Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

The negroes of the Cote-d'or admit two Gods, the one good, and the other bad; the one white, and the other black and evil. They do not adore the former often, whereas they try to appease the latter with prayers and sacrifices; the Portuguese have named him Demon. The Hottentots call the good Principle the Captain of above, and the bad principle the Captain of below. The ancients believed that the source of evil was in the underneath matter of the earth. The Giants and Typhon were sons of the Earth. The Hottentots say, that, whether the good Principle is prayed to or not he does good; whereas it is necessary to pray to the evil Principle, lest he might do harm. They call the bad god Touquoa, and represent him small, crooked, irritable, a foe to them; and they say that from him all evils flow to this world.

The natives of Madagascar believe in two Principles. They ascribe to the bad one the form and badness of a serpent, they call him Angat: they name the good one Jadhar, which means great, omnipotent God. They rear no temple to the latter because he is good. The Mingrelians more particularly honor the one of their idols, which they think to be the most cruel. The Indians of the island of Teneriffe believe in a supreme God, whom they call Achguaya-Xerax, which means the greatest, the most sublime, the preserver of all things. Also they admit an evil genius named Guyotta.

The Scandinaves have their god Locke, who wars against the gods, and particularly against Thor. He is the slanderer of the gods, Edda says, the great forger of deceit. His spirit is evil; he engendered three monsters; the wolf Feuris, the serpent Midgard, and Hela, or death. He causes the earthquakes. The Tsouvaches and the Morduans recognize a supreme being, who gave men all the blessings they enjoy. They also admit evil spirits whose occupation is to injure mankind.

The Tartars of Katzchinzi adore a benevolent god, in kneeling towards the Orient; but they fear another god, Toüs, to whom they pray to disarm his wrath; and to whom, in the spring, they sacrifice a stallion. The Ostiaks and the Vogouls name that evil god Koul; the Samoyedes name him Sjoudibe; the Motores, Huala; the Kargasses, Sedkyr. The Thibetans admit evil spirits which they place in the regions above. The religion of the Bonzes supposes two Principles. The Siamoeses sacrifice to an evil spirit, whom they consider as being the cause of all the misfortunes of mankind.

The Indians have their Ganga and their Gournatha, spirits whom they try to appease with prayer, sacrifices, and processions. The inhabitants of Tolgony, India, believe that two Principles govern the universe; the one good, he is light; and the other bad, he is darkness. The ancient Assyrians, as well as the Persians, admitted two Principles; and they honored, Augustine says, two gods, the one good, and the other bad. The Chaldeans also had their good and bad stars, animated by geniuses or intelligences also good and bad.

In America the dogma of two Principles, and of good and bad spirits, is also found. The Peruvians revered Pacha-Camac as being a good god, and Cupaï as being a bad god. The Caraïbs admitted two sorts of spirits; the one benevolent, who dwell in the heaven; and the other evil, who hover over us to lead us to temptation. The former, on the contrary, invite us to do good, and each of us is guarded by one of them. Those of Terra-Firma think that there is a god in the heaven, namely, the sun. Besides they admit a bad Principle, who is the author of all evils; they present him with flowers, fruits, corn, and perfumes. The Tapayas, situated in America by about the same latitude as the Madegasses in Africa, believe also in two Principles.

The natives of Brazil believe in a bad genius: they call him Aguyan; and they have conjurors who can, they say, divert his wrath. The Indians of Florida and of Louisiana adored the sun, the moon, and the stars. They also believed in an evil spirit named Toïa. The Canadians, and the savage tribes of the Bay of Hudson, revered the sun, the moon, the stars, and the thunder; but they more particularly prayed to the evil spirits. The Esquimaux believe in a god supremely good, whom they call Ukouma, and in another, Ouikan, who is the author of all evils; who causes the tempests, and who capsizes the boats. The savages of the strait of Davis believe in beneficent and malignant spirits.

This distinction of two Principles, of a god, and of geniuses or spirits, authors of good and light; and of a god and geniuses, authors of evil and darkness, is immemorial. This opinion has been so universally adopted for the only reason, that those who observed the opposite phenomena of nature could not account for them, and could not reconcile them with the existence of a single cause. As there are good and bad men, they believed that there were good and bad gods, the ones dispensers of good, and the others authors of evil.