THE MAKING OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN (COSMOGONY)
The efforts of man to account for his existence and that of the
world in which he lives--in a word, for the origin of Heaven and
earth and all that is in them--are among the most deeply interesting
manifestations of human mental activity and progress. To his
speculations the science of comparative mythology has given the name
cosmogony (Greek _cosmos_, 'world,' and _gignesthai,_ 'to be born'), of
which the best literal translation is 'world-birth.'
Before speculating upon the reason for the similarity between
cosmogonic myths in all parts of the globe, or how far they have been
coloured one by another or sophisticated by modern culture, we shall
find it profitable to study the chief creation tales themselves, so
that when we come to discuss their likeness or unlikeness we shall be
well furnished with examples in support of the views we adopt. This
course is wise in the study of tradition; for unless the student is
well furnished and abundantly fortified with 'instances,' he will never
thoroughly apprehend the greater issues of traditional science, never
fully grasp its spirit.
Some one has said that quotations are "ready armour, offensive and
defensive," and the simile might well be employed of 'instances' in
folklore and mythology, where the ability to cite copious parallels is
of the highest assistance in argument.
With this in view, then, we shall look at the most important of
those tales which relate to the creation of the world and man before
analysing them.
INDIAN CREATION STORIES
India furnishes manifold ideas concerning the origin of the universe
and man. At the first, says the _Rig-Veda_, there was neither
non-entity nor entity, and all was water wrapped in gloom. "Then
desire (Karma) arose in it, which was the primal germ of mind ...
the bond between entity and non-entity." The following hymn from the
_Rig-Veda_,[1] the vigorous translation of which is by the late Dr
Muir, gives some account of the process:
There was neither aught nor naught, nor air, nor sky beyond.
What covered all? Where rested all? In watery gulf profound?
Nor death was then, nor deathlessness, nor change of night and day.
The One breathed calmly, self-sustained; naught else beyond it lay.
Gloom, hid in gloom, existed first--one sea, eluding view.
That One, a void in chaos wrapt, by inward fervour grew.
Within it first arose desire, the primal germ of mind,
Which nothing with existence links, as sages searching find.
The kindling ray that shot across the dark and drear abyss--
Was it beneath? or high aloft? What bard can answer this?
There fecundating powers were found, and mighty forces strove--
A self-supporting mass beneath, and energy above.
Who knows, who ever told, from whence this vast creation rose?
No gods had then been born--who then can e'er the truth disclose?
Whence sprang this world, and whether framed by hand divine or no--
Its lord in heaven alone can tell, if even he can show.
This hymn is among the earliest speculations of the Hindus regarding
cosmogonic phenomena, and its pious conclusion did not satisfy the
cravings of future still more inquisitive generations. In the _Purusha
Sakta_ of the _Rig-Veda_, admittedly of considerably later origin than
the above composition, the following creation myth is found:
"Purusha has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. On
every side enveloping the earth, he overpassed (it) by a space of
ten fingers. Purusha himself is this whole (universe), whatever has
been and whatever shall be. He is also lord of immortality, since
(or when) by food he expands. All existences are a quarter of him,
and three-fourths of him are that which is immortal in the sky. With
three-quarters Purusha mounted upward. A quarter of him was again
produced here. From him was born Viraj; and from Viraj, Purusha.
When the gods performed a sacrifice, with Purusha as the oblation,
the spring was its butter, the summer its fuel, and the autumn its
(accompanying) offering. From that universal sacrifice sprang the Rich
and Saman verses, the metres and the Yajush; from it sprang horses
and all animals with two rows of teeth, kine, goats, and sheep. When
(the gods) divided Purusha, into how many parts did they cut him up?
The Brahman was his mouth, the Rajanya was made his arms, the being
(called) Vaisya was his thighs, and the Sudra sprang from his feet. The
morn sprang from his soul (manas), the sun from his eye, Indra and Agni
from his mouth, and Vaya from his breath. From his navel arose the air,
from his head the sky, from his feet the earth, from his ear the (four)
quarters; in this manner (the gods) formed the worlds."
Now follows an extract from the _Satapatha Brahmana,_ which gives the
words used at the creation: "(Uttering) 'bhuh', Prajapati generated
this earth. (Uttering) 'bhuvah,' he generated the air; and (uttering)
'svah,' he generated the sky. This universe is co-extensive with
these worlds. Saying bhuh,' Prajapati generated the Brahman; (saying)
'bhuvah,' he generated the Kshattra; (and saying) 'svah,' he generated
the Vis. All this world is as much as the Brahman, Kshattra, and Vis.
(Saying) 'bhuh,' Prajapati generated himself; (saying) 'bhuvah,' he
generated offspring: (saying) 'svah,' he generated animals. This world
is so much as self, offspring, and animals."
The _Taittiriya Brahmana_ says, "This entire (universe) has been
created by Brahma," and gives an account of the creation of the Asuras,
Pitris (or fathers), and gods. "Prajapati desired 'May I propagate.' He
practised austerity. His breath became alive. With that breath (asu)
he created Asuras. Having created the Asuras, he regarded himself as a
father. After that he created the fathers (pitris). That constitutes
the fatherhood of the fathers. Having created the fathers, he
reflected. After that he created men. That constitutes the manhood of
men. He who knows the manhood of men becomes intelligent. To him, when
he was creating men, day appeared in the heavens. After that he created
the gods."
The _Satapatha Brahmana_ relates the creation of men and animals.
"Prajapati was formerly this (universe) only. He desired: 'Let me
create food, and be propagated.' He formed animals from his breaths,
a man from his soul, a horse from his eye, a bull from his breath, a
sheep from his ear, a goat from his voice. Since he formed animals from
his breaths, therefore men say: 'The breaths are animals,' The soul is
the first of breaths. Since he formed a man from his soul, therefore
they say: 'Man is the first of the animals and the strongest.' The soul
is all the breaths; for all the breaths depend upon the soul. Since he
formed man from his soul, therefore they say: 'Man is all the animals';
for all these are man's."
In another passage this Brahmana gives quite a different account.
Purusha, as the soul of the universe, was alone. Hence "he did not
enjoy happiness. He desired a second. He caused this same self to fall
asunder into two parts. Thence arose a husband and wife. From them men
were born. She reflected: 'How does he, after having produced me from
himself, cohabit with me? Ah! let me disappear!' She became a cow, and
the other a bull; from them kine were produced. The one became a mare,
the other a stallion; the one a she-ass, the other a male-ass. From
them the class of animals with undivided hoofs was produced. The one
became a she-goat, the other a he-goat; the one an ewe, the other a
ram. From them goats and sheep were produced. In this manner pairs of
all creatures whatsoever, down to ants, were created."
The Puranas are very minute and specific as regards the facts of
creation. Indeed the first book of the _Vishnu Purana_ is largely taken
up with accounts of the cosmogonic process. According to this venerable
script Brahma first existed in the form of Purusha (spirit) and Kalu
(time). "Next proceeded two other forms, the discreet and indiscreet;
and Kala (time) was the last. These four--Pradhana (primary or crude
matter), Purusha (spirit), Vyakta (visible substance), and Kala
(time)--in their due proportions, are the causes of the production of
the phenomena of creation, preservation, and destruction. The supreme
Brahma, the supreme soul, the substance of the world, the lord of all
creatures, the universal soul, the supreme ruler Hari (Vishnu), of his
own will having entered into matter and spirit, agitated the mutable
and immutable principles, the season of creation having arrived, in the
same manner as fragrance affects the mind from its proximity merely,
and not from any immediate operation upon mind itself; so the supreme
influenced the elements of creation."
After giving an account of the creation, or rather the evolution
of the elements, the _Vishnu Purana_ goes on to say: "Then (the
elements) ether, air, light, water, and earth, severally united with
the properties of sound, and the rest existed as distinguishable
according to their qualities as soothing, terrific, or stupefying; but
possessing various energies, and being unconnected, they could not
without combination create living beings, not having blended with each
other. Having combined, therefore, with one another, they assumed,
through their mutual association, the character of one mass of entire
unity; and from the direction of spirit, with the acquiescence of the
indiscrete principle, intellect, and the rest, to the gross elements
inclusive, formed an egg, which gradually expanded like a bubble of
water. This vast egg, compounded of the elements, and resting on the
waters, was the excellent natural abode of Vishnu in the form of
Brahma; and there Vishnu, the lord of the universe, whose essence is
inscrutable, assumed a perceptible form, and even he himself abided in
it in the character of Brahma. Its womb, vast as the mountain Meru,
was composed of the mountains; and the mighty oceans were the waters
that filled its cavity. In that egg were the continents and seas and
mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe, the gods, the
demons, and mankind.
"Affecting then the quality of activity, Hari the lord of all, himself
becoming Brahma, engaged in the creation of the universe. Vishnu,
with the quality of goodness and of immeasurable power, preserves
created things through successive ages, until the close of the period
termed a Kalpa; when the same mighty deity, invested with the quality
of darkness, assumes the awful form of Rudra, and swallows up the
universe. Having thus devoured all things, and converted the world
into one vast ocean, the supreme reposes upon his mighty serpent couch
amidst the deep: he awakes after a season, and again, as Brahma,
becomes the author of creation."
EGYPTIAN CREATION MYTHS
Turning to ancient Egypt, that dark ocean of myth and mystery, we find
in papyrus 10,188, housed in the British Museum, an account of the
origin of things written for a priest of Panopolis, called Nes-Amsu,
about the year 312 B.C. This papyrus contains many things, chiefly
of magical import, but its interest for us is that it introduces two
varying accounts of the Egyptian idea of the creation, both of which
are a little vague and obscure. In the first, the god Neb-er-tcher,
a form of Ra the sun-god, tells how, through his godlike might, all
things came into being. Taking upon himself the shape of Khepera, the
deity symbolizing creation, he made himself and other "new things," in
fact, a whole world, "out of his mouth." The place where he performed
this feat was the watery abyss of Nu, from which certain considerations
lead us to suppose he took his _materials_. Says Khepera:
"I found no place there (in Nu) whereon I could stand. I worked a charm
upon my own heart. I laid a foundation in Maa. I made every form. I was
one by myself, I had not emitted from myself the god Shu, I had not
spit out from myself the goddess Tefnut. There was no other being who
worked with me."
Thus Khepera alone was creator; nor did he have any solid surface to
stand upon during the performance of his creative act. To remove the
difficulty he worked a charm upon, or made a foundation in, his own
heart--that is, by some magical act he found a foothold in the abyss
while he produced all things. "There came into being multitudes of
things from the things of what was produced"--that is, the objects
which had emanated from Khepera continued the work of creation of their
own accord. Khepera then produced the god and goddess Shu and Tefnut.
Men and women then appeared from his tears. The sun was manufactured
from an eye of the god, as was the moon. Plants and creeping things
began to grow and move on the surface of the earth, so that they cannot
have been included in the original 'things' created by the god. Finally
Shu and Tefnut produced the pantheon of the elder gods, and these
deities multiplied offspring in the earth.
OSIRIS AS CREATOR
The second version of the creation myth which the papyrus contains
makes Osiris take the place of Khepera, or Neb-er-tcher. He is
described as the _pautet pautti_, or the very essence of primeval
matter, and the source of all created things. Osiris utters his own
name as a word of power, and "forthwith came into being under the form
of things which were created." Like Neb-er-tcher, he took the form of
Khepera as proper to the act of creation. "I came into being," he says,
"from primeval matter, and I appeared under the form of multitudes of
things from the beginning. Nothing existed at that time, and it was I
who made whatsoever was made. I was alone, and there was no other being
who worked with me in that place. I made all the forms under which I
appeared by means of the god-soul which I raised up out of Nu, out of
a state of inertness." Thus we here have the 'god-soul' existent in a
quiescent condition in the watery abyss of Nu, awaiting the magic call
of Osiris. The next point in which the second account differs from the
first is the making of man, made, it states, after the reptiles and
creeping things.
Thus in these Egyptian creation myths we have a primeval watery mass
peopled by a self-begotten and self-existent god who, uttering his own
name as a spell, straightway came into existence, then awakened the
slumbering soul of the abyss into activity, and by the utterance of
magic words created a place or foundation upon which he could stand.
Having done this, he proceeded to the creation of other gods, the
light, human beings, vegetation, and creeping things. Of birds, beasts,
and stars we find nothing in the myth, which is one of the earliest
Egyptian conceptions of the creation of the world and of mankind.[2]
But as new races entered Egypt as immigrants or conquerors, other myths
descriptive of the creation process arose and flourished side by side.
There was, for example, that of Ptah, a potter, pictured in the ancient
drawings as shaping the world-egg, the 'cosmic egg,' upon his wheel. He
is said, in connexion with Khnemu, to have carried out the active work
of creation at the command of Thoth. Khnemu was also regarded as the
personification of creative force, who formed the cosmic egg from the
Nile mud and shaped man on his potter's wheel; and there were others,
all more or less akin.
EGYPTIAN IDEAS REGARDING THE SKY
The earlier Egyptians regarded the sky as a flat metal plate or slab,
each end of which rested upon a mountain, the mountain of sunrise,
Bakhau, and the mountain of sunset, Manu. In the late Pyramid texts the
sky is rectangular, each corner resting upon a pillar. In still later
times those four pillars were looked upon as the sceptres of the gods
who presided over the four quarters of heaven. At a comparatively late
date the idea arose that the sky required support in the centre as well
as at its angles, and the god who acted as central prop was called Heh.
In another myth the heavens were shaped like a man's head, with the sun
and moon for eyes, and hair supporting the sky.
Another Egyptian idea of the sky is that the goddess Nut, who
personified the upper regions, formed the vault of the heavens by
arching her body over the earth and resting her weight upon her hands
and feet. Sometimes the god Shu stands beneath, as if to support her.
Over her body are scattered the stars. She was alluded to as 'the Lady
of Heaven,' and is uniformly painted blue in imitation of the sky she
represented.
THE BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS OF CREATION
The principal version of the Babylonian account of creation is
preserved in the 'Seven Tablets of Creation' now in the British
Museum, and originally part of the library of Assurbanipal at
Nineveh. In this epic we find two primeval deities, Apsu and Tiawath,
personifications of the great abyss, and their son, Mummu. The gods are
created, Anu, En-lil, and Ea, but their 'ways' are displeasing to Apsu
and Tiawath, who rebel. The original male deities speedily succumb to
the power of the new gods. Tiawath creates a host of grisly monsters
and carries on unrelenting war against the enemy, but in terrific
combat with Marduk or Merodach she is annihilated. She is cut in twain,
and from one half of her body Merodach forms the heavens. He divides
the upper waters from the lower, makes dwellings for the gods, creates
the sun, moon, and stars, and ordains their courses. At this juncture
a portion of the account (Tablet V) is missing, but in the next slab
Merodach is said to have been decapitated, and with his own blood and
bone to have made man. Berosus, a priest of Merodach, who lived in
the third century B.C., wrote a Greek history of Babylonia, which has
been lost, but is known in part from quotations by classical writers.
In this work he recounted the above myth, with some variation in the
names, and the additional statement that half of Tiawath's body formed
the earth.[3]
Tiawath, like the Egyptian Nut, personified the primeval abyss; in
fact, the name signifies the sea, Apsu, the name of her spouse, meaning
the deep. The sea was to the Semitic mind symbolical of chaos and
trouble, as witness the Scriptural promise, "and there shall be no more
sea." The strange monsters framed by the goddess of the abyss to combat
the gods of light are perhaps associated with the teeming gigantic life
the Semites believed the sea capable of propagating, one well-known
example of which is the 'whale' or 'great fish' of Jonah.
CHINESE WORLD-MAKING
Chinese myth furnishes a fairly clear account of creation. During
countless scores of ages "nothing" condensed into unity, and the
Mighty Atom was formed. In the course of further ages the atom became
divided into the male and female principles, and the universe came into
being. But a more simple explanation was necessary for the uninitiated,
who were told that the two original elements became four, from the
co-operation of which sprang a deity called P'an Ku, whose function
it was to supply the constituents of the universe, His eyes became
the sun and moon, his breath the wind, his hair trees and vegetation,
his flesh the earth, his sweat rain, and the worms which sprang from
his decomposing body were men. The god Tien or Shang-ti is generally
regarded as the First Cause in Chinese myth; but although he may have
inspired the creation of the universe, he does not appear to have taken
any hand in its actual manufacture.
THE HEBREW CREATION STORY
The Biblical story of creation is a very complete cosmogony, having
affinities with that of Babylon. We are told in Genesis i, 6, 7, 14, 15
that God divided the primeval waters into two parts by an intervening
'firmament' or platform, where he placed the heavenly bodies. This
division has some likeness to the Babylonian account of the cleaving
of the carcass of Tiawath into two parts, one of which kept the upper
waters from coming down. The words _te hom_, rendered in the English
Bible 'the deep,' closely resemble the name Tiawath, 'the sea,'
Here, then, we seem to possess irrefragable philological evidence of
early Babylonian influence upon Hebrew belief. Verse 2 of Genesis i
also mentions the earth-matter out of which the earth and all its
products were to appear. This is called _tohu_ and _bohu_, 'devoid of
living things,' and so would appear to equate with "the lands" that
"altogether were sea" of Babylonian cosmogony. The creation of light
which appears in Genesis is not found in the Babylonian account, but
the Babylonian creator, Merodach, is a god of light. In brief, the
Hebrew account of the successive stages of creation corresponds so
closely to that of Babylon that it is obvious one has been influenced
by the other--naturally the younger by the elder.
JAPANESE ORIGINS
In the beginning, according to Japanese myth, Heaven and earth were
not separated and the In and Yo (the male and female principles) not
divided. The _Nihongi_ states that these male and female principles
formed a chaotic mass like an egg which was of obscurely defined limits
and contained germs. This egg quickened with life, the clearer part
became Heaven, while the more ponderable portion settled down as the
terrestrial sphere, like the floating of a fish sporting on the surface
of the waters. An object like a reed-shoot appeared between Heaven and
earth, and as suddenly became transformed into a god, Kuni-toko-tachi.
Other divine beings were born, but those responsible for most of "this
sorry scheme of things entire" were Izanagi (Male who invites) and
Izanami (Female who invites), concerning whom a very charming and
original myth was told.
They stood on the floating bridge of Heaven and peered downward into
the abyss below, asking each other what might exist so far below.
Puzzled, yet determined to probe the mystery of nothingness beneath
them, they thrust a jewel-spear downward, and touched the ocean.
Drawing the spear upward, some water dripped from it, coagulated, and
became an island, upon which the god and goddess set foot. Desiring
each other is husband and wife, although they were brother and sister,
they set up a pillar on the island, and by walking round it lost
their relationship. Izanagi walked round one way and Izanami the
other, exclaiming when they met: "Delightful! I have met with a lovely
maiden," and "I have met with a lovely youth." They espoused each
other, and Izanami gave birth to islands, seas, rivers, herbs, and
trees, and having produced the Great-Eight-Island Country was desirous
of bringing forth a living being who would be head of the Universe. In
due season Ama-terasu, the sun-goddess, was born, and the moon-god,
Tsuki-yumi. After the birth of the fire-god, however, Izanami suffered
so greatly that she betook herself to the land of Yomi or Hades and was
subsequently disowned by her husband.
IRANIAN COSMOGONY
The Iranian account of creation states that Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda), the
creator and good agency, fixed the duration of the world at twelve
thousand years. He created the spiritual world during the first
thousand of these. Ahriman, the principle of evil, did not know of his
existence until he espied the beams of light which emanated from his
glorious presence, but when he discovered it he commenced to plot evil.
During the next three thousand years Ormuzd created the world, the sun,
moon, and stars, plants, animals, and man. But Ahriman instituted a
malevolent counter-creation, and for every desirable thing Ormuzd made
Ahriman produced something evil, so that he became the creator of all
noxious plants and beasts of prey, diseases, and death. For a third
three thousand years a bitter strife was waged between the deities, but
with the birth of Zarathushtra or Zoroaster, a better day dawned for
the forces of good. The first animal created by Ormuzd was an ox, which
was assailed by the plagues and diseases of Ahriman and died; but from
its members sprang every description of cereal and plant, and two other
oxen. Ormuzd took of his sweat, and uttering words of power produced
the man Gayomart. He was also slain by Ahriman, but his seed having
fertilized in the earth, twins Mashya and Mashyana sprang up, at first
in the form of shrubs, and were the progenitors of humanity.
THE CELTIC IDEA OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN
The Celtic idea of creation as exhibited in the Welsh work _Barddas_
provided for two primary existences, God and Cythrawl, standing
respectively for life and death. Cythrawl has his abode in Annwn, the
Abyss of Chaos. In the beginning naught was but God and Annwn. God
pronounced his ineffable name, and Manred, the primal substance of
the Universe, was formed. Manred was composed of thousands of teeming
atoms, in each of which God was present, and each was a part of God.
They were arranged in concentric circles representing the totality
of being, and the innermost, the first on which life gets a footing
on emerging from Annwn, is Abred. This is the stage of struggle and
evolution, the contest of life with Cythrawl. The second is Gwynfyd,
the Circle of Purity, in which life triumphs, and the last is Ceugant,
inhabited by God alone, with whom, presumably, it is merged.
NORSE COSMOGONY
The Scandinavian conception of creation bears, strangely enough, some
general resemblance to those of ancient China and India (Purusha
variant). In the beginning yawned the great abyss of Ginnungagap and
naught beside, save that it was flanked on the north by the dreary
realm of Niflheim, a region of cold and mist, and on the south by
Muspelheim, a region of fire. Flowing from Niflheim, the rivers called
Elivagar froze, and the ice formed upon them was covered with congealed
vapour. The hot air from Muspelheim beating upon the ice melted it,
and the drops of moisture so formed took life and became a giant
called Ymir, the progenitor of a race of gigantic beings. From the cow
Audhumla, formed at the same time, Ymir was nourished by four streams
of milk. For sustenance she licked the stones covered with brine and
moisture; and on the first day she licked there appeared a single hair,
on the second day a head, on the third an entire being, beautiful and
glorious to look upon, Buri, the grandfather of Odin. Ymir, while
asleep, engendered the race of giants from the sweat of his body, but
the grandchildren of Buri slew him, and all his progeny were drowned
in his blood, except Bergelmir and his wife, who saved themselves in a
boat His body was then cast into Ginnungagap, and from his blood were
created the sea and waters, from his flesh the solid earth, from his
bones the mountains, from his skull the dome of the sky, from his brain
the clouds, and from his eyebrows Midgard, the dwelling of the race
of men. Odin, Vili, and Ve are then spoken of (in a myth apparently
a variant) as raising the disk of the earth out of the waters. Later
Odin and his brothers find a couple of inanimate figures fashioned by
the dwarfs out of trees, and endowed them with the breath of life and
understanding, calling them Askr and Embla. These were the first human
beings.
MEXICAN BEGINNINGS
In the Mexico of the Aztecs the sun was held to be the cause of all
material force, and the gods the holders of the fluctuating fortunes
of man. The sun, like man himself, was considered dependent upon food
and drink; and according to Aztec cosmology several suns had perished
through lack of provision, as had older races of men. The original sun
had no other nourishment than the water it absorbed from the earth,
and was thus nothing but a semi-liquid mass, designated Atonatiuh,
the 'Water-Sun.' It was supposed to have absorbed enormous quantities
during the course of centuries, and ultimately discharged the whole
over the world, causing a complete destruction of animal and vegetable
life. The Water-Sun was sometimes identified with Tlaloc, the god of
moisture, but this is a comparatively recent addition to the popular
account. The general destruction of terrestrial life by elementary
physical forces was accompanied in Mexican belief by myths of other
great catastrophes wrought by earthquake, wind-storms, or fire, and a
tale of the collapse of the vault of heaven itself.[4] These holocausts
were traced to some defect in the sun. Other accounts relate that
the gods Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Xiuhtecutli each attempted
the _rôle_ of the god of day without success. At length it became
evident that a special god must be created for the express purpose
of fulfilling the functions of the office, so the existing sun was
brought into being. However the Mexican myths may vary according to
the method by which the creation of the sun was achieved authorities
agree on these points of Aztec belief. The luminary was an animal which
was originally a man, but, by the action of fire, became transformed,
and received the intense vitality necessary for the performance of
his functions from the blood of the gods, voluntarily shed for that
purpose. The gods met at Teotihuacan in order to make a sun. They
kindled a mighty fire, and signified to the worshippers that whosoever
should first leap into it should become the new sun personified. One
of them sacrificed himself by doing so; and arose as the sun from the
midst of the fire, but was unable to ascend into the sky for lack of
strength. In order to give him the necessary motive force the gods
resolved to sacrifice themselves in the usual Mexican manner, by having
their hearts torn out. This was done by the god Xolotl, who had in this
way created man, and now performed the act of sacrifice upon himself.
The sun then ascended the sky.[5] According to another tradition,
the creation of man was subsequent to that of the sun. Men were only
created to be the food of the luminary, and were ordered to fight and
slay one another so that the sun might be supplied with food. The Mayas
of Yucatan increased the previous number of suns by one. Two solar
epochs terminated by devastating plagues known as the 'sudden deaths.'
So swift and mortal were the pests engendered by solar failure that
vultures dwelt in the houses of the cities, and devoured the bodies
of their former owners. The third epoch closed with a hurricane or
inundation known as _hun yecil,_ 'the inundation of the trees,' as all
the forests were swept away.
The Kiches of Guatemala had a very complete creation story, which may
be studied in the _Popol Vuh,_ their sacred book. To begin with, there
only existed the vast waste of primeval waters, in which slept "the
Old Ones covered with Green Feathers," the father-and mother-deities,
Xpiyacoc and Xmucane. Then came Hurakan the mighty, "he who hurls
below," a Kiche variant of the Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca. He commanded
light to be and the solid earth, by his spoken word. The gods in
council created animals. They carved mannikins out of wood, but these
were intractable and disobedient, so the gods resolved to destroy them.
They sent a deluge upon the world, and the mannikins were drowned.
The posterity of the few who were saved are the monkeys. After the
catastrophe the earth-god Vukub-Cakix (Macaw) and his progeny gave more
trouble to the gods, but were ultimately destroyed. Hurakan latterly
created four perfect men from yellow and white maize, and supplied
them with wives, after which the sun was created, and the cosmological
scheme was complete.[6]
CREATION IN ANCIENT PERU
The Incan Peruvians held that all things emanated from Pachacamac,
the universal spirit, from whom proceeded the spirits of the animals
or plants produced by the earth. The earth itself they designated
Pachacamama, or 'Earth-Mother'. Thus we have two distinct conceptions
welded together--a general spirit of living things coalesced with
the originally totally distinct Creator. The idea of a Great Spirit,
a former and shaper, though not necessarily a Creator, is almost
universal throughout America, but it must sooner or later occur to the
barbarian mind that the making of living beings requires something more
than matter: they must receive the breath of life. A true Creator the
Peruvians found in Pachacamac, an anthropomorphic deity representing
the creative mind. The conception of Pachacamac as a ruler and director
of the universe belongs to a later period of Incan rule, when a shrine
was built to him in the new aspect by Apu-Ccapac-Inca Pachacutic,
at the north angle of Cuzco. The Peruvians declared that all things
were made by the word of the spirit, by the mere exercise of will,
or thought. In the prayers to the Creator, and in other fragments of
aboriginal rite which have survived, we read, for example: "Let a man
be: let a woman be," and such expressions as "the creative word."
Occasionally the sun acts as a species of demiurge. For example, it is
he who creates the city of Cuzco, and sends to earth the three eggs of
gold, of silver, and of copper, from which issue the Curacos and their
wives and the Mitayocs and their wives. Tiahuanaco was the theatre
of the new creation of man which followed upon the Deluge. In that
district the Creator made man of clay, and separated him into nations,
making one for each nation, and painting the dresses that each was to
wear, besides giving national songs, languages, seeds suitable to the
soil of each, and food. Then he gave life and soul to each one, and
ordered that they should pass under the earth. Thence each national
type came up in the place to which he ordered it to go. This myth
again is obviously an attempt to harmonize two conflicting creation
stories, an original one of genesis from caves, and the later one of
the creation in Tiahuanaco. We also find local creation myths in some
of the Peruvian valleys. For example, Pachacamac, in the coast valley
of Irma, was not considered the creator of the sun, but a descendant of
it. Of the first human pair created by him the man perished of hunger,
but the woman maintained herself upon roots. The sun took pity upon her
and gave her a son, whom Pachacamac slew and buried, but from his teeth
there grew maize, from his ribs the long white roots of the manioc, and
from his flesh pumpkins and esculent plants.
AMERICAN INDIAN CREATION MYTHS
In the preface to his _Creation Myths of Primitive America_ Mr
Jeremiah Curtin says:
"The creation myths of America form a complete system: they give a
detailed and circumstantial account of the origin of this world and of
all things and creatures contained in it. In the course of the various
narratives which compose this myth system an earlier world is described
to us, with an order of existence and a method of conduct on which the
life of primitive man in America was patterned.
"That earlier world had two periods of duration--one of complete and
perfect harmony; another of violence, collision, and conflict. The
result and outcome of the second period was the creation of all that is
animated on earth except man. Man, in the American scheme of creation,
stands apart and separate; he is quite alone, peculiar, and special.
Above all, he belongs to this continent. The white man was unknown to
American myth-makers, as were also men of every other race and of every
region outside of the Western Hemisphere.
"Described briefly and by an Indian, the American myth system is as
follows: 'There was a world before this one in which we are living at
present; that was the world of the first people, who were different
from us altogether. Those people were very numerous, so numerous that
if a count could be made of all the stars in the sky, all the feathers
on birds, all the hairs and fur on animals, all the hairs of our own
heads, they would not be so numerous as the first people.'
"These people lived very long in peace, in concord, in harmony, in
happiness. No man knows, no man can tell, how long they lived in
that way. At last the minds of all except a very small number were
changed; they fell into conflict--one offended another consciously
or unconsciously, one injured another with or without intention,
one wanted some special thing, another wanted that very thing also.
Conflict set in, and because of this came a time of activity and
struggle, to which there was no end or stop till the great majority of
the first people--that is, all except a small number--were turned into
the various kinds of living creatures that are on earth now or have
ever been on earth, except man--that is, all kinds of beasts, birds,
reptiles, fish, worms, and insects, as well as trees, plants, grasses,
rocks, and some mountains; they were turned into everything that we see
on the earth or in the sky.
"The small number of the former people who did not quarrel, those great
first people of the old time who remained of one mind and harmonious,
'left the earth, sailed away westward, passed that line where the sky
comes down to the earth and touches it, sailed to places beyond; stayed
there or withdrew to upper regions and lived in them happily, lived in
agreement, live so to-day, and will live in the same way hereafter.'
"The American system, as we see, begins with an unknown, great,
indefinite number of uncreated beings--in other words, of self-existent
personages or divinities. Those divinities were everything at first;
there was nothing except them, nothing aside from them, nothing beyond
them. They existed unchanged through untold periods, or rather through
a duration which would be periods were there a measure by which to
divide it. They lived side by side in perfect concord, in the repose
of a primeval chaos of quiescent mind which presents a most remarkable
analogy with the attenuated, quiescent, undifferentiated matter which,
according to the nebular hypothesis, filled all points of space in the
physical universe before the first impulse of motion was given to it.
"At last this long period is ended, there is mental difference among
most of the first people, character is evolved and has become evident;
rivalries, collisions, and conflicts begin.
"The American creation myths, as far as we know them, form simply a
series of accounts of the conflicts, happenings, and various methods
by which the first world was changed into the world now existing. This
change was effected in various ways. In the myths of certain tribes or
nations, it is mainly by struggles between hostile personages. One god
of great power and character overcomes a vast number of opponents, and
changes each into some beast, bird, plant, or insect; but always the
resultant beast or other creature corresponds in some power of mind or
in some leading quality of character with the god from whose position
it has fallen. In certain single cases opponents are closely matched,
they are nearly equal in combat; the struggle between them is long,
uncertain, and difficult. At last, when one side is triumphant, the
victor says, I Hereafter you shall be nothing but a----'; and he tells
what the vanquished is to be. But at this point the vanquished turns
on the victor and sends his retort like a Parthian arrow, 'You shall
be nothing but a----'; and he declares what his enemy is to be. The
metamorphosis takes place immediately on both sides, and each departs
in the form which the enemy seemed to impose, but which really belonged
to him....
"With the transformation of the last of the first people or divinities,
which was finished only when the Indians or some sign of them appeared
in every remote nook and corner in which a remnant of the first
people had taken refuge, the present order of things is established
completely. There are now in the world individualities of three
distinct sets and orders. First, that small number of the first people
whose minds had never changed, those gods who withdrew and who live in
their original integrity and harmony, who retired to places outside
the sky or above it; second, the great majority of the gods, who have
become everything in the present world save and except only Indians.
This cycle finished, there is a new point of departure, and we meet a
second group of myths concerning the existent world as it is now with
its happenings--myths containing accounts of conflicts which are ever
recurrent, which began before all the first people were metamorphosed,
conflicts which are going on at present and which will go on forever;
struggles between light and darkness, heat and cold, summer and winter,
struggles between winds that blow in opposite directions--in fact,
accounts of various phenomena and processes which attract the attention
of savage men more than others because savage men are living face to
face with them always.
"This second group contains a large number of myths, many of them
exceedingly beautiful and, so far as they are known, highly pleasing to
cultivated people. Unfortunately few of these myths have been given to
the world yet, for the sole and simple reason that comparatively few
have been collected from the Indians."
Many and diverse indeed are the tales regarding creation current among
the red men of America; but, notwithstanding their variety, they
possess a fundamental likeness to each other whether they hail from
the pampas of Argentina or the region of the Great Lakes. Among the
North American Indian myths we find the animal creator strongly in
evidence. Thus among the Algonquin Indians we have the Creator Michabo
or Manibozho, the Great Hare, who through philological confusion
(the likeness of the words for 'light' and 'rabbit') has changed his
original status of sun-god for that of an animal deity. While hunting
he observed his dogs disappear in the waters of a mighty lake. He
himself entered the waters, which suddenly overflowed and submerged
'the world.' The god dispatched a raven to discover a piece of earth,
but it returned. Another was equally unlucky, whereupon Manibozho sent
out a musk-rat, which returned with a sufficiency of earth to recreate
the terrestrial sphere. Marrying the musk-rat, he peopled the world.
ARAWAKS
The Arawak family, inhabiting the Guianas, Northern Brazil, and part
of Columbia, believe that in the beginning the animals were created by
Makonaima, the great spirit, whom no man has seen.[7] They had at that
time the power of speech, and Sigu, the son of Makonaima, was placed
to rule over them. Makonaima created a marvellous tree, each branch
of which produced a different kind of fruit The agouti discovered it
first, and, coming daily to the tree, ate his fill without apprising
the other animals. Sigu, suspecting him, ordered the woodpecker to keep
him in sight, but the bird failed to detect him, and he was ultimately
convicted by the rat. The tree was now open to all, and the animals
were about to consume the fruits _in toto_ when Sigu determined to cut
down the tree and extend it over the whole earth by planting every seed
and slip which it would furnish. To this end he employed the birds and
beasts, all of which assisted willingly, except Iwarrika, the monkey,
who thwarted the labours of the others. The stump of the tree was
discovered to be full of water containing the fry of every description
of fresh-water fish. The water beginning to flow, Sigu covered the
tree-stump with a closely woven basket, but the monkey removed this
and precipitated a terrible flood. Sigu then led the animals to an
eminence where some high cocorite palms grew, and these he made the
birds and climbing animals ascend. Those which could not climb and
were not amphibious he placed in a cave, and closed and sealed it with
wax. He then ascended the cocorite palm himself. During the terrible
period of darkness and storm which followed Sigu dropped the seeds of
the cocorite into the water beneath to judge by the sound of its depth.
When at length he heard them strike the soft earth he knew that the
period of flood had passed. The Macusis believe that the only person
who survived the deluge re-peopled the earth by converting stones into
human beings, as did Deucalion and Pyrrha. The Tamanacs say that one
man and one woman were saved by taking refuge on the lofty mountains
of Tamanucu, and that they threw over their heads the fruits of the
Mauritius palm, from the kernels of which sprang men and women. The
Warrau tribe of the Arawaks possessed the following legend of their
own origin and that of the Caribs. The Warraus originally dwelt in a
pleasant region above the sky, where there were neither wicked men
nor noxious animals. Okonorote, a young hunter, having wandered far
in pursuit of a beautiful bird, espied it and discharged an arrow
which missed its mark and disappeared. While searching for his arrow
he found a hole through which it had fallen, and on looking through it
descried the lower world. He made a rope by which he descended with
his tribe, a corpulent woman, as in several of the North American
myths, remaining fixed in the aperture, and filling it up. In answer
to the people's cries for water the Great Spirit created the Essiquibo
river. Later, Korobona, a Warrau maiden, produced the first Carib--a
terrible warrior, who slew many Warraus. The Paressi tribe of the
Arawaks believed that the neglect of certain customs was the origin of
misfortune in the world. They also related that Maiso, a stone woman,
produced all living beings and all rivers. Even the domestic animals
and iron tools of the whites were borne by this original mother.
The Arawaks of Guiana had a myth that Aimon Kondi, the Great Spirit,
scourged the world with fire, from which the survivors sought refuge
in underground caverns. A great flood followed, and Marerewana and
his followers saved themselves in a canoe. Still another Arawak myth
relates that the Creator, having completed the cosmic scheme, seated
himself in a great silk-cotton tree by a river side and cut off pieces
of its bark, which he cast all around. Those which reached the water
became fish, those which touched the air birds, those which alighted
upon the earth animals and men.
The Athapascan Indians of North-west America believe the creator of the
world to be Yetl, the bird from whose wings came thunder. The plane of
earth arose from the waters as Yetl brooded thereon. The Athapascans
trace their descent from Yetl, who, they believe, saved their ancestors
from the flood and, like Prometheus, brought them fire from Heaven.
IROQUOIS INDIANS
The Iroquois tribes believe that their female ancestress fell from
Heaven into the waste of primeval waters; but the dry land bubbled up
under her feet and quickly grew to the size of a continent. Several of
these tribes, however, are of opinion that some amphibious animals,
such as the otter, beaver, and musk-rat, noticed her fall, and
hastened to break it by shovelling up earth from the mud beneath the
waters. Indeed, the Indians of this family were wont to point to the
mountain so raised near the falls of the Oswego river.
CALIFORNIAN INDIANS
Although there are no less than twenty-one different linguistic
divisions in California, the similarity of their myths is remarkable.
The Maidu have a most intricate creation myth of Kodoyanpe, the
Creator, and the Coyote, who discovered the world and rendered it
habitable for men. The first human beings were small wooden images like
those in the _Popol Vuh,_ but these mannikins were no more tractable
than were those of Guatemala, and were at last changed into animals.
Kodoyanpe, the Beneficent, perceived that Coyote was bent upon evil
courses, and conceived the idea of his destruction. In this he was
aided by a being called the Conqueror, destroyer of many monsters and
evil things which would have menaced the life of man still unborn;
but at length Kodoyanpe was defeated by Coyote and fled eastward, as
did Quetzalcoatl in Mexican myth. The Indians then sprang from the
places where the mannikins of the first creation had been buried. Other
versions of the myth tell of a primeval waste of waters upon which
Kodoyanpe and Coyote dropped in a canoe. "Let this surf become sand!"
cried Coyote, and it became sand.
The Achomawi, neighbours to the Maidu, state that the Creator
originally emerged from a small cloud, and that Coyote sprang from
a fog. The Aschochimi of California had a flood myth of the total
destruction of humanity; but by planting the feathers of divers birds
the Coyote grew a new crop of men of various tribes.
Mr W. Barbrook Grubb in his recent book on the Lengua Indians of South
America describes their creation myth as follows:
"Their whole mythology is founded upon their idea of the Creation,
of which we know only the bare outlines. The Creator of all things,
spiritual and material, is symbolized by a beetle. It seems that the
Indian idea is that the material universe was first made. The Creator,
in the guise of the beetle, then sent forth from its hole in the earth
a race of powerful beings--according to many in an embodied state--who
for a time appear to have ruled the universe.
"Afterwards the beetle formed man and woman from the clay which it
threw up from its hole. These were sent forth on the earth, joined
together like the Siamese twins. They met with persecution from their
powerful predecessors, and accordingly appealed to the creating beetle
to free them from their disadvantageous formation. He therefore
separated them, and gave them power to propagate their species, so that
they might become numerous enough to withstand their enemies. It then
appears that some time after this, or at this time, the powerful beings
first created became disembodied, as they never appear again in the
tradition of the Indians in material form. The beetle then ceased to
take any active part or interest in the governance of the world, but
committed its fortunes to these two races, which have been antagonistic
ever since.
"It is rather remarkable, when we consider that they have no written
records, and no system of carefully transmitted tradition, that they
should retain a belief in an original Creator, in the immortality of
the soul, and in the existence of these powerful and numerous evil
personifications which they call _kilyikhama_.
"That the Indian should regard the beetle as the symbol of creative
power is, perhaps, the most remarkable feature in their mythology, for
it closely resembles the Egyptian Scarabæus and the ideas associated
with it."
UNDERWORLD ORIGINS
Some American myths recount the manner in which mankind originally
emerged from the earth. Thus the Caddoan family (Pawnees, Wichitu,
etc.) believed that they came from the Underworld. Atius Tirawa, their
creative agency, was omnipotent and invincible, dwelt in the upper air,
and guided the constellations. A similar myth is that of the Mandan
Sioux, who suppose that the progenitors of their 'nation' lived in a
subterranean village near a vast lake. A grape-vine penetrated the
earth, and clambering up this several of them gained the upper world.
CARIB CREATION MYTH
The ancient Caribs of the Antilles, now extinct, regarded the earth,
which they designated Mama Nono, as "the good mother, from which all
things come." They believed that their original founder created the
race by sowing the soil with stones, or with the fruit of the Mauritius
palm, which sprouted forth into men and women (Müller, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_). The Bakairi Caribs possess a belief akin to that of
the Zuñi Indians of New Mexico regarding the coming together of the
Sky-Father and the Earth-Mother, originally in opposition to one
another, communicating, then touching, and at last moving away from one
another until they exchanged places. In the legends of the Bakairi,
the mystical twin heroes Keri and Kame brought the first animals from
the hollow trunk of a tree, which they connect with the Milky Way.
The Caribs possess the same myth as the Arawaks regarding the efforts
of the primitive culture-hero to gauge the depths of the volume of
water which enshrouded the earth. Another Carib deluge myth related
that excessive rains brought about a great flood, and that humanity
was saved by the ibis, which had scooped up so much earth with its
beak that hills could be formed from the heap. The Bakairi believe
that the sun and moon were in the beginning aimlessly carried about
by two birds, until at last Keri and Kame seized them by cunning, and
made them proceed in a regular course. They aver that the luminaries
are concealed by certain animals--lizards, birds, and spiders--which
swallow the sun at night and the moon by day, disgorging them in the
morning and evening respectively. Others believe that the moon is
obscured at night by a shaman taking the form of a bird, and covering
its disk with his wings. The Pleiades the Bakairi believe to be
parakeets. In Orion they see a dried stick of manioc.
TUPI-GUARANI CREATION MYTH
A twofold destruction befell the original Tupi-Guarani people of
Brazil. According to the myth, Monan the Creator, vexed with mankind,
attempted to destroy the world by fire; but one Irin Magé a magician of
might, extinguished the conflagration by a heavy rain-storm. This in
turn caused the rivers and lakes to overflow. When the flood subsided,
a quarrel between the hero-brothers Tamandare and Aricoute precipitated
another deluge, for the former stamped his foot so deeply into the
ground that a flood of water issued therefrom, and the two brothers
and their families were forced to take refuge in trees. The Mundruku
tribe possesses a myth that a god Raini formed the world by placing it
in the shape of a flat stone upon the head of another demiurge. Some
other Tupi tribes believe in an interchange of Heaven and earth, as
do the Zuñi Indians, while the Mundruku hero, Karu, creates mountains
by blowing feathers about. The River Chaco Indians, cognate to the
Guarani, believe that the universe was created by a gigantic beetle.
After having made the plains, mountains, and forests, it scraped a hole
in the ground and entered the earth. From this hole numerous living
beings issued and covered the face of the earth. These beings after
death became evil spirits, and constantly torment mankind. From the
particles of soil thrown up by its excoriations the beetle constructed
a man and woman, the progenitors of all human kind. Subsequently other
evil spirits came from the hole, and attempted to overthrow the man and
woman. The beetle gave power to the human beings to resist, but then
withdrew, taking no further interest in their fate. An early traveller,
Hans Staden, writing in 1550 of the Tupi-Guarani tribes, states their
belief in the destruction of their ancestors by a powerful supernatural
being, Maire, in an inundation from which but a few were saved by
climbing trees and hiding in caves. The same authority gives the names
of three brothers, Krimen, Hermitten, and Coem, from whom these tribes
claimed descent. The southern tribes speak of four brothers, two of
them called Tupi and Guarani respectively, and parents of the racial
divisions designated after them. Among the northern Tupi proper a very
definite cosmogony is discovered. Toru-shom-pek, the sun, is their
principle of good, and Toru-guenket, the moon, the power of evil. The
latter is supposed to fall periodically and destroy the earth, and
from her emanate all baneful influences, such as thunder-storms and
floods. Tupi cosmology rests primarily upon the idea that all created
things possess a maker or 'mother' who is solely responsible for the
scheme of creation, no male influence being traceable. There are three
other superior deities, who made the various natural families and are
generally known among the Tupi tribes as Guaracy, the sun, creator
of all animals, Jacy, the moon, creator of plant-life, and Peruda or
Ruda, the god of generation, who promotes the reproduction of human
beings. Each of these has a number of demiurges under him, served
by numerous spirits who protect every individual animal, plant, and
person. But Tupi cosmology varies with locality, and this accounts for
the conflicting notices of its several investigators. Like the Arawaks,
the Tupi believe in Tupan, who alone of his four brothers survived the
deluge, but he does not appear as a creative agency. The conception
of natural phenomena among the Tupi-Guarani tribes is no less curious
than their theories of creation. They believe the Pleiades to be a
swarm of celestial bees. The Bororos Indians and other tribes believe
the Southern Cross to be the track of an emu, and the Milky Way an
ash-track.
A TUPI-GUARANI LEGEND
During their voyage of exploration along the Rio Maraca, a tributary
on the right bank of the Amazon, the mightiest river of the world, the
leaders of the Croatian Scientific Mission in South America heard from
native lips an interesting creation legend concerning the brothers Tupi
and Guarani, the first forefathers of the tribes speaking the sister
tongues called after them. This legend freely translated, runs as
follows:
Tupi was once proceeding on a great journey to Pará, with his bow and
arrow in his hands, and his inseparable companion, the wise parrot
Maitá, on his shoulders. His younger brother Guarani followed in
his track with the evil purpose of stealing Maitá, because Fortune
(Toryba) had decreed that the possessor of this bird should have his
daughter, the beautiful maiden Maricá ('fine leaf'), as his wife.
Maitá, endowed with all magic wisdom, was a unique bird. He spoke with
his companion, knew exactly the spots in the primeval forest where game
and fruits were to be found, and likewise kept watch and gave warning
of the approach and the number of enemies. Tupi, although aware of the
evil intentions of his younger brother, went cheerily and carelessly
on his way, the magic bird shielding him against all surprise. The
steps of the two brothers were to bring them to the banks of the Pará.
Guarani, fitly known as 'the patient one,' did not fret. Maricá, the
amiable daughter of Toryba, had long been in love with the younger of
the brothers; their hearts had long been united in the primeval forest,
where the world had often been forgotten in sweet kisses and embraces.
"Wait three days for me!" said the maiden, "I will bring you Maitá or
be the prisoner of Tupi."
In the meantime Tupi reached the banks of the Pará and lay fast asleep
under the shade of a great banana-tree (Pacobahyba).
"Awake, comrade!" cried Maitá. "The enemy is yet far distant, but the
treacherous Maricá is in sight."
Hastily the warrior sprang up, and became aware of a mocking titter
from the neighbouring bushes.
"Do not fear to come nearer, Maricá, my love. I will marry you, and you
shall become the mother of my children,"
"Thou liest, Tupi!" answered the girl. "Give me thy bird and I will
believe it!"
The eyes of the charming wood-nymph flashed alluringly upon the youth;
he could not resist their magic and ordered the parrot to fly to the
shoulder of his new companion; but the wise bird had no intention of
furthering the false designs of the maiden, and did not move from the
spot.
Tupi angrily repeated his order and made as if to strike the
inattentive bird. Then Maitá flew to the very top of a slender palm,
while the fleet-footed maiden endeavoured to disappear into the depths
of the forest.
Tupi was by no means willing to lose the beauty, and set out after
her with swinging strides, but in vain. Laughing heartily, the active
little maid clambered up a thousand-year-old giant tree and would not
be caught.
As if grown out of the earth Guarani suddenly appeared between them.
The game of hide-and-seek came to an end, the rivals measured each
other with glances of hatred, fell upon and grappled with one another.
Like a squirrel the lovely Maricá climbed up a palm and seated herself
beside the fugitive magic bird Maitá. Both desired to witness this
unworthy fight between the twin brothers.
The day-star set, the moon arose, but the brothers did not move from
the spot. They gripped each other fast, bloody sweat dripped from their
brows, and their fiercely sparkling eyes declared that one of them must
have no place on earth. The parrot screeched, and Maricá wept, for
Guarani's strength seemed to be leaving him.
"Be gracious, mighty Tupan!" pleaded the daughter of Fate to the father
of mankind. Tupan, the almighty, heard the maiden's prayer and ordered
the bride of the Wind to separate the brothers. Forthwith the Flood
(Pororoca) rose in storm amidst peals of thunder; uncanny crashings and
rumblings broke the stillness of the primeval forest, the earth shook,
and all the elements seemed to have broken loose. Trees and palms were
overthrown, and fell into the foam-covered waves of the giant river.
The parrot was lost in the skies, while Maricá was carried off by the
wind and came to herself in her mother's hut. The terrified wrestlers
ceased their struggle and looked in surprise at each other.
In the hope of catching Maricá, Tupi sprang upon a floating tree-trunk
and entrusted his fate to the will of the waters, finally anchoring his
ship of life to the opposite bank. There he settled down and became
the ancestor of numerous Indian peoples, the Pitiguaras, Tupinambas,
Tabajaras, Cahetes, Tupiniquias, and many others.
Guarani returned southward and founded the Guayanas, Carijos, Tapes,
and many other generations of warlike Indian races.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF COSMOGONIES
We have now summarized the chief creation myths, and the question
arises, How far have these influenced each other? The further question,
Can they be traced to a common original account or accounts? we do not
put, as it appears to us quite as futile as those 'researches' into the
'original language' of mankind.
Although not in any way denying the circulation of myth and its
dissemination, we do not think that the theory of complete and
wholesale borrowing from advanced races by savage peoples is confirmed
by actual research. There are, it is admitted, well-authenticated
examples of the colouring of savage myth by civilized cosmogonies;
but these examples are easily distinguished by the practised student
of myth, as they lack the fundamentals of barbarian myth--simplicity,
'savagery,' in short, that aboriginal artlessness and primitiveness
which mark all early and unsophisticated religious thought. Unlike
primitive myths, they possess the idea of the creation of something
from nothing (that is, they do not describe re-creation instead of
creation). Of creation myths exhibiting cultured influence there are
very few, and when one creation tale resembles another a great deal
of proof should be forthcoming before it is inferred that one has
sophisticated the other or that both proceed from a common story.[8]
How absurd it is to credit all or most barbarian theology with an alien
origin is seen from the _Popol Vuh_, already quoted, an aboriginal
composition of the Kiche Indians of Guatemala. This work was written
by a Christianized native of Guatemala some time in the seventeenth
century, and was copied (in the Kiche language, in which it was
originally written) by a Dominican friar, Francisco Ximenez, who added
a Spanish translation and _scholia_. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg,
a profound student of American archæology and languages,[9] deplored,
in a letter to the Duc de Valmy,[10] the supposed loss of the _Popol
Vuh_ which he was aware had been made use of early in the nineteenth
century by a certain Don Felix Cabrera. Dr C. Scherzer, an Austrian
scholar, thus made aware of its value, paid a visit to the republic of
Guatemala in 1854 or 1855, and was successful in tracing the missing
manuscript in the library of the University of San Carlos in the city
of Guatemala. It was afterward ascertained that its scholiast, Ximenez,
had deposited it in the library of his convent at Chichicastenango,
whence it passed to the San Carlos library in 1830. Scherzer made a
copy of the Spanish translation of the manuscript, which he published
at Vienna in 1856 under the title of _Las Historias del origen de los
Indios de Guatemala, par el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenez_. The Abbé
Brasseur also took a copy of the original, which he published at Paris
in 1861, with the title _Vuh Popol: Le livre sacré des Quiches, et les
mythes de l'antiquité americaine_. In this work the Kiche original and
the Abbé's French translation are set forth side by side. Unfortunately
both the Spanish and the French translations leave much to be desired
in accuracy, and the notes which accompany them are misleading. The
name '_Popol Vuh_' signifies 'Record of the Community,' and its
literal translation is 'Book of the Mat,' from the Kiche words _pop_
or _popol_, a mat or rug of woven leaves on which the entire family
sat, and _vuh_ or _uuh,_ paper or book, from _uoch_, to write. The
_Popol Vuh_ is an example of a world-wide _genre_--a type of annals
of which the first portion is pure mythology, shading off into pure
history, evolving from the hero-myths of saga to the recital of the
deeds of authentic personages. It may, in fact, be classed with the
_Heimskringla_ of Snorri, the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, the
Chinese History in the Five Books, the Japanese _Nihongi_, and its
fourth book somewhat resembles the Pictish Chronicle. The cosmogony
of the _Popol Vuh_ exhibits no signs of Christian influence, and even
if it did, it would be quite erroneous to infer that such influence
was direct--that is, that the original compiler deliberately infused
into the narrative what he knew of Hebrew cosmogony. The resemblance
between the first few chapters of the _Popol Vuh_ and the creation
myth in Genesis is slight and fortuitous. There are no precise points
of contact, and the supposed resemblance has been drawn by writers
only superficially acquainted with Kiche myth and wholly ignorant of
its spirit and the processes which developed it. It is by no means
difficult to prove the genuine American character of the _Popol Vuh_.
A perusal should suffice. Macpherson, in his preface to the first
edition of the poems of Ossian, says an "ingenious gentleman" before
reading those poems imagined that out of modesty he had ascribed them
to an ancient writer, but after reading them said they abounded too
much in ideas only belonging to an early state of society to be the
work of a modern poet. We need not trouble about the authorship of the
poems of Ossian; but the ingenious gentleman could have said the same
thing with justice of the _Popol Vuh_. To anyone who has given it a
careful examination it must be abundantly evident that it has passed
through several stages of development; that it is of aboriginal origin;
and that it has not been influenced by European thought in any manner
whatsoever. The fact that it was composed in the Kiche tongue is almost
sufficient proof of its genuine American character. The scholarship of
the nineteenth century was unequal to the adequate translation of the
_Popol Vuh_; the twentieth century has as yet shown no signs of being
able to accomplish the task; and if modern scholarship is unable to
translate the work, the eighteenth century was unable to create it. No
European of that time was sufficiently versed in Kiche theology and
history to compose in faultless Kiche such a work as the _Popol Vuh_,
breathing as it does in every line an intimate and natural acquaintance
with the antiquities of Guatemala.
From these considerations it will be clear that the Hebrew cosmogony
has neither coloured nor veneered the account of creation in the
_Popol Vuh_, nor have its transcribers destroyed the veritable
aboriginal thought which lies beneath. The account of the making of
man, for example, is totally different in Genesis and in the Kiche
production. "Giants in those days" appear in both, but in the first
they are merely alluded to, whereas in the second a very full account
is provided of their destruction. The star and sun myths of the two
accounts have no resemblance, and the sole likeness is in the opening
scene,[11] where the vast abyss in which the original deity or deities
sleep is pictured. Its resemblance to other American cosmogonies
has been amply proved; and to credit the whole, as has been done,
to Christian influence _alone_ is characteristic of the period in
which the criticism was promulgated--a period of superficial learning
and cheap generalization like that of certain present-day critics
and ultra-popular writers on mythology and folklore, and improperly
equipped persons at all times.[12]
We do not desire, as we have already said, to deny the existence of
borrowed or sophisticated cosmogonies, but these are of late origin,
easily perceived, and as a rule merely veil a primitive or much earlier
original. The following instance, alluded to by the late Professor
Brinton, well serves to illustrate the point in question. He says:
"Very soon after coming in contact with the whites, the Indians caught
the notion of a bad and good spirit, pitted one against the other in
eternal warfare, and engrafted it on their ancient traditions. Writers
anxious to discover Jewish or Christian analogies forcibly construed
myths to suit their pet theories, and for indolent observers it was
convenient to catalogue their gods in antithetical classes. In Mexican
and Peruvian mythology this is so plainly false that historians no
longer insist upon it, but as a popular error it still holds its ground
with reference to the more barbarous and less known tribes. Perhaps
no myth has been so often quoted in its confirmation as that of the
ancient Iroquois, which narrates the conflict between the first two
brothers of our race. It is of undoubted native origin and venerable
antiquity. The version given by the Tuscarora chief Cusic in 1825
relates that in the beginning of things there were two brothers,
Enigorio and Enigohatgea, names literally meaning the Good Mind and
the Bad Mind. (Or more exactly, the Beautiful Spirit, the Ugly Spirit
In Onondaga the radicals are _onigonra_, spirit; _hio_, beautiful;
_ahetken_, ugly.) The former went about the world furnishing it with
gentle streams, fertile plains, and plenteous fruits, while the latter
maliciously followed him, creating rapids, thorns, and deserts. At
length the Good Mind turned upon his brother in anger, and crushed him
into the earth. He sank out of sight in its depths, but not to perish,
for in the dark realms of the Underworld he still lives, receiving
the souls of the dead, and being the author of all evil. Now when
we compare this with the version of the same legend given by Father
Brebeuf, missionary to the Hurons in 1636, we find its whole complexion
altered; the moral dualism vanishes; the names Good Mind and Bad Mind
do not appear; it is the struggle of Ioskeha, the White one, with his
brother Tawiscara, the Dark one, and we at once perceive that Christian
influence in the course of two centuries had given the tale a meaning
foreign to its original intent."[13]
No student of myth of any experience would for a moment accept the
first-mentioned tale as solely of aboriginal origin. Its ethical trend
would make this at least doubtful. It would not be correct to say that
an ethical spirit never enters into the religious tales of savages,
but it should certainly be regarded with suspicion until it is proved
to be aboriginal. It is not surprising to find it in the tales of
Egyptians, Hebrews, Peruvians, and people of considerable culture;
but to encounter it in the stories of Africans, American Indians, and
savages who have been long in contact with Europeans should at once
arouse suspicion. Never let us neglect, however, the matter which lies
beneath the cultural veneer. The Uapès Indians of Brazil include both
Jurupari and the Christian hierarchy in their pantheon. We know that
the latter are new-comers there; but let us not neglect Jurupari! We
know that Roman belief sophisticated Gallic religious practice; but is
that to say that it submerged it?
In order to show exactly where the most notable creation myths impinge
upon each other and exhibit resemblances, the following tables have
been drawn up, which indicate this at a glance. It will be seen
that most of those which bear resemblances are situated in regions
excessively remote--an argument in favour of those who believe that the
religious evolution of man has followed similar lines in all parts of
the habitable globe.
CONCLUSIONS
The idea of a primeval abyss is common to Egypt,
Babylonia, India, Scandinavia, the Celts, some North
American Indians.
The original god (or gods) finds himself in this abyss in
the myths of Egypt, Babylonia, India, the Hebrews, the
Maya-Kiches.
The original god (or gods) broods over the face of the
waters in Hebrew, Polynesian, North American Indian, and
Maya-Kiche myth.
The universe is manufactured from the corpse of a primeval
being in the myths of Babylonia, China, Scandinavia,
Hindus (Purusha).
Life or matter is created by the spoken word of the
original god in the myths of Egypt, the Hebrews, the
Celts, the Maya-Kiches.
The idea of the cosmic egg appears in the myths of Egypt,
India, Japan, Peru.
Man emanates: from the tears of a god (Egypt), from the
blood and bones of a god (Babylonia), from clay (the
Hebrews and North American Indians), from worms (China),
from wooden images or trees (Scandinavia, Maya-Kiches,
Iran), from the sweat of a god or giant (Iran and
Scandinavia), from the union of a god and an animal (some
North American Indians).
The eyes of a god or demiurge become the sun and moon in
the cosmogonies of Egypt, China, Scandinavia (?).
The piece of earth from which the new world is constructed
is fished out of the waters of the deluge by an animal
in some North American Indian myths, and perhaps in the
original form of the Hebrew myth.
PRINCIPAL CREATION MYTHS SUMMARIZED
EGYPT
(1) A god finding himself in a primeval abyss, where he
has been since the beginning of time, utters his name.
This act causes him to 'live.'
(2) He next creates, by a magical act, a foundation upon
which to stand, probably the earth.
(3) From his mouth he brings objects which reproduce
themselves.
(4) He creates two other deities, male and female, who in
turn propagate other gods.
(5) Vegetation and creeping things are formed on the earth.
(6) Man is then created from the tears which fall from the
original deity.
BABYLONIA
(1) Primeval deities dwell in an abyss.
(2) New gods arrive (?) and quarrel with them.
(3) Two of the primeval deities are slain, but the third,
a female, creates monsters and gives battle to the
new-comers, and is annihilated.
(4) The new gods create the earth and firmament from her
corpse.
(5) Their champion is decapitated, and from his blood and
bones springs the race of mankind.
CHINESE
(1) From nothingness an atom is formed.
(2) In the course of ages it splits into a male and female
principle which again split in two.
(3) From the co-operation of these four elements springs a
being whose body is broken up into the constituents of a
universe, and the worms from its decomposing corpse become
men.
SCANDINAVIAN
(1) There exists a yawning abyss, bordered on one side
by a realm of mist and cold, on the other by a region of
fire.
(2) A giant is brought into being through the melting of
the congealing vapour in the place of cold by a spark of
fire from the region of Muspelheim.
(3) This being becomes the progenitor of a race of giants.
(4) He has a cow which, by licking a brine-covered rock,
produces the father of the gods.
(5) These gods slay the giant and all his progeny save
two, and manufacture the earth from his corpse.
(6) Alternatively the gods lift the earth out of the
primeval waters.
(7) The dwarfs fashion two figures out of trees, and the
gods give them life and understanding.
CELTS
(1) Two principles, creative and destructive, are alluded
to.
(2) The latter dwells in an abyss.
(3) Atomic life originates through the spoken words of the
creative principle.
(4) Man passes from the abyss to the earth-circle.
JAPANESE
(1) Male and female elements separate from the original
atom.
(2) These form an ovoid body containing germs from which
heaven and earth are formed.
(3) A species of reed-shoot appears between them and is
transformed into a god.
(4) Divine beings are born, two of whom unite and give
birth to islands, seas, rivers, herbs, and trees, and the
celestial bodies.
[1] _Original Sanscrit Texts_, London, 1868, vol. v, p. 356.
[2] See Budge, _The Gods of Egypt_ (1904).
[3] See King, _Seven Tablets of Creation_(1902); and _Babylonian
Religion and Mythology_ (1899).
[4] Gomara, _Conquista de Mejico_, chap. ccxv (Madrid, 1749).
[5] Mendieta, _Hist. Eccl. Ind_., lib. i, chap. 2 (Mexico, 1870).
[6] See my _The Popol Vuh_, pp. 9-26 (London, 1908).
[7] W. H. Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_, p. 378 _et seq._(1865).
[8] This question has been dealt with at greater length elsewhere (see
p. 158).
[9] His euhemeristic interpretations of the Mexican myths are as
worthless as the materials he unearthed are priceless.
[10] Mexico, October 15, 1850.
[11] This has, in fact, quite as strong a resemblance to the
cosmological account in the _Satapatha Brahmana_ in some details.
[12] A disquieting circumstance attending such ignorant criticism is
that those who criticize appear in many instances to be quite unable
to apprehend the substantial difficulties in the way of barbarian
borrowings. Thus a reviewer in a weekly journal of standing actually
inferred that certain North American Indian myths presented by the
author had been sophisticated by Greek and classical tales. However
well the theory of borrowing may explain things, and although borrowing
does at times occur, the difficulties in this especial instance are
overwhelming. They were quite unappreciated, however, by the reviewer,
whose experience of myth was, of course, obviously limited. Students of
myth would do well to bear the point of virtual impossibility in mind,
as it is of constant occurrence, and one regarding which no fixed or
definite rules or laws can possibly obtain.
[13] _Myths of the New World_ by Professor D. G. Brinton (Philadelphia,
1905).