Part 3

In connection with the efforts to determine the age of the Teutonic myths, and their kinship with the other Aryan (Indo-European) mythologies, the fact deserves attention that the myth in regard to a subterranean grove and the human beings there preserved for a future regenerated world is also found among the Iranians, an Asiatic race akin to the Teutons. The similarity between the Teutonic and Iranian traditions is so conspicuous that the question is irresistible--Whether it is not originally, from the standpoint of historical descent, one and the same myth, which, but little affected by time, has been preserved by the Teutonic Aryans around the Baltic, and by the Iranian Aryans in Baktria and Persia? But the answer to the question requires the greatest caution. The psychological similarity of races may, on account of the limitations of the human fancy, and in the midst of similar conditions and environments, create myths which resemble each other, although they were produced spontaneously by different races in different parts of the earth. This may happen in the same manner as primitive implements, tools, and dwellings which resemble each other may have been invented and used by races far separated from each other, not by the one learning from the other how these things were to be made, nor on account of a common descent in antiquity. The similarity is the result of similar circumstances. It was the same want which was to be satisfied; the same human logic found the manner of satisfying the want; the same materials offered themselves for the accomplishment of the end, and the same universal conceptions of form were active in the development of the problems. Comparative mythology will never become a science in the strict sense of this word before it ceases to build hypotheses on a solitary similarity, or even on several or many resemblances between mythological systems geographically separated, unless these resemblances unite themselves and form a whole, a mythical unity, and unless it appears that this mythical unity in turn enters as an element into a greater complexity, which is similar in fundamental structure and similar in its characteristic details. Especially should this rule be strictly observed when we compare the myths of peoples who neither by race nor language can be traced back to a prehistoric unity. But it is best not to relax the severity of the rules even when we compare the myths of peoples who, like the Teutons, the Iranians, and the Rigveda-Aryans, have the same origin and same language; who through centuries, and even long after their separation, have handed down from generation to generation similar mythological conceptions and mythical traditions. I trust that, as this work of mine gradually progresses, a sufficient material of evidence for the solution of the above problem will be placed in the hands of my readers. I now make a beginning of this by presenting the Iranian myth concerning Jima's grove and the subterranean human beings transferred to it.

In the ancient Iranian religious documents Jima is a holy and mighty ancient being, who, however, does not belong to the number of celestial divinities which surround the highest god, Ahuramazda, but must be counted among "the mortals," to the oldest seers and prophets of antiquity. A hymn of sacrifice, dedicated to the sacred mead, the liquid of inspiration (_homa_, the _soma_ and _soma-madhu_ of the Rigveda-Aryans, the last word being the same as our word _mead_), relates that Jima and his father were the first to prepare the mead of inspiration for the material world; that he, Jima, was the richest in honour of all who had been born, and that he of all mortals most resembled the sun. In his kingdom there was neither cold nor heat, neither frost nor drought, neither aging nor death. A father by the side of his son resembled, like the son, a youth of fifteen years. The evil created by the demons did not cross the boundaries of Jima's world (The Younger _Jasna_, ch. 9).

Jima was the favourite of Ahuramazda, the highest god. Still he had a will of his own. The first mortal with whom Ahuramazda talked was Jima, and he taught him the true faith, and desired that Jima should spread it among the mortals. But Jima answered: "I am not suited to be the bearer and apostle of the faith, nor am I believed to be so" (_Vendidad_). [In this manner it is explained why the true doctrine did not become known among men before the reformer Zarathustra came, and why Jima the possessor of the mead of inspiration, nevertheless, was in possession of the true wisdom.]

It is mentioned (in _Gosh Jasht_ and _Râm Jasht_) that Jima held two beings in honour, which did not belong to Ahuramazda's celestial circle, but were regarded as worthy of worship. These two were:

1. The cow (_Gosh_), that lived in the beginning of time, and whose blood, when she was slain, fertilised the earth with the seed of life.

2. _Vajush_, the heavenly breeze. He is identical with the ruler of the air and wind in Rigveda, the mighty god _Vâyu-Vâta_.

In regard to the origin and purpose of the kingdom ruled by Jima, in which neither frost nor drought, nor aging nor death, nor moral evil, can enter Vendidad relates the following:[7]

_Avesta._ _Zend._

21. A meeting was held A meeting was held with with the holy angels of Ahuramazda, the best men of Jima, the king, the creator. To the one rich in flocks. To this meeting came, with the this meeting came, with the best men, Jima, the king rich holy angels, Ahuramazda, the in flocks. creator.

22. Then said Ahuramazda In the material world there to Jima: "Happy Jima Vivanghana! shall come an evil winter, In the material world consequently much snow there shall come an evil winter, shall fall on the highest and consequently a hard, mountains, on the tops of the killing frost." rocks.

23. From three places, O From three places, O Jima, Jima, the cows should be the cows should be driven driven to well-enclosed shelters; to well-enclosed shelters; whether they are in the whether they are in the wildernesses, or in the heights wilderness, or on the heights of the mountains, or in the of the mountains, or in the depths of the valleys. depths of the valleys.

24. Before the winter this land had meadows. Before that time the water (the rain) was wont to flow over it, and the snow to melt; and there was found, O Jima, in the material world, water-soaked places, in which were visible the footprints of the cattle and their offspring.

25. Now give this enclosure Now give the enclosure the (above, "the well-enclosed length of one ... on each of shelters") on each of its four sides as a dwelling for its four sides the length of men, and give the same length one ... and bring thither to each of the four sides as a the seed of your cattle, of field for the cows. oxen, of men, of dogs, and of birds, and red blazing fires.

26. Gather water there in a canal, the length of one hâthra. Place the landmarks there on a gold-coloured spot, furnished with imperishable nourishment. Put up a house there of mats and poles, with roof and walls.

27. Bring thither seed of all men and women, who are the largest, best, and most fair on this earth. Bring thither seed of all domestic animals that are the largest, best, and fairest on this earth.

28. Bring thither seed of all plants which are the highest and most fragrant on this earth. Bring thither seed of all articles of food which are the best tasting and most fragrant on this earth. And make pairs of them unceasingly, in order that these beings may have their existence in the enclosures.

29. There shall be no pride, no despondency, no sluggishness, no poverty, no deceit, no dwarf-growths, no blemish ... nor aught else of those signs which are Angrô-mainyush's curses put on men.

30. Make, in the uppermost part of that territory, nine bridges; in the middle, six; in the lowest part, three. To the bridges of the upper part you must bring seed of a thousand men and women, to those of the middle the seed of six hundred, to those of the lower, of three hundred.... And make a door in the enclosure, and a self-luminous window on the inside.

33. Then Jima made the enclosure.

39. Which are those lights, thou just Ahuramazda, which give light in the enclosures made by Jima?

40. Ahuramazda answered: Once (a year) the stars and moon and the sun are there seen to rise and set.

41. And they (who dwell within Jima's enclosures) think that one year is one day. Every fortieth year two persons are born by two persons. These persons enjoy the greatest bliss in the enclosures made by Jima.

42. Just creator! Who preached the pure faith in the enclosures which Jima made? Ahuramazda answered: The bird Karshipta.

Jima's garden has accordingly been formed in connection with a terrible winter, which, in the first period of time, visited the earth, and it was planned to preserve that which is noblest and fairest and most useful within the kingdoms of organic beings. That the garden is situated in the lower world is not expressly stated in the above-quoted passages from Vendidad; though this seems to be presupposed by what is stated; for the stars, sun, and moon do not show themselves in Jima's garden excepting after long, defined intervals--_at their rising and setting_; and as the surface of the earth is devastated by the unparalleled frost, and as the valleys are no more protected therefrom than the mountains, we cannot without grave doubts conceive the garden as situated in the upper world. That it is subterranean is, however, expressly stated in _Bundehesh_, ch. 30, 10, where it is located under the mountain Damkan; and that it, in the oldest period of the myth, was looked upon as subterranean follows from the fact that the Jima of the ancient Iranian records is identical with Rigveda's Jama, whose domain and the scene of whose activities is the lower world, the kingdom of death.

As Jima's enclosed garden was established on account of the fimbul-winter, which occurred in time's morning, it continues to exist after the close of the winter, and preserves through all the historical ages those treasures of uncorrupted men, animals, and plants which in the beginning of time were collected there. The purpose of this is mentioned in Minokhird, a sort of catechism of the legends and morals of the Avesta religion. There it is said that after the conflagration of the world, and in the beginning of the regeneration, the garden which Jima made shall open its gate, and thence men, animals and plants shall once more fill the devastated earth.

The lower world, where Jima, according to the ancient Iranian records, founded this remarkable citadel, is, according to Rigveda, Jama's kingdom, and also the kingdom of death, of which Jama is king (Rigv., x. 16, 9; cp. i. 35, 6, and other passages). It is a glorious country, with inexhaustible fountains, and there is the home of the imperishable light (Rigv., ix. 7, 8,; ix. 113, 8). Jama dwells under a tree "with broad leaves." There he gathers around the goblet of mead the fathers of antiquity, and there he drinks with the gods (Rigv., x. 135, 1).

Roth, and after him Abel Bergaigne (Religion Ved., i. 88 ff.), regard Jama and Manu, mentioned in Rigveda, as identical. There are strong reasons, for the assumption, so far as certain passages of Rigveda are concerned; while other passages, particularly those which mention Manu by the side of Bhriga, refer to an ancient patriarch of human descent. If the derivation of the word _Mimer_, _Mimi_, pointed out by several linguists, last by Müllenhoff (_Deutsche Alt._, vol. v. 105, 106), is correct, then it is originally the same name as _Manu_, and like it is to be referred to the idea of thinking, remembering.

What the Aryan-Asiatic myth here given has in common with the Teutonic one concerning the subterranean persons in Mimer's grove can be summarised in the following words:

The lower world has a ruler, who does not belong to the group of immortal celestial beings, but enjoys the most friendly relations with the godhead, and is the possessor of great wisdom. In his kingdom flow inexhaustible fountains, and a tree grown out of its soil spreads its foliage over his dwelling, where he serves the mead of inspiration, which the gods are fond of and which he was the first to prepare. A terrible winter threatened to destroy everything on the surface of the earth. Then the ruler of the lower world built on his domain a well-fortified citadel, within which neither destructive storms, nor physical ills, nor moral evil, nor sickness, nor aging, nor death can come. Thither he transferred the best and fairest human beings to be found on earth, and decorated the enclosed garden with the most beautiful and useful trees and plants. The purpose of this garden is not simply to protect the beings collected there during the great winter; they are to remain there through all historical ages. When these come to an end, there comes a great conflagration and then a regeneration of the world. The renewed earth is to be filled with the beings who have been protected by the subterranean citadel. The people who live there have an instructor in the pure worship of the gods and in the precepts of morality, and in accordance with these precepts they are to live for ever a just and happy life.

It should be added that the two beings whom the Iranian ruler of the lower world is said to have honoured are found or have equivalents in the Teutonic mythology. Both are there put in theogonic connection with Mimer. The one is the celestial lord of the wind, Vayush, Rigveda's Vâyu-Vâta. Vâta is thought to be the same name as Wodan, Odinn (Zimmer, Haupt's Zeitschr., 1875; cp. Mannhardt and Kaegi). At all events, Vâta's tasks are the same as Odin's. The other is the primeval cow, whose Norse name or epithet, _Audhumla_ is preserved in Gylfag., 6. Andhunla liberates from the frost-stones in Chaos Bure, the progenitor of the Asa race, and his son Bor is married to Mimer's sister Bestla, and with her becomes the father of Odin (Havam., 140; Gylfag., 6).

[7] The outlines of the contents are given here from the interpretation found in Haug-West's _Essays on the Sacred Language of the Parsis_ (London, 1878).

55.

THE PURPOSE OF MIMER'S GROVE IN THE REGENERATION OF THE WORLD.

We now know the purpose of _Odainsakr_, Mimer's land and Mimer's grove in the world-plan of our mythology. We know who the inhabitants of the grove are, and why they, though dwellers in the lower world, must be _living persons_, who did not come there through the _gate of death_. They must be living persons of flesh and blood, since the human race of the regenerated earth must be the same.

Still the purpose of Mimer's land is not limited to being, through this epoch of the world, a protection for the fathers of the future world against moral and physical corruption, and a seminary where Balder educates them in virtue and piety. The grove protects, as we have seen, the _ásmegir_ during _Ragnarok_, whose flames do not penetrate thither. Thus the grove, and the land in which it is situated, exist after the flames of Ragnarok are extinguished. Was it thought that the grove after the regeneration was to continue in the lower world and there stand uninhabited, abandoned, desolate, and without a purpose in the future existence of gods, men and things?

The last moments of the existence of the crust of the old earth are described as a chaotic condition in which all elements are confused with each other. The sea rises, overflows the earth sinking beneath its billows, and the crests of its waves aspire to heaven itself (cp. Völusp., 54, 2--_Sigr fold i mar_, with Hyndlulj., 42, 1-3--_Haf gengr hridum vid himinn sialfann, lidr lond yfir_). The atmosphere, usurped by the sea, disappears, as it were (_loft bilar_--Hyndlulj., 42, 4). Its snow and winds (Hyndlulj., 42, 5-6) are blended with water and fire, and form with them heated vapours, which "play" against the vault of heaven (Völusp., 54, 7-8). One of the reasons why the fancy has made all the forces and elements of nature thus contend and blend was doubtless to furnish a sufficiently good cause for the dissolution and disappearance of the burnt crust of the earth. At all events, the earth is gone when the rage of the elements is subdued, and thus it is no impediment to the act of regeneration which takes its beginning beneath the waves.

This act of regeneration consists in the rising from the depths of the sea a new earth, which on its very rising possesses living beings and is clothed in green. The fact that it, while yet below the sea, could be a home for beings which need air in order to breathe and exist, is not necessarily to be regarded as a miracle in mythology. Our ancestors only needed to have seen an air-bubble rise to the surface of the water in order to draw the conclusion that air can be found under the water without mixing with it, but with the power of pushing water away while it rises to the surface. The earth rising from the sea has, like the old earth, the necessary atmosphere around it. Under all circumstances, the seeress in Völuspa sees after Ragnarok--

upp koma audro sinni iord or ægi ithia græna (str. 56).

The earth risen from the deep has mountains and cascades, which, from their fountains in the fells, hasten to the sea. The waterfalls contain fishes, and above them soars the eagle seeking its prey (Völusp., 56, 5-8). The eagle cannot be a survivor of the beings of the old earth. It cannot have endured in an atmosphere full of fire and steam, nor is there any reason why the mythology should spare the eagle among all the creatures of the old earth. It is, therefore, of the same origin as the mountains, the cascades, and the imperishable vegetation which suddenly came to the surface.

The earth risen from the sea also contains human beings, namely, Lif and Leifthraser, and their offspring. Mythology did not need to have recourse to any hocus-pocus to get them there. The earth risen from the sea had been the lower world before it came out of the deep, and a paradise-region in the lower world had for centuries been the abode of Lif and Leifthraser. It is more than unnecessary to imagine that the lower world with this Paradise was duplicated by another with a similar Paradise, and that the living creatures on the former were by some magic manipulation transferred to the latter. Mythology has its miracles, but it also has its logic. As its object is to be trusted, it tries to be as probable and consistent with its premises as possible. It resorts to miracles and magic only when it is necessary, not otherwise.

Among the mountains which rise on the new earth are found those which are called _Nida fjöll_ (Völusp., 62), Nide's mountains. The very name Nide suggests the lower world. It means the "lower one." Among the abodes of Hades, mentioned in Völuspa, there is also a hall of gold on Nide's plains (_a Nitha vollum_--str. 36), and from _Solarljod_ (str. 56) we learn--a statement confirmed by much older records--that Nide is identical with Mimer (see No. 87). Thus, Nide's mountains are situated on Mimer's fields. Völuspa's seeress discovers on the rejuvenated earth Nidhog, the corpse-eating demon of the lower world, flying, with dead bodies under his wings, away from the rocks, where he from time immemorial had had his abode, and from which he carried his prey to Nastrands (Völusp., 39). There are no more dead bodies to be had for him, and his task is done. Whether the last line of Völuspa has reference to Nidhog or not, when it speaks of some one "who must sink," cannot be determined. Müllenhoff (_Deutsche Alt._) assumes this to be the case, and he is probably right; but as the text has _hon_ (she) not _han_ (he) [_nu mun hon seyquas_], and as I, in this work, do not base anything even on the most probable text emendation, this question is set aside, and the more so, since Völuspa's description of the regenerated earth under all circumstances shows that Nidhog has naught there to do but to fly thence and disappear. The existence of Nide's mountains on the new earth confirms the fact that it is identical with Mimer's former lower world, and that Lif and Leifthraser did not need to move from one world to another in order to get to the daylight of their final destination.

Völuspa gives one more proof of this.

In their youth, free from care, the Asas played with strange tablets. But they had the tablets only _i arladaga_, in the earliest time (Völusp., 8, 58). Afterwards, they must in some way or other have lost them. The Icelandic sagas of the middle ages have remembered this game of tablets, and there we learn, partly that its strange character consisted in the fact that it could itself take part in the game and move the pieces, and partly that it was preserved in the lower world, and that Gudmund-Mimer was in the habit of playing with tablets (Fornalder Sagas, i. 443; iii. 391-392; iii. 626, &c. In the last passages the game is mentioned in connection with the other subterranean treasure, the horn.) If, now, the mythology had no special reason for bringing the tablets from the lower world before Ragnarok, then they naturally should be found on the risen earth if the latter was Mimer's domain before. Völuspa (str. 58) also relates that they were found in its grass:

Thar muno eptir undrsamligar gullnar tavlor i grasi finaz.

"There were the wonderful tablets found left in the grass (_finaz eptir_)."