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| Saturday, 31 July 2004 |
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The saga of sea-farers There came a time when men ventured across the sea in ships. These lines from a psalm in the Bible says, "some sailed their ships facing raging storms and mighty waves' cleaving through treacherous oceans to reach distant lands". Memorable stories have been written about mariners who raved the sea for different purposes. Some were pirates and adventurers, others were explorers while some ships carried crews of warrior men who went in search of new lands to capture and colonize. The Vikings or Norsemen swept the sea in a paganistic overture of boldness, intensity and strength to penetrate distant places. They even stormed monasteries looking for hidden wealth and nations lived in fear of them. These adventurers belonged to three countries namely Norway, Sweden and Denmark. They were ruthless pirates plundering the coastland from the 8th to 10th centuries and their dreadful escapades carried on for about 300 years. Danish mariners found their way to England and the British Isles in AD 320. With ferocity and resolution they entered the continent of Europe. They reached Italy, important cities like Constantinople (Istanbul) and Novgorod careening in ships along the River Rhine, Volga and Danube. Norwegian adventures sailed to America against the hazards of the Atlantic Ocean so as to win a base for further advance into other lands. These Scandinavian warriors had some characteristics in common. The language they spoke and the gods they worshipped were much alike. They worshipped Thor, the god of thunder, the god of fire and their heroes. Human and animal sacrifices were offered. Horse skeletons in some Danish bogs imply that these people had weird ceremonies to appease their dragon slayer Sigurd. The women were equally wicked and courageous. They were as unrestricted as the wind-drift and as restless as the waves they were acquainted with that frothed and broke somewhere. The men adored them for their sensuality and bravery. Gudrid was their heroine. She was the first woman explorer who reached America. In later years she embraced Christianity, took to the life of a nun and eventually became a pilgrim. According to Viking mythology, there were lusty maidens (Valkyries) who boldly swooped down on dead warriors and transported them to a glorious place called 'Volholla' to feast and fight forever. They believed in the super-natural. They related stories of ghostly ships, the sibilance of oars rowing in the dark of night and translucent sails disappearing into the black dome of the sky. Narratives of heroic deeds and a few poems have been dedicated to the Vikings but just a few have been discovered. Some mono-liths inscribed in mysterious lines and a pagan burial ground with small mounds were located in Reykjavid. Archaeologists unearthed the replica of a ship on stone now in the Historical Museum of Gotland. Crumbling fortresses, turrets and 'Rok' stones lie here and there in Europe and even Russia. It is interesting to know that a horde of silver coins were recently found in Baghdad. Rowing boats were their first vessels, then came 'long ships' that simply skimmed the crest of waves so swiftly that they moved like sea witches mysteriously merging into the spray. Their boats had graceful prows carved with startling figure-heads exuding fear and admiration. In 1960 archaeologists discovered remains of Viking ships in Skuldeler (Sweden) and the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde displays them. In 1995 they found a 118-foot warship as slim as a dagger and it probably carried hundred pirates. It was built of oak wood, riveted with iron nails and had well made square woollen sails. To make it strong and catch the wind the clever sail-maker tightly wove woollen thread in a webbed fashion. It was water resistant because they were given a fine coating of tar and animal fat. In their sea-worthy vessels they pillaged and captured many places. They formed dynamic colonies, controlled ports and traded in slaves as well. They introduced knives, iron tools, bone ice-skates and antler combs. A 75 foot oak warship with its hull composed of overlapping planks that once roamed the Nordic Sea is now on display in Germany. In a re-created iron-age village in Lejre (in the Baltic sea) there stands a sacred lake where horses were sacrificed to satisfy their gods. They were fascinated with fire and believed that it would consume the world one day. When a person died, the body was placed in a facsimile of a boat and set on fire so that the soul would ascend with the smoke to eternity. They did not moan for the dead because, according to one myth the (dead man's) spirit would find its way to liberty in 'Vesilind', supposed to be the 'water bird's path'. The Vikings had a wealth of silver. Some of their coins and lockets were recently uncovered in Baghdad and Rome and a heap of it in Denmark (1971). There were solid bracelets, chains, amulets and silver ingots all hidden away. The men possessed silver and bronze belts and intricate scabbards to hold weapons. The higher ranking warriors wore intricate ornaments. A belt jingling with precious metals and a horse-harness ornament carved in bronze belonging to 'Harkilar, the commander' are now archaeological possessions in Denmark's national museum. As years went by most of these sea-farers took to living in a civilised manner. Families occupied 'smoke houses', and women settled down to nurture children. They continued to eat corn-porridge as a staple food with roast mutton. An archaeologist of the Jorvik Viking Centre found interesting things of everyday life, like rape-seeds, corn, pieces of woollen cloth from their folk garments. All these shed light on their lifestyle later on. On mid-summer nights when the wind blew and feathery raindrops fell they gathered around bon-fires to drink home brewed beer, to sing, dance and recall their brave warriors. Anyway, these iron age sea-faring nations whose sturdy vessels came with the billowing waves are immortalised in fanciful stories of heroic deeds and in brutal characters such as Beowulf and Erik the Red. In fact, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark can trace her descent from Gorm, a mighty Viking warrior. - Caryl Nugara |
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