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tions? Shall we say that when the Mayas colonized the countries at the south of Asia, then the banks of the Euphrates, then the valley of the Nile, and later Asia Minor, it was in ages so remote that the Aryans, regarded as a primitive people living at the dawn of history, had not yet multiplied. to such numbers as to make it imperative for them to abandon their native country in search of new homes? Shall we say that the Maya colonies much antedated the migrations of the Aryan tribes, that, abandoning their bactrian homes only about three thousand years before the Christian era,' went south and invaded the north of India; whilst others, going west, crossed over to Europe and spread over that continent? This would explain the use of Maya instead of Sanscrit words for the names of the various parts of the "Sri-Santara; show the Maya to be more ancient than Sanscrit; and also account for the grammatical forms common to both the Maya and the Greek, that the ulterior admixture of Aryan words to the latter was unable to alter.

We must premise the explanation of the names of the parts of the "Sri-Santara " by stating that the letters D, F, G, J, Q, and are not used in the Maya language.2

From remote ages the Brahmins taught that in the beginning existed the Infinite. This they called Aditi, "that which is above all things." It is precisely the meaning of the Maya words A titich-composed of Ah, masculine article, the "strong," the "powerful;" and titich, "that which is above all things." A-titich or A-diti would then be the "powerful superior to all things," the "Infinite." In this

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1A. Pictet, Les Origines Indo-Européennes, vol. iii., pp. 508–515. Beltran de Santa Rosa, Arte del Idioma Maya. Gabriel de Santa Buenaventura, Elementos de la Lingua Maya.

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infinite dwelt Aum, whose name must precede all prayers, all invocations. Manu says that the monosyllable means "earth,' "sky," and "heaven." 2

J. Talboys Wheeler says: "As regards the three letters A, U, M, little can be gathered excepting that, when brought together in the word Aum they are said by Manu to form a symbol of the Lord of created beings, Brahma." Colebrooke says: "According, however, to the Nirukta, which is an ancient glossary of the Vedas, the syllable Aum refers to every deity. The Brahmins may reserve for their initiates an esoteric meaning more ample than that given by Manu." But by means of the Maya language we learn its full significance.

A-U-M:

A-for Ah, masculine article: the fecundating power; the father.

U-feminine pronoun: the basin; the generative power; the

mother.

M-Mehen: the engendered; the son; or, Ma, yes and no;

the androgynus.

Any way we combine the three letters of the sacred monosyllable in the Maya language-they give us the names and attributes of each person of the Trimourti.

For instance: Au-M-thy maker.

A-U-M-thy mother's son.

U-A-M-I am the male creator.

M-U-A-the maker of these waters.

We read in the first chapter of the ordinances of Manu,1 that the Supreme Being produced first the waters, and in them

1 Manava-Dharma-Sastra, book ii., Sloka 74.

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deposited a germ, an egg, in which He himself was born again under the shape of Brahma, the great ancestor of all beings. This egg, this golden uterus, is called Hiramyagarbha.1 This word is composed of the following four Maya vocables, hilaan, yam, kalba, ha, expressing the idea of something floating in the water: hilaan, "to be dragged ; yam, "midst;" kalba, "enclosed; "ha, "water."

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In it was born Brahma, the Creator, the origin of all beings, "he who was submerged in the waters.' So reads his name, according to the Maya-Be-lam-ha: Be," the way;" lam, "submerged;" ha, "water."

The waters were called Nara, says Manu, because they were the production of Nara the divine spirit, "the mother of truth: " Naa, "mother;" La, "eternal truth," that contained the hidden voice of the mantras. The verb Vach, Uach (Maya), "a thing free from fetters," the divine male; the first embodied spirit Viradj, Uilal (Maya), “that which is necessary," whose union with Maya produced all things.

Again we may ask, Is the use of Maya words in this instance without significance? Does the similarity of the ancient Indian architecture to that of the Mayas-which so puzzled the learned English architect, the late James Fergusson or the use of the Maya triangular arch, and no other, in all sacred buildings in India, prove nothing? And the practice of stamping the hand, dipped in red pigment, on the walls of temples and palaces, as a way of invoking the benison of the gods, or of asserting ownership to the building, as with a seal, being common both in Mayach and India; or the custom of carrying children astride on the hip, which was never

'H. T. Colebrooke, Notice on the Vedas, lib. ii., § vi.
Manava-Dharma-Sastra, book i., Sloka 10.

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