John Martin Crawford

Kalevala John Martin Crawford

The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. The compilation was first published in 1849 and consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs (runes). It was translated into English by J. M. Crawford and published in 1888. "In the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, we find many traces of the Archaic philosophy [Secret Doctrine], some clear and luminous, others more veiled and hidden. This epic cannot be less than 3,000 years old; probably it is much older. Though but recently reduced to writing, it has been preserved orally for ages . . . As ably pointed out in the Preface, 'the deeper and more esoteric meaning of the Kalevala points to a contest between Light and Darkness, Good and Evil; the Finns representing the Light and the Good, and the Lapps the Darkness and the Evil.' Compare with this the wars of Ormuzd and Ahriman; of the Aryas and the Rakshasas; of the Pandus and Kurus. . . . The Runes of "the Origin of Iron," the "Finding of the Lost-word," the "Origin of the Serpent," and the "Restoration of the Sun and Moon," are also full of Occultism."-H. P. Blavatsky