Recovering the Indo European Ur myth linking India Persia Europe

By comparing the many languages of the Eurasian continent, from Sanskrit in India to Celtic in Ireland, scholars have reconstructed a number of Ur-myths. Take for instance the Sky Father, Gēus Pēter, which became Dīaus Pīter in Sanskrit and Zeus Pāter in Greek and Jupiter in Latin, and which is even related to the Germanic Another main figure was the Sanskrit figure Manu, simply meaning man, who in Avestan, an Iranian language, was called Manush, and in Germanic he was called Manus, and in all cases he was considered the ancestor of its people. A related but more mysterious figure is called Yama in Sanskrit, meaning twin, and he is the brother of Manu. We read that Yama was originally immortal, but he chose death in order to be able to sacrifice to the gods. This same character is called Yima in Avestan in Iran, and here he also performs the first sacrifice but then later is cut in half by his brother. Yima became Ymir in Old Norse, likely also meaning twin, and here this character is a frost giant who is sacrificed by the gods, while his body parts are cut to pieces to form the world. And Yama might also be related to Remus, who was murdered by his twin brother over the founding of Rome. So we got a lot to get to, and if this material is valuable to you, then please subscribe and let's start. Most languages between Ireland and India came from one source, now known as Proto-Indo-European, shortened as PIE. We know this because of the many similarities in the grammar and vocabulary in these languages. The word mother, for instance, is mater in Latin, mater in Sanskrit, mader in Persian, maser in Tocharian, a language in western China, mother in English, and moeder in my own language, Dutch. And interestingly, the Sanskrit word Agni, the name of the Indian fire god, is still related to the English word ignite. By comparing the names for animals and plants in all these languages, it could be determined that Proto-Indo-European came from the area above the Caspian and the Black Sea. And surprisingly, comparing these words can even tell us about the culture of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, and even about their gods and myths. Take for instance the Indo-European god, literally named Sky Father. His name became Dios Peter in Sanskrit, Zeus Pater in Greek, and Jupiter in Latin. And in Illyrian, a Balkan language, it became Dei Patrus. And in the Anatolian languages, from Turkey, it became Tias Papas. And there is also a relation to the Germanic god Tiu and the associated Norse god Tyr, from which the word Tuesday was derived. Not just gods, but even entire mythologies spread on the Eurasian continent, allowing us to very roughly reconstruct some original Proto-Indo-European myths. One of the main figures in these myths was Manu, simply meaning man. The Rig Veda, the most ancient text of India from around 1500 BC, was written by the Aryans, who regularly called themselves the sons of Manu, as they saw Manu as their first ancestor. And we also read that a figure called Matarishvan, the Indian Prometheus, brought fire in the form of the fire god Agni to Manu, allowing him to perform the first sacrifice. And interestingly, the fire theft in the Rig Veda is described with the verb math, from pramath meaning stealing. This might originally have been prometh in Proto-Indo-European, which, with the Greek ius ending, would become prometheus, or Prometheus. Many linguists believe in this link, although it definitely isn't as solid as the Skyfather case that I mentioned before. The substance that Manu sacrificed in the fire was soma, a juice that could be pressed from a plant, and this plant was brought to Manu from heaven by a falcon, we read. Through the sacrifice, it was believed, soma was consumed by the gods. This for instance strengthened the god Indra, the most mentioned god of the Rig Veda, allowing him to kill the dragon serpent Vritra, who had caused a drought on earth by holding back all the waters. Indra defeated him and made, quote, waters go easily back to Manu. The story of Manu as the ancestors of all Aryans is fleshed out in the later Shatapatha Brahmana, roughly dated to the 7th or 6th century BC, we're not quite sure. In the story, a fish tells Manu to quote prepare a ship, after which the earth completely flooded. The fish then tied its horn to the ship and dragged it to safety to a mountaintop. Then we read Manu engaged in worship, a sacrifice and austerities, hoping that this would give him offspring, for he was the only human remaining. When he offered up, quote, butter, sour milk, whey and curds, suddenly a woman appeared who claimed to be his daughter. By the way, to extend the Greek analogy, Prometheus was also the father of Deucalion, who was the survivor of the flood, according to the Greeks. Now let's move to Iran. The mythology of the closely related Iranian languages do not mention a character called Manu, which in a Western should be Manush, yet the name must have existed since we do read of Manushtir, or the son of Manush, who was considered to be an ancestor of all Iranian prophets, including the important prophet Zarathustra. And interestingly, the Roman historian Tacitus, from the 2nd century BC, wrote the following about Germanic tribes. He said, in their ancient songs, their only way of remembering or recording the past, they celebrate an earth-born god, Tuisto, a name we'll get back to, and his son, Manus, as the origin of their race, as their founders. So this figure, Manu, seems clearly established. A related but more mysterious figure is Yama, who in the Rig Veda is the brother of Manu. And since Yama means twin, it is safe to assume that they were twinned. Both of them are mentioned as sons of Vivasvant, meaning the one shining forth, who was also sometimes identified with the sun. And in Avestan, in Iran, this same figure was called Vivavant, so a very close match. And he was the first to press Soma, called Haoma in Avestan. And by the way, in the Rig Veda, Vivasvant was also associated with Soma, although not the first to press it. In the Rig Veda, we read that Yama was originally immortal, but that he chose death in order to sacrifice to the gods and also to be able to produce offspring. We read, for the sake of the gods, he chose death, and for the sake of offspring, he did not choose immortality. Exactly why it is that the gods wanted Yama to reproduce is unclear, but it is clear that it was of great importance to them. We read, the immortals do want this. Some top scholars guess that the gods before had to sacrifice themselves to themselves, for right after the previous verse, we read, they, meaning the gods, made Brahaspati, the seer or rishi, into their sacrifice. Yama left behind his own dear body as offspring. And Brahaspati, by the way, is both a god and a rishi, who created those sacred hymns. But in any case, Yama became the first being to experience death. And after his death, we also read, he became king of the world of the dead. In Avestan, the same figure is called Yima, also meaning twin. Zarathustra, the great Avestan prophet, mentioned Yima only once, and in a negative way. As Zarathustra was generally resisting the earlier Iranian traditions he grew up with. In the Gathas, the earliest Avestan text, we read, for such offenses, Vivavan's son was renowned. Even Yima, who sought to gratify our mortal race by feeding them portions of the cow. In the later Yasht, we read about Yima, the bright Yima, the good shepherd. For a long time, while he ruled over the devas and men, flocks and men were undying. In whose reign there was neither cold wind nor hot wind, neither old age nor death. So here he was a legendary ruler. But when he began to find the light in the words of falsehood and untruth, the glory, that is the glorious nimbus that was supposed to surround the king, was seen to flee away from him in the shape of a bird. And when his glory had disappeared, then the great Yima Xayeta, the good shepherd, trembled and was in sorrow before his foes. He was confounded and laid him down on the ground. We then read that the glory departed in three stages and was then seized by the god Mithra and two heroes, Thraetaona and Kurasaspa. With Thraetaona, being the son of Athvia, related to the hero Tritoaptia in Sanskrit. And in another place in the text, we read that Yima was finally cut in half by his own brother Spityura. In the so-called Zend-Avesta, still from Iran, we also find a story where the gods decide to freeze the world to prevent overpopulation, seemingly an alternative to the flood myth. To survive, Yima was told to make an enclosure and put animals inside. And afterward, he repopulates the earth. So here Yima was the survivor of a great catastrophe. Both the word Yama and Yima, by the way, come from the Proto-Indo-European root yemo, meaning twin. And this word is also related to the Latin Geminus, or to the constellation Gemini, also meaning twin. The name of the before-mentioned Germanic god Twisto, the father of Manus, might derive from the Proto-Germanic twis, related to the English twice, also suggesting twin. But this derivation is not 100% secure. Another related character is Ymir from Norse mythology. Based on folk etymology, meaning a false etymology made after the original meaning of the word was lost, his name was believed to be connected to the Old Norse imja, meaning to groan. But linguists commonly derive it from the same yemo, meaning twin, which with the common Old Norse ending ir, as in the dragon Fafnir, for instance, turned into Ymir. We read about this character in the Prose Edda. We read And when he fell, so much blood poured from his wounds, that he drowned the whole tribe of frost ogres with it. And they then took Ymir and carried him into the middle of Ginnungagap, the primordial void, and they made the world from him. From his blood the sea and lakes, from his flesh the earth, from his bones the mountains, rocks and pebbles they made from his teeth and jaws, and those bones that were broken. They also took his skull and made the sky from it and set it over the earth with its four sides and under each corner they put a dwarf. And then finally there were the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. From Roman mythology, similar to Ymir, they were fed by suckling, although here it was by a wolf. We then read that, quote, Romulus and Remus were seized with the desire to found a city. But when arguments arose, quote, Romulus in great anger slew his brother, thus Romulus acquired sole power and the city thus founded was called by its founder's name. It became Rome after Romulus. And Remus might be related to the proto-italic Jemus, meaning twin, which with the common Latin ending us became Jemus and then with the change from J to R to match with the city Rome and his brother Romulus would give us Remus. So we go from Jemo to Jemus to Remus. The theme of Ymir's sacrifice is also common. In the Rig Veda we read that the universe was created out of the sacrifice of the primordial being called Purusha, meaning man, who was ritually dismembered by the gods in similar fashion. We read, the gods performing the sacrifice bound the man Purusha as the sacrificial beast. The moon was born from his mind, from his eye the sun was born, from his mouth Indra and Agni, from his breath Vayu was born, the god of winds, from his navel was midspace, from his head the heaven developed, from his two feet the earth and the directions from his ear and thus they arranged the world. And now compare this to a passage from the Iranian Buddha Hishen from around the 8th century AD. We read, Ariman the evil spirit came to the ox and Gaomart. Now Gaomart literally means life Gaia and mortal Maratham, life mortal, making him the first mortal man, so similar to Yama. And the ox might mirror Ymir's cow. And then we read, when the soul-created ox passed away, fifty-five species of corn and twelve species of medicinal herbs grew up from there where its semen dropped. Having carried the semen of the ox up to the moon station, they purified it there and created out of it the beneficent animals of many species. And when illness came to Gaomart, there came into manifestation lead out of his head, tin out of his blood, silver out of his marrow, iron out of his feet, copper out of his bones, glass out of his fat, steel out of his arms and gold out of life's departure. And then we also read how ten species of men were produced from his semen. So here another case where a person and in this case also an ox was chopped up to form the world. And then there is this strange passage from the Shatapata Brahmana, starring our main character Manu and a bull. We read, Manu was in possession of a bull and into him entered an asura-killing, foe-killing voice and by this snorting and roaring, the asuras and the raksas were continually being crushed. So it seems the bull was possessed. Thereupon the asuras said to one another, evil alas, this bull inflicts upon us, how can we possibly destroy him? Two priests of the asuras then said, Manu, we will sacrifice for thee. And he said, wherewith? And they said, with this bull. And he said, so be it. And on it being killed, that voice went from it. So another sacrifice. But the voice then entered into Manavi, the wife of Manu. Again the priest said, Manu, we will sacrifice for thee. And he said, wherewith? And they said, with this, your wife. And he said, so be it. And on her being killed, that voice went from her. So to sum up, in India, Yama, meaning twin, made himself mortal and became the first to die. And a character called Purusha, meaning man, was dismembered to form the world. And Manu received fire from heaven and became the first sacrificer. And also the ancestor of the Aryans. And in a later text, he sacrificed a bull and his wife. And in Iran, Yima, also meaning twin, was the first sacrificer of a cow. And he was dismembered by his brother Spidura. And there was Manush, with the son of Manush being the ancestor of all priests. And there was Gaomart and the ox, who were killed to form the world. Then in Norse mythology, Ymir, possibly also meaning twin, was suckled by a cow and then dismembered to form the world. And in Germanic mythology, the ancestor of all the Germans was called Manus, who was born from a god Twisto, possibly also meaning twin. And in Rome, Romulus and Remus, with Remus also possibly twin, were suckled by a wolf and Romulus then killed his brother. Now admittingly, some correspondences are better than others. And some might even be coincidental. But there seems to be a reasonable chance that we are looking here at the remains of a Proto-Indo-European myth. And thus unfolded the great myth of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. I hope you were inspired by all this and if you want to know more about the development of Indo-European languages or any other topic from world history, then read my book In Search of the Sublime. You can read it completely for free on worldhistorybook.com or you can buy a physical copy on Amazon. And, of course, subscribe. Thank you so much for watching, bye-bye.