Taliesin's Map

The Celtic Pushan: Gwydion, Cian, Óðinn, Pan, Merlin With Hermes and Ogma's parallel with the Gandharva much more clearly seen, and specifically with Hermes now distinguished from the Vedic Pushan who he has commonly been compared with, we are much better able to proceed to an analysis of the “Pushan” deity as he may appear in both Greek and Celtic myth. As much as Hermes has been compared to Pushan, so also has his son, Pan, been said to be the Pushanic god, and he on much firmer linguistic grounds. The name Pan is thus suggested to derive from a shared root with Pushan, the Proto-Indo-European  * Péh2usōn, which is thought to have developed into the Greek form as  * peh2- > Παων > Pan  (Skutsch 1987, 190).  Furthermore, as god of the wilds, and particularly mountain wilds, where Pushan goes to protect flocks and travelers, Pushan makes a strikingly good match to the well-known image of Pan the wild, goat-footed lord of flocks and nature. We won't go into...

Ogma-Hermes-Gandharva Allegory of Eloquence (Hermes-Ogmios), Albrecht Durer Prominent theories regarding Hermes (Oldenberg 1916, Oberlies 2000) have tended to connect him with Vedic Pushan, pastoral god of travelers and meetings who as such was also associated with commerce and wealth. However, in recent years the well-known comparativist Nick Allen, along with collaborator Roger Woodard, published an article on Hermes that should be taken seriously when   considering Hermes and his Vedic analog. This article, “ Hermes and Gandharvas ,” demonstrates painstakingly that Hermes' mythos resembles in numerous very specific details the myths attached to the class of beings known in Vedic texts as the gandharvas.   A chief representative among the gandharvas (Narada) is known to have first brought the lyre, a strung tortoise shell, to humanity, as Hermes also is said to have invented the lyre by stringing a tortoise shell; they are the chief embodiments of the musical power, court ...