Celtic/Vedic(Hindu) Connections

[Guest guest]

This is all taken from this webpage so it is THEIR material, not mine, and

THEIR copyright is hereby acknowledged:

 

 

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/connections.htm#2

 

 

 

 

 

The Celtic-Vedic Connection

 

 

 

Source: Hinduism Today

 

 

 

1) Celtic cosmology cognizes four interrelating worlds of existence:

netherworld, earth realm; heavenly realm of dead and demi-gods; white realm

of supreme Deities and energy source of stars.

 

 

 

Vedic cosmology perceives three interrelating worlds-physical; astral world

of dead and demi-gods; causal universe of Deities, Supreme Being and primal

energy; plus a fourth netherworld.

 

 

 

2) These worlds further divided into lands and cities occupied by spirits

and disincarnate people of similar character. Time is slower in these

realms.

 

 

 

The three worlds divide into loka habitats of existence, occupied by spirits

and like-minded disincarnate people. Time is dilated in the lokas.

 

 

 

3) Celtic earth realm is called bitus. Celtic Gods are called deuos, meaning

"shining one."

 

 

 

Vedic earth world is called bhu. Gods of Vedas are invoked as deva, meaning

"shining one."

 

 

 

4) Departed souls dwelled in refined or hellish lands until their next

reincarnation as a human or animal.

 

 

 

At death, souls continue existence in subtle or hellish realms until entry

into the next human or animal body.

 

 

 

5) Celtic priests taught that human souls were indestructible, but the

universe ends and rebuilds through fire and water in a repeating cycle.

 

 

 

The universe existence span-called kalpa-ends in a repeating

creation/destruction cycle through fire and water, symbolic of primal light

and sound.

 

 

 

6) Celtic deities included Gods who actualized nature forces, promulgated

ethics, justice, knowledge, speech, arts, crafts, medicine, harvests, gave

war courage and battled forces of darkness, and Goddesses of land, rivers

and motherhood. Gods often did multiple functions.

 

 

 

The early Vedic pantheon included deities of fire, solar, atmospheric and

nature forces, ritual stimulants, speech, crafts, arts, harvests, medicine,

justice, ethical/ecological order, war, battlers of malevolent beings, river

Goddesses. Gods often had overlapping functions.

 

 

 

7) Celtic God of thunder was Taranus who carried thunderbolts. God of fire

is Aedh (pronounced uh-ee), meaning fire. The sun Deity is Sulios. The

Celtic word for invocation is gutuater.

 

 

 

Vedic God of rain and thunder was Indra who carried thunderbolts. Vedic God

of fire is Agni, meaning fire. The solar Being is Surya. The Sanskrit term

for invocation is hotar.

 

 

 

8) Celtic cosmology conceived of cosmic creation as a primal Person

sacrifice. The Celt term for breath is anal. For soul, the Celt word is

anam.

 

 

 

Vedic cosmology describes cosmic creation as the sacrifice of Primal Being.

The Vedic word for breath is prana. The soul in the Vedas is atman.

 

 

 

9) The central Celtic ritual was the fire sacrifice, conducted in geometric

pits with offerings of herbs, mead and flour cakes, conducted by chanting

druids, the Celtic priests.

 

 

 

The central Vedic ritual was the fire sacrifice, performed in geometric pits

with offerings of ghee, spices, rice-conducted by hymn- and-mantra-chanting

brahmins.

 

 

 

10) Celtic priests were called druids, meaning "knowers of the tree, or

truth." They memorized the entire knowledge of the Celts and passed it on

orally, forbidding written transmission. They were divided into several

classes: seers, judges, royal advisors, hymn chanters, poet bards,

sacrificers. They were also astronomers, healers and magicians.

 

 

 

The Vedic priesthood-the brahmins-memorized the scriptural and societal law

knowledge of the Hindus, passing it on orally, forbidding writing. Brahmins

formed several divisions associated with the fire ritual duties. Enlightened

brahmins became rishi seers. Others advised kings and some specialized in

medicine and astronomy/astrology.

 

 

 

11) Druids studied for 20 years in strict discipleship to master their oral,

ritual, law, science and psychic arts.

 

 

 

Brahmins studied for 12 years in a gurukulam to master oral, ritual,

mathematical, astronomical knowledge.

 

 

 

12) Druids memorized extremely lengthy poetic sagas that communicated

spiritual metaphysics and civic laws. The poetic metre was a fixed syllable

line, free form, with 3-part cadence at end.

 

 

 

Bards of the Vedic literature memorized lengthy poetic sagas conveying

spiritual knowledge and dharmic duty. The poetic metre was a fixed syllable

line, free form, with 3-part cadence at end.

 

 

 

13) Druids practiced breathing, posture and meditation techniques that gave

degrees of ecstasy, often accompanied by intense heat in the body.

 

 

 

Vedic ascetics practiced breathing, posture and meditation skills in a

spiritual unfoldment process called tapas (heat), generating high body heat.

 

 

 

14) Celtic society was divided into three hierarchical stratas of life:

priests, warriors and producers (inclusive of merchants). Druids advised

warrior-kings known as rix. Upward progression through classes was possible.

 

 

 

Vedic society divided into four hierarchical castes: priests, warriors,

merchants, workers. Brahmins counseled warrior-kings (rajas). Upward

mobility was sanctioned in Vedas, but later frozen in societal law books.

 

 

 

15) Celts prized the magical power of telling truth, honor/piety among men

and eloquence in conversation and oration.

 

 

 

Vedic society prized the supernatural power of truth-saying, piety and

honor, and eloquence in gatherings.

 

 

 

16) Celts honored women, guarded their virtue, and allowed by law daughters

of sonless fathers to inherit property or to marry kinsmen to bear male

heirs to the father. Seeresses were sanctioned, and priestesses for

Goddesses favored.

 

 

 

Vedic Hindus prized womanly virtues, and by law sonless fathers could

bequeath property to daughters or arrange her marriage to relatives for male

heirs. Female seers were countenanced, and female ascetics tended Goddess

rites.

 

 

 

17) Celts recognized 8 forms of marriage from arranged to love to abduction.

A bride gift was given by the groom.

 

 

 

Vedic Hindus followed 8 forms of marriage from arranged to love to

abduction. The groom paid a bride price.

 

 

 

18) Celts defined life stages, columns of age: infancy (0-1), boyhood

(2-11), adolescence (12-18), young adult (19-45), old age (46-65),

decrepitude (65+) in which enlightening inspiration is sought.

 

 

 

Vedic society taught four ashrama stages of life: studentship (12- 24);

family life (25-48); elder advisor (49-72); religious solitaire (72+), in

which the individual seeks enlightenment.

 

 

 

19) The Celtic ideal measure of life was to live 100 years.

 

 

 

The Vedic ideal of a fulfilled life was to live 100 autumns.

 

 

 

20) Celt family unit was a group of four generations from a great-

grandfather.

 

 

 

The ancient Hindu family unit is four generations from a great- grandfather.

 

 

 

21) One Celt calendar was based on 62 lunar months (5 years +) intercalated

to a 3-year solar cycle for solstice correction. Druids studied stellar

motion, navigation and contemplated such abstracts as the size and nature of

the universe.

 

 

 

Vedic astronomy is based on lunar months daily aligned to star positions and

related to 3-year and 5-year solar cycles. Vedic astronomy was applied to

astrology, and the rishi seers contemplated the universe's nature and

genesis.

 

 

 

22) By Celt law a man owed money could fast at the door of the debtor- who

must join the fast-forcing the debtor to pay or enter an arbitration.

 

 

 

By Hindu law, a creditor could fast at the door of the past due debtor, who

then was obligated to protect the health of the creditor and pay the debt.

 

 

 

Irish Scholars: Irish and Indian the Same People

 

 

 

Source: THE CELTS By Gerhard Herm

 

 

 

Bryan Mcmahon, historian, scholar of folklore, teacher, a well known poet

and much else besides, likes to test his favorite theories in practice and

to retail them with all the skill and timing of a seasoned performer. He

told me: Whenever I meet an Indian I take him to one side and hum the first

lines of an Irish folk-song. Then I ask him to continue the melody as he

likes; and, believe it or not, almost every time he will sing it to the end

as if he already knew the song. Isn't that astonishing?

 

 

 

For me it is an indication that Indians and Irishmen have a common past;

that, as I put it in one of my plays, "We Celts came from the Mysterious

East."

 

 

 

The late Myles Dillon, formerly Prof of Celtic at U of Dublin cites a whole

series of further astonishing parallels between the culture of the Aryan

Indians and the Irish Druids. (Druid from Dru = Oak, Wid or Ved = Wisdom)

His main contention is that in both cases there was a distinct class of

scholars; the Brahmins in India, the highest reps in the Varna system; while

in Ireland there were the 'wise men of the oak'. Dillon reckons that the

Brahmins and the Druids should be equated because they carried out their

profession-teaching and study, poetry and law-in a similar way.

 

 

 

There is evidence that this is so.

 

 

 

The principles by which justice was administered were similar, indeed

identical with those in India. There a father with daughters but no sons

could order one of them to take a man of his choice and produce a legal

heir. Beyond the Hindu Kush mountains, such a girl was called putrika (she

who takes the son's place) and in old Ireland ban-chomarba (female-heir).

But who if not the Continental Celts can have told the Irish what was going

on in the far east? Dillon further notes similarities: in both cultures

there were 8 different forms of marriage, from arranged marriages, marriage

by purchase and love- matches to kidnapping. In both cultures there was a

strict distinction between inherited and earned property and when contracts

were drawn up there was an exact statement as to who was to provide what

guarantees before obtaining what he wanted. In one case it was the Brahmins

and in the other the Druids who administered these principles.

 

 

 

All this, Dillon says, suggests that the Celtic Druids indeed represented

the same tradition as the Hindu Brahmins... If we continue to feel our way

along the parallels between India and Gaul, sooner or later we sense that

the Druids were also political leaders, just as the Brahmins clearly stood

above generals and warriors.

 

 

 

The Druids, Caesar says, taught that "souls do not disappear but wander from

one body to another". Lucan in his Pharsalia - a verse epic about the Roman

civil war - addressed them with the words: "If we understand you aright,

death is only a pause in a long life." Does the fact that according to

Scythian custom, crests depicted eagles, wolves, bears as ancestors reflect

the conviction of these people that the spirit of the dead goes through many

life-forms, human and animal, as the Hindus believe?

 

 

 

....Ancient author Diodorus's own most adventurous suggestion - "they still

hold Pythagoras's belief in the immortality of the soul and rebirth." ...But

since Pythagoras, with his strong influences from the east, was among the

few great Hellenic philosophers who believed in the possibility of life

after death, they could only conclude that his belief was related to the

blonde barbarians (the Celts) or that they had taken theirs from him.