Saturday 4 August 2012

THE SANSKRIT CONNECTION - THE DEODAR TREE AND ANCIENT DRUIDS OF GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND & FRANCE

The Druids were member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, France (Gaul) and other parts of Celtic Europe dating to the Iron Age. In mainstream terminology the Iron Age dates from around 800 BC to the Roman Conquest which began around 43 AD.

Lets look at the Sanskrit & Vedic Connection to the word 'Druid'.

The Druids worshiped their Gods, not inside enclosed spaces, but under grooves of trees, especially the Oak which was common in their habitat. In the Vedic tradition, forests full of Deodar (Sanskrit - Devadāru) trees in the Himalayas, were the favorite living places of ancient Indian sages and their families who were devoted to the Hindu God Shiva.

In Sanskrit, the Himalayan Cedar and Deodhar Trees go by the name of Devadaru ( देवदारु ) - Deva (देव) meaning God, and, Daru (दारु) meaning wood. Devadaru- 'The Wood/Tree of the Gods".

The Sacred Himalayan Tree Deodar also goes by the name Devataru (देवतरु). Taru (तरु) means Tree. In fact, the word Tree is derived from the Sanskrit Taru (तरु). The Deodar is sacred to the Hindus from the ancient Vedic times to the present. 


Lets look at what the Roman Scholar, Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23 AD-79 AD, who lived in the times when the Druids were still practising their culture), explained that the word Druid was a contraction of two Sanskrit words - Deru (Deodar Wood), and Vid (विद्य, वेदि) - meaning wisdom. The name was applied to the Druids who lived and worshipped in the Oak Tree Groves which were native to Britain, Ireland and France.

Since then however, some have said that the Priest Class "Druid" derives its name from the Sanskrit word Drav (द्रव) meaning 'liquid' and 'vid' (विद्य, वेदि), meaning knowledge/wisdom, therefore somehow forcing it to mean "Soaked in Wisdom". But this completely removes it from the main tenet of Druid culture - reverence for Evergreen Trees as a symbol of everlasting life and hope.

Arguments have also been made that Druid is derived from PIE (Proto Indo European). But what about the cultural context. For example there is no known description of the Oak Tree as a sacred tree anywhere in literature.  In contrast the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the 230 other ancient Indian existing Sanskrit scriptures are replete with hymns to the Devataru tree. And why would Pliny the Elder who lived in the same era as the Druids get it wrong!

The fact of the matter is that a known language, Sanskrit, is really the Proto-Indo-European that scholars refer to. Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. Even the most biased will agree that PIE is nothing but a set of words taken directly from the Sanskrit dictionary. But for Sanskrit, PIE would not have existed.

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