Vestiges of the Mayas Part 2

Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified _G.o.d_ in the highest sense.

Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and antiquity; _the original chief_, the _father of the G.o.ds_, the _lord of darkness or death_. The Maya gives us A, _thy_; NA, _mother_. At times he was called DIS, and was the patron G.o.d of _Erech_, the great city of the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. TIX, Maya is a cavity formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of _Niffer_, called _Calneh_ in the translation of the Septuagint, from _kal-ana_, which is translated the "fort of Ana;" or according to the Maya, the _prison of Ana_, KAL being prison, or the prison of thy mother.

ANATA

the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; TA, with; _Anata_ with _Ana_.

BIL OR ENU

seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative adjunct, possessing great interest, NIPRU. To that name, which recalls that of NEBROTH or _Nimrod_, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar (make to flee). His epithets are the _supreme_, _the father of the G.o.ds_, the _procreator_.

The Maya gives us BIL, or _Bel_; the way, the road; hence the _origin_, the father, the procreator. Also ENA, who is before; again the father, the procreator.

As to the qualificative adjunct _nipru_. It would seem to be the Maya _niblu_; _nib_, to thank; LU, the _Bagre_, a _silurus fish_. _Niblu_ would then be the _thanksgiving fish_. Strange to say, the high priest at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of _Can_, the founder of those cities, is CAY, the fish, whose effigy is my last discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The bust is contained within the jaws of a serpent, _Can_, and over it, is a beautiful mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which read TZAA, that which is necessary.

BELTIS

is the wife of _Bel-nipru_. But she is more than his mere female power.

She is a separate and important deity. Her common t.i.tle is the _Great G.o.ddess_. In Chaldea her name was _Mulita_ or _Enuta_, both words signifying the lady. Her favorite t.i.tle was the _mother of the G.o.ds_, the origin of the G.o.ds.

In Maya BEL is the road, the way; and TE means _here_. BELTe or BELTIS would be I am the way, the origin.

_Mulita_ would correspond to MUL-TE, many here, _many in me_. I am the mother of many. Her other name _Enuta_ seems to be (Maya) _Ena-te_, signifies ENA, the first, before anybody, and TE here. ENATe, _I am here before anybody_, I am the mother of the G.o.ds.

HEA OR HOA.

The G.o.d Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris.

According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by _Oannes_ and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers; and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the sh.o.r.es of the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats.

Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his residence or house on the water. HA, being water; _a_, thy; _na_, house; literally, _water thy house_. Canon Rawlison remarks in that connection: "There are very strong grounds for connecting HEA or Hoa, with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life." As the t.i.tle of the G.o.d of knowledge and science, _Oannes_, is the lord of the abyss, or of the great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent, CAN, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the G.o.ds on the black stones recording benefactions.

DAV-KINA

Is the wife of _Hoa_, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady.

But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more appropriate. TAB-KIN would be the _rays of the sun_: the rays of the light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants of Mesopotamia.

SIN OR HURKI

is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain.

Its t.i.tles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is particularly designated as "_the bright_, _the s.h.i.+ning_" the lord of the month.

Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend.

_Zinil_ is the extension of the whole of the universe. _Hurki_ would be the Maya HULKIN--sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the sun. Hurki is also the G.o.d presiding over buildings and architecture; in this connection he is called _Bel-Zuna_. The _lord of building_, the _supporting architect_, the _strengthener of fortifications_. _Bel-Zuna_ would also signify the lord of the strong house. _Zuu_, Maya, close, thick. _Na_, house: and the city where he had his great temple was _Ur_; named after him. _U_, in Maya, signifies moon.

SAN OR SANSI,

the Sun G.o.d, the _lord of fire_, the _ruler of the day_. He _who illumines the expanse of heaven and earth_.

_Zamal_ (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and Egypt.

VUL OR IVA,

the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as does the tempest. As VUL he is represented with a flaming sword in his hand. _Hul_ (Maya) an arrow. He is then the G.o.d of the atmosphere, who gives rain.

ISHTAR OR NANA,

the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following and description quoting.

The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or _tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the great mother, the very mother. If from the names of G.o.d and G.o.ddesses, we pa.s.s to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also furnishes a perfect etymology for them.

In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans, we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her _Thala.s.sa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing without steadiness, like the sea.

URUKH.

The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are ascribed the most archaic monuments of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia.

He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases, their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very name _Urkuh_ seems composed of two Maya words HUK, to make everything, and LUK, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his building propensities and of the materials used by him.

a.s.sYRIA.

The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of a.s.shur, the supreme G.o.d of the a.s.syrians, who never p.r.o.nounced his name without adding "a.s.shur is my lord," is still an undecided matter amongst the learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was named after the G.o.d a.s.shur; others that the G.o.d a.s.shur received his name from the place where he was wors.h.i.+ped. None agree, however, as to the significative meaning of the name a.s.shur. In a.s.syrian and Hebrew languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the G.o.d. That a.s.shur was the name of the deity, and that the country was named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively the word _a.s.shur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya.

_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive p.r.o.noun, as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination.

It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_ would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be united.

A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_, or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the sh.o.r.es of the lake of t.i.ticaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The _Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES.

That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel.

It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.

In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King Belshazzar was banqueting, the words "Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,"

which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and Syriac, and had once before a.s.sisted him in interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_, _numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quant.i.ty--or MANEL, to pa.s.s, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light.

To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity, nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or _paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the inhabitants of a place.

As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross, as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew, and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to the fort.i.tude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to his role as G.o.d. If G.o.d himself, why complain that G.o.d has forsaken him?

He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man calleth for Elias._

His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and _he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v.