause mountains to crack, etc. (Rigv. IV, 1; I, 88, 4; X, 98, 5, 6 and many other places). The third is designated as a famous heroic archer.

This archer is mentioned above under the name Kutsa; and Rigveda knows him as Kriçanu. Kutsa-Kriçanu's identification as one of the Ribhus is undoubted. The Ribhus constitute a family of archers. One among them is the finest archer, or one of the finest, in the Vedic mythology, which explains their epithet sandhanvanas (Rigv. I, 110, 2 and many other places) as dhanvan, bow.[3] What is said of Kutsa and his Kutsas is also said of the Ribhus. Indra has made them into his friends, as he did the Kutsas, (Rigv. III, 60, 3). He is so closely associated with them that he is called the prince of the Ribhus (I, 63, 3 and many other places) and in a figurative sense, the Ribhus are said to be his children. They drink soma-madhu together with him, beyond doubt in their own home; they sing hymns in his honor (I, 51, 2; VIII, 3, 7), and they accompany him in his battles with demons, in whose proximity they dwell and whose enemies they are (VII, 48, 3). In every detail this is the same as what is said of Indra's relationship to Kutsa and the Kutsas. Among the works that the Ribhus "fabricate" are Indra's horses (I, 111, 1; I, 161, 3, 6) which Kutsa himself drives on certain occasions, explaining a figurative expression in Rigveda, that identifies Indra's driver with Indra's team. A comparison among all the pertinent places in Rigveda demonstrates that the names of the three Ribhus are Âyu-Tishya, Kutsa-Kriçanu, and Atithigva. These are the names they bear when they are still "mortal." After the great crisis in which they were involved was concluded — after they had become the enemies of the gods, had reconciled with them, had received immortality and been adopted into the Vedic Olympus, they changed names, it says in Rigveda. They now are called Ribhu, Vibhvan, and Vâja. Âyu's father is the hero Purûravas and among those who spread the custom of the holy fire introduced by Agni. His mother is the swan-maiden, Urvaçi the Apsaras (see above). Urvaçi is the goddess of prayers (Bergaigne II, 93, 94) and as such identical to the Apsaras Puramdhi, whose quality as a goddess of prayer is certainly clear in many places in Rigveda (Bergaigne II, 93, 94). This Puramdhi is mentioned by the side of the Ribhus (Rigv. IV, 34, 2; V, 42, 5)[4] and must have stood in the closest relationship to them. The circumstance that Âyu is the name of one of the Ribhus explains why they are also called the Âyus, and why the same thing is related of the Âyus as of the Kutsas: that Indra drinks Soma with Âyu and the Âyus in their home, that the Âyus celebrate him with songs and ride out with him to battle demons (Vâlakhilya 4, 1; X, 74, 4; compare Rigv. VIII, 3, 7).[5] Among the three brothers, Âyu-Tishya especially is the knowledgeable rishi, who with his art as sacrificer prepares the juice of life, soma-madhu, for the gods and the creation and with his formulas can powerfully intervene in the natural order. Atithigva is one of Indra's favorites. Before the crisis in question, he slew the demons Çambara and Varcin in Indra’s company and "for him" (Rigv. I, 51, 6; VI, 47, 21).[6] Atithigva faithfully follows his brothers in their fate and he becomes the mythic progenitor of a historic clan. Peculiar from a mythological standpoint is a statement in Rigveda X, 48, 8 that Indra made Atithigva the victor on behalf of the Gungus, and another that with Atithigva's "glowing wheel" he crushed the demons Karanja and Parnaya. The Gungus are the four goddesses of the moon phases. As such, one of them is called Gungû. They are named and invoked with Indra in Rigv. II, 32, 8: "For help, I call Gungû, Sinîvâli, Rakâ, Sarasvatî (in other texts, Anumati in place of Sarsvatî). It is evident from this that the myth of Atithigva stands in connection with the myth about the moon, which perhaps is meant by Atithigva's glowing wheel. (Of the phases of the moon and their dises, see Zimmer, Altindisches Leben and A. Ludwig).[7]

For the sake of the argument which I have made here that the Ribhus, Kutsas, and Âyus are identical, it should be added that when Rigveda IV, 37 states that he who has the Ribhus as friends wins races with (teams of) horses, the archer Kriçanu on that occasion holds the horses' reins. Slavic mythology has preserved the memory of Kutsa under the name Kuznets. Kuznets, like Kutsa, is a powerful opponent of demons. At the same time he is a talented smith, the Völund of Slavic mythology. In the Vedic sense then, he is a Ribhu.

These three Ribhus — who in their persons embody the artist, the skald, the wise man, the sportsman, and the hero, each in different ways — are mortal in the beginning, but make themselves deserving of immortality through sacrifice (Rigv. IV, 34, 3). They grow up under the gods' protection and become their bards, smiths, and comrades in their battles with demons. Among the gods, Indra is their foremost friend; but also said to be closely associated with the Ribhus are the Asvins (the beautiful twin gods), the Maruts (wind-geniuses), and the Apsarases (water dises), who are their relatives, since their mother is the swan-maid Urvaçi. The Asvins have once rescued Kutsa-Kriçanu from the deep and helped him on another occasion, when he borrowed their bow (Rigv. I, 112).[8] In return, the Ribhus have crafted for them their wonderful, blessing-bringing wagon-ship, which obeys them like a living being and carries them with the speed of thought in whatever direction they desire through the air or on the sea, whenever they are out to protect creation and provide help to needy mortals. The friendly relationship between the gods and the Ribhus is consequently of great significance for the world and human beings.

But someone —it does not say who — had devised a plan to turn their amity into hate and animosity. Among other remarkable ornaments that he had presented to them, Tvashtar, an old artisan living among the gods, forged a single goblet from two existing bowls. It was regarded as his finest work, and into it he poured soma for the gods. The inciter of the discord told the gods that the Ribhus had criticized the goblet, and Tvashtar was so provoked by this that he demanded the Ribhus' death. However, the evil advisor seems to have had something more in mind than the Ribhus' ruin: he also wanted to cause animosity between the gods and Tvashtar, so that the gods would be deprived of the hands that produced blessing-bringing works of art for them and the world. They decided that a judgment would be made between the works that Tvashtar had made, and those that the Ribhus were in a position to make. They agreed that if the Ribhus could make four likenesses of Tvashtar's goblet, they would not only be pardoned for what they had said, but would also be entitled to offerings.

Agni was sent to present the message. The Ribhus asked: "Why has the most splendid, the most youthful come to us? On what mission does he come?" They denied that they had criticized Tvashtar's goblet, "of high extraction." They had only discussed the material of which it was made. Agni informed them that through him the gods made an appeal for them to replicate Tvashtar's goblet fourfold and assured them that if they accomplished this, they would receive offerings along with the gods. The Ribhus said that they would try, and moreover would make a remarkable horse, a remarkable wagon, a remarkable cow, and rejuvenate two people who had reached old age, but added that once they had done this, they ought to be adopted among the gods.

What they had promised, they accomplished. They examined Tvashtar's goblet and found that it was made of water, of fire, and a material known as vadharyantî (vafur-fire?)[9] and thereafter they made four likenesses of the one goblet. They made a red-brown horse, and from it two horses, which they sent to Vata-Vâyu for Indra to use, and Indra harnessed the two Haris to his wagon. They made the wonderful wagon-ship, described above, and sent it to the Asvins. Of an empty cowhide they made a cow, which they gave as a gift to Brihaspati. They rejuvenated their parents, decrepit from age, partially by means of a powerful formula (Rigv. I, 20, 4),[10] and partially by some means that was "artistically" and "wonderfully" made by them. (I, 110, 8; IV, 33, 2). This means was entrusted to the goddess Vâk, who with it "maintains the gods with power," (Rigv. X, 125, 1 ff.) and "administers an ambrosia" to them "so that they never age" (III, 53, 15).[11]

After they had accomplished these tasks, they walked to the gods on a street that is called the "Ribhus' way," presumably the same bridge built by the primeval smiths that connects the upper heaven with the lower worlds. In addition to the "fortune-bringing" goblet, the former divine-artist Tvashtar had manufactured for Indra a wedge that was not made of stone like his old wedge, but of ayas (a metal, of which see further). The gods tested the artworks "with insight." But despite their foresight, the gods’ judgment resulted in the enmity of both Tvashtar and the Ribhus toward them. Tvashtar, who wanted the Ribhus dead, was gripped with surprise and jealousy at the sight of the four goblets (Rigv. I, 161, 4; IV, 33, 6). He fled when the verdict was announced and hid among the Gnas (water-dises), who usually comprise his circle. To the Ribhus, it appeared that the gods would not completely fulfill the promise that Agni had elicited from them and, for one reason or another — probably because he disapproved of this half breach of contract — Agni was absent when the judgment was pronounced (Rigv. I, 161, 4, 8). The gods offered the Ribhus a portion of the morning and midday sacrifice, but that was not all they had been expecting. Thus provoked, they too went away. (The myth as it is reported here is mentioned in many passages of Rigveda, most fully in I, 161). Agni too was offended and left the gods.

The significance of the primeval smiths’ disappearance and transformation into enemies of the gods becomes plain when one considers the activity they perform under normal circumstances in the realm of natural phenomena and as friends of the gods. Tvashtar had not only manufactured the extraordinary goblet, he also had prepared the strength-giving soma-madhu, the gods' usual beverage. Tvashtar's hand was the one from which they had received the goblet, filled with the glistening juice (Rigv. X, 53, 9; X, 49, 10, and many other passages). Tvashtar was the one who shaped the prototype forms of the living beings and prepared the seed from which they had come (Rigv. III, 55, 19, 20; III, 4, 9). The three Ribhus are geniuses of the three seasons, who in friendly association with the gods advance the regular changing of the seasons.[12] The Ribhus "shaped the beautiful grassy plains, let streams flow, let plants sprout in the dry earth, and filled hollows with water" (Rigv. IV, 33, 7). The disappearance of Tvashtar and the Ribhus consequently meant that the order of the seasons was upset and winter extended its dominion, that the gods, who protected and defended creation had to expect a reduction in the strength that Tvashtar's soma-mead empowered them for this purpose, and that the fertility of the land and the fecundity of humans and animals were threatened with retardation. A fimbul-winter was the consequence of the breach between the gods and the primeval artists. The motion of the vault of heaven, as well as the paths of the sun and the moon, fell into disorder caused by a natural revolution that arose in this manner, as shall be shown later.

The gods took up weapons against the powers of destruction, and the primeval artists now united with them. Then Tvashtar left the heavens, and long kept himself concealed, occupied in his hiding-place with the forging of a weapon of revenge that would put him in a position to fight Indra. From the description of the weapon, one learns that it too was a lightning-wedge, but one finer than that which he previously had given that god. In addition, he gathered a soma-mead in his hiding-place, where it was his "secret" (Rigv. II, 11, 19),[13] not to share with the gods or to serve mankind's uses, but meant for himself alone, and presumably for other foes of the gods as well. This soma-mead was possibly conceived of as nourishing sap, of which Tvashtar had robbed the earth through magic arts, since he is said to be "knowledgeable of magic" (Rigv. X, 53, 9). A being that is called Dadhyank, whom Bergaigne (II, 458, f.) identifies with king Soma, however, learns where the mead is concealed and reports it to the gods (I, 117, 22).[14] The reporting of this in the myth was explained in some manner as perilous to the head from which the counsel came, since for this purpose Dadhyank uses the head of one of the horses sent to him by the Asvins, which he then casts away.[15] Using its bones, Tvashtar occupies himself with the forging of the weapon of revenge mentioned above: "the thousand-beamed wedge" (I, 89, 9).[16] When Tvashtar steals their soma, one of the gods (see ch. 13) flies in eagle-guise with the rediscovered drink up to the heavens, and Kriçanu (Kutsa) vainly shoots an arrow at him (IV, 27, 3; IX, 77, 2). Kriçanu appears on this occasion as Tvashtar's soma guardian, from which one can draw the conclusion that Tvashtar and the Ribhus have joined with one another, in their mutual animosity towards the gods. Tvashtar himself assaults Indra. From far away, he flings the "thousand-beamed wedge" at the powerful hero-god, but misses the mark. Indra finds the precious weapon where it falls in between mountains. He takes it up, and with it performs future feats (I, 85, 9). In possession of it, the god is undefeatable, even against such dangerous foes as the primeval smiths, whom he conquers.