The Power of Truth
Searles

Mon Sep 23 22:52:21 2002
These are a few pages from Chapter 6 on Religion in Myles Dillon's _Celts and Aryans_.  They show the similarities of Brahmins and Druids in terms of place in the social structure and their belief in the power of truth:*p*6*p*RELIGION*p*Here as throughout this little book my purpose is to*br*present the evidence on either side which may suggest a*br*common origin, and therefore an Indo-European origin, for*br*beliefs or practices of Celts and Indo-Aryans. I shall not*br*attempt a general discussion, even in summary, of the religion*br*of the Veda or the religion of the Celts.*p*The most striking resemblance between the two cultures*br*is the presence, already observed (pp. 24 f., 98), in both*br*societies of a whole class devoted to priestly and learned*br*pursuits, the brahmins in India and the druids in Gaul, and*br*the privileged status that they enjoyed. In India even the*br*king defers to the brahmins (p. 104) and among the Celts*br*the druids enjoyed the same prestige. Diodorus describes*br*how in Gaul in war-time they are carefully obeyed and can*br*intervene between opposing armies (p. 24). In the Irish*br*sagas there are several examples of the druid using his*br*authority in the same way. In Bricriu's Feast when the*br*warriors are fighting for the Hero's Portion, it is Sencha, the*br*druid, who tells the king to separate them. 1 In The In-*p*-*p*1 EIL 20.*p**br*RELIGION 126*p*toxication of the Ulstermen, Sencha makes peace when the*br*warriors fight about the king's visit. 1 In The Cattle-Raid*br*of Cooley the king may not speak until his druid has*br*spoken.2*p*Power corrupted both brahmin and druid, and they*br*became a burden to their patrons. The greed and arrogance*br*of the brahmin is shown in Vedic texts in which they*br*claim even to be gods, and declare that the people have*br*a duty to honour them and to give them presents. Even*br*the king may under no circumstances touch the property*br*of a brahmin.3 The lavish rewards that they r~ceived for*br*their poems appear from the dana-stutis in the Rigveda*br*(p. 56). The tone of the Atharvaveda is more revealing,*br*and here 'the brahmins' supposed privileges have been*br*shamelessly asserted'4*p*In Ireland the position is strangely similar. The filid,*br*who were poets and seem to have inherited the privileged*br*status of the druids, expected rich rewards in cattle and*br*land for their poems. If they were not sufficiently rewarded,*br*they resorted to satire (áer), and their satire had the power*br*of disfiguring a reluctant giver. In several sagas there are*br*episodes which illustrate this beliefs and one of the stories*br*is a satire upon the satirists. The story entitled Guaire's*br*Burdensome Guests (Tromdám Guair) is an extravagant*br*satire on their exactions. Senchan, chief poet of Ireland, is*p*-*p*1 J. C. Watson, ed. Mesca Ulad 118.*br*2 EII 10.*br*3 Winternitz, HIL I 199.*br*4 B. K. Ghosh in The Vedic Age 409; cf. the hymns AV. 5, 17 and*br*12. 4. cited on pp. 408-09.*br*5 See E. Knott, Irish Classical Poetry, 63 f. For Satire by Indian*br*poets see p. 57.*p*RELIGION 127*p*represented as making impossible demands on behalf of his*br*retinue, blackberries in winter, a cloak made of spider's*br*webs, and so on, so that he might satirise King Guaire, who*br*was famous for his hospitality. The king contrives to fulfill*br*them only with the help of his brother, the holy hermit.*br*Marbán.. and Marbán finally humiliates and subdues the*br*importunate poet.1*p*There is a tradition, which seems to have no historical*br*foundation, that at the assembly of Druimm Celt in 575 it*br*was proposed to expel the filid from Ireland on account*br*of their, greed and arrogance, and that Saint Columba, who*br*was himself a poet, protected them.2 The existence of this*br*distinct social class of priests and poets was an institution*br*common to Celt and Hindu, and its character and subse-*br*quent history are alike in both cultures.*p*In the matter of belief, there is a tradition which*br*appears to have been fundamental in India in the Vedic*br*period, and was first recognized and fully expounded by*br*Luders in his great book, Varuna, namely the belief in*br*Truth (rta) as the life-giving principle and sustaining power*br*in the universe.3 For the Aryan Indian, he says, Truth*br*was the highest power, the ultimate cause of all being*br*(op. cit. p. 24). 'The rivers flow with Truth, the sun has spread*br*out Truth'.4 The gods of the Veda are born of Truth*br*(rta-jilta), grow on Truth (rta-vrdh), they act by means of*p*-*p*1 See F. N. Robinson, 'Satirists and Enchanters in Early Irish*br*Literature' in Studies in the History of Religions presented to*br*c. H. Tay (N.Y. 1912).*br*2 LHI 162; II 53.*br*3 See also his article; 'Die magische Kraft der Wahrheit im alten*br*Indien., ZDMG 98 (1944) 1ff.*br*4 RV I 105. 12. *p**br*128 CELTS AND ARYANS*p*Truth. 'By means of Truth (satyena)l the wind blows, by*br*means of Truth the sun shines in the sky, Truth is the*br*foundation of speech, everything is founded upon Truth'.2*br*And in a later text: 'By means of Truth (satyena) the*br*sun is warm, by means of Truth the sun shines, by means*br*of Truth the wind blows, by means of Truth the earth*br*endures'.3 Truth was imagined as a mighty blaze of light, ..*br*and had a local habitation in a lake in the highest heaven: ~*br*the source of the sacred river Ganges. *p*Luders points out that these ideas about Truth did not ~*br*first appear in India, but must be common to Indo-Iranian j*br*'tradition. In the Avesta asa 'Truth' has exactly the same ~*br*meaning as Vedic rta, and druj 'falsehood' the same mean-*br*ing as Vedic anrta. All Zoroastrian religion, he says, is 1*br*dominated by the opposition between asa and druj. 'The *br*concept rta did not arise first in India, but goes back to *br*the Indo-Iranian or Aryan period. The concept of the *br*heavenly home of [ta probably belongs also to this period.*br*At any rate, in the Avesta Asa is the name of the Paradise*br*upon which the hope of the faithful is fixed'.5*p*In Ireland too this notion of Truth as the highest*br*principle of creation, and a sustaining power, pervades the*br*literature. The earliest illustration of it, is in a text called*br*'The Testament of Morand', which may be as early as the*br*sixth century in its extant form, and must have a long oral*p*-*p*1 ,The term rta becomes obsolete in post-Vedic literature, but the*br*negative, anrta ('falsehood'} remains, and is opposed to satya*br*'truth' (p. 14).*br*2 MNar. Up. (ed. Jacob) § 22, p. 23.8; (ed. Varenne) § 519. p. 132.*br*3 Visnu VII 27-80; and further reff., Varuna 24 n. 6.*br*4 Varuva 25 f. r*br*5 Varuna 27.*p**br*RELIGION 129*p*tradition behind it. Here the legendary jurist Morand,*br*who is supposed to have lived in the time of king*br*Concho bar (1st. cent. B.C.) sends a messenger to Feradach*br*Find Fechtnach with his 'Instructions to a Prince', and the*br*tone is not far removed from that of the Upanishads:*br*Proclaim the word to him before all men!*br*Bring the word to him before all men!*br*Let him preserve Truth, it will preserve him.*br*Let him exalt Truth, it will exalt him.*br*Let him exalt compassion, it will exalt him.*br*for by the Prince's Truth great kingdoms are ruled*br*By the Prince's Truth great mortality is warded off*br*from men.*br*By the Prince's Truth the great armies are driven*br*off into the enemies' country.*br*By the Prince's Truth every right prevails and*br*every vessel is full in his reign'.*br*By the Prince's Truth plagues and lightnings are*br*warded off from men.*br*By the Prince's Truth great tribes possess great riches*br*By the Prince's Truth peace, quiet. joy, ease and*br*comfort. are made secure.*br*By the Prince's Truth armies are driven back into*br*the enemies' countries.*br*By the Prince's Truth every heir sets his house.*br*post in his fair inheritance1 *p*Sixteen times the Prince's Truth is involved; and a*br*later recension of the text adds a further grace!*p*_*p*1 ZCP 11, 91-92, My friend Fergus KellY: has kindly helped me in*br*the translation of this difficult passoge, but he is not responsible*br*for my choices.*p*130 CELTS AND ARYANS*p*'By the Prince's Truth fair weather comes in each:*br*fitting season, winter fine and frosty, spring dry and*br*windy, summer warm with showers of rain, autumn*br*with heavy dews and fruitful. For it is the prince's*br*falsehood that brings perverse weather upon wicked*br*peoples and dries up the fruit of the earth'.1*p*A poem in the Book of Leinster says 'Three things*br*that are best for a prince during his reign are truth, mercy*br*and silence; those that are worst for king's honour are*br*straying from the truth and adding to the false"...... Truth*br*in a prince is as bright as the foam cast up by a mighty*br*wave of the sea, as the sheen of a swan's covering in the*br*sun, as the colour of snow on a mountain. A prince's truth*br*is an effort which overpowers armies; it brings milk into*br*the world, it brings com and mast'.2*p*Admittedly these Irish examples are limited to the*br*concept of the 'Prince's Truth' (Fir Flaithemon), but the,*br*first does include the idea of Truth as a power which *br*strengthens, protects, and exalts. Moreover, the Act of *br*Truth and the reward for hearing a sacred text, which have *br*been discussed already (pp. 89-96), are extensions of the *br*belief in Truth as a power which controls the affairs of *br*men, and are common to Indian and Irish tradition. It *br*will hardly be doubted that the Irish examples express the *br*same belief as has been recognised by Luders in the Vedic*br*rta and Avestic asa.*p*Opposed to the 'Princes' Truth' (Fir Flaithemon) is the ,*br*Princes' Falsehood' (Gau Flaithemon), which brings misfor-*br*tune upon the people as Truth brings prosperity. Among*p*-*p*1 ZCP 11, 82.,*br*2 Eriu 9, 51 § 8; 52 § 54': § 37.*p**br*RELIGION 131*p*the early Irish didactic tracts are two which share a peculiar*br*numerical character, one being a list of triads and the other*br*a list of heptads, and in each of them this notion finds*br*expression. 'Three conditions which ruin people through*br*falsehood: the falsehoods of a king, the falsehoods of an*br*historian, the falsehoods of a judge'.1 The seven proofs*br*of the falsehood of a king are: expelling a religious com-*br*munity from their precinct without process of law; suffering*br*a satire unless it be in spite of (an offer of) satisfaction;*br*defeat in battle; famine during his reign; dryness of milch-*br*cows, blight of fruit, and scarcity of corn.2*p*One of the legends about the famous king Cormac*br*illustrates this belief in the Prince's Truth and Prince's*br*Falsehood in a manner that is worthy o the Jatakas. It is*br*told that, when he was a child, he was at Tara during the*br*reign of Lugaid Mac Con. A man was brought before the*br*king, whose sheep had grazed the queen's woad-garden, and*br*he declared the sheep forfeit in compensation for the woad.*br*As he pronounced this unjust sentence, the house began to*br*fall. The child Cormac, said at once: 'No! the shearing*br*of the sheep is enough in compensation for the grazing of*br*the woad, for both will grow again'. And at once the house*br*ceased to fall, and the people said: 'That is a true judge-*br*ment'. Lugaid Mac Con departed from the Kingdom, and*br*afterwards Cormac became king, and his kingdom*br*prospered.3*p*-*p*1 Triads 166.*br*2 AL IV 52. Seol 'scarcity' is conjectural. The word also occurs*br*apparently with .this meaning at AL IV 164:2.*br*3 See CMM §§ 63-66. An old gloss says: is torbach du popul flaith*br*tirian leu 'It is well for the people to have a just prince', MI.*br*90bll. *p*132 CELTS AND ARYANS*p*The sin of Oedipus is, of course, an example of this*br*belief. By slaying his father and marrying his mother, he*br*offended against Truth, which is the established order, or*br*rather the ordering power, in the world. But the belief is*br*not expressed in this form by Sophocles. By contrast,. in*br*the Rigveda when Yami tries to persuade her brother Yama*br*to commit incest, he replies in the very terms that we are*br*discussing, rId and anrta: 'While speaking truth (rtam), we*br*shall be whispering falsehood (anrtam)'.1*p*In Ireland too there is a heavenly lake, the pool of*br*Segais, which is the source of the Boyne and also apparently*br*of the Shannon, although on earth the two sources are far*br*apart.2 Into that pool the hazel-nuts of Wisdom fall, and*br*they are eaten by the salmon, from one of which Find*br*obtained his supernatural knowledge} The Irish tradition*br*does not expressly connect the pool of Segais with Truth*br*(fir), but the connection with knowledge is there. And the*br*idea that the divine river Boyne has its source in the pool*br*echoes the similar belief in India about the Ganges. The*br*Shannon, was indeed also a goddess, and her name Sinann*br*may possibly be akin to Sanskrit Sindhu.*p*It was the belief in the power of Truth which gave*br*purpose to the bardic poetry of sutas and magadhas in*br*India, and perhaps also, at least in the earliest period, to*br*the praise-poetry of the filid in Ireland. By reciting the*br*heroic deeds of the king's ancestors, and praising his courage*p*-*p*1 RV 10, 10, 4.*br*2 Metr. Dinds. III 26.9; 288.25-36. O'Rahilly compares the well of*br*Mimir in Norse mythology, in which all rivers had their source,*br*EIHM 322, n. 2.*br*3 EIHM 323, 329.*p**br*RELIGION 133*p*and his victories, the poet promoted his welfare and the*br*welfare of his people. I must leave it to Greek scholars*br*to say whether this has any application to the odes of*br*Pindar.*p*Luders himself did not arrive at the conclusion that*br*the concept of Truth as the supreme power was as early*br*as the Indo-European period. He expressly says that it*br*was not: 'The idea of a god of oaths (Varuna), of a god*br*of contracts (Mitra), of Truth as the highest principle, these*br*ideas were formed by the Aryans. They do not date from*br*the Indo-European period, but on the other hand there is*br*not the slightest reason to suppose that they were borrowed*br*from outside' (op. cit. p. 40). But the Irish evidence was*br*not known to him. We may now go further and say that*br*the belief in Truth as the life-giving principle and sustain-*br*ing power in the worldj is a common Indo-European*br*heritage. It appears in Greek thought as the logos of*br*Heraclitus of Ephesus, and finds perhaps its grandest ex-*br*pression in the opening lines of the Fourth Gospel.l There*br*was a similar notion in Egypt. Wagner compares Egyptian*br*ma'at 'truth' to Vedic rta and Irish fir, so that there is a*br*possibility of borrowing, or of diffusion from a common*p*-*p*1 Raymond E. Brown says that Ephesus is the traditional site of the*br*Fourth Gospel but he prefers to explain logos here as the Word*br*of the Lord, logos kyriou, The Gospel according to John (N.Y.*br*1966), 520. He goes on to say that the concept of a creative*br*word of God is not confined to Hebrew thought, for it is found*br*in the Near East as far back as the third millennium B.C.;*br*and he cites W.F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity*br*(N.Y., Anchor ed., 1957). pp. 195. 571-72 (= earlier edd. 145.*br*235).*p**br*134 CELTS AND ARYANS*p*source.1 This interpretation of rta by Liiders may have*br*some importance for the history of Greek philosophy.2*p*-*br*1 Trans. Phil. Soc. 1909, 6g p. 224. The Hebrew emeth 'truth' of*br*. Ps. 19 and Ps. 119 might be in the same tradition, but I have*br*no competence in Hebrew. See, however, J. Barr, The Seman-*br*tics or Biblical Language 187-199.*br*2 'The Cosmos (in Origen's De Principiis) is a mighty living creative,*br*sustained and kept in being by the Logos, which functions like*br*the Platonic World-soul', E. R. Dodds, Pagan and Christian in*br*an Age of Anxiety 127-8. He refers to Princ. 2, 1, 2.*br*







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