Stupas, Linga, Mound stupas and Worship

A sacred worshiping place of the Nordic Sami people with a Sacred or holy tree and a Stupa-resembling statue on a tumulus. They are praying and talking under this tree. The same source as the next two pictures.

Laplander people of the Nordic worshiping a fertility Goddess called “Wirku Accha” depicted with a statue resembling a Stupa placed on a tumulus mound. A copper plate made by the Christian author and artist Bernard Picart in the 1600eds to early 1700eds, this particular picture was published in 1725 in the French edition of “The ceremonies and religious customs of the various nations” or ”Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde”. His pictures are some of the scarce ilustrated documentation that is left about the ancient pre-Christian Nordic religion. As mentioned earlier the Sami people preserved parts of the old culture of the ancient Nordic Goths. Colonizing Christians have since the the early 1500s destructed or redefined much of the ancient religion and its manifestations in the Nordic.

The engravings of Picart were based on observations done by others and some of his pictures seem to somewhat ridicule worshipers of other religions. Picart was a christian.

Take a closer look at the illustrations in the book by Bernard Picart, how he illustrates religious practices around the world, including Buddhism in Asia and from the Nordic areas. The Laplanders had from early on merged with the ancient Goths that migrated to these areas: Ceremonies et Coutumes. Volume 4 Image Index, 1729


Buddhist Mini Stupas and Shiva Linga, Lingam or Lingum and Nordic Phallus Stones
Indo - Greek Stupa Circum in Gandhara, present Pakistan. Photo by PHGCOM, 2006.

A Marble stone at Glein, Dønna in Nordland, Norway that is dated to about 400 CE. They must have imported marble to Norway, an indication about the importance of this stone in the heathen Nordic religion. It is placed on top of a tumulus (Vardehaugen or Valhaugen) and was found in relation to a complex of mound graves. It is interpreted as a phallus symbol that was used for religious purposes (offerings). See Valhaugen mound and stone in the two last photos in the linked site. Is the so-called "marble phallus" at Dønna remains of a mini stupa?

1) Mini Stupa India from Tope at Manikyala, dated to the 18th year of Kanishka 127 AD - 151 CE. 2) Sirka with Acanthus leaves. Sirkap, Pakistan, 1st century BCE, by user PHGCOM 2007. 3) Kanheri-stupa in Bombay or Munbay, by Nichalp, 2005.

Caitya is a sacred place or object and Stupa is included in the concept. Stupas are holy places were Buddha is worshiped, containing remains of Buddha or a saint. The larger Asian Stupas often have mound like forms, some are smaller mini Stupas like in the photos and while other have a tall tower structural form such as wooden temples and pagodas.

1) Swayambhunath mini stupas next to the main stupa in Nepal, photo by Markus Koljonen, 2008. 2) Kanheri stupa in Bombay, photo by Nichalp, 2005. 3) Alchi Choskhor. Ladakh, Jammu-Kashmir, in India.

Taxila coin from the 2nd century BCE. British Museum. Photo by PHGCOM, 2007. Taxila is in present Pakistan.

“Taxila is an archaeological site containing the ruins of the Gandhâran city of Takshashila, an important Vedic/Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th century BCE to the 5th century CE.” (end of quote from the linked World Heritage site).

A mini stupa in Sirkap, Taxila, Gandhara. 1 st Century BCE to 1 Century CE.

Stupa no. 3, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, India. Photo by Ekabhishek, 2007. Stupa number 3 is from about the middle of 2nd century BCE.

Burial Mounds or Tumulus in the Nordic areas compared to Ancient Asian Stupas:

Iron Age Mound graves in Gambla Ubsala, i.e. Gamla Uppsala, Sweden.

"Burial Mounds" in Norway:

Karmøy

Gravhaug Burial mound in Karmøy, Norway, photo by Christian Bickel, 2005

Oseberg
Oseberghaugen in Vestfold county of Norway, photo by Hallvard Strauma, 2005

Gloppen

Karnilshaugen, Gloppen

Burial mounds in Sweden

Skalundahögen in Västergotland, Sweden It is told in this website that this tumulus is still not checked by archaeologists.

Skalunda burial mound from Iron Age, about 600 CE

Anundshög

Inglinge Hog a burial mound

Uppsala

More from Gamla Uppsala

Gravhög Gårdstånga

Haga

Burial Mounds in Denmark

1) Mysselhøj, a danish mound close to the danish town Roskilde, photo by Jørgen Larsen, Ultramand 2007. 2) Lindholm Høje is a burial place in North Jutland from the Iron and the Viking Age, photo by Västgöten, 2008.

Grave Mound in Klekkende Høj, Denmark.


The Tumulus mounds of the Ancient Romans

Populonia tumulo in Italy. Tumulo or Tumulus mound, Etruscan tomb, known as "Tomba dei carri".

Ancient Greek Tumulus Mound. Funeral tumulus of the Ahtenians in Marathon battle in Greece. Photo by Dgcampos, 2008.

Roman tumulus graves spread all over Europe: Nordic areas, Russia, Belgium, France, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, England, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Greece. Tumulus is the Roman name for these kinds of mound graves. My hypothesis is that the ancient Romans had a close connection to the Indo-Greek culture of Asia and with some kind of Sun worship and eventually early Buddhism. It is important to remember that the dating of these ancient findings most of the time is controversial. For those interested in reading about the Roman Empire and the fall of the Roman Empire there are free downloadable books from the 18th century available online:
The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. This is Volume 2. There should be at least 6 volumes that was published between 1776-1789.

Some of many ancient Stupas (and remains of Stupas) in India and present Pakistan:

Deorkothar stupa in India. Photo by LRBurdak, 2006. Wikimedia

Stupas at Deur Kothar in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Remains of a Kanishka stupa in Peshawar.

Butkara Stupa in the Swat valley.

Dharmarajika stupa in Taxila.

Dhamek Stupa Varnath, near Varanasi in India.

Buddhist Stupa Mound Tope near Baramulla Jammu Kashmir 1868. The stupa, which was later excavated, dates to 500 CE. More about the Stupa in Summary


A Lingam et de yoni, a photo by nataraja, 2003.

Phallus stones in Indian shaivism

A Siva linga in Kailash, Himalaya (Page 5, Plate X)
(MS Vats, 1940, Excavations at Harappa, Vol. II, Calcutta).


One of many examples of Phallus stones from Iron Age Norway. This particular one is exhibited at the History Museum in Oslo. More photos of sacred white phallus stones from Iron Age Norway can be seen in the following two sites (Norwegian language): Sacred white stones in Norway 1 and Sacred white stones in Norway 2.


Shiva linga 's photo by focal point, Wikimedia, 2007. Uncertain about the place, likely in Asia. The second photo are Carved wooden lingam totems. Uncertain about the place, but likely in India. Photo by Steve Juvertson 2008, Wikimedia.

A wood carved phallus to the upper left is illustrated by Scheffer in the book Lapponica (The History of Lappland) from 1674. In this book the ancient Nordic religion was described, but not in a scientific manner. The Christian priests that wanted to wipe it out described the ancient pagan Nordic religion. The pre-christian religion of the Nordic have been rewritten, redefined and made as incomprehensible as possible particularly after the Lutheran reformation that came from Germany in the early 1500s. You can read more in Saamiblog