An Ancient Priesthood

A British Druid by William Stukeley

I am always intrigued by the mysterious, which is why I'm so interested in ancient history. The further back we go, the more mysterious it gets! The ancient Druids are one of the mysteries of history. They left no written records themselves, to explain who they were or what they believed. All we have to go by is the accounts of foreign visitors and Christian converts. Both of these commentators are biased toward their own religion and culture, and therefore unlikely to paint an accurate picture. What we can do however, is compare the Druids to other priestly castes around the world. The Celtic culture was a parallel development to the Vedic culture, from their common Indo-European roots which began to branch out some five thousand years ago. It has only been in recent decades that Celtic scholars have begun to reveal the full extent of the parallels and cognates between the Celtic and Vedic cultures. Peter Berresford Ellis, one of Europe’s foremost experts on Celtic culture, has revealed many similarities between the ancient Druids and the Brahmins of Vedic culture. The scholars of the Greek Alexandrian school clearly described the Druids as a parallel caste to the Brahmins of Vedic society. The Druids were the intellectual caste of ancient Celtic society, incorporating professions such as judges, lawyers, medical doctors, ambassadors, historians and so forth, just as the Brahmin caste of India. 

"With regard to their actual course of studies, the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed. Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on astronomy, on the extent and geographical distribution of the globe, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion." Julius Caesar

The priestly caste in India were engaged in attaining spiritual knowledge. They were responsible for religious rituals in temples and homes, as a liaison between humans and the gods. The role is likely to have been inherited, passed on through priestly families, as training would begin in childhood. Different priestly families would have focused on different gods, as there was such a wide variety of gods across the land, although there were some central figures held in common. Both Celtic and Vedic cultures held rivers to be incredibly sacred, and personified them as goddesses. Many surviving Irish myths, and some Welsh ones, show remarkable resemblances to the themes, stories and even names in the sagas of the Indian Vedas. The worship of gods as trinities or triads was common in both cultures. Following the Roman Empire's conquest of Gaul (58–51 BCE) and southern Britain (43 CE), Celtic people adopted a syncretic Gallo-Roman culture, conflating Celtic gods with those of Rome. However, the Romans saw the Druids as a threat to their authority. In 54 CE, the Emperor Claudius banned the Druids from the Roman Empire. In 60 CE, the governor of England, Suetonius, decided that the only way to proceed was to attack the last stronghold of the Druids – the island of Anglesey, which the Romans called Mona. Following the Roman attack upon the Druids came the invasion of Christianity, worming its way deep into the Celtic culture. Soon the Druids were replaced completely by Christian clergy. I imagine had the Druids survived to the present day, British religion would be similar to Hinduism today, with a variety of sects. The oral lore of the Druids would have been written down as sacred texts, although the ability to memorise verses of scripture off by heart would still carry great importance. A great number of gods would still be worshipped, personifying the forces of nature. Today there are a number of Druid organizations which attempt to revive the ancient priesthood. There are also many lone Druids who find their own way of personifying the legendary role. It is not a task for the faint-hearted, but I believe we can learn a lot from our Hindu friends.