26. A God called Dagda
They travelled towards west where there was a mountain called Jhurra. The chain of mountains ran north-south. River Rone was fed by the water from Alps and Jura mountains. From the western slopes of the Jura mountain rivers like Siene emanated and flowed to the Atlantic ocean. They travelled along scene towards the ocean. The people who lived there were Celts and Gauls. They called the country as Gaul country. Here people lived even before the stone age. They also told the history of Cro-magnon people who inhabitated the land. Wheat and corn fields were in plenty. Apple, orange and grape groves were also seen on their way.
The people here built forts in the hills and lived there. Inside the fort their huts were in the shape of cone. The walls were of wooden planks, the upper structure was made of bamboo in the shape of a cone over which thatches were put. In the centre of the hut there was a fire place in which wood was burnt. Over that there was a big iron vessel hanging.
They were experts in making vessels from metals. On seeing the vessels and their weapons there expertise could be understood. Their cattles were also kept inside the fort. There were dogs to watch the sheeps and cattle.
Krishna and Balarama stayed one day in one of the cottages as the guests of the Celts. Though there was no script for their language, in their folklore there was lot of information about their tribal history, beliefs, and gods. They also enthusiastically narrated the stories of their forefathers. There were frequent wars among Celts. For defence they started building such forts. All over the available hills. Celts are a war-loving tribe. Even the women of the tribe were bold warriors.
They told them that there were some large islands where also their tribe lived. They have constructed a place for observing stars and planets by erecting rocks and putting over them stone columns. This place was called Stone Henge. TUIT is the name of their religious leaders who after studying the shade and other particulars predict the future. Stone Henge was considered holy. They sacrifice cattle for their gods there. Some times even human sacrifice takes place. Celts are spread along the river Rhine which flows to the north from Alps.
Their supreme god Dagda was a benevolent god. He was the controller of sun, moon, stars, storm, rain and snow. Victory or defeat in a battle is determined by his favour, as is the abundance of crops.
It was a moonlit night. The whole village assembled in the fort. The ballad of a heroic Celt queen called Boudicca was sung by the community. The story goes like this:
Queen Boudicca raided the north. She conquered many warring groups, went further up to the extreme north where lived the race of Saxons and attacked them. But before starting for the battle she forgot to perform a human sacrifice to the Almighty God Dagda. Irritated by this, Dagda gave victory to Saxons. Queen Boudicca died heroically in the battle field. The men and women sang the ballad in a sweet voice full of emotion, and the dancers danced around.
Suddenly dark clouds collected in the sky and started raining with lightning and thunder. Krishna did not want any interruption to the song and dance. He aimed his chakra towards the clouds and drove them in all directions. Showers stopped. The villagers concluded that Krishna was the embodiment of Dagda himself. Naradha appeared from the clouds. Krishna smiled and requested them to continue their song and dance.
