Asgard

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Asgard is a location associated with the Nordic gods. Asgard was the main city of Asaland, where Odin was a chief. It appears in a multitude of Old Norse sagas and mythological texts.[1] It is described as the fortified home of the Æsir gods, often associated with gold imagery. Many of the best-known Nordic gods are Æsir or live in Asgard such as Odin, Thor, Loki, and Baldr. James Todd [2] identifies Asgard with Asirgarh, a historical site of an ancient fort in Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh.

Variants

Etymology

The word Ásgarðr is a compound formed from Old Norse: āss ("god") and Old Norse: garðr ("enclosure").[6]Possible anglicisations include: Ásgarthr, Ásgard, Ásegard, Ásgardr, Asgardr, Ásgarth, Asgarth, Esageard, and Ásgardhr.[7]

Attestations

The Poetic Edda

Asgard is named twice in Eddic poetry.[8] The first case is in Hymiskviða, when Thor and Týr journey from Asgard to Hymir's hall to obtain a cauldron large enough to brew beer for a feast for Ægir and the gods.[9][10][11] second instance is in Þrymskviða when Loki is attempting to convince Thor to dress up as Freyja in order to get back Mjölnir by claiming that without his hammer to protect them, jötnar would soon be living in Asgard.[12]

Grímnismál contains among its cosmological descriptions, a number of abodes of the gods, such as Álfheim, Nóatún and Valhall, which some scholars have identified as being in Asgard. It is to be noted, however, that Asgard is not mentioned at any point in the poem.[13][14] Furthermore, Völuspá references Iðavöllr, one of the most common meeting places of Æsir gods, which in Gylfaginning, Snorri locates in the centre of Asgard.[15][16]

The Prose Edda

Prologue: The Prose Edda's euhemeristic prologue portrays the Æsir gods as people that travelled from the East to northern territories.[17]] According to Snorri, Asgard represented the town of Troy before Greek warriors overtook it. After the defeat, Trojans moved to northern Europe, where they became a dominant group due to their “advanced technologies and culture”.[18] Eventually, other tribes began to perceive the Trojans and their leader Trór (Thor in Old Norse) as gods.[19]

Gylfaginning

In Gylfaginning, Snorri Sturluson describes how during the creation of the world, the gods made the earth and surrounded it with the sea. They made the sky from the skull of Ymir and settled the jötnar on the shores of the earth. They set down the brows of Ymir, forming Midgard, and in the centre of the world they built Asgard, which he identifies as Troy:[20]

Skáldskaparmál

Asgard is mentioned briefly throughout Skáldskaparmál as the name for the home of the Æsir, as in Gylfaginning.[21] In this section, a number of locations are described as lying within Asgard including Valhalla, and in front of its doors, the golden grove Glasir.[22] It also records a name for Thor as 'Defender of Ásgard' (Old Norse: verjandi Ásgarðs).[23]

Odin in Ynglinga Saga by Snorri

In the Ynglinga saga, found in Heimskringla, Snorri describes Asgard as a city in Asia, based on a perceived, but erroneous, connection between the words for Asia and Æsir. Odin then leaves to settle in the northern part of the world and leaves his brothers Vili and Vé to rule over the city. When the euhemerised Odin dies, the account states that the Swedes believed he had returned to Asgard and would live there forever.[24] (details described in following paragraphs)

Ynglinga saga (modern Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈiŋliŋka ˈsaːɣa]) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his Heimskringla. It was first translated into English and published in 1844 by Samuel Laing.[25]

Snorri Sturluson based his work on an earlier Ynglingatal which is attributed to the Norwegian 9th-century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, and which also appears in Historia Norwegiae. It tells the most ancient part of the story of the House of Ynglings (Scylfings in Beowulf). Snorri described the descent of the kings of Norway from this royal house of Sweden.

Ynglinga saga is the first part of Snorri's history of the ancient Norse kings, the Heimskringla. Snorri's work covers the history of the Norwegian kings from the mythical prehistoric age until 1177, with the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla. Interwoven in this narrative are references to important historical events.

The saga deals with the arrival of the Norse gods to Scandinavia and how Freyr founded the Swedish Yngling dynasty at Uppsala. Then the saga follows the line of Swedish kings until Ingjald (Ingjald illråde), after which the descendants settled in Norway and became the ancestors of the Norwegian King Harald Fairhair.

Swithiod the Great (literally "Sweden the Great"): The saga begins with a description of the "earth's circle" inhabited by human race and divided by great seas running into the land from the "out-ocean". The Black Sea divides the earth into three parts: Asia in the east, Europe in the west and "Swithiod the Great, or the Cold" in the north. [26]The saga distinguishes between Swithiod the Great (literally "Sweden the Great"), where the opening scenes are laid, and Sweden proper, in Scandinavia, where the Yingling's reign starts. These lands differ in a metaphorical sense as well, since the former is also called Godheim or the home of gods, while the latter is called Mannheim or the place where people live.

Swithiod the Great is a vast territory populated by many "races of men", and divided from other lands by a large mountain ridge going from northeast to southwest.[27] This mountain ridge lies "outside of all inhabited lands" but its southern part is not far to "Turkland". On the southern side of the mountains runs the river Tanais, formerly known as Tanaquisl or Vanaquisl (the modern day Don River), which falls into the Black Sea and marks the border between Europe and Asia.

Vanaland and Asaland: People on the Tanais live in a country called Vanaland or Vanaheim. East of the river, in Asia, stretches a country called Asaland or Asaheim. The main city of Asaland is Asgaard, where Odin is a chief. Twelve temple priests, called Diar, direct sacrifices in Asgaard and also judge the people, who serve and obey them. Odin is a great warrior, who conquers many kingdoms in all parts of the world, never losing a battle. His men are used to receive his blessing before going into battle, and to call upon his name when fighting, in order to inspire themselves.[28]

Odin wages war against Vanaland people, but cannot win over them. After doing great damage to each other, both sides agree to a truce and exchange hostages. Thus the best people of Vanaland are sent to Asaland as hostages: Njord the Rich, with his son Frey and daughter Freya as well as the wisest man in Vanaland called Kvase. The people of Asaland, in their turn, send a wise man called Mime along with a stout handsome man called Hone, who is allegedly very suitable to become a chief, to Vanaland. Hone is immediately made a chief in Vanaland, but people there realize how bad he actually is at taking decisions when not advised by Mime. They decapitate Mime and send his head to Asaland, where Odin smears it with herbs and sings incantations over it giving it the power to speak and reveal many secrets to Odin.[29]

Arrival of Odin in Scandinavia:

What the path of Odin's travel to Scandinavia might be, according to Ynglinga Saga

Odin has a foresight about the new dwelling place in the north and goes there "with all the gods and a great many other people", leaving his two brothers, Vilje and Ve, to rule in Asgaard. First, Odin and his companions wander westwards to Gardarike and from there - south to Saxland, where Odin's sons start to rule. Odin goes towards the sea in the north, settles in an island called Odinsö in Fyen and sends Gefion to discover new lands to the north, in Scandinavia. When she reaches the possessions of king Gylve, he grants her a plowable field. After having four sons with a giant in Jotunheim, Gefion turns them into a yoke of oxen and makes them plow the field breaking out a piece of land into the ocean close to Odinsö. This land is called Sealand, where Gefion dwells and marries Skjold, an Odin's son.

When Odin hears of how prosperous the lands to the east of Gylve's possessions are, he goes there. Despite the opposition of Gylve, Asaland people take the upper hand, make piece with him and remain on those lands. Odin settles at the Maelare lake, in the Old Sigtun, builds a temple there and sets his men to rule in the neighboring places around.[30]

Odin's Personality: Odin is described as a great sorcerer in the saga. He can shape-shift, speaks only in verse, and lies so well that everything he says seems true. He strikes enemies blind and deaf and when his own men fight they go berserk and cannot be harmed.[31]

Odin has a ship Skidbladnir that can be folded together like a cloth. He relies on two talking ravens to gather intelligence, and he keeps Mime's head by him which tells him the news from other worlds. Odin teaches magic, runes and incantations. He can even awaken the dead from the earth and cause death or disease to anyone. People worship Odin and the other twelve chiefs from Asaland as their gods.[32]

Death of Odin: Odin establishes the laws that have been previously observed in Asaland: dead men should be burned with their belongings, a mound should be raised to memorize distinguished men, sacrifices should be held on special days in winter and in summer.[33]Short before his death, Odin says he is going to Godheim (the other name of "Swithiod the Great" in the saga). He dies in his bed in Swithiod and is burned with honor. Snorri says: "The Swedes believed that he was gone to the ancient Asgaard, and would live there eternally".[34]

Frey: Njord starts to rule over the Swedes after Odin. During this time, marked by peace and prosperity, all the gods die.[35] When Njord dies himself, Frey takes the power and makes Upsal his capital. Frey has also another name, Yngvi, which is started to be used as an honorific title by his descendants. Thus they are called Ynglinger. When Frey dies of illness, his men keep it in secret and place his body into a great mound with three windows. People think Frey is still alive and continue to pay tribute to him, putting gold through the one window, silver through the other one and copper coins through the third one.[36] The Swedes eventually discover the truth but do not burn the Frey's body, since they believe the peaceful time goes on thanks to his presence in Sweden. They treat him as a god and sacrifice to him.[37]

Getic Asii

James Todd [38] writes.....The Getic Asii carried this veneration for the steed, symbolic of their chief deity the sun, into Scandinavia : equally so of all the early German tribes, the Su, Suevi, Chatti, Sucimbri, Getae, in the forests of Germany, and on the banks of the Elbe and Weser. The milk-white steed was supposed to be the organ of the gods, from whose neighing they calculated future events ; notions possessed also by the Aswa, sons of Budha (Woden), on the Yamuna and Ganges, when the rocks of Scandinavia and the shores of the Baltic were yet untrod by man. It was this omen which gave Darius Hystaspes 1 (hinsna, ' to neigh,' aspa, ' a horse ') a crown. The bard Chand makes it the omen of death to his principal heroes. The steed of the Scandinavian god of battle was kept in the temple of Upsala, and always " found foaming and sweating after battle." " Money," says Tacitus, " was only acceptable to the German when bearing the effigies of the horse." 2

In the Edda we are informed that the Getae, or Jats, who entered Scandinavia, were termed Asi, and their first settlement As-gard. 3


Pinkerton rejects the authority of the Edda and follows Torfaeus, who " from Icelandic chronicles and genealogies concludes Odin to have come into Scandinavia in the time of Darius Hystaspes, five hundred years before Christ."

1 [Hystaspes is from old Persian, Vishtaspa, ' possessor of horses.' The author derives it from a modern Hindi word hinsna, ' to neigh,' possibly from recollection of the story in Herodotus iii. 85.]
2 [He possibly refers to the statement (Germania, v.), that their coins bore the impress of a two-horse chariot.]
3 Asirgarh, ' fortress of the Asi ' [IGI, vi. 12].

[p.78]: This is the period of the last Buddha, or Mahavira, whose era is four hundred and seventy-seven years before Vikrama, or five hundred and thirty-three before Christ.

The successor of Odin in Scandinavia was Gotama ; and Gautama was the successor of the last Buddha, Mahavira, 1 who as Gotama, or Gaudama, is still adored from the Straits of Malacca to the Caspian Sea.

" Other antiquaries," says Pinkerton, " assert another Odin, who was put as the supreme deity one thousand years before Christ" [65].

Mallet admits two Odins, but Mr. Pinkerton wishes he had abided by that of Torfaeus, in 500 A.C.

It is a singular fact that the periods of both the Scandinavian Odins should assimilate with the twenty-second Buddha [Jain Tirthakara], Neminath, and twenty-fourth and last, Mahavira ; the first the contemporary of Krishna, about 1000 or 1100 years, the last 533, before Christ. The Asii, Getae, etc., of Europe worshipped Mercury as founder of their line, as did the Eastern Asi, Takshaks, and Getae. The Chinese and Tatar historians also say Buddha, or Fo, appeared 1027 years before Christ. " The Yuchi, established in Bactria and along the Jihun, eventually bore the name of Jeta or Yetan, 2 that is to say, Getae. Their empire subsisted a long time in this part of Asia, and extended even into India. These are the people whom the Greeks knew under the name of Indo-Scythes. Their manners are the same as those of the Turks . 3 Revolutions occurred in the very heart of the East, whose consequences were felt afar." 4

The period allowed by all these authorities for the migration of these Scythic hordes into Europe is also that for their entry into India.

The sixth century is that calculated for the Takshak from Sheshnagdesa ; and it is on this event and reign that the Puranas declare, that from this period " no prince of pure blood would be

1 The great [maha) warrior [vir). [Buddha lived 567-487 b.c. : Mahavira, founder of Jainism, died about 527 B.C.]
2 Yeutland was the name given to the whole Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland (Pinkerton, On the Goths).
3 Turk, Turushka, Takshak, or ' Taunak, fils de Tnrc ' (Abulghazi, History of the Tatars).
4 Histoire des Huns, vol. i. p. 42.

[p. 79]: found, but that the Sudra, the Turushka, and the Yavan, would prevail."

All these Indo-Scythic invaders held the religion of Buddha : and hence the conformity of manners and mythology between the Scandinavian or German tribes and the Rajputs increased by comparing their martial poetry.

Similarity of religious manners affords stronger proofs of original identity than language. Language is eternally changing — so are manners ; but an exploded custom or rite traced to its source, and maintained in opposition to climate, is a testimony not to be rejected.

वोडेन:ठाकुर देशराज

ठाकुर देशराज [39] ने लिखा है .... वोडेन - यह उद्धव वंशी जाट थे। इनके नायकत्व में ईसा से 500 वर्ष पूर्व है जाटों ने ईरान के असीरिया से उठकर स्केंडिनेविया में प्रवेश किया था। स्कंदनाभ के धर्म ग्रंथ एड्डा में इनका नाम ओडिन लिखा हुआ है। जाटों से पहले के वहां के

[पृ.163]: निवासी मृतक लोगों को जलाते नहीं थे किंतु गाड़ देते थे। बोधेन ने उन लोगों को शिक्षा देकर जलाने की प्रणाली जारी करा दी थी। बोधेन की सेना में एक बलदार नाम का सरदार था वह लड़ाई में काम आ गया। बलदार की स्त्री का नाम नन्ना देवी था। वह अपने पति के साथ सती हो गई थी।

External links

References

  1. ↑ Lindow, John (2002). Norse mythology : a guide to the Gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 13, 37, 54–56. ISBN 9786610532490. OCLC 1136323846.
  2. ↑ James Todd Annals/Chapter 6 Genealogical history of the Rajput tribes subsequent to Vikramaditya, pp.77,fn-3
  3. ↑ James Todd: James Todd Annals/Chapter 6 Genealogical history of the Rajput tribes subsequent to Vikramaditya, pp.77, fn-3
  4. ↑ Asirgarh, ' fortress of the Asi ' [IGI, vi. 12].
  5. ↑ Rydberg, Viktor. Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, London: Norroena Society, 1907. pp.33-34
  6. ↑ Lindow, John (2002). Norse mythology : a guide to the Gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 13, 37, 54–56. ISBN 9786610532490. OCLC 1136323846.
  7. ↑ "Asgard | Norse mythology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  8. ↑ Simek, Rudolf (2008). A Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Hall, Angela. BOYE6. ISBN 9780859915137.p.20
  9. ↑ Orchard, Andy (2011). The Elder Edda : a book of Viking lore. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780141393728. p. 77, Hymiskvida: The song of Hymir, stanza 7.
  10. ↑ Bellows, Henry Adams, ed. (1923). "Lays of the Gods: Voluspo". The Poetic Edda. Scandinavian classics, vols. 21, 22. Translated by Bellows, Henry Adams. New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation (published 1926). p. 3. Þrymskviða, stanza 17.
  11. ↑ Simek 2008, p. 167-169.
  12. ↑ Bellows 1923, Þrymskviða, stanza 17.
  13. ↑ Simek 2008, pp. 8, 235, 329.
  14. ↑ Mattioli, Vittorio (2018). "Grímnismál : a critical edition". University of St Andrews.p.102
  15. ↑ Boult, Katherine (1948). Asgard and the Norse Heroes. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library. pp. 21, 56–59, 72, 82–90, 121–123. ISBN 978-1176204492.
  16. ↑ Sturluson, Snorri (2018). The Prose Edda. Translated by Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist. Franklin Classics Trade Press. ISBN 9780344335013. Gylfaginning, chapter 14.
  17. ↑ Sturluson, Snorri; Byock, Jesse L. (2005). The prose Edda: Norse mythology. London: Penguin Classics. pp. 30–48, 55–78, 80–83, 93–94, 97. ISBN 0-14-044755-5. OCLC 59352542.
  18. ↑ Sturluson & Byock 2005.
  19. ↑ Lindow 2002.
  20. ↑ turluson 2018, Gylfaginning, chapter 8, 9
  21. ↑ Simek 2008, p. 20.
  22. ↑ Simek 2008, p. 113.
  23. ↑ 1. Sturluson 2018, 11. Kennings for Thor. 2. Skáldskaparmál, Chapter 11.
  24. ↑ Laing, Samuel (1961). Heimskringla. Part two, Sagas of the Norse Kings. London: Dent. ISBN 0460008471. pp. 8–13.
  25. ↑ Sturluson, Snorri (1225). The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway . Vol. 1. Translated by Laing, Samuel. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans (published 1844) – via Wikisource.
  26. ↑ Killings, Douglas B.; Brendan, Diane, eds. (1996). "Heimskringla: The Ynglinga Saga". The Medieval and Classical Literature Library (Online Medieval and Classical Library Release ed.) (= MCLL 1996), chpt. 1. OF THE SITUATION OF COUNTRIES.
  27. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 2. OF THE PEOPLE OF ASIA.
  28. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 2. OF THE PEOPLE OF ASIA.
  29. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 4. OF ODIN'S WAR WITH THE PEOPLE OF VANALAND.
  30. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 5. ODIN DIVIDES HIS KINGDOM: ALSO CONCERNING GEFION.
  31. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 6. OF ODIN'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
  32. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 7. OF ODIN'S FEATS.
  33. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 8. ODIN'S LAWGIVING.
  34. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 10. OF ODIN'S DEATH.
  35. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 11. OF NJORD.
  36. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 12.
  37. ↑ MCLL 1996, chpt. 13. OF FREYA AND HER DAUGHTERS.
  38. ↑ James Todd Annals/Chapter 6 Genealogical history of the Rajput tribes subsequent to Vikramaditya, pp.77-79
  39. ↑ Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihas (Utpatti Aur Gaurav Khand)/Parishisht,p.162-163
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