Cerridwen, Boann, and Saraswati

Cerridwen, Boann, and Saraswati

The scholar Gwilym Morus-Baird has argued ("The Roots of Celtic Myth" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhDBCXYUVYU&t=965s) that the goddess Cerridwen could parallel Vedic Saraswati. This is interesting because there is no other goddess in Welsh myth who resembles Saraswati any more than she, so his hypothesis could well be accurate, even if it is impossible to say for certain due to how little material there is on Cerridwen. The specific Irish parallel of the primary river goddess of Vedic myth, Saraswati, is certainly the primary river goddess of Irish myth, Boann/Ethniu, as we have discussed in other articles. So if we look at the parallel myths — Cerridwen guiding Gwion Bach to cook the potion of inspiration in Wales, and, in Ireland, Fionn-Eces guiding Fionn MacCumhaill to cook the Salmon of Knowledge (each with very similar outcomes) — we see that Fionn Eces is sometimes a name of Nuada, as we have also previously noted in our article on Fionn. Who is the consort of Nuada? Boann, the Irish Saraswati. It could then make sense that Cerridwen would likewise be the cognate of Saraswati, if we have Nuada as the cooking instructor of Fionn in Irish, and Cerridwen, the parallel of Nuada's consort, as the cooking instructor of Gwion in the matching Welsh myth. Nuada(/the Welsh Lludd) and Boann/Cerridwen would be co-guardians of the waters of illumination. 

        Moreover, the river that the Salmon of Knowledge swims in in the myth paralleling Cerridwen's is the Boyne, Boann-Saraswati's own namesake river. So it is from the Boyne waters that the Irish version draws the same inspiration that is given by Cerridwen's cauldron. The famous well, which is the source of the Boyne, and in which the Salmon eats the Hazelnuts of Wisdom, is known as the Well of Segais, Segais being an alternate name of Boann, and the Boyne also being called the Sruth Segsa. As the Dindschenchas of Boand read: “Segais was her name in the Sid [ie. Otherworld]/ to be sung by thee in every land:/ River of Segais is her name from that point/ to the pool of Mochua the cleric” (Metrical Dindshenchas, Boand I).

In his argument, Morus-Baird quotes John Muir’s commentary on the Rig Veda describing Saraswati as "a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work and anything whose flow purifies the essence and self of a person,” while Cerridwen guards and dispenses the potion of inspiration and is thus the primary female Welsh figure associated with liquid that grants knowledge. Meanwhile Cerridwen means something like “Crooked(?) White,” and Boann comes from Bo Find, meaning “White Cow.” The endings of both names are from the same root word, find/wen, from Proto Celtic *vind or *windos, meaning “white, fair, sacred.” Meanwhile, the first part of Cerridwen is uncertain, “crooked” being only one possibility. However, it could plausibly refer to a crooked, winding river, among other things. 

        Anthony Murphy notes: “Of huge significance is the fact that the [Boyne] river would appear to have been considered the earthly reflection of the Milky Way, the bright band of our galaxy which runs through the night sky. The river is Abhann na Bó Finne. The Milky Way is known in Irish as Bealach/Bóthar na Bó Finne, the Way/Road of the White Cow. Newgrange is known in Irish as Brú na Bóinne, the mansion or womb of Bóinn” ("Newgrange and the Boyne Valley Monuments -- advanced lunar calculations...Part 2"). Thus the Boyne is the earthly manifestation of the celestial, archetypal stream, which statement we can then potentially compare to the central Vedic river, the Saraswati, while considering the possibility of a comparable role for Cerridwen.

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