Indo-European religion

Indo-European

The existence of similarities among the gods and religious practices of the Indo-European peoples suggests that whatever population they actually formed had some form of polytheistic religion that was maintained by a class of shamans.

Various factors aid and hinder a more detailed reconstruction of this ancestral religion. Theories on the nature of such a religion are difficult to validate using archeological sources, and much by necessity therefore remains speculation. While similar religious customs among Indo-European peoples can provide evidence for a shared religious heritage, a shared custom does not necessarily indicate a common source for such a custom; some of these practices may well have evolved in a process of parallel evolution. The best evidence is the existence of cognates in the Indo-European languages, e.g. Jupiter, Diaus Pita, Dievas, etc.

In short, enough tantalizing hints of this ancestral religion can be detected in commonalities between languages and religious customs of Indo-European peoples to presuppose this ancestral religion did exist, though any details of such an ancestral religion remain conjectural.

This religion may have had a pantheon of gods among whom the chief god was named: *Dyeus Pater1 from which we know Zeus, Jupiter, Dyaus Pita, Dievas, Deiwas, Tiwat and Tyr (cf. the alternative forms Dias, in Greek, and Tiwaz in Germanic).

It may also have included a sky god whom we know as Varuna and Uranos.

There also seems to have been a god of thunder, whom we know, with various etymologies, as Thor, Taranis, Tarhunt, Perun, Perkūnas; and Indra.

A possible goddess of dawn, *aus-os-, seems to appear in Greek mythology as Eos, in Rome as Aurora, in Germanic mythology as Eostre, in Lithuanian mythology as Aušra or Auštaras, and in Hinduism as Ushas.

They may have distinguished between different races of gods (Jotuns, Titans), and (Asa, Asura, Ahura).

They seem to have had a class of Shamans as testified by the later existence of Druids and Brahmins. The Germanic peoples were an exception in having relegated this role to women, the Volvas (see also witches).

There seems to have been a belief in a World tree, which in Norse mythology was an ash tree (Yggdrasil),in Hinduism a banyan tree, in Lithuanian mythology Jievaras. There is also a Greek folk tradition about the World Tree, which is being sawed by the Kallikantzaroi (Greek goblins).

It is also likely that they had three fate goddesses, see the Norns in Norse mythology, Moirae in Greek mythology and Deivės Valdytojos; in Lithuanian mythology.

The religion of the Proto-Indo-European and early Indo-European peoples seems to have been based around two concepts:

*ghosti, which concerned mutual obligations between people and between worshipers and gods, and from which guest and host are derived.
*artus, which concerned destiny and the order of the world. From this word are derived the Vedic rta, and the Germanic wyrd (see Urd).

Note 1: An asterisk (*) marks a reconstructed form: no PIE exists in actual writing.

Reference

ceisiwrserith.com - What was the Proto-Indo-European religion like?

External link

Neo-pagan article on PIE religion