Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Being...

Among the ancient Mexicans, Peruvians, and some of the Indian tribes of North and South America, were found fragments of the Eden Myth. The Mexicans said that the primeval mother was made out of a man's bone, and that she was the mother of twins.[533:1]

The Cherokees supposed that heavenly beings came down and made the world, after which they made a man and woman of clay.[533:2] The intention of the creators was that men should live always. But the Sun, when he passed over, told them that there was not land enough, and that people had better die. At length, the daughter of the Sun was bitten by a Snake, and died. The Sun, however—whom they worshiped as a god—consented that human beings might live always. He intrusted to their care a box, charging them that they should not open it. However, impelled by curiosity, they opened it, contrary to the injunction of the Sun, and the spirit it contained escaped, and then the fate of all men was decided, that they must die.[533:3]

The inhabitants of the New World had a legend of a Deluge, which destroyed the human race, excepting a few who were saved in a boat, which landed on a mountain.[533:4] They also related that birds were sent out of the ark, for the purpose of ascertaining if the flood was abating.[533:5]

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 ancient Mexicans were fire-worshipers; so were the ancient Peruvians. They kept a fire continually burning on an altar, just as the fire-worshipers of the Old World were in the habit of doing.[534:5] They were also Sun-worshipers, 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 analogy 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 God born of a virgin;[534:9] the One God worshiped in the form of a Trinity;[534:10] the crucified Black god;[534:11] the descent into hell;[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]

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 worshiped 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 worshiped 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 (Râhu) from Sun or Moon.[535:9]

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 superstition. 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 Gods;" 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 gods 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 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 Japan—as it was a very few years ago. In fact, there is something strangely Japanese in the entire cultus of Peru as described by all writers.[537:2]

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 God 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 ass, 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 Worship. 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 asserted that a comparison and analysis 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]