As the old Vedic language became lost to the people there arose a custom of setting apart certain individuals to faithfully preserve the old and sacred records, and thus arose the priestly caste of Brahmans, whose duties consisted in transcribing the sacred hymns of the Rig-Veda and preserving the knowledge of the sacred language in which they were first written. The great day-father, Dyaus, now received the name of Brahma, the magic power, and Prajapeti, the lord of creatures, and was endowed with three divine energies—Agni (fire), Vayu (air), and Surya (the sun), which together formed a subordinate triad. Soma became associated with the moon; Asura became the demon of hell, which was peopled with tormenting monsters; Indra and Vishnu became blended with Surya; and Rudra was converted into Siva and identified with Agni. As Brahmanism progressed the principal worship on the shores of the Ganges gradually centred round Vishnu, who was supposed to undergo periodically a number of Avataras, or incarnations, by means of which he rescued fallen man from the fate awaiting him. These descents to the lower world were very frequent, and appear to have had some connection with the zodiacal constellations; for we find the incarnation at one time taking place as a man, at another as a fish, at another as a lion, and so on.
The most ancient of the Avataras was probably the incarnation of Krishna, the Indian Hercules, who was mentioned in the Vedic writings as “Krishna, the son of Devaki,” and in whose honour festivals were kept, at a very early period, similar to those connected with the cultus of Bacchus. Megasthenes found the worship of Krishna prevailing along the shores of the Ganges at the beginning of the third century before our era, and described it as the worship of Hercules. This incarnate offspring of the ancient sun-god, Vishnu, was said to have been born at Mathura, a place situated between Delhi and Agra, and to have acted the part of a saviour of the world and a mediator between the gods and men. Soon after his birth his life was sought by the reigning tyrant, Kamsa, who feared for the safety of his throne, which necessitated the removal of Krishna to a place of safety. Arriving at manhood, this young divinity slew the serpent Kaliya, and sported with the Gopîs, or female cowherds, among whom he had been brought up. He was fond of wine, Bacchanalian revels, and sensualities, though considered to be immaculately holy, and resigned to his fate, which was to suffer death in order to relieve the earth of the burden of a proud race. For this purpose he was incarnated in the womb of his mother, Devaki, and for this purpose he lived and died.
In the mountainous regions away from the Ganges the cultus of Siva was the more prevalent, Vishnu being considered of secondary importance; but, as sects gradually were formed out of the ancient religion, one party preferring this deity and another that, an attempt was made, which eventually proved successful, to re-unite the various religious parties and re-instate the principal gods in their original places. The ancient orthodoxy was brought into sympathy with the new religion in a very curious manner, by making Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva a trinity of essences or attributes of the supreme Brahm, each a supreme god in itself, and each equal with the others in importance; Brahma being specially the creator, Vishnu the redeemer or preserver, and Siva the destroyer. At times Krishna was added to the new trinity as a fourth figure; but this was an innovation which found little favour, inasmuch as Vishnu and Krishna were the same god, the one but the incarnation of the other. Thus the old idea of Prajapeti, or Brahma, with the three divine energies—Agni (fire), Vayu (air), and Surya (the sun)—were revived in a manner as a new trinity of essences of the supreme deity, under other names; and the arrangement thus concluded has continued in use to this day with the orthodox Hindus. We find, therefore, that, despite the accumulation of fresh myths, which grew larger as time wore on, the original conception of the constant necessity for a divine saviour was never lost, and that, as the approach of night in the Vedic system was followed by the torments of the shades, and the powers of darkness were destroyed by the re-appearance of the dawn-god, so also the approaching extinction of the people under a wicked tyrant was followed by the misery which preceded the appearance of the saviour-god, Krishna. In fact, every myth that occurs in the religions of India is built out of this original idea of the powers of light being overcome by the powers of darkness and finally rescued by a redeeming god. In later times, as the science of astronomy became more popular and better understood, not only was the daily apparent course of the sun the source from which myths were fabricated, but his annual apparent march through the zodiacal signs was also drawn upon for the creation of more imposing and elaborate dramas; and in this manner were produced the fables containing allusions to the two crucifixions, or passage of the sun across the equator at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, and the rites of baptism when the sun was passing through the sign Aquarius, and fasting during the period of the sun’s transit through Pisces, etc.
The religion of Boodhism is an offshoot of the Brahman system, having originated in the so-called incarnation of Vishnu, Gautama Boodha, whose powerful personality has left an indelible impress upon the religion. This remarkable man lived about the end of the sixth century; but the real history of Boodhism does not commence until about the middle of the third century before our era. The doctrines taught by this great reformer were brotherly love, self-sacrifice, and an eternal Nirvana as the consummation of all bliss. The doctrine of the transmigration of the soul was still maintained; but a state of Nirvana, or absolute non-existence, was declared to be the deliverance from the endless succession of re-births for those who, by their purity of life and heart, merit such a blissful end. Admitting that men were born in different castes, determined by their good or evil deeds in a prior existence, Boodha yet declared that all might attain the highest salvation, and that none, not even those of the highest caste and most sacred offices, could do this without having regard to the well-being of all his fellow creatures. The authority of the Vedas was rejected by the Boodhists, as also the whole dogmatic system of the Brahmans; and in their place was substituted a higher moral teaching, a more equitable relationship of men, and a wide-spreading system of communism. This reformation of ancient dogmatic faith was not destined to last long uncorrupted, for the monasteries established by the Boodhists for the purpose of affording an asylum to the poor and destitute soon became infested with religious fanatics—Jainas, as they were called, some of whom went naked, while others robed themselves in white linen. These ascetic monks looked forward to Nirvana as their final goal, practised the most severe austerities, received confession, administered priestly absolution, and kept regular feast and fast days; but they discountenanced the growing custom of worshipping relics which was finding favour with other Boodhist sects. Thus gradually the primitive Aryan conception of a ruling power developed into a huge system of dogmatism, monachism, and ritual in the countries south and east of the Indus, as far even as the confines of the country of the great Mongol race, whose religion is as yet but little known to us, although it bears strong marks of having been originally derived from the same source as that from which came the Vedic system.
Having glanced somewhat cursorily at the religious development of the Eastern Aryan peoples, we will now turn to the Western Aryans, and observe the manner in which the old Vedic myth was perpetuated in Western Europe, leaving the Central Aryans, or that branch which remained in and around Persia and Western Afghanistan, for subsequent consideration; for, in this central district, the Mongol Akkadians and the Semites intermingled so frequently with the Aryans that a very intricate mythological system gradually came into operation in some districts, bearing resemblance to the Vedic, the Semitic, and the Mongolian mythologies.
The Western branch of the great Aryan family, after penetrating into Southern Europe, became the progenitors of the ancient Pelasgi, the earliest known inhabitants of Greece, and through them transmitted the original Aryan myth to their successors, the Hellenes. Homer, in his “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” written at latest B.C. 900, well describes the religion of the Acheans, who inhabited Hellas for centuries prior to B.C. 1000, and long before the supremacy of the Dorians; and, in this description, as well as in that of Hesiod’s “Theogony,” written immediately afterwards, there is exhibited a remarkable similarity to the old Vedic system, the very name of the supreme deity being clearly derived from an Aryan source, and that root being the identical expression used to designate the Vedic Dawn God. From Dyaus Pitar, the Day Father or Dawn God of the Aryans, the Greeks derived their Zeus Pater, from whence we get Dios, Theos, the Latin Deus Pater, Dies Pater and Jupiter, and the French Dieu. Zeus was supreme god, high above all others, having unlimited power, and living up in the vault of heaven, surrounded by the inferior and subordinate deities, who together formed his Olympian court. Instead of being nature powers, these gods were endowed with freedom of action, subject to pain and pleasure, and depended for their sustenance upon food. The supremacy of King Zeus was firmly established; he presided over councils of the gods to deliberate great matters, and was not bound or fettered by any recognised restraint. With Athena and Apollo, he formed a supreme triad, himself being the head, Athena the reason or wisdom of the Divine Father, and Apollo the mouth, revealer of his counsel, and loving son, who is always of one will with his father. With Apollo was closely associated Prometheus, the great benefactor and liberator of the race of man, who, according to that beautiful tragedy of “Æschylus,” brought salvation to the world in spite of Jupiter, his father and torturer, by whom he was crucified on a rock, where he remained in fearful anguish until liberated by Hercules. Here we find the old Vedic saviour redeeming the world from the darkness and misery of night or winter, the same drama precisely as that described in connection with the Eastern Aryan mythology. In both instances the apparent daily and annual ascension and decline of the sun is depicted: in the one case it rises again after its period of defeat in winter, or night, as the sun-god Indra, afterwards Surya, and still later Krishna; while in the other case it resuscitates the earth as Prometheus, the benefactor of mankind. Just as Prometheus was but the Greek counterpart of the Hindu Krishna, so also were Apollo, Hercules, Iao, and Dionysos precisely the same. Each was the new-born sun, bringing back light and glory to suffering humanity; and each passed through the very same periods of power, decline, and misery before being born again.
Zeus was the sun-god par excellence, residing on the summit of Olympus, or in the highest part of the heavenly vault, during the summer months, when he was called Olympian Zeus, and down in Hades during the winter period, when he was known as the Stygian Zeus; and thus the oracle of the Klarion Apollon taught that the supreme God was called, according to the seasons of the year, Hades, Zeus, Helios, and Iao. Apollo and Prometheus, although saviour sun-gods, representing the new-born sun victorious over death and winter, were yet one with Zeus, and merely repetitions of the same character under different names. So, in like manner, Hercules was not only son of Zeus, but Zeus himself, and may be traced right through the complete annual circuit in his twelve labours, from Hades to Olympus, and from Olympus to Hades again. Dionysos was, in reality, not an Aryan deity, but of Egyptian origin, having been introduced into Greece at a very early time, either from Egypt, where he was worshipped as Mises, or, more probably, from Phœnicia, where he was worshipped under the name of Iēs, which accounts for the fact that hero personifications of Dionysos in later times were accorded the designation of Iesous, (Ιησους, or in capitals ΙΗΣΟΥΣ—Latin Jesus), the Greek form of Iēs (Ιης, or in capitals ΙΗΣ). This Egyptian saviour sun-god became later the popular god Bacchus of the Romans, just as Apollo had been the popular Greek divinity, and was thus described by Macrobius: “The images or statues of Bacchus represent him sometimes under the form of a child, sometimes under that of a young man, at other times with a beard of a mature man, and, lastly, with the wrinkles of old age, as the Greeks represent the god whom they call Baccapee and Briseis, and as the Neapolitans in Campania paint the god whom they honour under the name of Hebon. These differences of age relate to the sun, who seems to be a tender child at the winter solstice, such as the Egyptians represent him on a certain day [December 25th], when they bring forth from an obscure nook of their sanctuary his infantine image, because, the day being then at the shortest, the god seems yet to be but a feeble infant: gradually growing from this moment, he arrives, by degrees, at the vernal equinox, under the form of a young man, of which his images at that time bear the appearance; then he arrives at his maturity, indicated by the tufted beard with which the images which represent him at the summer solstice are adorned, the day having then taken all the increase of which it is susceptible. Lastly, he decreases insensibly, and arrives at his old age, pictured by the state of decrepitude in which he is portrayed in the images.”
Yao, Iao, or Adonis was of Semitic origin, although widely worshipped in Greece, and generally identified with Zeus, whose Semitic counterpart he really was, although himself a saviour sun-god. Yao, to the Phœnicians and Chaldeans, was as Zeus and Prometheus to the Greeks, and represented the whole annual circuit, though he was always called by the Greeks specially the god of the autumn, on account of his having, at that period, to part from his lover, Aphrodite (Venus), for six months; and thus there was usually a certain melancholy attached to his worship, the oracle of the Klarion Apollon terming him the darling or tender Yao (Ιαω), god of the autumn.
As the Greek power and civilisation declined and the Roman advanced, the god Yao, like his counterpart Iēs, became one of the most popular of the Roman deities, being worshipped under the name Adonis in every city of Italy; and the mythological horizon became crowded with gods and demi-gods of every description, until, at length, it became a very difficult matter to determine who was a god and who was not worthy of that distinction; for the Roman Emperors were invariably deified, as well as others of less degree. The old Aryan drama, however, was preserved throughout in the worship of the principal gods, and has even been perpetuated in the reformed religion of the Semitic communistic enthusiast, Yahoshua, which became, soon after the commencement of our era, the popular religious system of the whole of Europe.
We have now to deal with the Central Aryans, or Eranians; and, in doing so, must bear in mind that, while the Eastern Aryans, or Hindus, and the Western Aryans of Europe, were almost altogether uninfluenced for many centuries by the mythologies of surrounding tribes of other and distinct families of the human race, this was far from being the case with the Eranians, who were almost entirely cut off from their Western brethren; and, although still in comparatively close contact with the Eastern Aryans, were yet completely wedged in between the Turanian Urals on the north, and the great Semitic stream of life on the south and west. Such being the case, it is at once apparent that the religion of the Eranian people would quickly lose many of its distinctive Aryan marks and acquire many Turanian and Semitic characteristics. Bactria, in Eastern Eran (Persia), appears to have been the ancient birth-place of this semi-Aryan religion, which afterwards developed, under the influence of that great reformer, Zoroaster (Zarathustra), into the cultus called Mazdeism, or Parsism. From the Avesta, the sacred writings of the Parsis, written in the old Zend language, we derive considerable knowledge of Mazdeism. Ahura Mazdao (Ormazd), the all-wise spirit, is supreme god, far above all gods, being creator of the world, god of light and truth, existing from the beginning, and eternal. Inferior to him are Mithra, god of light; Nairyo Sanha, god of fire; Apan Napat, god of water; Haoma, god of the drink of immortality; and Tistrya, the dog-star god. The chief goddess of fruitfulness was Anahita, who in later time became an important deity in association with the worship of Mithra, the son of Ormuzd. Mazdeism also recognised a god of evil, Ahro Mainyus (Ahriman), who, with the evil Devas, inhabit the under-world, and oppose Ormuzd on every occasion; the world lying between the two kingdoms of righteousness and evil, ruled over respectively by Ormuzd and Ahriman. This dualism is the most marked feature of Mazdeism, and runs through the whole religion, being found in every myth, and giving rise to the most hideous conceptions of morality. In the cosmogony of the Parsis the great creator, Ormuzd, after making a perfect world and introducing a perfect pair of human beings, is defeated by the wicked Ahriman, who creates evil, and seduces the man and woman to sin, thus placing in opposition to each other upon this earth the two forces, good and evil. To avoid the influence of this evil force, and to gain that of the good power, was the great aim of all true Mazda-worshippers; and the means whereby this much-desired end could be attained was the fire-god, Nairyo Sanha, to whom constant supplications were made for this purpose. So great was the influence of Ahriman upon human beings that the god of light, Mithra, was promised as a saviour to come upon the earth and rescue his people from the power of evil, his mission being to avenge his father’s defeat by the god of the under-world, after doing which he would ascend to his father and become one with him for ever. The Magi, or Mithraitic priests of the “black art,” or “hidden science of astrology,” are thus addressed in the “Zend-Avesta”:—”You, my children, shall be first honoured by that divine person who is to appear in the world; a star shall be before you to conduct you to the place of his nativity; and when you have found him, present to him your oblations and sacrifices, for he is indeed your lord and an everlasting king,” meaning that after the constellation of the virgin came to the eastern line of the horizon, as it did at twelve o’clock at midnight, between December 24th and December 25th, in the period immediately following that in which the words were written, the great star, Vindemiatrix, in the virgin’s elbow, would, on January 6th, begin to shine, pointing out to the astrologers, or Magi, her exact situation, who would then know that the birth of the god-light of the new revolution had taken place, and that by his re-appearance he would declare himself to be the everlasting ruler of the universe. Consequently, for centuries after this time the image of the god-light Mithra was presented to the people for adoration every year on December 25th, soon after midnight, in the shape of a newly-born male child, brought from the recesses of the sacred grotto, or mystic cave of Mithra. Another image, supposed to be the same deity fully grown, was said to die, and was carried to the tomb after death by the priests, who chanted solemn hymns and groaned. After pretending to mourn for three days, the sacred torch, or emblem of new life, was lighted, and the priests exclaimed, “Reassure yourselves, sacred bands of initiated; your god is restored to life; his pains and sufferings procure your salvation.” This took place at the vernal equinox, and the people responded: “I salute you, new light; I salute you, young bridegroom and new light.”