Freya : or Freyja, the Norse goddess of Love & Beauty; sister of Frey.
... qualification. Once in possession of this knowledge, Eric has no difficulty in helping her to regain her self-respect: Aslaug, see, Freya within her niche commands this room And incense bums to her. Nor Thor for thee, But Freya. 67 Eric and Aslaug exchange rings in token of their honourable love, and Aslaug has he satisfaction that she has saved Swegn and saved Norway... his awakening to the power of love - to the sovereign Grace of Freya. While the human action is in the foreground, it is implied throughout that the gods are involved in the earth-drama. Albeit he is the darling of Odin and Thor yet peace eludes Eric, there is an emptiness in his heart, and he is frank enough to confess: "Freya, Mother of Heaven, Thou wast forgotten."68 Aslaug too, who comes... and bringing about his death. n s wife, Hertha, is more anxious to effect an honourable reconciliation Page 141 between him and Eric. Behind the scenes, the gods too - Odin, Thor, and Freya - are active, and seem to be inclined to intervene in the terrestrial action, causing confusion to the human actors. It is this tangle of forces and clash of personalities that Sri Aurobindo has made ...
... shall be saved from death by love. Thou hast saved Swegn, helped Norway. Aslaug, see, Freya within her niche commands this room And incense burns to her. Not Thor for thee, But Freya. ASLAUG Thou for me! not other gods. Page 591 ERIC Aslaug, thou hast a ring upon thy hand. Before Freya give it me and wear instead This ancient circle of Norwegian rites. The thing this means... combine. Page 533 Iron is broken, the sword Sleeps in the grave of its lord. Love is divine. Love is the hoop of the gods Hearts to combine. ERIC Is that your answer? Freya, mother of heaven, Thou wast forgotten. The heart! the seat is there. For unity is sweet substance of the heart And not a chain that binds, not iron, gold, Nor any helpless thought the reason knows... it hungers like a lion for the leap, And give thee time once more; misuse it not. Beware, provoke not the fierce god too much; Have dread of his flame round thee. ASLAUG ( alone ) Odin and Freya, you have snares! But see, I have not thrown the dagger from my heart, But clutch it still. How strange that look and tone, That things of a corporeal potency Not only travel coursing through the ...
... themselves fall in love, and old hatred and new love fight for mastery in the heart and soul of Aslaug. In the symbolic realms of the gods, there is likewise a struggle between Thor the ruthless and Freya the auspicious. Love triumphs, Thor's reign is ended, and Freya's begins; Swegn is captured and pardoned, Aslaug marries Eric, and the people of Norway are assured of a termless period of peace and ...
... heart. 6 As regards Sri Aurobindo's plays, they too are unmistakably dyed with purpose. Eric is Norway's unifier, but he sees the wisdom of balancing the claims of Thor and Odin with those of Freya - in other words, of Power and Love. Bappa the Prince of Edur is both liberator and redeemer, and regains his Kingdom as well as wins a bride in Kamal Kumari. In the maturer play, Perseus the Deliverer ...
... Humber. HUMBER Lo she whose starlike eyes enthral the nations, Comes to do reverence to Humber, glad To be his glory's meanest satellite. Kneel down, daughter of princes, favoured more Than Freya or Gudrun; for these were wives Of gods or demigods, but thou the slave Of Humber. Lo whose pleasure kingdoms strove To do, is made my footstool. I have slain Nations to win her and have ravished ...
... and Hephaestus, and the "ancient Dis", "into the courts divine they crowded, radiant, burning". In Sri Aurobindo's play, Eric, as we saw earlier (Chapter VI), the end-note is "not Thor... but Freya"; in Perseus the Deliverer, the change is from ruthless Poseidon's to enlightened Pallas Athene's rule. There is on the terrestrial as well as the cosmic scale a continual push of evolution - from ...
... Englishman, The, I'll, 340 Epictetus, 48 Eric, 119,141ff, 642,646; set in Norwegian Heroic Age, 141; gods active behind the scenes, 142; Aslaug and Hamlet, 145; not Thor but Freya, 145 Essays on the Gita, 283, 404, 448, 463ff; Gita's place in India's scriptural literature, 464; presenting the essential message, 464; Arjuna-Krishna, Nara-Narayana, 464; existential situation ...
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