Page 59 (part 2)

Otherwise, whence the traditions and legends -- the latter always more true than history, as says Augustin Thierry -- and even the identity in the names of certain "medicine men" and priests, who exist to this day in Mexico? We shall have to say something of the Nargals and the Nagals and also of Nagalism, called "devil-worship" by the Missionaries. In almost all the Puranas, the story of the "Sacrifice of Daksha" is given, the oldest account of which is to be found in Vayu Purana. Allegorical as it is, there is more meaning and biological revelation in it to a Naturalist, than in all the pseudo-scientific vagaries, which are regarded as learned theories and hypotheses. Daksha, who is regarded as the Chief Progenitor, is, moreover, pointed out as the creator of physical man in the "fable," which makes him lose his head from his body in the general strife between the gods and the Raumas. This head, being burnt in the fire, is replaced by the head of a ram (Kasi-Khanda). Now the ram's head and horns are ever the symbol of generating power and of reproductive force, and are phallic. As we have shown, it is Daksha who establishes the era of men engendered by sexual intercourse. But this mode of procreation did not occur suddenly, as one may think, and required long ages before it became the one "natural" way. Therefore, his sacrifice to the gods is shown as interfered with by Siva, the destroying deity , evolution and PROG RESS personified, who is the regenerator at the same time; who destroys things under one form but to recall them to life under another more perfect type. Siva-Rudra creates the terrible Virabhadra (born of his breath) the "thousand-headed, thousand-armed" (etc.) monster, and commissions him to destroy the sacrifice prepared by Daksha. Then Virabhadra, "abiding in the region of the ghosts (ethereal men) . . . . [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] though they are both used indiscriminately. Sarpa (serpent) is from the root Srip, serpo to creep; and they are called "Ahi," from Ha , to abandon. "The sarpa was produced from Brahma's hair, which, owing to his fright at beholding the Yakshas, whom he had created horrible to behold, fell off from the head, each hair becoming a serpent. They are called Sarpa from their creeping and Ahi because they had deserted the head" (Wilson). But the Nagas, their serpent's tail notwithstanding, do not creep, but manage to walk, run and fight in the allegories. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 183 ARCHAIC ZOOLOGY. created from the pores of the skin ( Romakupas ) , powerful Raumas,* (or Raumyas)." Now, however mythical the allegory, the Mahabharata, which is history as much as is the Iliad, shows** the Raumyas and other races, as springing in the same manner from the Romakupas, hair or skin pores. This allegorical description of the "sacrifice" is full of significance to the students of the Secret Doctrine who know of the "Sweat-born." In the Vayu Purana's account of Daksha's sacrifice, moreover, it is said to have taken place in the presence of creatures born from the egg, from the vapour, vegetation, pores of the skin, and, finally only, from the womb. Daksha typifies the early Third Race, holy and pure, still devoid of an individual Ego, and having merely the passive capacities. Brahma, therefore, commands him to create (in the exoteric texts); when, obeying the command, he made "inferior and superior" ( avara and vara ) progeny ( putra ), bipeds and quadrupeds ; and by his will, gave birth to females . . . . to the gods, the Daityas (giants of the Fourth Race), the snake-gods, animals, cattle and the Danavas (Titans and demon Magicians) and other beings." . . . . "From that period forward, living creatures were engendered by sexual intercourse. Before the time of Daksha, they were variously propagated -- by the will , by sight, by touch, and by Yoga-power. "*** And now comes the simply zoological teaching. ------- 29. A NIMALS WITH BONES, DRAGONS OF THE DEEP AND FLYING SARPAS ( serpents ) WERE ADDED TO THE CREEPING THINGS. T HEY THAT CREEP ON THE GROUND GOT WINGS. T HEY OF THE LONG NECKS IN THE WATER, BECAME THE PROGENITORS OF THE FOWLS OF THE AIR ( a ). ( a ) This is a point on which the teachings and modern biological speculation are in perfect accord. The missing links representing this transition process between reptile and bird are apparent to the veriest bigot, especially in the ornithoscelidae, hesperornis, and the archaeopteryx of Vogt. ------- 30. D URING THE T HIRD ( Race ), THE BONELESS ANIMALS GREW AND CHANGED: THEY BECAME ANIMALS WITH BONES ( a ), THEIR C HHAYAS BECAME SOLID ( also ) . [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Wilson translates the word as "demigods" ( See his Vishnu Purana, p. 130); but Raurnas or Raumyas are simply a race, a tribe. ** xii. 10308. *** " Vishnu Purana " [[Vol. 2, Page]] 184 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. 31. T HE ANIMALS SEPARATED THE FIRST ( into mate and female ) ( b ) . . . . ( a ) Vertebrates, and after that mammalians. Before that the animals were also ethereal proto-organisms, just as man was. ( b ) The fact of former hermaphrodite mammals and the subsequent separation of sexes is now indisputable, even from the stand-point of Biology. As Prof. Oscar Schmidt, an avowed Darwinist, shows: "Use and disuse combined with selection elucidate (?) the separation of the sexes, and the existence, totally incomprehensible, of rudimentary sexual organs. In the Vertebrata especially, each sex possesses such distinct traces of the reproductive apparatus characteristic of the other, that even antiquity assumed hermaphroditism as a natural primeval form of mankind. . . . The tenacity with which the rudiments of sexual organs are inherited is remarkable. In the class of mammals, actual hermaphroditism is unheard of, although through the whole period of their development they drag along with them these residues born by their unknown ancestry, no one can say how long ago."* ------- 31. . .