The Great Lunar Cycle: The Horse Twins and the Grail:
Part 1 of 12
[A glossary of relevant names and charts of parallels appear at the end of this article.]
The Aesir-Vanir War and the Holy Grail
The Aesir-Vanir War's place in comparative mythology has perplexed and misled interpreters for a long time now, not least because it is somewhat unclear if there is an exact example of the same motif in any other branches. Some point to the Deva-Asura conflict of the Vedic religion, but this can be shown to have at its root an internecine dispute possibly stemming from the time of Indo-Iranic unity, out of which arose, over time, the demonization of the favorite gods of the Iranics by the Vedics as “asuras” and the demonization of the favorite gods of the Vedics by the Iranics as “devas.” The division between the Asuras and Devas fails to match the division between the groups of gods who make war in the Norse myth. These are not the same groups of gods coming in conflict. To greatly simplify the matter: in the Deva-Asura war, Indra the Deva and his faction make enemies of Varuna and Mitra and theirs. That is, at bottom we have one of the second function warrior caste gods (Indra) set against the gods of the first function, the priestly-sovereigns (Varuna and Mitra), or simply against the demonic forces if Varuna and Mitra are sometimes excluded.
In the Norse case, on the other hand, we can see right away that the second function thunder and warrior god, Thor, is fully united with the celestial gods of the first function, the gods of magical and juridical rulership (Óðinn, Baldr, Tyr) and does not oppose them. The Aesir-Vanir war, instead, seems to be a conflict between these allied first and second function gods with another set – Freyr, Njörðr, etc. – who are repeatedly associated with marriage, generation, wealth, and the fertility of the sea or land. That is, the group that the first and second function gods face off with are primarily third function gods.
As such, in the course of this series we will demonstrate, and others have theorized before us, that Freyr is one of the “Horse Twin” gods, those gods who have been called the “quintessential gods of the third function” by the philologist Georges Dumezil. Freyr's father Njörðr, too, who takes part in the war, has sometimes been connected to this twin pair of gods, as Dumezil himself has done. However, due to the fact that Njörðr is Freyr's father rather than his brother, this has been a difficult identification to solidify, to say the least. Others attempting to pin down Njörðr's identity have pointed to the fact that the goddess known as Nerþus may have had a Mother Earth role, and the similarly named Njörðr may have derived from her milieu in some way and thus would be a connected sort of deity. Whatever the case, Njörðr is believed to govern the plentifulness of the sea, and perhaps of the land as well, an thus he, like Freyr, seems to be a quintessential third function god, and is himself tied closely to the Horse Twin mythos as the father of the proposed Horse Twin, Freyr.
If we designate only Freyr as a Horse Twin, then, a war between the third function Horse Twin (along with other allied gods) and the first and second function gods, is what we would hope to find a parallel for in the other mythological branches. Third function vs. a coalition of First function and Second function. And yet this exact arrangement is, on first glance, hard to identify in other branches, and it begins to look as though this myth may have been unique to the Germanic branch. The Irish first and second function gods -- Nuada, Lugh, and the Dagda -- do indeed engage in war, yet they do not fight against the Horse Twin, Aengus, but against divinities of destruction, of the impersonal forces of nature and fate, while Aengus seems to be on the same side as the chief god Lugh during the great battles. In the Iliad, again the Horse Twin heroes Diomedes and Odysseus fight alongside the first and second function gods Agamemnon, Menelaus, Ajax and Achilles, against the Sun God Paris and the slaughterous Demon of the Last Age Hector. In the Mahabharata, the first and second function divinely incarnated heroes are brothers to and again fight alongside the Horse Twin incarnations (I refer here to the Pandava brothers). There is no war of the Dioskouri against Zeus as far as we know in Greek myth, though their fight against their cousins Idas and Lynceus could after all be a distant reflection of some part of the theme if it does not fulfill a different part of their myth.
Indeed nothing obvious comes into view in the form of a war with these particular combatants in any of the other branches -- except perhaps the Roman. As Georges Dumezil convincingly demonstrates, the Roman pseudo-historical episode known as the "Rape of the Sabine Women," is likely the same myth in another form (Archaic Roman Religion). Romulus here stands for the higher function gods, the first function magical sovereign comparable to Oðinn, while the Sabine king Titus Tatius stands for the third function gods. The Sabines have the women needed by the Romans for wives, which emblematizes the fact that the Sabines are the third function element related to fertility. The two sides do battle, the Sabines almost capture Rome, and the ultimate result is a stalemate and a compromise, in which the Sabines are integrated into Roman society, resulting at last in a fully well-rounded social picture: the first, second, and third functions in harmony; the priestly, warrior, and producer roles filled (See Dumezil, Archaic Roman Religion for a full discussion of this comparison). As such, this is a myth of the founding and perfecting of human society as much as it is a myth of the perfecting of divine society.
Beyond these, there is in one branch a single battle, if not a war, with a curious resemblance to the Norse example. This battle, more of a face-off, may after all provide the clue to uncovering the remnants of the "Aesir-Vanir War" motif in other branches, in mutated forms. For there is after all one key confrontation between the Vedic Horse Twins, the Asvins, and the warrior king of the gods, Indra, in the Vedic mythology, though it is easy to overlook in this connection, as the Horse Twins themselves don't actually take part in the fight. This confrontation proves, as we look into it further, to be the link between the Vedic Asvins and the Norse and Celtic Horse Twins, demonstrating the myth's widespread currency across the various Indo-European nations.
The story that results in this face-off is the story of the meeting of the Asvins and the sage Chyavana, the resulting marriage of Chyavana to the princess Sukanya, and the attempted wooing of Sukanya away from Chyavana by the Asvins. When we have recognized the pattern of this story, we will subsequently come to see how it connects with both the Celtic and Germanic branches via the Irish The Wooing of Etain, The Dream of Oengus, and the Scandinavian Skirnismal (along with the Prose Edda and other texts), as well as the Welsh Mabinogion. The denouement of this story, in the Indian version, is that the Horse Twins (Asvins) gain access to the Soma sacrifice and become full immortal gods. Before this point, the higher gods had looked down on the Asvins as mingling too much with humans, debasing themselves, and in general not being godlike enough, and thus the high gods had excluded the Twins from the Soma sacrifice and thus from immortality. However, Sukanya makes a promise to the Asvins that if they will renew her husband's youth, she and her husband will help the Asvins gain access to the Soma sacrifice. The Asvins uphold their part of the bargain, and so Sukanya and Chyavana fulfill theirs. With their help, the lowly third function gods are admitted to the society of the higher gods and gain the soma.
What is key to connecting these branches, is the fact that, while in one version of the Indian tale, from the Satapatha Brahmana, the Asvins are admitted to the sacrifice only after trading a riddle for an invitation, in another version, that found in the Mahabharata, in order to win the Asvins their place in the sacrifice, the sage Chyavana takes it upon himself to aggressively confront Indra. He demands justice for the Asvins and that they be treated as full gods. Indra disagrees powerfully, and lists off the faults of the Asvins, pointing out their ignoble closeness to humans, and that they are mere servants. Chyavana ignores Indra's rejection of the Asvins, and instead goes to give them a share of the Soma, upon which Indra attempts to throw his thunderbolt at Chyavana. Chyavana, however, magically paralyzes Indra and raises a great demon against him. The demon nearly devours Indra before Indra finally remits and agrees to allow the Asvins to be admitted to the sacrifice. The Asvins then join the sacrifice, join the society of the higher gods, gain a sort of equality with them, become immortal, and further, become priests of the sacrifice.
If we break this myth down into its essential components, we have 1. Horse Twins, who have been excluded from the high rite due to their low status and mingling with humans 2. a battle against the chief of the higher gods on their behalf (in which magic is used to defeat the high god) 3. resulting in them joining the society of the higher gods 4. gaining access to the high rite for the first time 5. and them becoming priests of the sacrifice.
Though the confrontation between Chyavana and Indra is brief and can easily be overlooked, it fulfills functionally the exact role that the Aesir-Vanir war does in the Norse mythology. Again in the Norse case we have 1. Horse Twin(s), who are seen as outsiders to the society of the high gods and to the high rite (Ursula Dronke argues the Vanir were seen as "all-too-popular," which matches the accusation against the Asvins that they spent too much time with humans) 2. a battle between them, their allies, and the high gods (in which magic is used to defeat the high gods in both cases) 3. resulting in them joining the society of the higher gods 4. gaining access to the high rite for the first time 5. and they too are said specifically to become the priests of the High Gods' sacrifice. If one accepts the premise that Freyr is a Horse Twin (which will be supported in the following series of sections), the match between these two myths is so perfect it is hard to understand how they have only rarely been compared (we must credit Jarich G. Oosten who has separately identified this general connection, in his book The War of the Gods, as well as certain comments by Dumezil which pointed out this direction). In fact, to understand simply that the core of the myth is the story of a lower set of gods battling the high gods, joining their society, accessing the highest rite, and then becoming priests of their sacrifice, and that in the Vedic version these lower gods are the Horse Twins, in itself supports the idea that either one or both of Freyr and Njörðr are Horse Twins. While Freyr does seem to be one of the Horse Twins, as we will see, the elder of the two, Njörðr, will be found to be more comparable to the mysterious older figure who fights the battle for the Asvins, Chyavana.
From this point it becomes even more difficult to find cognates in other branches. However, what we can find are possible fragments of the basic theme, and these sometimes in interesting places. We have previously theorized that Diomedes of the Iliad is the incarnation of one of the Horse Twins, specifically cognate to the “Young Son” Aengus Og and possibly to Freyr as well. In the Iliad, we find Diomedes acting out a pattern reminiscent of the one at issue. Diomedes famously is the brazen warrior who fights the immortal gods. At two different points we see Diomedes attacking the gods themselves, first wounding Ares and then Aphrodite. These confrontations of the gods seem wild and foolhardy on the part of the mortal Diomedes, but seen in the light of Diomedes' identification with the Horse Twins they have echoes of the Vanir battling the Aesir and of Chyavana battling Indra. The attacks of Diomedes catch the gods off guard and surprise them with how daring they are, and the ultimate result, besides anger and distress, is that Diomedes wins increased respect from the gods. It is afterward said that no mortal ever wounded more immortals in a day than did Diomedes. To finish the pattern, Diomedes is said to be given immortality by Athena and to become a god at the end of his life. Only Menelaus and Diomedes, of the primary Iliad heroes, are said to achieve this immortalization, and we have already shown that Menelaus' divinization is explained by the fact that he is cognate to King Yudhishthira-Mitra (one of the high gods), who is the last hero standing in the Indian epic, achieves the golden age internally and externally, and is admitted as an immortal to Paradise on the Holy Mountain.
Thus Diomedes again fulfills the same pattern we have seen thus far. 1. Horse Twin 2. fights a battle with the higher immortal gods 3. gains immortality and divinization and is admitted into the society of the high gods. The one important element missing from this is that he isn't specifically mentioned as becoming a priest of the sacrifice, though he is said to marry the daughter of Menelaus, truly becoming integrated into the society of the higher gods and, tellingly, dwelling with the Greek Horse Twins, the Dioscuri, themselves, much as the Horse Twin incarnations of the Mahabharata are absorbed back into the Asvin gods upon the deaths of these incarnations. Furthermore, the myths of the Dioscuri themselves actually complete the picture. Pollux, son of Zeus is said already to have immortality, but he shares it with his mortal brother upon his brother's death, and the two Twins alternate their dwelling between Olympus and Hades as a result. Thus they both end with a kind of immortality. Most importantly to the pattern we are discussing, as the Vanir and the Asvins are said to become priests of the sacrifice in the end, the Dioscuri are said also to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which seems to be the Greek version of the Asvins becoming initiated into the Soma sacrifice as priests. Thus, while Diomedes enacts the first portion of this mythological pattern, the myths of the Dioscuri complete the picture, with them ending as initiates into the high rites which bring metaphysical elevation and an improved state in the afterlife.
The fragments of this myth become even less clear as we look at the mythology of the insular Celts, and yet the mythical implications become all the greater, as they lead us on a path toward the Grail legends. One resonance with the overall pattern is Irish Aengus Og (who we will later explain as the Irish Horse Twin), who famously tricks either the Dagda or Elcmar (Nuada) out of the sacred sídhe Brugh na Boinne. This would have been a main base and site of sacrifice for Elcmar and the Dagda, high gods indeed, and Aengus, a Horse Twin, usurping it, would mark his ascendency as a full divinity. If, as it seems, Elcmar is Nuada by another name, this would put Elcmar in the same position as Oðinn in the Norse version or Indra in the Indian, making the whole narrative seem to align with the motif thus far discussed. Indeed, since both Nuada and Dagda are likely parallels of different aspects of Oðinn, it makes sense that either of them could be the god that Aengus challenges, as seen in the variant versions of the myth. The fact that Aengus is said not to know until just before this confrontation that the Dagda is his true father also would make sense in this pattern: the god of the third function becoming re-integrated into the higher divine society from which he was alienated since birth, but for which he is destined. While the Vanir specifically use magic to defeat the Aesir, and Chyavana specifically uses magic to paralyze and subdue Indra, Aengus uses both a military “feint,” or diversionary attack, and a verbal trick to finally win the Brugh na Boinne. This verbal trick can be seen in this context as a kind of magic, like a spoken charm which overpowers the High King. It is no stretch to read this trick as such a kind of magic, considering the magical power the Celts saw invested in poems, satires, and other verbal charms, and this interpretation is fully supported and confirmed by another version of the same story. In “The Fosterage of the House of the Two Pails,” Manannan and Elcmar discuss the magic lay or charm that Aengus is given in order to compel Elcmar out of the Brugh na Boinne. In this case, this magic charm is given by Manannan to Aengus for this purpose, and when it is used Elcmar calls it “a charm and omen by magic and devilry to banish me.” Thus it can be said that Aengus indeed uses magic, along with military force, to overcome the High King of the gods and take the sidhe. In a separate tale, we hear that Aengus is known to take in the food and drink of immortality at Goibniu's Feast, this feast itself and its drink having a clear analogy to the soma sacrifice which brings immortality. Thus the basic elements of this mythic pattern are present in the Irish case as well, if in highly fragmented form. However, even more interesting is the Welsh case. As we will see from a thorough analysis of the Welsh Horse Twin myths, they are the basis of the legends of the famous Grail quester Percival. That is, following the trail of connections across Europe, it will be shown that the Holy Grail legend and the Aesir-Vanir war are, in fact, one and the same myth.
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