48 Buddhism and Odinism. [No. L 



atque parentia,") ; and again in another place ;* "They do not think 

 that they can confine God within walls, nor liken him to any form of 

 the human face, as the greatness of the celestial bodies." Herodotus 

 says, " the Getes (ancient Norwegians) were theists and held the 

 tenets of the soul's immortality ;"f and the Buddhists hold that these 

 doctrines are intimately connected with their religion. The esoterics 

 of Buddhism inculcate a trinity of Gods as supreme Arbitors of the 

 universe; and Odinism doth the same. The Buddhists have their 

 Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and their counterparts appear among 

 the Scandinavians as Odin, Thorand Frigga. Adam of Bremen, who 

 lived about the middle of the 11th century, in describing the princi- 

 pal temple of Odin, says, " This nation has a most noble temple 

 which is called Upsala, situated not far from Sictona or Birka. In this 

 temple are statues of three gods entirely made of gold. The people 

 worship them. Of them Thor the most powerful, occupies the floor 

 in the centre, Woden and Fricco have places on the sides." This 

 position of the Odinic Trinity is unmistakeably the same as that which 

 the Buddhist trinity occupy to this day on the covers of Tibetan 

 Manuscripts or on the Sanchi gateway. Nor are they different in 

 their attributes. According to Grimm and other German writers, 

 Odin, Woden and Goden were names of the Supreme divine power 

 among the Germanic race, and Thor and Frygga were impersona- 

 tions of Divine attributes. With the Buddhists, Buddha is Primitive 

 Intelligence, and Dharma and Sangha its attributes. 



Yery little is known of the literature of Odinism, and of that 

 little we have but an imperfect knowledge. From the Edda of 

 Ssemund or that portion of it which is still extant, it would seem 

 that the religious books of Odinism were divisible into three parts ; 

 the first or " Voluspa" referred to the creation and destruction of 

 the earth, the doings of the gods and the futurity of the soul. The 



* Chapter 9. 



" Ceterum nee cohibere parietibus Deos, neque in ullam humani oris speciein 

 assimilare ex magnitudine ccelestium arbitrantur." 



f Tod's Rajasthan I. 63. 



X " Nobilissimum ilia gens templum habet quod Upsala dicitur, non longe posi- 

 tum a Sictona civitate vel Birka. In hoc templo, quod totum ex auro paratum 

 est, statuas trium deorum veneratur populus, ita ut potentissimus eorum Thor in 

 medio solum habeat triclinium, hinc et hide locum possident Woden et Fricco." 



