After comparing these and other accounts, the author of the paper urges that there is no room for doubt that this is the plant which was known to the ancients as the Kyamos or Egyptian bean, the Tamara of modern India.

"The beans and flower stalks of this plant abound in spiral tubes, which are extracted with great care by gently breaking the stems and drawing apart the ends; with these filaments are prepared those wicks which are burnt by the Hindoos in the lamps placed before the shrines of their G.o.ds.

In India, as well as in China and Ceylon, the flowers are held to be specially sacred."

Sir William Jones says:--"The Thibetans embellish their temples and altars with it, and a native of Nepaul made prostration before it on entering my study, where the fine plant and beautiful flowers lay for examination."

"Thunberg affirms that the j.a.panese regard the plant as pleasing to the G.o.ds, the images of their idols being often represented sitting on its large leaves. In China, the Shing-moo or Holy Mother is generally represented with a flower of it in her hand, and few temples are without some representation of the plant.

"According to Chinese mythology, Shing-moo bore a son, while she was a virgin, by eating the seeds of this plant, which lay upon her clothes on the bank of a river where she was bathing. In the course of time she returned to the same place, and was there delivered of a boy. The infant was afterwards found and educated by a poor fisherman, and in process of time became a great man and performed miracles. When Shing-moo is represented standing, she generally holds a flower in her hand; when she is sitting, she is usually placed upon one of its leaves."[19]

The Lotos (Lotus) is held in the highest veneration in India, inclusive of Thibet and Nepaul. Amongst the Brahmans and enthusiastic Hindoos, no object in nature is looked on with more superst.i.tion; and their books abound in mystical allusions to this lovely aquatic. Being esteemed the most beautiful of vegetables, it not unappropriately furnishes a name for the Hindoo queen of beauty, and Kamal or Kamala is a name of Lakshmi: as is Padma or Pedma, another Sanscrit appellation for both. Under the form of Kamala, Lakshmi is usually represented with a Lotos in her hand, and in most pictures and statues of her consort Vishnu, he is furnished with the Pedma, or Lotus bud, in one of his four hands, as a distinguishing attribute. Accordingly, as it is represented in different stages of efflorescence, it varies, in the eyes of mystics, its emblematical allusions. As an aquatic, the Lotos is a symbol also of Vishnu, he being a personification of water or humidity, and he is often represented seated on it. Brahma the creative power, is also sometimes seated on the Lotos, and is borne on its calyx in the whimsical representation of the renovation of the world, when this mystical plant issued out of the navel of Vishnu from the bottom of the sea where he was reposing on the serpent Lesha.

Lakshmi, as we have just noticed, is the sakti or consort of Vishnu, the preservative power of the deity. The extensive sect of Vaishnava, or worshippers of Vishnu, esteem Lakshmi as mother of the world, and then call her Ada Maya; and such Vaishnavas as are saktas, that is, adorers of the supremacy of the female energy, worship her extensively as the type of the Eternal Being, and endow her with suitable attributes. She is represented by the poets and painters as of perfect beauty. Hindoo females are commonly named after her: and there are few in the long catalogue of their deities whose various names and functions are so frequently alluded to in conversation and writing, either on theogony, mythology, poetry or philosophy. Her terrestrial manifestations have been frequent, and her origin various. As Rhemba, the sea born G.o.ddess, she arose out of the fourteen gems from the ocean when churned by the good and evil beings for the amrita or beverage of immortality. She then a.s.sumes the character of Venus Marina, or Aphrodites of the Greeks, who, as Hesiod and Homer sing, arose from the sea, ascended to Olympus, and captivated all the G.o.ds. The production of Rhemba, Sri, or Lakshmi is thus described in the thirty-sixth section of the first book of Ramayana. "The G.o.ds, the asuras and the gandharvas, again agitating the sea, after a long time appeared the great G.o.ddess, inhabiting the lotus; clothed with superlative beauty, in the first bloom of youth, covered with ornaments, and bearing every auspicious sign; adorned with a crown, with bracelets on her arms, her jetty locks flowing in ringlets, and her body--which resembled burnished gold--adorned with ornaments of pearl. Thus was produced the G.o.ddess Padma or Sri, adored by the whole universe, Padma by name. She took up her abode in the bosom of Padma-nabha, even of Heri," that is, of Vishnu, of whom these are names. Sri, as this deity is often called, distinguished her more particularly as the G.o.ddess of fortune, the word meaning _prosperity_; but it is not given exclusively to Lakshmi. Other of her names are derived from the lotus, which is the emblem of female beauty, and especially applicable to this G.o.ddess. In images and pictures of her, which are very common in India, Lakshmi is generally represented as a mere woman; sometimes, however, four-armed; often holding a kamal or lotus, in an easy and elegant att.i.tude, and always very handsome. With her lord, Vishnu, she is frequently seen on the serpent Sesha; he reposing, she in respectful attendance, while a lotus springing from Vishnu's navel to the surface of the sea (for this scene is subaqueous) bears in its expanded calyx, Brahma, the creator of the world, about to perform the work of renovation. Sometimes she is seated with her lord on Garuda, or Superva, clearing the air, of which Vishnu is a personification. In Vishnu's most splendid avatara, or incarnation of Krishna, she became manifested as Rukmein, or Radha, the most adored of the amorous deities, and mother of the G.o.d of love; here again corresponding with our popular Venus, the mother of Cupid. In the avatara of Rama, Lakshmi was his faithful spouse, in the form of Sita; in that of Narsingha she was Narsinhi, or Nrisinhi; when Varaha, Varahi; and as the Sakti of Narayana she is by her own sectaries called Narayni; and in most of the many incarnations of Vishnu she appears to have descended with him, frequently under his own celestial name: as his consort generally she is called Vaishnavi.

Lakshmi and Bhavani are both considered queens of beauty, and their characters are said to "melt into each other." Lakshmi being commonly seen with a Kamal or Lotos, the emblem of female beauty, in her hand, she is called Kamala: the word is by some--by Sir W. Jones, indeed, in his earlier lucubrations on Hindu mythology, spelled Kemel. In his profound and spirited hymn to Narayana, which every inquirer into its subject would do well to consult with attention, that deity, a personification of the Spirit of Brahme, as "he heavenly pensive on the Lotus lay," said to Brahma, "Go; bid all the worlds exist!" and the Lotus is thus apostrophised:--

"Hail, primal blossom! hail, empyreal gem!

Kemel, or Pedma, or whate'er high name Delight thee; say, what four-formed G.o.dhead came, With graceful stole, and bearing diadem, Forth from thy verdant stem?-- Full-gifted Brahma."[20]

The following extract from the "Loves of Krishna and Radha" shews the deep poetic sentiment a.s.sociated with flowers, and especially with the Lotos.

Krishna, afflicted by the jealous anger of Radha, exclaims--

"Grant me but a sight of thee, O lovely Radhica! for my pa.s.sion torments me. I am not the terrible Mahesa: a garland of water-lilies, with subtile threads, decks my shoulders--not serpents with twisted folds: the blue petals of the Lotos glitter on my neck--not the azure gleam of poison: powdered sandal wood is sprinkled on my limbs--not pale ashes. O G.o.d of love! mistake me not for Mahadeva; wound me not again; approach me not in anger; hold not in thy hand the shaft barbed with an amra flower. My heart is already pierced by arrows from Radha's eyes, black and keen as those of an antelope; yet mine eyes are not gratified by her presence. Her's are full of shafts; her eyebrows are bows, and the tips of her ears are silken strings: thus armed by Ananga, the G.o.d of desire, she marches, herself a G.o.ddess, to ensure his triumph over the vanquished remorse. I meditate on her delightful embrace: on the vanishing glances darted from the fragrant Lotos of her mouth: on her nectar-dropping speech; on her lips, ruddy as the berries of the Bimba."

Radha, half pacified, thus tenderly reproaches him--

"Alas! alas! Go, Madhava--depart, Kesavi; speak not the language of guile: follow her, O Lotus-eyed G.o.d--follow her, who dispels thy care. Look at his eyes, half-opened, red with waking through the pleasurable night--yet smiling still with affection for my rival. Thy teeth, O cerulean youth!

are as azure as thy complexion, from the kisses which thou hast imprinted on the beautiful eyes of thy darling, graced with dark blue powder; and thy limbs, marked with punctures in love's warfare, exhibit a letter of conquest, written in polished sapphire with liquid gold. That broad bosom, stained by the bright Lotos of her foot, displays a vesture of ruddy leaves over the tree of thy heart, which trembles within it. The pressure of her lips on thine wound me to the soul. Ah! how canst thou a.s.sert that we are one, since our sensations differ thus widely?--Thy soul, O dark-limbed G.o.d! shows its blackness externally; even thy childish heart was malignant, and thou gavest death to the nurse who would have given thee milk."

Krishna is thus farther described in the same poem--

"His azure breast glittered with pearls of unblemished l.u.s.tre, like the full bed of the cerulean Yamuna, interspersed with curls of white foam.

From his graceful waist flowed a pale yellow robe, which resembled the golden dust of the water-lily scattered over its blue petals. His pa.s.sion was inflamed by the glances of her eyes, which played like a pair of water birds with azure plumage, that sport near a full-blown Lotos on a pool, in a season of dew. Bright earrings, like two suns, displayed, in full expansion, the flowers of his cheeks and lips, which glistened with the liquid radiance of smiles. His locks, interwoven with blossoms, were like a cloud variegated with moonbeams, and on his forehead shone a circle of odorous oils, extracted from the sandal of Malaya--like the moon just appearing on the dusky horizon, while his whole body seemed in a flame from the blaze of unnumbered gems."

With respect to the mention above of the _blue_ Lotos, Moor notes:--"Written in the north of India; the Lotos in the southern parts, Bengal and the Dekhan, having only white and red flowers. Hence the Hindu poets feign that the Lotus was dyed red by the blood of Siva, that flowed from the wound made by the arrow of Kama."

And with respect to the expression, "the bright Lotos of her foot," he says:--"Hindustani women dye the soles of their feet, and nails, of a bright red. Redha, in her frenzied jealousy, fancies she sees a print of her rival's foot on Krishna's breast; observing, perhaps, the indelible impression of the foot of Brighu, received on his breast by Vishnu."

"The Indians commonly represent the mystery of their physiological religion by the emblem of a _Nympha_, or _Lotos_, floating like a boat on the boundless ocean; where the whole plant signifies both the earth and the two principles of its fecundation: the germ is both _Meru_ and the _Linga_; the _petals_ and _filaments_ are the mountains which encircle Meru, and are also a type of the Yoni; the leaves of the calyx are the four vast regions to the cardinal points of Meru, and the leaves of the plant are the _dwipas_ or isles round the land of _Jambu_. Another of their emblems is called _Argha_, which means a _cup_ or _dish_, or any other vessel, in which _fruit_ and _flowers_ are offered to the deities, and which _ought_ always to be _shaped like a boat_, though we now see arghas of many different forms, oval, circular or square; and hence it is that Iswara has the t.i.tle of _Arghanatha_, or the lord of the boat-shaped vessel: a rim round the _argha_ represents the mysterious Yoni, and the navel of Vishnu is commonly denoted by a convexity in the centre, while the contents of the vessel are symbols of the _linga_. This _argha_, as a type of the _adhara-sacti_, or _power of conception_, excited and vivified by the _linga_, or _Phallus_, we cannot but suppose to be one and the same with the ship Argo, which was built, according to Orpheus, by Juno and Pallas, and according to Appolonius, by Pallas and Argus at the instance of Juno: the Yoni, as it is usually p.r.o.nounced, nearly resembles the name of the princ.i.p.al Hetruscan G.o.ddess, and the Sanscrit phrase _Arghanatha_ Iswara seems accurately rendered by Plutarch, when he a.s.serts Osiris was commander of the Argo. We cannot yet affirm that the words phala, or fruit, and phulla, or a flower, have ever the sense of Phallus; but fruit and flowers are the chief oblations in the _argha_, and triphala is a name sometimes given, especially in the West of India, to the trifula, or trident of Mahadeva. It can be shown that the Jupiter Triphylius of the Pauchan Islands was no other than Siva holding a triphala, who is represented also with three eyes to denote a triple energy, as Vishnu and Prithivi are severally typified by an equilateral triangle, (which likewise gives an idea of capacity) and conjointly, when their powers are supposed to be combined, by two such equal triangles intersecting each other."[21]

CHAPTER V.

_Story of the Fire-G.o.d and his secret--Growth of Fire-Worship--Fire an essential in Hindu Worship--The Chaldeans--The Persians--The Hebrews-- Fire in Hindu Ceremonies--Duties of Hindu Life--The Serpent and Fire-- Phallo-Pythic Solar Shrines--Fire and Phallic Worship--Leaping through Fire--Fire-treading in Scotland--Fire-leaping in Russia--The Medes as Fire Worshippers--The Sabines--Fire and the Ancient Christians--The Roman Church and Fire--The Jews--Temple of Vesta--Fire Worship in Ireland--Phallo-Fire Worship of Greeks and Romans._

The Rev. W. Gill in his "Myths and Songs from the South Pacific" supplies us with a story particularly suitable for notice here, called the "Fire G.o.d's Secret." The story tells us that originally fire was unknown to the inhabitants of the world, who of necessity ate raw food. That in the nether-world (Avaiki) lived four mighty ones: Manike, G.o.d of fire; the Sun-G.o.d Ra; Ru, supporter of the heavens; and lastly, his wife Buataranga, guardian of the road to the invisible world. To Ru Buataranga was born a famous son Mani. At an early age Mani was appointed one of the guardians of this upper world where mortals live. Like the rest of the inhabitants of the world, he subsisted on uncooked food. The mother Buataranga, occasionally visited her son; but always ate her food apart, out of a basket brought with her from nether-land. One day, when she was asleep, Mani peeped into her basket and discovered cooked food. Upon tasting it he was decidedly of opinion that it was a great improvement upon the raw diet to which he was accustomed. This food came from nether-world; it was evident that the secret of fire was there. To nether-world, the home of his parents he would descend to gain this knowledge, so that ever after he might enjoy the luxury of cooked food.

The story goes on to say that when Buataranga set out, next day, on her journey to nether-world, Mani followed her, unbeknown to her. He then saw his mother standing opposite a black rock which she addressed in these words: "Buataranga, descend thou bodily through this chasm. The rainbow-like must be obeyed. As two dark clouds parting at dawn, Open, open up my road to nether-world, ye fierce ones!"

At these words the rock divided, and Buataranga descended. Mani carefully treasured up these words; and started off to see the G.o.d Tane, the owner of some wonderful pigeons. He begged Tane to lend him one, but as the one Tane lent him did not please him, he returned it, as he did also another and a better one. The only bird that would content him was a certain red pigeon, which was specially prized by its owner and was made a great pet of. Tane at first objected to part with the bird and only did so upon Mani's faithfully promising to restore it uninjured. Off went Mani with the bird to the place where his mother had descended.

p.r.o.nouncing the magic words, the rock opened, and Mani descended. The guardian demons of the chasm, enraged at finding themselves imposed upon by a stranger, tried to seize the pigeon, intending to devour it. They only succeeded in getting possession of the tail, which the pigeon went on without. (They say that Mani had transformed himself into a small dragon-fly and was perched upon the pigeon's back.)

Arrived at nether-land, Mani sought for the home of his mother, which was the first house he saw. The pigeon alighted on an oven-house opposite to an open shed where Buataranga was beating out cloth. She stopped her work to gaze at the bird, which she guessed to be a visitor from the upper world as none of the pigeons in the shades were red. She said to the bird:--"Are you not come from daylight?" The pigeon nodded a.s.sent; "Are you not my son Mani?" Again the pigeon nodded. At this Buataranga entered her dwelling and the bird flew to a bread-fruit tree. Mani resumed his proper form, and went to embrace his mother, who inquired how he had descended to nether-world and the object of his visit. Mani answered that he had come to learn the secret of fire. Buataranga said, "This secret rests with the fire-G.o.d Manike. When I wish to cook I ask your father Ru to beg a lighted stick from Manike." Mani inquired where the fire-G.o.d lived. His mother pointed out the direction, and said it was called Are-ava, _house-of-banyan-sticks_. She warned her son to be careful, "for," she said, "the fire is a terrible fellow, and of a very irritable temper."

Mani walked up boldly towards the house of the fire-G.o.d. Manike, who happened to be busy cooking an oven of food, stopped at his work and demanded what the stranger wanted. Mani replied, "A fire brand." The fire brand was given. Mani carried it to a stream running past the bread fruit tree and there extinguished it. He now returned to Manike and obtained a second fire brand, which he also extinguished in the stream.

The third time a lighted stick was demanded of the fire-G.o.d he was beside himself with rage. Raking the ashes of the oven, he gave the daring Mani some of them on a piece of dry wood. These live coals were thrown into the stream as the former lighted sticks had been.

Mani correctly thought that a fire brand would be of little use unless he could obtain the secret of fire. The brand would eventually go out; _but how to reproduce the fire?_ His object therefore was to pick a quarrel with the fire-G.o.d, and compel him by sheer violence to yield up the invaluable secret, as yet known to none but himself. On the other hand, the fire-G.o.d, confident in his own prodigious strength, resolved to destroy this insolent intruder into his secret. Mani for the fourth time demanded fire of the enraged G.o.d. Manike ordered him away, under pain of being tossed into the air; for Mani was small of stature. But the visitor said he should enjoy nothing better than a trial of strength with the fire-G.o.d. Manike entered his dwelling to put on his war-girdle; but on returning found that Mani had swelled himself to an enormous size.

Nothing daunted at this, Manike boldly seized him with both hands and hurled him to the height of a cocoa-nut tree. Mani contrived in falling to make himself so light that he was in no degree hurt by his adventure.

Manike, maddened that his adversary should yet breathe, excited his full strength, and next time hurled him far higher than the highest cocoa-nut tree that ever grew. Yet Mani was uninjured by his fall, whilst the fire-G.o.d lay panting for breath.

It was now Mani's turn. Seizing the fire-G.o.d he threw him up to a dizzy height and caught him again like a ball with his hands. Without allowing Manike to touch the ground, he threw him a second time into the air, and caught him in his hands. a.s.sured that this was but a preparation for a final toss which would seal his fate, the panting and thoroughly exhausted Manike entreated Mani to stop and to spare his life. Whatever he desired should be his.

The fire-G.o.d, now in miserable plight, was allowed to breathe awhile.

Mani said, "Only on one condition will I spare you--_tell me the secret of fire_. _Where is it hidden? How is it produced?_ Manike gladly promised to tell him all he knew, and led him inside his wonderful dwelling. In one corner there was a quant.i.ty of fine cocoa-nut fibre; in another, bundles of fire-yielding sticks--the _au_, the oronga, the tauinu, and particularly the aoa or banyan tree. These sticks were all dry and ready for use. In the middle of the room were two smaller sticks by themselves.

One of these the fire-G.o.d gave to Mani, desiring him to hold it firmly, while he himself plied the other most vigorously. And thus runs the Fire-G.o.d's Song:--

"Grant, oh grant me thy hidden fire, Thou banyan tree!

Perform an incantation; Utter a prayer to (the spirit of) The banyan tree!

Kindle a fire for Manike Of the dust of the banyan tree."

By the time the song was completed, Mani, to his great joy, perceived a faint smoke arising out of the fine dust produced by the friction of one stick upon another. As they persevered in their work the smoke increased; and, favoured with the fire-G.o.d's breath, a slight flame arose, when the fine cocoa-nut fibre was called into requisition to catch and increase the flame. Manike now called to his aid the different bundles of sticks and speedily got up a blazing fire, to the astonishment of Mani.

The grand secret of fire was secured. The story tells us that the victor then in order to be revenged for his trouble and his tossing into the air, set fire to his adversary's abode, that in a short time all the nether-world was in flames, which consumed the fire-G.o.d and all he possessed.

Mani then picked up the two fire-sticks and hastened to the bread-fruit tree, where the red pigeon awaited his return. His first care was to restore the tail of the bird so as to avoid the anger of Tane. There was no time to be lost, for the flames were rapidly spreading. "He re-entered the pigeon, which carried his fire-stalks one in each claw, and flew to the lower entrance of the chasm. Once more p.r.o.nouncing the words he learnt from Buataranga, the rocks parted, and he safely got back to this upper world. Mani now resumed his original human form, and hastened to carry back the pet bird of Tane. Pa.s.sing through the main valley of Keia, he found that the flames had preceded him, and had found an aperture at Teava, since closed up. The king's Rangi and Mokoiro trembled for their land; for it seemed as if everything would be destroyed by the devouring flames. To save Mangaia from utter destruction, they excited themselves to the utmost, and finally succeeded in putting out the fire. Rangi thenceforth adopted the new name of Matamea, or Watery-eyes, to commemorate his sufferings; and Mokoiro was ever after called Anai, or Smoke."

"The inhabitants of Mangaia availed themselves of the conflagration to get fire and to cook food. But after a time the fire went out, and as they were not in possession of the secret, they could not get new fire.

"But Mani was never without fire in his dwelling; a circ.u.mstance that excited the surprise of all. Many were the inquiries as to the cause. At length he took compa.s.sion on the inhabitants of the world, and told them the wonderful secret--that fire lies hidden in the hibiscus, the urtica argenta, the 'tauinu' and the banyan. This hidden fire might be elicited by the use of fire sticks which he produced. Finally, he desired them to chant the fire-G.o.d's song, to give efficacy to the use of the fire-sticks."

"From that memorable day all the dwellers in this upper world used fire-sticks with success, and enjoyed the luxuries of light and cooked food.

"To the present time this primitive method of obtaining fire is still in vogue; cotton, however, being subst.i.tuted for fine cocoa-nut fibre as tinder. It was formerly supposed that only the four kinds of wood found in the fire-G.o.d's dwelling would yield fire.

"'Aoa' means banyan-tree; for intensity and rhythm the word is lengthed into 'aoaoaoa.' The banyan was sacred to the fire-G.o.d.

"The spot where the flames are said to have burst through, named Te-oao or _the banyan-tree_, was sacred till Christianity induced the owner to convert the waste land into a couple of taro patches."[22]

"Light, then fire, the sun, and the 'whole host of heaven' seem successively, and at last collectively, to have become objects of worship to the Arian race; but first of all light, which was to them pre-eminently the object of adoration in Northern India previous to the period of the collection or composition of the hymns of the earliest Hindu Veda, or, in round numbers, thirty-five centuries ago.

"According to Herodotus, the Persians venerated fire as a divinity, and Pliny explains that the magic of Persia might apparently have been learned from the practices of the Britons. There is abundant evidence to show that our heathen ancestors worshipped the sun and moon. It might, therefore, reasonably be inferred that in Britain, as in other countries, fire would be subst.i.tuted as typical of the great luminary--of its light and its heat--and became an object of adoration, when the sun was obscured or invisible in seasons set apart for celebrating the religious rites of a Sabian worship. But we are not dependent on inference, however rational, for a knowledge of the fact that fire was an object of adoration to our heathen ancestors, even so late as the eleventh century; for in the laws of c.n.u.t fire appears as one of the objects the worship of which is forbidden."

"Fire seems to have always had the firmest hold upon the wonderment and then the adoration of the infant mind. To the present moment it is an essential part of all Hindoo worship and ceremonies. From his cradle to his grave, when the Hindoo is folded in the G.o.d's embrace, the ancient races around me seek for it, use it, offer sacrifices to it, and adore it."