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Ukonvasara, orUkonkirves, is the symbol and magical weapon of theFinnish thunder godUkko, similar toThor'sMjölnir. Ukonvasara means 'hammer of Ukko'; similarly, Ukonkirves means 'axe of Ukko'. It was said that Ukko created lightning with Ukonvasara.
Ukko's hammer was probably originally a boat-shaped stone axe. When stone tools were abandoned with the advent of metalworking, the origins of stone weapons became a mystery. Stone axes, so-calledthunderstones (ukonvaaja in Finnish), were found in the ground, especially after drenching rains washed away dirt. They were believed to be weapons of Ukko, stone heads of the striking lightning.Shamans collected and held stone-axes because they were believed to hold the power to both heal and damage.[citation needed]
Followers ofmodern Finnish paganism sometimes carry hammer or axe pendants around their necks, much like Christians sometimes wearcrosses.[citation needed]
According toAsko Parpola, theProto-West-Uralic*vaśara, originally referred to the axe or mace of theSejma-Turbino warriors, but later, underNordic influence, gained the meaning "hammer" fromThor's hammer. TheProto-West-Uralic*vaśara, is an earlyloanword from theProto-Indo-Aryan*vaj’ra- but not fromProto-Iranian, because itspalatalizedsibilant is not consistent with thedepalatalization which occurred in Proto-Iranian. The related Sanskritvajra- and itsAvestancognatevazra- are possibly derived from theProto-Indo-European root*weg'- which means "to be(come) powerful", state Parpola and Carpelan.[1][2]
Unto Salo [fi] believes thatIlmari, another Finnic sky god, is the origin of Ukko, but that as Ukko Ilmari experienced very significant, although far from total, influence from theIndo-European sky god especially in the form ofThor.[3][4] Others believe that Ukko's original name was BalticPerkūnas.[5]
Perkūnas is pictured as middle-aged, armed with anaxe and arrows, riding a two-wheeled chariot harnessed withgoats, likeThor.[6] The name Thor descends from theProto-Germanic theonym*Þun(a)raz ('Thunder').[7] According to scholar Peter Jackson, those theonyms may have originally emerged as the result of the fossilization of an original epithet (orepiclesis) of the Proto-Indo-European thunder-god *Perkwunos.[8] from whichPerkunas also descended from[9]
Indra is described as using the vajra to kill sinners and ignorant persons.[10] Indra's mythology parallelsPerun,Perkūnas,Taranis, andThor, suggesting a common origin inProto-Indo-European mythology.[11][12][13]
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