Deer Mythological Image

 

There is a mythological image of a deer in different cultures.

I am modestly adding Georgian.

To make it clear how organic this image is for my people, I'll start with the biography of the kings.

Vakhtang Gorgasali grew up with a deer, every morning he took it on his shoulders and climbed the mountain, which has been considered a holy place since ancient times.

The deer grew heavy as it matured. And the prince climbed the mountain with increasingly heavy loads. Thanks to this, he grew up as a legendary warrior. In their first military campaign, Vakhtang won two legendary victories against knights from the enemy camp. In a knightly duel, before the admiring gaze of his soldiers, the 16-year-old king dealt with the most experienced warriors, doing it very effectively from the point of view of martial arts. This incredibly raised the morale of his troops, and the prince won the first victory, starting his path as the greatest Georgian ruler.

The deer is mentioned in the annals of the very first king of Georgia, Parnavaz 1. This is a legendary figure hidden behind the veil of time.

I will briefly tell the story of Parnavaz, dwell on the moments that seem to me to be a legend, because there are parallels in mythology.

Young Parnavaz had a dream. Or rather, he saw a vision.

There is a similar moment in the Bible, Joseph's dream. In a dream, Joseph saw the sun, the moon and 11 stars bowing to him.

Young Parnavaz saw the sun go down, stood in front of him, and he washed his face with solar matter.

I think Parnavaz performed some kind of sacred act, the essence of which is the purification of the psyche.

In India, Iran, and in other countries of antiquity, meditation in the sun and "washing" the mind was mandatory among the higher castes.

The legend of Parnavaz says that he told about a vision of his mother, and then went hunting.

He shot a deer and chased the wounded animal.

Having caught up, but did not finish off the wounded animal, he was imbued with compassion, lay down next to him, trying to alleviate the suffering. So they spent the night, victim and hunter.

Apparently the legend emphasizes the change in attitude towards all living things. The young man shows mercy. If I wanted to describe a hypothetical righteous young man of that time, living according to the Vedic canons, I would describe exactly Parnavaz.

According to the ancient philosophy of the Aryans, nature changes its attitude towards those who are kind to her.

The deer personifies nature, substance.

After spending the night with a wounded deer, young Parnavaz discovers the entrance to a cave full of gold.

He becomes king using this treasure.

Translated from the mythical language, everything told can be interpreted as follows:

Young Parnavaz was righteous, performing a meditation prescribed by the highest castes of the entire Indo-European community, known as Savitri - purification of the psyche with sunlight.

He professed the principle of kindness, even towards animals. And nature (in the form of a mythical deer) led him to a cave with gold - a spiritual treasure, Knowledge.

Meditation in the sun, washing the psyche with solar matter, kindness - fll this brought Parnavaz to the throne. He is a legendary king, and the invention of the Georgian alphabet is associated with him.

The deer is often found in legends. The hero chases after him, falling into a different, mythological reality.

There is a very interesting myth. It is recorded as in different places in Georgia, and has a generalized title: "A young man who left in search of immortality."

The myth exactly repeats the story of Gautama Buddha - a young boy lives in a rich house, protected from the dark sides of life - without seeing illness, old age and death. Having discovered that life is suffering, and old age, illness and death cannot be avoided, he leaves home in search of immortality. He meets a deer with gilded antlers reaching up to heaven. He ascends along them into the upper world, into another reality, where he is taught the higher meaning of being.

He comes back to teach his fellow tribesmen, to bestow immortality, but does not meet anyone he knows, for in these worlds time flows in different ways, and in our reality countless years have passed while he was gone.

Since I started talking about the mystical meaning of the image of a deer, I will touch on one more point - human sacrifice.

In the Indo-European community, among the Vikings, there was a custom of voluntary sacrifice.

In Georgia, before Christianity, this custom also existed - one of the young people expressed a desire to go to the world of the gods. He was spoiled for a year, he lived like a king, all his wishes were fulfilled. A year later, he voluntarily put his throat under the knife.

According to legends, once a deer came out of the forest, white, of almost unearthly beauty, offering himself instead of a young man.

So the ritual was changed, instead of young people, the gods received as a sacrifice in the form of deer, which annually left the forest for the slaughter.

But with the decline of spirituality, it stopped. So they went on to sacrifice the calf. The animal was fed and cared for for a year. Then they gave him a cup of wine and opium to boil. 

The drunken animal was quickly, painlessly deprived of life.

There are interesting studies. The rats were taught to go through the maze. Then their meat was given to other rats, and they found a way out of the maze easier. Somehow, information was transmitted through food.

Apparently the slaughter and eating of the calf after drinking it is connected with something similar. It is important that before death the animal does not feel fear and pain, so that all this is not transmitted to the participants in the ritual.

Maybe vegetarianism has something to do with all this.

I think that the mass unconscious put into the image of the deer what we define as nature, matter.

With a certain mystical approach, the substance changes its attitude to the visionary, endowing with spiritual wealth - the only value that is not subject to corruption.

Which is what I wish for all of us.