An interesting parallelism is brought out by a comparison between the ancient Mexican mode of producing the sacred fire by means of a reed and a piece of wood and its symbolism of the mystic union of the two principles of nature, to the origin of fire as told in the Veda and the ceremonial mode employed in India to produce the sacred fire by means of the mystic arani and the pramantha. The difference between the ancient American and Indian apparatus should be noticed. The two arani, made of the wood of Ficus religiosa, were placed crosswise. “At their junction was a fossette or cup-like hole and there they placed a piece of wood upright, in the form of a lance (the pramantha), violent rotation of which by means of whipping, produced fire, as did Prometheus, the bearer of fire in Greece” (Bournouf, Des Sciences et Religions and Prof. Thomas Wilson, The Swastika, p. 777). A remarkable relation unquestionably exists between the two mystic arani, which, crossed, form a four-branched cross from the centre of which fire is produced by rotation and the almost universal identification of [pg 319] Polaris and Ursa Major, as the central source of life, power extending to four directions, rotation and duality underlying quadruplicity. In my opinion no more graphic presentation of the rotation of Ursa Major around Polaris, the central ruler of heaven, could have been devised than the cross figure from the centre of which fire was perpetually obtained.
It is all the more significant, therefore, to find it stated that the ancient Aryan light-god, Mithra, was worshipped under the form of fire. I point out that, in a representation published by Layard in his Culte de Mithra and reproduced here (fig. [72], 1) from Mr. Goodyear's work, a man and a woman are represented as worshipping a star, the scene so strongly recalling the portion of the Hindu marriage ceremony where the pole-star is pointed out, that an identity of scene suggests itself. Returning to the swastika: its meaning in India appears to be forgotten; but, according to Professor Thomas Wilson, a follower of the Jain religion expressed the opinion that “the original idea was very high, but later on some persons thought the swastika represented only the combination of the male and female principles” (Thomas Wilson, On the Swastika, p. 803).
To the Hindu, holding this view and also accustomed to associate the pole-star with the marriage rite, there must exist a curious band of union and identity between Polaris and the swastika, both connected with the combination of the male and female principles.
To treat of the Hindu calendar and division of time would be to transgress beyond the limits of the present investigation which has already assumed unforeseen dimensions. As I shall discuss it in detail in my monograph on the ancient Mexican Calendar system, it will suffice to recall here that Humboldt pointed out the resemblance between the latter and the Hindu system, and that this has been further dwelt upon for instance in the article on the subject in the Encyclopædia Britannica. In the same work of reference it is also stated that, “according to the conclusions of Delambre, the Hindoo knowledge of astronomy was greatly inferior to that of the Greeks, and it has been argued by Laplace, in opposition to the previous opinions of Bailly, that the Indian astronomy is not of the highest antiquity, but must have been imperfectly borrowed from the Greeks.” I may as well state here, however, that, in India as in Mexico, the divisions of time were in accordance with the general scheme, and enabled human activity and labor to [pg 320] be controlled and carried out by means of rotation, and with strict impartial law, order and harmony.
Pausing here and with a clear realization of probable omissions and deficiencies of material, I venture to believe that the foregoing data suffice to establish beyond a doubt the point which is the main object of the present essay, namely, that in India the swastika is found accompanied by the primordial set of ideas which also form the basis of the Chinese and ancient American civilizations. The Middle is, moreover, associated in India with the idea of immovability, repose and centrifugal power and rule, incorporated in the supreme divinity whose symbol is the wheel and who is represented as dual and quadruple in nature, i. e. with four hands (as two persons), and with four heads (four persons), the six persons thus symbolized being united in the person of the seventh, the synopsis of them all. The seven-day period; the seven zones of the earth; the seven divine footsteps towards the north; the seven councillors of the Brahmin king, etc., all prove that, whereas six directions in space were worshipped in India, they were inseparable from the sacred seventh which united all of them. The mythical sacred mountain Meru, the throne of the supreme eternal power, constituted the fixed centre of the world and strikingly exemplified quadruplicate division and organization, being associated with four lakes and four rivers; four mythical animals and four guardians. In consonance with this plan Brahma was endowed with four heads and four hands; the empire was divided into four quarters and seven zones, and the population into four castes identified with four colors, and governed by a king and seven councillors. The wheel, associated in the case of Mithra with the serpent, constituted the emblem of supreme dominion and rule which was connected with the idea of an extension to the four quarters. The swastika was but another expression of the same idea and represented also an image of the universal scheme. This sign and the pole-star were both associated, in the native mind, with the life-producing union of the male and female principles of nature and the sacred element fire, under which form the supreme god was anciently worshipped. The lotus flower symbolized the universe, its unity and complexity; the number of petals represented usually agreeing with the number of the cosmical divisions. Two points should further be briefly referred to: The division of time into seven-day periods [pg 321] coincides with the septenary scheme of organization resting upon the seven directions in space. The sacred soma tree, the hom, was an object of cult in India. The custom of planting a Bodhi tree wherever Buddhist missionaries established their doctrine indicates its association with the idea of an established centre. The employment of wooden sticks for the production of the sacred fire under which form the supreme central god was anciently worshipped, also connected wood and the tree with the sacred Centre. Deferring a discussion of the different and yet analogous way in which the fundamental set of ideas was worked out in America and India, I shall but mention here how clearly, in each case, the ultimate results can be traced back to a common primitive and natural origin.
MESOPOTAMIA.
Let us now carry our research into that region whence civilization spread through western Asia, and is said to have been carried to Egypt, Greece and Rome. It may be a surprise to many to learn that, at the present day, on the banks of the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia, pole-star worship, pure and simple, is openly professed by the Mandaïtes who are reputed to be the descendants of the famous Magi of ancient Chaldea, and are termed Sabba or Sabans by the Moslems. It will be seen that these star-watchers have preserved intact an extremely ancient form of the archaic cult which contains the living germ of all primitive religions and represents an evolutionary stage which they must all have undergone.
It is to the kindness of a friend that I owe the knowledge of an article on a Mandaïte New Year festival which appeared in the “Standard” some years ago and which I reproduce in full as Appendix [II]. As might be expected, the Euphratean star-gazers, like the Chinese, determined midnight by the position of the Great Bear. It is interesting to find, moreover, that the spiritual head of the sect is entitled Gan-zivro, and is closely escorted by four young deacons, named sh-kan-dos, as well as by four priests=tarmidos, and four sub-deacons. The circumstance that the consecrated group of officiants consists of 12+1=13 individuals is particularly suggestive. Not less so are the employment of the tau-shaped cross and the sacrifice of a quadruped to the lord of the underworld and his companion (the lord of the upper world?). The ceremonial immersion in the starlit river is a curious parallel [pg 322] to the midnight bathing in the sacred pool attached to the ancient Mexican temple.
The formulas employed in addressing the pole-star deserve special consideration. In the designation of the stable centre of heaven as “the abode of the pious hereafter and the paradise of the elect,” the natural longings of the human race for stability, i. e. safety and repose, find an expression and in this we can detect the germ of thought whose extreme development, in India, produced the comparatively philosophical doctrine of Nirvana. The title of “Primitive Sun” enlightens us as to the original use of the word sun and the supreme importance accorded by the ancient star-gazers to the “Imperial ruler of heaven,” as the Chinese term the pole-star. This application of the word sun will be found particularly interesting to those who, having found the swastika termed a “sun-symbol,” have naturally been led to associate it with the diurnal sun, although they found it difficult to understand its connection with the rotatory motion so clearly discernible in the form of the primitive symbol.
Having ascertained that the Mandaïte pole-star worship of the present day embodies the cult of the sacred centre and of dual principles (one of which is designated as the lord of the underworld) and is associated with quadruple organization and a form of cross, let us now make a great stride backwards and note some details concerning ancient Sabæan star-worship.