Math fab Mathonwy, the Celtic Savitr-Prajapati and Goewin, the Goddess of Night: Part 1
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| The Greek Goddess Nyx |
Despite Welsh Blodeuwedd being a striking parallel of Helen of Troy, her “Dawn”-related role is somewhat unclear in the existing texts, though she is, suggestively, made of flowers. A larger theoretical framework of the tale Math fab Mathonwy must be developed, then, in order to see Blodeuwedd in her auroral position. Blodeuwedd’s auroral role can be best seen in relation to her creator, Math fab Mathonwy. As such, a Vedic parallel myth will be given for the myth of Math and his cohort, which will then suggest his role as the creator of a goddess who must be closely related to, or identified with, the Dawn.
The parallel is sketched out as follows: Math "could not exist" without resting his feet upon the lap of the virgin goddess Goewin, as Vedic Savitr, god of the solar power at night and during sunrise and sunset, rests before rising with his virgin “household maiden” Ratri, or Night. It is said that Math cannot make the circuit of his lands while resting in the lap of Goewin, as the sun makes such a circuit during the day, but seems to leave off doing so at night. Math is the equivalent of Savitr and Goewin of Ratri.
While Goewin's virginity and close physical connection to Math are central, Ratri is “The lively woman, household maiden [ie. virgin], night, of god Savitar” (Atharva Veda, XIX.49). As Goewin’s beauty inspires an overwhelming desire in Gilfaethwy that leads to his rape of her, Ratri is “desirable, welcome, well-portioned” and is asked, perhaps suggestively, “mayest thou be well-willing here” (AV XIX.49.3). Savitr and Ratri are even placed side by side in the Rig Veda, balancing one another within the line of one hymn: “I call on Night, who gives rest to all moving life; I call on Savitr the God to lend us help” (RV 1. XXXV.1), and are habitually linked in other hymns: “Night closely followed Savitr's dominion” (RV XXXVIII, 3), “Around, on both sides thou encompassest the night" (RV LXXXI.4). According to Arthur A. Macdonell, “Savitr is twice (1, 1233; 6, 714) even spoken of as 'domestic’ {damfinas), an epithet otherwise almost entirely limited to Agni,” which detail paints Savitr in a domestic existence with his domestic maiden Ratri who gives rest. Math rests while physically linked to his maiden Goewin in a manner similar to how the names of Savitr and Ratri are linked in the line of the hymn, and Goewin gives him this rest as Ratri gives all moving life rest. Math's rest then, is the same as the rest of Savitr, the Vedic sun deity at night, who also enacts the sunrise and sunset.
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| Math resting his feet in the lap of Goewin |
Practically everything that Math does in his narrative can be closely identified with descriptions of Vedic Savitr, to the point that the gods of the Welsh story seem almost to be acting out passages from the Vedas at times. It is said that Math can only remove his feet from the lap of his virgin footholder in order to go to war, and this time of war is then a metaphor for sunrise and daytime, a metaphor the Vedic hymns also use in the case of Savitr: “he putteth on his golden-coloured mail” (RV LIII, 2). After “Uprisen is Savitr, this God, to quicken” (RV XXXVIII.1) we read “Savitr hath sped to meet his summons. He comes again, unfolded, fain for conquest” (RV XXXVIII.5). He is called “the Warrior” (RV LXXI.1). This analogy of day with war is further supported by the fact that the war which eventually calls Math away from Goewin is that with Pryderi, a “Horse Twin” god. Via parallels with the other Horse Twin gods, Pryderi can be classed as a deity of the morning star or first light of day (see: "The Great Lunar Cycle"), and thus the war that Math goes to, which action itself is the metaphysical enactment of the rising of the sun, is a war with another god appearing (from out of the lunar darkness in which his tale originates) at the break of day.
Savitr, like Math, is both a lord and a priestly-magical figure. Indeed Math’s name is said in Mulconry’s Glossary to have a meaning connected to “learn” (O'Mulconry, 665). Savitr is called a “Priest” who dutifully rises to “quicken” life (RV. XXXV.11), “the sapient Lord” (RV LIII.1), "the Sage" (RV LIII.2), "He only knowing” (RV LXXXI.1), "“the sapient one” (RV LXXXI.2), "the thoughtful God" (RV LXXXII.8), “Full of effectual wisdom” (RV LXXI, 1). Math is “lord” of Gwynedd, rather than king, and Savitr is “lord” (RV LIII.2; RV LXXXII.7) and also “asura” (RV XXXV.7, 10; RV LIII.1), another term for a divine lord, but is likewise not called king or sovereign in the Rig Veda.
Math is a judge who passes unswerving judgements on Gwydion and Gilfaethwy for their violation of his law, sits as judge of Arianrhod’s virginity, attempts to give compensation to Gowein for her rape, and advises Lleu on the matter of executing his own justice later on. Savitr is “ne’er to be deceived, Savitr, God,” who “protects each holy ordinance,” and “with his laws observed, rules his own mighty course” (RV LIII, 4). He “willingly protects us with his triple law” (RV LIII.1, 5) and he is “like a God ẉhose Law is constant” (RV CXXXIX.3).
Of the irresistible justice of Savitr’s it is said: “However they may fly and draw themselves apart, still, Savitr, they stand obeying thy behest” (RV LIV, 5), while Gwydion and Gilfaethwy seem to act this very thing out, first attempting to flee Math’s court after they have raped Goewin and then returning to accept their punishment from him when this becomes unsustainable:
“And Gwydion and Gilvaethwy came not near the Court, but stayed in the confines of the land until it was forbidden to give them meat and drink. At first they came not near unto Math, but at the last they came. ‘Lord,’ said they, ‘Good day to thee.’
‘Well,’ said he, ‘is it to make me compensation that ye are come?’
‘Lord,’ they said, ‘we are at thy will’” (Math fab Mathonwy).
Indeed, Savitr “hast domination over all this world" (RV LXXXI.5), and “None may impede that power of Savitr the God whereby he will maintain the universal world" (RV LIV.4). As Gwydion and Gilfaethwy cannot resist Math’s law, neither can the other great Vedic gods resist Savitr’s law generally speaking: “These statutes of the God Savitr none disobeyeth. With utmost speed, in restless haste at sunset Varuna seeks his watery habitation./ Then seeks each bird his nest, each beast his lodging. In due place Savitr hath set each creature./ Him whose high law not Varuṇa nor Indra, not Mitra, Aryaman, nor Rudra breaketh,/ Nor evil-hearted fiends" (RV XXXVIII.5-9). Though Savitr exacts justice, this justice is fair and it absolves of sin: “If we, men as we are, have sinned against the Gods through want of thought, in weakness, or through insolence, Absolve us from the guilt and make us free from sin, O Savitr, alike among both Gods and men" (RV LIV.3); “Sinless in sight of Aditi through the God Savitr's influence" (RV LXXXII.6), which may comport with Math’s seeming to absolve Gwydion after his punishment, collaborating with him to create Blodeuwedd. Like Gwydion perhaps has after Math's commandment, “Each man hath come leaving his evil doings, after the Godlike Savitr's commandment" (RV XXXVIII, 5-9).
Connected with this power of judgment, Math is said to have the special property “that if men whisper together, in a tone how low soever, if the wind meet it, it becomes known unto him" (Math fab Mathonwy). Nothing so exactly specific can be ascribed to Savitr; however, various features of Savitr may, together, express the same general idea. As mentioned above, Savitr is “ne’er to be deceived” and called “he only knowing.” Additionally it is said that “Even the waters bend them to his service: even the wind rests in the circling region" (RV XXXVIII.2). These powers are not perfectly identical, but it does not take much to see how one original concept could have developed into these two separate yet very similar expressions in descriptions of Savitr and Math over time. This god cannot be deceived and the wind and waters follow his bidding.
Math is a magician whose just magic gives rise to the life of three lineages of animals, via the enforced mating of Gwydion and his brother as punishment for the rape of Goewin -- a deer, a wolf and a swine -- and it is Math's magic that quickens the life also of the maiden Blodeuwedd, with Gwydion again acting in an assisting capacity. Savitr too is repeatedly connected to the role of giving life and place to animal life as well as to other kinds of beings. “The wild beasts spread through desert places seeking their watery share which thou hast set in waters [...]Then seeks each bird his nest, each beast his lodging. In due place Savitr hath set each creature" (RV XXXVIII.5-9); “Lord of the whole world's life” (RV LIII.2); “Savitr hath stretched out his arms to cherish life” (RV LIII.3); “who brings to life and lulls to rest, he who controls the world” (RV LIII.6); “thou openest existence, life succeeding life” (RV LIV.2); “for quadruped and biped he hath brought forth good” (RV LXXXI.2); “Full of effectual wisdom Savitr the God hath stretched out golden arms that he may bring forth life” (RV LXXI.1); “For thou art mighty to produce and lull to rest the world of life that moves on two feet and on four” (RV LXXI.2); “Like a Director, lulling to slumber and arousing creatures” (RV LXXI.5); “He who gives glory unto all these living creatures with the song, And brings them forth, is Savitr” (RV LXXXII.9).
The rape of Goewin, which is then the violation of Night by light, is entirely facilitated (and possibly participated in) by another god of the first light of morning, Gwydion, who is related to the first light by virtue of being the Welsh parallel of Vedic Pushan, as we have laid out previously ("The Celtic Pushan"). Pushan, in a similar but distinct fashion to Savitr, is a god of the sun also instrumental in its rising. In her article "Pusan," Stella Kramrisch explains that Pushan is related to Savitr as material cause is related to efficient cause, but that they are both intimately connected gods of the solar power (Kramrisch, 105). This relation is borne out by the relationship between Math and Gwydion and will be returned to.
Math teaches Gwydion his charms and spells, according to the Welsh Triads: “Three Great Enchantments of the Island of Britain: The Enchantment of Math son of Mathonwy which he taught to Gwydion son of Dôn”; “The three illusive and half-apparent men of the Isle of Britain: Math son of Mathonwy, who showed his illusion to Gwydion son of Dôn” (Triad 90). Math also goes to war in alliance with Gwydion, while Savitr is said to speed to meet his summons, prepared for conquest, and that in all his goings forth he is Pushan, which is reflected in the combined power of Math and Gwydion in the war: “And when they saw the day on the morrow, they went back unto the place where Math the son of Mathonwy was with his host; and when they came there, the warriors were taking counsel in what district they should await the coming of Pryderi, and the men of the South. So they went in to the council. And it was resolved to wait in the strongholds of Gwynedd, in Arvon. So within the two Maenors they took their stand, Maenor Penardd and Maenor Coed Alun. And there Pryderi attacked them, and there the combat took place" (Math fab Mathonwy). As we have quoted already: “Savitr hath sped to meet his summons. He comes again, unfolded, fain for conquest” (RV XXXVIII.5.) Savitr is “the Warrior” (RV LXXI.1.) “Pusan art thou, O God [Savitr], in all thy goings-forth” (RV LXXXI. 5.) Gwydion thus acts as an extension of Math’s power in a similar fashion to the manner in which Pushan is an extension of Savitr’s. As Math justly punishes Gwydion and Gilfaethwy, Savitr is said to have a law that none of the other gods can escape and to “become Mitra” when he exercises his justice. Indeed, Savitr is said to “become” Pushan and Mitra in different senses, and as Gwydion and Lleu are the nephew and grand-nephew of Math and are his heirs, each one carries on roles similar to that of Math and can even be said to have been taught by or to inherit certain qualities from Math, who has prefigured these qualities in them. Gwydion mainly inherits the magical and vivifying qualities of Math, while Lleu mainly inherits the qualities pertaining to justice. “Over all generation thou art Lord alone: Pusan art thou, O God, in all thy goings-forth,” says a hymn to Savitr (RV LXXXI, 5), which implies that Pushan is the extension of Savitr’s power of impelling life in its direct application (goings forth) within the realm of generation, within the growth of the living material world. Hence Gwydion helps Math generate the goddess Blodeuwedd with magic, and also even in his punishment he is the generator of three lineages of animals, executing Math’s proclamation in a direct act of generation paired with his brother. In these scenes, and indeed seemingly every time Math is said to go forth to do anything, Gwydion is with him and they are combining their powers. In the scene of punishment, by his command Math gives the first impetus resulting in the life of these newly generated animals, while Gwydion acts out and generates what Math has put in motion by mating with his brother and siring these animal offspring. Along with this act of generation which strikingly transgresses taboo, Gwydion is also implicated in two other sexual acts that rupture the boundaries of taboo and can be considered as sordid violations: the rape of Goewin and the fathering (generation again) of Lleu with Gwydion’s own sister, Arianrhod. As the connection between Savitr and Pushan is both a prefiguring of Pushan in Savitr and extension of Savitr into Pushan, similarly with Savitr-Mitra: “Thou, O God [Savitr], art Mitra through thy righteous laws” says the Veda (RV LXXXI, 4). This implies that Savitr enacts Mitra-like justice and has strict laws, which can indeed be seen in Math’s unswerving punishment of Gwydion and Gilfaethwy and his attempt to compensate Goewin for her rape by making her queen, as well as in his strict testing of the virtue of Arianrhod. Later, Math directly tells Lleu to pursue justice against Gronw because what Gronw has taken is rightfully Lleu’s. As with Savitr becoming Pushan, the Vedic verse describing Savitr “becoming” Mitra also implies the passing on of Savitr’s power of justice, which has been prefigured in Savitr, to Mitra, who he also “becomes” in the sense of his essence passing to Mitra in a form of metaphysical inheritance, one divinity of the morning solar power passing chronologically to the next. This is well-illustrated by Lleu’s following of Math’s advice and fully embodying the Mitraic justice in the climactic reckoning against Gronw, killing him with his spear for his crime. We can then see a parallel of this divine trio expressed in the three generations found in Math fab Mathonwy: Math, his nephew Gwydion, and great-nephew Lleu = Savitr, Pushan, Mitra.
To restate once more: Goewin, the virgin footholder of Math, then, is Night (Ratri), and Math is comparable to Savitr. Savitr is the sun during the night and is known as the impeller of the life of the world. Thus each night Math as the cognate of Savitr would be resting his feet in the virgin lap of Night, unable to go about his lands until war (morning) calls him. Math has to have his feet always in the lap of the virgin, which is the main activity in which he is depicted, except when he is called to “war” which would be when day begins. This maiden happens to be raped at the exact moment that Math is roused to go to war against another god of the first light of morning or morning star (the horse twin Pryderi). Thus this rape is the end of night, her violation, and her rapist or rapists would then be divinities of light or of the transition between night and day. What is interesting is that the rape is entirely facilitated by the Welsh Pushan, Gwydion, the primary rapist being Gwydion’s brother, although due to the lack of description the possibility of Gwydion also participating in the rape is left open. Pushan is the luminousness of the sun and directly succeeds Savitr metaphysically, according to Stella Kramrisch. Kramrisch describes Pushan as the material cause of the same power of which Savitr is the efficient cause: "“Savitr, the Impeller, the causa efficiens “becomes Pusan” (5.81.5; yamabhih), the primordial stress that was ante principium is beheld in Pusan, concreted in his ardour, the glowing essence of the Sun, its “substane ante principium.” Savitr is the efficient cause and Pusan the material cause of the Sun that glows and shining moves. Savitr, Pusan and Surya refer to the same symbol in the cosmos, the Sun. It is validated as cause and effect. The cause is beheld in the effect and is named differently in the salient stages of its transition” (Stella Kramrisch, “Pusan," 105). Gwydion is Math’s nephew and is taught his magic by him and they collaborate in the war and later in the creation of the seemingly auroral maiden Blodeuwedd (in this sense generating and impelling her life). Whose rape would a Pushanic god be likely to be aiding in? As a sun god it would be the rape of Night. Likewise, what goddess would the two primary solar gods of the sunrise be generating to wed their own heir apparent? Though it cannot be narrowed down to perfect certainty, it would clearly be some goddess connected to the time of Dawn, the time which comes along immediately generated as a result of the rising sun. Even if Blodeuwedd, made of flowers, can not be identified with Dawn herself with certitude, she would still have to be a goddess so closely connected to the time of Dawn, the time when Math and Gwydion apparently create her, that she would be nearly indistinguishable from that high and glowing goddess. Greek Hemera, goddess of Day and daughter of Nyx (Night) and Erebus would be one other possibility. Norse Dellingr's son is Day, and so the maiden Math creates could be a female form of the same divinity of Day, who, for the Greeks at least, was female. Dawn following Night would, however, present the most direct parallel to the frequently paired goddesses of Night and Dawn in the Rig Veda, the former disappearing just when the latter arises, and Blodeuwedd's parallel with Helen of Troy remains uncanny.
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