Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 143

The ancient Mexicans had the legend of the _confusion of tongues_, and related the whole story as to how the G.o.ds destroyed the tower which mankind was building so as to reach unto heaven.[533:6]

The Mexicans, and several of the Indian tribes of North America, believe in the doctrine of _Metempsychosis_, or the transmigration of souls from one body into another.[533:7] This, as we have already seen,[533:8] was universally believed in the Old World.

The legend of _the man being swallowed by a fish_, and, after a three days' sojourn in his belly, coming out safe and sound, was found among the Mexicans and Peruvians.[534:1]

The ancient Mexicans, and some Indian tribes, practiced _Circ.u.mcision_, which was common among all Eastern nations of the Old World.[534:2]

They also had a legend to the effect that one of their holy persons commanded _the sun to stand still_.[534:3] This, as we have already seen,[534:4] was a familiar legend among the inhabitants of the Old World.

The ancient Mexicans were _fire-wors.h.i.+pers_; so were the ancient Peruvians. They kept a fire continually burning on an altar, just as the fire-wors.h.i.+pers of the Old World were in the habit of doing.[534:5] They were also _Sun-wors.h.i.+pers_, and had "temples of the Sun."[534:6]

The _Tortoise-myth_ was found in the New World.[534:7] Now, in the Old World, the Tortoise-myth belongs especially to _India_, and the idea is developed there in a variety of forms. The tortoise that holds the world is called in Sanscrit Kura-mraja, "King of the Tortoises," and many Hindoos believe to this day that the world rests on its back. "The striking a.n.a.logy between the Tortoise-myth of North America and India,"

says Mr. Tyler, "is by no means a matter of new observation; it was indeed remarked upon by Father Lafitau nearly a century and a half ago.

Three great features of the Asiatic stories are found among the North American Indians, in the fullest and clearest development. The earth is supported on the back of a huge floating tortoise, the tortoise sinks under the water and causes a deluge, and the tortoise is conceived as being itself the earth, floating upon the face of the deep."[534:8]

We have also found among them the belief in an Incarnate G.o.d born of a virgin;[534:9] the One G.o.d wors.h.i.+ped in the form of a Trinity;[534:10]

the crucified _Black_ G.o.d;[534:11] the descent into h.e.l.l;[534:12] the resurrection and ascension into heaven,[534:13] all of which is to be found in the oldest Asiatic religions. We also found monastic habits--friars and nuns.[534:14]

The Mexicans denominated their high-places, sacred houses, or "_Houses of G.o.d_." The corresponding sacred structures of the Hindoos are called "_G.o.d's House_."[535:1]

Many nations of the _East_ entertained the notion that there were _nine heavens_, and so did the ancient Mexicans.[535:2]

There are few things connected with the ancient mythology of _America_ more certain than that there existed in that country before its discovery by Columbus, extreme veneration for the _Serpent_.[535:3] Now, the Serpent was venerated and wors.h.i.+ped throughout the East.[535:4]

The ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, and many of the Indian tribes, believed the Sun and Moon not only to be brother and sister, but man and wife; so, likewise, among many nations of the Old World was this belief prevalent.[535:5] The belief in were-wolves, or man-wolves, man-tigers, man-hyenas, and the like, which was almost universal among the nations of Europe, Asia and Africa, was also found to be the case among South American tribes.[535:6] The idea of calling the earth "mother," was common among the inhabitants of both the Old and New Worlds.[535:7] In the mythology of Finns, Lapps, and Esths, Earth-Mother is a divinely honored personage. It appears in China, where _Heaven_ and _Earth_ are called in the _Shuking_--one of their sacred books--"Father and Mother of all things."

Among the native races of _America_ the Earth-Mother is one of the great personages of mythology. The Peruvians wors.h.i.+ped her as _Mama-Phacha_, or Earth-Mother. The Caribs, when there was an earthquake, said it was their mother-earth dancing, and signifying to them to dance and make merry likewise, which they accordingly did.[535:8]

It is well-known that the natives of Africa, when there is an eclipse of the sun or moon, believe that it is being devoured by some great monster, and that they, in order to frighten and drive it away, beat drums and make noises in other ways. So, too, the rude Moguls make a clamor of rough music to drive the attacking Arachs (Rahu) from Sun or Moon.[535:9]

The Chinese, when there is an eclipse of the Sun or Moon, proceed to encounter the ominous monster with gongs and bells.[535:10]

The ancient Romans flung firebrands into the air, and blew trumpets, and clanged brazen pots and pans.[535:11] Even as late as the seventeenth century, the Irish or Welsh, during eclipses, ran about beating kettles and pans.[536:1] Among the native races of America was to be found the same superst.i.tion. The Indians would raise a frightful howl, and shoot arrows into the sky to drive the monsters off.[536:2] The Caribs, thinking that the demon Maboya, hater of all light, was seeking to devour the Sun and Moon, would dance and howl in concert all night long to scare him away. The Peruvians, imagining such an evil spirit in the shape of a monstrous beast, raised the like frightful din when the Moon was eclipsed, shouting, sounding musical instruments, and beating the dogs to join their howl to the hideous chorus.[536:3]

The starry band that lies like a road across the sky, known as the _milky way_, is called by the Basutos (a South African tribe of savages), "The Way of the G.o.ds;" the Ojis (another African tribe of savages), say it is the "Way of Spirits," which souls go up to heaven by. North American tribes know it as "the Path of the Master of Life,"

the "Path of Spirits," "the Road of Souls," where they travel to the land beyond the grave.[536:4]

It is almost a general belief among the inhabitants of Africa, and was so among the inhabitants of Europe and Asia, that monkeys were once men and women, and that they can even now really speak, but judiciously hold their tongues, lest they should be made to work. This idea was found as a serious matter of belief, in Central and South America.[536:5] "The Bridge of the Dead," which is one of the marked myths of the Old World, was found in the New.[536:6]

It is well known that the natives of South America told the Spaniards that inland there was to be found a fountain, the waters of which turned old men back into youths, and how Juan Ponce de Leon fitted out two caravels, and went to seek for this "Fountain of Youth." Now, the "Fountain of Youth" is known to the mythology of India.[536:7]

The myth of foot-prints stamped into the rocks by G.o.ds or mighty men, is to be found among the inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Egyptians, Greeks, Brahmans, Buddhists, Moslems, and Christians, have adopted it as relics each from their own point of view, and _Mexican_ eyes could discern in the solid rock at Tlanepantla the mark of hand and foot left by the mighty Quetzalcoatle.[536:8]

The Incas, in order to preserve purity of race, married their own sisters, as did the Kings of Persia, and other Oriental nations.[537:1]

The Peruvian embalming of the royal dead takes us back to _Egypt_; the burning of the wives of the deceased Incas reveals _India_; the singularly patriarchical character of the whole Peruvian policy is like that of _China_ in the olden time; while the system of espionage, of tranquillity, of physical well-being, and the iron-like immovability in which their whole social frame was cast, bring before us _j.a.pan_--as it was a very few years ago. In fact, there is something strangely j.a.panese in the entire cultus of Peru as described by all writers.[537:2]

The dress and costume of the Mexicans, and their sandals, resemble the apparel and sandals worn in early ages in the East.[537:3]

Mexican priests were represented with a Serpent twined around their heads, so were Oriental kings.[537:4] The Mexicans had the head of a rhinoceros among their paintings,[537:5] and also the head of an elephant on the body of a man.[537:6] Now, these animals were unknown in America, but well known in Asia; and what is more striking still is the fact that the man with the elephant's head is none other than the Ganesa of India; the G.o.d of Wisdom. Humboldt, who copied a Mexican painting of a man with an elephant's head, remarks that "it presents some remarkable and apparently _not accidental_ resemblances with the Hindoo Ganesa."

The horse and the a.s.s, although natives of America,[537:7] became extinct on the Western Continent in an early period of the earth's history, yet the Mexicans had, among their hieroglyphics, representations of both these animals, which show that it must have been seen in the old world by the author of the hieroglyph. When the Mexicans saw the horses which the Spaniards brought over, they were greatly astonished, and when they saw the Spaniards on horseback, they imagined man and horse to be _one_.

Certain of the temples of _India_ abound with sculptural representations of the symbols of _Phallic Wors.h.i.+p_. Turning now to the temples of _Central America_, which in many respects exhibit a strict correspondence with those in India, _we find precisely the same symbols, separate and in combination_.[537:8]

We have seen that many of the religious conceptions of _America_ are identical with those of the _Old World_, and that they are embodied or symbolized under the same or cognate forms; and it is confidently a.s.serted that a comparison and a.n.a.lysis of her primitive systems, in connection with those of other parts of the globe, philosophically conducted, would establish the grand fact, that in ALL their leading elements, and in many of their details, they are essentially the same.[538:1]

The _architecture_ of many of the most ancient buildings in South America resembles the Asiatic. Around Lake t.i.ticaca are ma.s.sive monuments, which speak of a very ancient and civilized nation.[538:2]

E. Spence Hardy, says:

"The ancient edifices of Chi Chen, in Central America, bear a striking resemblance to the topes of India. The shape of one of the domes, its apparent size, the small tower on the summit, the trees growing on the sides, the appearance of masonry here and there, the style of the ornaments, and the small doorway at the base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anuradhapura, _that when my eye first fell upon the engravings of these remarkable ruins, I supposed that they were presented in ill.u.s.tration of the dagobas of Ceylon_."[538:3]

E. G. Squire, speaking of this, says:

"The Bud'hist temples of Southern India, and of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, as described to us by the learned members of the Asiatic Society, and the numerous writers on the religion and antiquities of the Hindoos, correspond, with great exactness, in all their essential and in many of their minor features, with those of _Central America_."[538:4]

Structures of a _pyramidal_ style, which are common in India, were also discovered in Mexico. The pyramid tower of Cholula was one of these.[538:5]

Sir R. Kir Porter writes as follows:

"What striking a.n.a.logies exist between the monuments of the old continents and those of the Toltecs, who, arriving on Mexican soil, built several of these colossal structures, truncated pyramids, divided by layers, like the temple of Belus at Babylon. _Whence did they take the model of these edifices? Were they of the Mongolian race? Did they descend from a common stock with the Chinese, the Hiong-nu, and the j.a.panese?_"[538:6]

The similarity in _features_ of the Asiatic and the American race is very striking. Alexander de Humboldt, speaking of this, says:

"There are striking contrasts between the Mongol and American races."[538:7] "Over a million and a half of square leagues, from the Terra del Fuego islands to the River St. Lawrence and Behring's Straits, we are struck at the first glance with the general resemblance in the features of the inhabitants. _We think we perceive that they all descended from the same stock_, notwithstanding the enormous diversity of language which separates them from one another."[538:8]

"This a.n.a.logy is particularly evident in the color of the skin and hair, in the defective beard, high cheek-bones, and in the direction of the eyes."[539:1]

Dr. Morton says:

"In reflecting on the aboriginal races of America, we are at once met by the striking fact, that their physical characters are wholly independent of all climatic or known physical influences. Notwithstanding their immense geographical distribution, embracing every variety of climate, it is acknowledged by all travellers, that there is among this people a prevailing type, around which all the tribes--north, south, east and west--cl.u.s.ter, though varying within prescribed limits. With trifling exceptions, all our American Indians bear to each other some degree of family resemblance, quite as strong, for example, as that seen at the present day among full-blooded Jews."[539:2]

James Orton, the traveler, was also struck with the likeness of the American Indians to the Chinese, including the flatted nose. Speaking of the Zaparos of the Napo River, he says:

"The Zaparos in physiognomy somewhat resemble the Chinese, having a middle stature, round face, small eyes set angularly, and a broad, flat nose."[539:3]

Oscar Paschel says:

"The obliquely-set eyes and prominent cheek-bones of the inhabitants of Veragua were noticed by Monitz Wagner, and according to his description, out of four Bayano Indians from Darien, three had thoroughly Mongolian features, including the flatted nose."

In 1866, an officer of the Sharpshooter, the first English man-of-war which entered the Parana River in Brazil, remarks in almost the same words of the Indians of that district, that their features vividly reminded him of the Chinese. Burton describes the Brazilian natives at the falls of Cachauhy as having thick, round Kalmuck heads, flat Mongol faces, wide, very prominent cheek bones, oblique and sometimes narrow-slit Chinese eyes, and slight mustaches.

Another traveler, J. J. Von Tschudi, declares in so many words that he has seen Chinese whom at the first glance he mistook for Botocudos, and that since then he has been convinced that the American race ought not to be separated from the Mongolian. His predecessor, St. Hilaire, noticed narrow, obliquely-set eyes and broad noses among the Malali of Brazil. Reinhold Hensel says of the Coroados, that their features are of Mongoloid type, due especially to the prominence of the cheek-bones, but that the oblique position of the eyes is not perceptible. Yet the oblique opening of the eye, which forms a good though not an essential characteristic of the Mongolian nations, is said to be characteristic of all the Guarani tribes in Brazil. Even in the extreme south, among the Hiullitches of Patagonia, King saw a great many with obliquely set eyes. Those writers who separate the Americans as a peculiar race fail to give distinctive characters, common to them all, which distinguish them from the Asiatic Mongols. All the tribes have stiff, long hair, cylindrical in section. The beard and hair of the body is always scanty or totally absent. The color of the skin varies considerably, as might be expected in a district of 110 of lat.i.tude; it ranges from a light South European darkness of complexion among the Botocudos, of the deepest dye among the Aymara, or to copper red in the Sonor tribes. But no one has tried to draw limits between races on account of these shades of color, especially as they are of every conceivable gradation.[540:1]

Charles G. Leland says:

"The Tunguse, Mongolians, and a great part of the Turkish race formed originally, according to all external organic tokens, as well as the elements of their language, but one people, closely allied with the Esquimaux, the _Skraling_, or dwarf of the Norseman, and the races of the New World. This is the irrefutable result to which all the more recent inquiries in anatomy and physiology, as well as comparative philology and history, have conduced. All the aboriginal Americans have those distinctive tokens which forcibly recall their neighbors dwelling on the other side of Behring's Straits. They have the four-cornered head, high cheek-bones, heavy jaws, large angular eye-cavities, and a retreating forehead. The skulls of the oldest Peruvian graves exhibit the same tokens as the heads of the nomadic tribes of Oregon and California."[540:2]