Rig Veda Rig Veda cid 224 oldest literary work of India Earliest form of Sanskrit language Rig praise veda knowledge knowledge in the praise of the gods Sanskrit cid 224 Indo European language Related to English ancient Greece Latin and German The Rig Veda was the earliest form of Sanskrit language Vedic people cid 224 composed Rig Veda We think they called themselves the Aryans Agni cid 224 Vedic god of fire Binatural god Controls all possible senses of fire Soma cid 224 Defied sacred drink We don t know exactly what Soma was made of but it was a drink that somehow produced a narcotic high effect Indra cid 224 King of the Vedic gods God of thunder and war Avid drinker of soma Vritra cid 224 Dragon serpant Holding back all the waters of the world Indra uses her thunderbolts to attack and kill Vritra and then rivers are created Tiamat cid 224 Sea god who battles a storm god and her waters are released to create rivers similar to Vritra The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are created out of her eyes Sarama cid 224 Indra s dog Loyal dog that can talk Panis cid 224 demons who live beyond the River Rasa that encircles the heaven and earth They stole cattle and Indra s dog Sarama is tracking down the cattle river Rasa cid 224 encircles the heavens and the earth The Panis or demons live beyond it Golden Embryo cid 224 unknown creator god Given the title not the name as the Golden Embryo Referred to as Hiranyagarbha There are a lot of internal contradictions with the golden embryo Hiranyagarbha cid 224 is the Golden Embryo Gold hirany and womb seed embryo egg garbha Prajapati cid 224 creator god seen in a later addition Purusha cid 224 cosmic giant and primeval male He is not a human being he is a god and a giant Sacrificed to create the universe Aditi cid 224 female creative force infinity we think she is the mother of Indra Give birth to earth which holds up the sky Daksha cid 224 male creative force Aditi vies birth to him and he gives birth to her Another internal contradiction Martanda cid 224 Sun god one of Aditi s sons Rejected by Aditi because the sun dies sets every day she thinks it s defected Yama cid 224 King of the dead First mortal to reach death realm succefully making it to the afterlife Three Days of Soma cid 224 Ceremony After cremation the fire burns for 3 days Chinese Creation and Flood Chinese cid 224 Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China Distinguished by its high level of internal diversity Shang or Yin Dynasty cid 224 first period of Chinese history From 1766c 1123 BCE Chou Dynasty cid 224 Second period of Chinese history From 1123c 221 BCE Han Dynasty cid 224 206 BCE 220 CE Golden age of ancient Chinese culture Hits a high point Questions of Heaven cid 224 larger work of poetry Part of Ch u Tz u the songs of Ch u Ch u Tz u cid 224 Songs of Ch u Larger work of poetry Ch u Yuan cid 224 Author of Ch u Tz u we don t know if he existed or not First named Chinese poet Ch u cid 224 State in Chou Dynasty Ch u is a region Hun Tun cid 224 first element in creation of cosmos First thing created First represented empty space and chaos later represented confusion and disorder Imagined as a cosmic egg with Yin earth and Yang sky in the egg along with P an Ku Yin cid 224 heavy and feminine Also associated with dark and darkness Yin and Yang are a pair of opposites Yang cid 224 light and masculine Also associated with light and light colors Ying and Yang are a pair of opposites P an Ku cid 224 coiled antiquity Primeval giant god man P an Ku is in the cosmic egg with Yin and Yang Body of P an Ku becomes part of the universe when P an Ku dies Nu Kua cid 224 Creator goddess Creates humans Creates aristocrats the noble best people out of yellow earth and creates commoners the ordinaries out of mud to save time Fu His cid 224 God and culture hero Invents writing hunting fishing music fire and cooking Marries Nu Kau Serpentine lower bodies and normal upper half Kun cid 224 trickster god Steals hsi jang from the gods and is then killed by the gods as punishment His son Yu is born from his belly hsi jang cid 224 Breathing earth Kun steals hsi jang from the gods and is then killed Yu cid 224 Kun s son born from his belly Culture hero Uses hsi jang to stop the flood Yu walk cid 224 Yu shrivels up from working so hard He is travelling the world to repair it he now walks all shriveled up and bent over Norse Creation and Afterlife Norse cid 224 Medieval Scandinavians Also known as the Vikings sir cid 224 One of the two families of the Norse gods War between the families the sir and Vanir Lived in Asgard Vanir cid 224 One of the two families of the Norse gods War between the families the sir and Vanir Fertility gods Njord cid 224 Vanir Sea god Father of twins Frey and Freyja Frey cid 224 God fertility of earth Twins with Freyja Njord is their father Freyja cid 224 Goddess of sexual desire Twins with Frey Njord is their father J tnar cid 224 Giants Not always gigantic often the enemies Odin cid 224 King of sir God of Death and cleverness Odin is in charge of Valhalla Valhalla cid 224 Hall in Asgard For a select group of souls who die in battle Norse idea of best afterlife Asgard cid 224 Home of the sir Valhalla is a hall in Asgard Valkyries cid 224 chooser of the slain Female spirits of battle leads the souls to Valhalla Saehrimnir cid 224 Boar Every night the boar magically regenerates itself and the people eat it again the next day Heidrun cid 224 Magical Goat People drink the mead from the goat Sleipnir cid 224 Odin s horse Said to have 8 legs Hugin cid 224 stands for thought One of the two ravens Tells Odin s news from around the world Munin cid 224 stands for Mind memory One of the two ravens Tells Odin s news from around the world Yggdrasil cid 224 World Tree Supports the entire universe Thor cid 224 Storm god Son of Odin Mjollnir cid 224 Thor s hammer one of his prized possessions along with his iron gloves and belt of strength Loki cid 224 trickster god Purely mythic son of giant and goddess He is an outsider not really one of sir Fenrir cid 224 wolf Son of Loki sir realizes he is dangerous and ties him up and puts him on a leash Jormungand cid 224 Son of Loki Midgard Serpent Midgard Serpent cid 224 Also called Jormungand Son of Loki Hel cid 224 underworld …
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