Rivers of Life, or, Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in All Lands

684 Pages·2005·5.2 MB·English

R I V E R S O F L I F E
OR,
SOURCES AND STREAMS OF THE FAITHS OF MAN
IN ALL LANDS;

SHOWING THE
EVOLUTION OF FAITHS
FROM THE RUDEST SYMBOLISMS TO THE LATEST SPIRITUAL
DEVELOPMENTS

BY

MAJOR-GENERAL J. G. R. FORLONG
F.R.G.S. F.R.S.E. M.A.I. A.I.C.E. F.R.H.S.
F.R.A.SOCY., &c., &c.

WITH MAPS, ILLUSTRATIONS,
AND SEPARATE CHART OF FAITH STREAMS

VOL. II.

Celephaïs Press
Ulthar - Sarkomand - Inquanok – Leeds
2005
Originally published London: Bernard Quaritch, 1883.
This electronic edition prepared and issued by
Celephaïs Press, somewhere beyond the
Tanarian Hills, and manifested in
the waking world in Leeds,
Yorkshire, England),
2005 C.E.
This work is in the public domain

Release 1.0: 29.04.2005

The Appendices (Chart, maps, table)
are distributed in separate files
CONTENTS
VOL. I.
Page
I. INTRODUCTORY . . . . . . . . . 1-30
II. TREE WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . 31-92
III. SERPENT AND PHALIK WORSHIP . . . . . . 93-322
IV. FIRE WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . 323-402
V. SUN WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . 403-534
VI. ANCESTOR WORSHIP . . . . . . . . 535-548
VOL. II.
Page
VII. EARLY FAITHS OF WESTERN ASIA AS IN KALDIA AND ASYRIA . . 1-141
VIII. FAITHS OF WESTERN ABORIGINES IN EUROPE AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES 142-448
IX. FAITHS OF EASTERN ABORIGINES, NON-ARYAN, ARYAN AND SHEMITIK 449-622
APPENDIXES
I. A COLORED CHART OF ALL FAITH STREAMS, 7½ FEET BY 2¼ FEET, EITHER
FOLDED OR ON ROLLER.
II. MAP OF WORLD, AS KNOWN ABOUT SECOND CENTURY B.C., }
PREFACING VOL. II
SHOWING MOVEMENT OF EARLY RACES AND FAITHS
III. SKETCH MAP OF ANCIENT INDIA, AND FROM BALUCHISTĀN }
TO ANAM, SHOWING EARLY TRIBES, THEIR SACRED END OF VOL. II.
PLACES, &c. . . . . . . .
IV. SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF GODS, GOD-IDEAS AND MANY }
FEATURES WHICH ALL FAITHS HAVE MORE OR LESS
DO.
IN COMMON. IF ON ROLLER THIS IS 2 FEET BY 21
INCHES. . . . . . . .
ABBREVIATIONS
None but those used in all works. English is used in preference to Latin or other languages, so that B.C. and
A.C. stand for “Before” and “After” Christ, and C.B.C. is “Century B.C.”
————————————
IN PREPARATION—
1. GLOSSARY OR POLYGLOT DICTIONARY 4. OF HINDUS.
OF FAITH-NAMES, RITES, CUSTOMS, FETES AND 5. ,, ZOROASTRIANS.
THE LITERATURE AND AUTHORS THEREOF. THE 6. ,, BUDHISTS.
CHRONOLOGY AND LEADING CHARACTERS, 7. ,, JAINAS.
CON-NECTED WITH THE DOCTRINES, &c., &c., OF 8. ,, HEBREWS.
ALL RELIGIONS, AND SUCH INFORMATION AS A 9. ,, GREEKS AND ROMANS.
STU-DENT OF ANCIENT AND MODERN FAITHS 10. ,, CHINESE AND JAPANESE.
USUALLY REQUIRES TO KNOW CLEARLY. 11. ,, SKANDINAVIANS.
2. FAITHS OF EASTERN ASIASITCS, POLY- 12. ,, CHRISTIANS
NESIANS AND AMERIKANS. 13. ,, ISLĀMIS
3. OF EGYPTIANS. 14. ,, SEIKS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOL. II.
—— ——
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NO. Page No. Page
Plate II. Map of the World, second century, 234 The Pythian Apollo . . . 167
B.C., showing moves of early races . 1 Plate X. here intervenes with 12 figures . 168
194 Camp altar in Kaldia . . . 1 235 Adam’s Peak, Ceylon . . . 171
195 The Winged Man-Bull Nin . . 34 236 Lingam Altar, Roman Nympheum . . 212
196 Asyrian Dagon and Nimrod . . 35 Plate XI here intervenes with 11 figues . 212
197 Selenê, the Moon . . . . 61 237 Tuisko, Mercury of Ancient Europe . 219
198 Isis unveiled, Moon Goddess . . 62 238 Serpent Goddess of Ancient Gauli . . 219
199 Bel and Beltis, Triad and Monad. . . 63 239 Vishnu’s Boar Avatār, and the Boar-idea as
200 Virgin as Moon, King as Sun. . . 63 a Creator . . . . 221
201 Love and all Emblems . . . 63 240 Temple of Vesta and Serpent Altar . . 227
202 Winged Sun-God with bow . . 64 241 The Jovian Oak, two stones, Fire and Yoni . 230
203 Sol in conjunction with Luna . . 65 242 Tyrian Heracles, fiery Stones and Yoni . 230
204 Fish and Woman idea . . . 68 243 Roman Circus Emblems . . . 231
205 Temple of Belus, Tower of Babel . . 71 244 Ta-ra-oa, Polynesian God . . . 231
Plate IX. with 13 figures here intervenes . 72 245 Stonehenge on 21st June . . . 232
206 A Hand or Arm Post of India. . . 74 246 Stonehenge and Abury Lingam-idea . 233
207 Kaldian and Asyrian Sacred Emblems . 77 247 Helvelen Druid Circle . . . 236
208 Greek Women and Phalik Worship. . 79 248 Loch Stennes and Harray, Orkney . . 238
209 Asyrian Bulls butting Sacred Hood. . 79 249 St. Michael’s Mount, Land’s End . . 245
210 Babylonian Mother and Child . . 80 250 Coins, showing Worship of Fertility . 248
211 Phalik Hats of Asyria . . . 80 Plate XII. here intervenes with 12 figures 254
212 Solo-Phalik Symbolism in Hats, &c. . 81 251 Two Views of the Newton Stone . . 260
213 Asyro-Egyptian Emblems on a Goddess . 82 252 Keltik Hieroglyphs . . . 261
214 Kiun or Asyrian Venus . . . 82 253 Phalik Ideas in Architectures . . 268
215 Asyrian King on Tiger . . . 82 254 Budhist, Sivaik and Jain Temples . . 270
216 Asyrian Sun-God with bow . . 83 255 Skandinavian Tree of Life . . . 290
217 Asyrian Solo-Phalik Standard . . 83 256 Rude Irish Goddess of Cashel Tower . 291
218 Persian Mithraik Emblems . . 85 257 Sphinx dug up at Colchester . . 292
219 Kaldio-Asyrian Altars with Worship of 258 The Atropa Mandragora . . . 296
Sun, Moon, Cock, Tree of Life and Lingam 87 259 Bell of St. Fillan . . . . 300
220 Eagle-headed Man with Cone . . 91 260 Sarasvati, Consort of Brahma . . 305
221 Ayrian Worship of “Grove” or Yoni . 93 261 Bird on a Sri Linga . . . 305
222 Magus or Medean Worship of Hand and 262 Serpent Priestess of Egypt . . . 310
Linga . . . . . 139 263 Rano, Egyptian Goddess . . . 310
223 Figian Phâli or Sun Stones . . 140 264 Serpent Basket or Ark-idea . . 310
224 Asyrian Worship of Yoni . . . 141 265 Mother and Child, Egypt . . . 311
225 Serpent and Cone Worship, Pompii . 142 266 Kaiktyo, Barmese Shrine . . . 314
226 Sacred Signs and Hieroglyphs . . 152 267 Krishna warring with Scorpio . . 316
227 Caduceus of Mercury . . . 165 268 Krishna rejoicing over Winter . . 316
228 Staff of Toth carrying Serpent . . 165 Plate XIII. here intervenes with 14 figures . 316
229 Tor or Serpent-Pillar of Passion . . 165 269 Solomon’s Molten Sea . . . 324
230 Serpent Guarding Tree of Life . . 165 270 Venus holding Lingam fired by Cupid . 328
231 Aiskulapian Staff of Healing . . 165 271 Ceres emerges from Cave. . . 330
232 Tri-Suli of Siva with Serpent . . 165 272 Christian Solar Child, the + and Heart . 349
233 Planetary and Sectarian Symbols . . 166 273 A Gaulik Sorceress . . . 354
vi List of Illustrations.

NO. Page No. Page
274 Great Obo or Lingam of Mongolia . . 358 308 Khem or Priapus . . . . 462
275 Brazen Serpent, Egyptian Standard. . 358 Plate XVI. here intervenes with 15 figures. 464
276 Scottish Sculpturings . . . 372 309 Egyptian Arks . . . . 466
Plate XIV. here intervenes with 7 figures . 374 310 5th Avatār of Vishnu . . . 478
277 Pyx, Monstrance and Phalik Emblems . 382 311 4th Incarnation of Vishnu . . . 480
278 Inis-Murray Lingam, Ireland . . 383 312 Brahaspati or Solar Jah . . . 481
279 Lingam Worship, Roman Nympheum . 383 313 Devî Rupi, a Consort of Jah . . 481
280 Keltik Tree-idea . . . . 384 314 Khetu the Serpent and Yoni . . 481
281 Tuisko, the Thorn God . . . 384 315 Kandu, the Moon . . . . 481
282 The Vernal Lamb Ares . . . 384 316 Sarasvati . . . . . 481
Plate XV. here intervenes with 11 figures . 404 317 Rahu, the Fishy Serpent . . . 418
283 Silver Hand on Sun . . . 407 318 Early Budhist Coins . . . 482
284 Skandianavian Lingam . . . 410 319 Conception of the Ever-Virgin . . 483
285 Crozier of Cashel . . . . 421 320 Budhist Solo-phalik Emblems . . 484
286 Asyrian Dagon and Noah . . . 428 321 Asyrian Tree, Ark and Bull Cult . . 484
287 Irish Mermaid . . . . 428 322 Asyrian Worship of Tree and Organs . 484
288 Sculptured Sun and Hand, Ireland . . 434 323 Shank or Sacred Shell . . . 485
289 Roman Standards with Religious Talismans 435 324 Tibeto, Budhist Hermes . . . 486
290 Black Stone, and Symbolic Gods, Arabia . 436 325 Serpent Warder of the Sun . . 490
291 King Orry’s Lingam Stone, Isle of Man . 441 326 Num the Ram-headed Creator . . 490
292 Tynwald Hill, sketch and plan . . 442 327 Sacred Serpent guarding Osirians . . 490
293 Budhist Svastika . . . . 444 328 Serpent Worship generally . . 491
294 Tor’s Hammer and Crosses . . 445 329 The Fishy Polynesian Creation-idea, Vatea 496
295 The Babylonian Bakchos . . . 446 330 Sacred Palm Tree-idea of Christianity . 512
296 Egyptian and Budhist Crosses . . 447 331 Set and Horus united . . . 528
297 Universal Solo-phalik idea . . 449 332 Gods hold back Apophis . . . 528
298 Talismans for Temple Worship . . 450 333 Serpent chained . . . . 528
299 Amulets for Domestic Worship . . 450 334 Serpent of Evil, with a Glory . . 528
300 Hygia’s Cup and Serpent God . . 452 Plate XVII. The Chinese Venus Kwăn-Wŏn 528
301 Sacred Basiliks . . . . 453 335 Alphabetic Primary Symbols . . 534
302 Sacred Uræus carrying Royal Crown . 453 336 Horus transfixes Apophis . . . 536
303 } Siva as Agni, from Brass Temple Image in } 337 Grecian Ile of Syra . . . 555
454
304 author’s possession, front and back views 338 Egpytian Ark and Eduth . . . 587
305 K’nouphis as a four-winged Solar God . 456 339 Sacred Hill and Column, Karnak . . 598
306 Germinating Man Serpent . . . 460 Plate III. Map, Ancient India and
307 Sun and Double Uræus . . . 461 Adjoining Countries . . Appendix
CHAPTER VII.
THE EARLY FAITHS OF WESTERN ASIA, AS EXHIBITED IN
KALDIA, BABYLONIA, ASYRIA, &c.

Fig 194. A CAMP ALTAR IN KALDIA
HAVING sketched what we may call the five unwritten Faith-ideas of early man
—which, though possessing no regularly defined Bibles, no Sacred Scriptures, were
never, as far back as we can see, without rituals and literature of their own—we shall
now pursue the more defined and easier, though still difficult task, of tracing religious
development in one of the earliest cradles of the race in western Asia, the home of
those great peoples who grew to a considerable maturity all along the banks of the
Euphrates and Tigris. In taking them up first in the order of nations, I do not wish
to imply that we have amongst them the earliest and profoundest development of
man and his religion, for I do not think we have; but Europe has been accustomed
to associate Kaldia with primeval man, and the question here matters little, as we
have not any positive, though a good deal of circumstantial evidence, for disputing
Babylonian priority. This will appear more clearly in Chapter VIII. We have here,
then, to endeavour to trace up from the very earliest times not only the history and
faiths of one of the most important sections of our race, but we must be content to do
this from faint and disconnected records, as yet only commentated and explained to
us by those who do not seem to be conversant with the lore and gross Faiths we have
been depicting, or who think these mere excrescences and impurities not worth in-
vestigating. We have also in this chapter to lead the reader step by step towards the
first western Book-faith of man, that first of Eastern no less than Western heresies,
and one which culminated in the development of a splendid religion—Zoroastrianism,
to which Europe owes most of its early cosmogony, and nearly all its faith.
In every clime and age the story of religious development has been the same, and
if we carefully study the workings of the human mind from the plains of Kaldia to
the mountains of Asyria, Syria, and Media, and away into Parthia, Bactria, and
High Asia, we shall find no more deviation in mental laws, which the great and in-
2 Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
comprehensible Ruler of the Universe has framed, than in the eternal and immutable
ones governing the world of matter.
From rude fetishes which enslaved the early nomad, man passed to the worship
of the wondrous mysteries of nature’s generative agencies—and then, lifting up
his eyes to Heaven, he bowed before the circling orbs which brought him in their
season, health and happiness, abundance of fruit and seeds, fertility to his flocks
and herds and to the varied inhabitants of the waters. By-and-bye he gave names
to the recurring stars and constellations which seemed to denote and preside over
certain good and evil influences, and called the creative organs which Sun and Moon,
Fire and Water, seemed to use in causing fertility, the symbols of, nay, the very gods
of creation. The lovely Tree seemed the result of the union of Ge and Ouranos; the
seed sprang from Zervan-Akeran, “The Ancient One,” or “Boundless Time”; it pierced
the earth, and in doing so, sprang into a thing of beauty, which blossomed and seeded
again and again as inspired by Salacia, and fed by fertile Varooni, the Queen of
Heaven, of Love and Abundance.1
Pondering on these things the wandering nomads sought to settle on earth’s
favoured spots, and to cultivate trees and such seeds and cereals as they saw were
“good for food,” rather than wander for ever unclothed and unsheltered from stormy
Typhon or scorching Mithras. On the Euphrates, as on the Oxus, the Ganges, and the
Nile, the time had come when man resolved no longer tamely to submit to every vicissi-
tude of the seasons; and mythic history opens shortly after he had built for himself
great cities, around which, however, still roamed in primeval wildness those hordes who
had not as yet learned to buiold, and to store for the winter the riches of their summer.
The founders of Sabeanism on the Euphrates were no doubt the first great
agriculturalists of Western Asia—the leaders of that civilization which Toth, Amon, and
Osiris gave to Eastern Africa; but here, as elsewhere, a gross Fetishism preceded phallic
faith, also of coarse and disgusting simplicity; which, however, as the races settled
and took to the arts of civilization, grew into a systematised but complicated Phallo-
Sabean, and Fire faith, with angels and archangels, gods and goddesses, presiding
over every joy, fear, hope, and aspiration of man. It was out of this chaos that a
great faith sprang, cultivating profound spiritual aspirations, and led—how far we
shall probably never know—by a great leader, called by the earliest Greeks, Zoroaster,
who, their most learned ones asserted, lived about nine thousand three hundred years
B.C.2 This religious leader, though he was the first, and existed in the darkest and
least historical ages of the race, seems to have had views as lofty and pure as those
of even the latest of the prophets of earth.
We must begin our sketch of the early Faiths of Western Asia at a period
long prior to that when the faith of Zaradusht was dominant in this part of the world,
although I feel confident that there existed in central Asia and Bactria a kind of

1 See the Tree-Idea, page 73, and Ceres and Juno, 2 Plato puts Zoroaster’s birth as 9000 years before
page 368 of Vol. I. his time.
The Early Faiths of Western Asia. 3
Zoroastrianism, when we first get cognizance of the great cities of Mesopotamia. It is
now generally acknowledged that before the Kaldians, whose history we can
scarcely yet investigate, there existed a great Aithiopic, Phallic and Serpent-wor-
shipping race, embracing peoples variously termed Kuths or Cusites, Skuthi, Kuklopians,
Kabiri, &c., with a considerable civilization, who were some three thousand years or so
B.C. pushing westwards to teach Egypt and Europe, as they had taught some parts of
Asia, to build and trade; they were called giants, valiant and bold men, and must have
attained a very advanced state, probably 5000 to 6000 years B.C. It may have been
from amongst them that an heretical Zoroaster sprang some thousands of years before
our era (like most prophets, not valued or much known till long after his death), at
any rate, we seem to owe more to this race and sect than we are ever likely to ascertain.
It seems clear that the first settlers came from the north, and were called Aithe-Opes,
from Ath or Ait, and Ops, here worshipped as the Sun and Serpent. Herodotus rightly says
that the Asiatic Aithiopians had not frizzled hair like the negroes of the Nile, and many
things point to a great Athi or Ardi people having been the parents of even ancient
Burburs or Akads—those who changed the name of the Moon city of UR to Kaldia, as
signifying this in the language of their Armenian or Colchian highlands, for such is said
to have been the Akadian cradle-land. Berosus tells us of Medes—perhaps the Urada
or Ala-rodians of whom Herodotus speaks—descending from here about 2458 B.C., and
driving all the dwellers off the alluvial portions of Mesopotamia; so these were clearly
opposed to the ancient Kooths, whom Jews said were the descendents of Am or Ham,
and whose brothers were Mizraim and Phut, by which is usually understood Egyptian
and Ethiopian Africa. Theose Burburs or Akads who erected UR would probably be
Turanians, that is, Ta-Ur-ians or Tot-Aur-ians, and therefore as we shall presently
see more purely Phallic worshippers than the later Aryans.
The Armenian geographers, says Mr. Geo. Rawlinson, apply the name Cush
(Koosh, or Kooth) and Ethipia to all the region from the Indus to the Tigris; the Greeks
called all east of the Tigris, Kisia, Kosia, or Elam, and we still name many parts here
Koos-is-tan, or Kooth-stan. The name of the enormous alluvial tracts in the
eastern delta of the Indus adjoining Gujerat (Kuth-erat) now known to us at Kutch,
Cutch or Kooch, may come from the same stock. Mr Rawlinson thinks that the ancient
Aithiopians and Kaldians were of the same stock. Hesiod and Pindar say that Mem-
non was a king of Aithiopia; he was the son of a Sisian woman, says Eskylus, and the
founder of Soosa and Elam, from whence sprang the first Hellenism—Kaldian Sun-
Worship.1 He led Soosians and Aithopians to assist his father’s brother at Troy, and
the Egyptians say he was their king Amen-ophis III.—the “vocal Memnon.” He
had palaces or Memnonia in Egypt and Soosians, and a tribe in the very ancient land

1 That Greek Hellenism was but the Ellamism of Kaldia and Media, Bryant, III. 153, et seq, makes
clear. Greek scholars not being also scholars of Faiths and of Kaldian history, have heretofore thought
that only Greeks were Hellenists, but now we are told there never was a Greek Hellen! See Rev.
A.H. Sayce on Mr. Gladstone’s Homeric Synchronism. Academy, 18th March 1876.
4 Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
of Mereo bear his name. There is a Sen-ar or Shem-Ar on the Nile close to Meroe,
as the Jew said there was one close to Soosa, and Meroe says it gave priests to Egypt,
that its people came from India; it often gave kings to Egypt.
The following genealogical trees are the result of a great number of reports from
ancient writers, and will help us to grasp the subject.
Koosh or Kuth Saturn or Belus
Nimrod or Belus Belus Canaan
Babel . Erek . Akad . Kalne. Damno . Ninus . Babylon.
Phenix
Agenor marries Damno.
Isea . Medea Kam or Chum Misraim
Aithiopia Aigyptus
Neptune marries Lybia or Africa
Belus + Ankenoe Agenor + Telefassa
Egytpus . Danaus . Cephus . Pheneus. Europa or Or-Ops . Cadmus . Phenix . Cilix.
Here were see a strange mixing of nations and faiths, and in time, if we keep such
matter before us, we shall elicit valuable facts. Hitherto the old Jewish writings have
kept us in bondage, for we have been taught from youth to age to consider these
as history sent direct from heaven, regarding which all further research or enquiry is
both unnecessary and impious; these views no longer impede research. The
last quarter of a century has consequently yielded a perfect harvest of historical and
religious matter, and in regard to general history we may reasonably hope that we
are yet only in the first chapter of a most voluminous work; yet I suspect that in the
matter of the Cults of Babylonia, there are no more very important revelations
awaiting those who have thoroughly mastered the practical working of Eastern Faiths,
for these are intensely conservative. It will be seen as we proceed in our description
of the Gods, rites, and ceremonies of all the peoples in the valleys of the Euphrates
and Tigris, that Kaldia of even the 30th century B.C. had precisely the same religion
as Babylon of Nebukadnezar’s day. Of course we hope yet to obtain a vast number
of facts and most interesting matter exhibiting the detailed working of the Faiths
and the movement of the religious minds of the peoples; and this, combined with their
correct ethnological, political, and geographical history, will unfold a rich field; but as
the gods and their characters are now clear to us, so is their whole faith.
TOPOGRAPHY.—Kaldia may be considered as composed of two provinces, em-
bracing the Delta and alluvial protions—some five hundred miles in length from the
Persian Gulf to Hit or Is. The lower province embraced only the Delta, and had for its
capital Ur, Hur, Har or Hoor on the right bank of the Euphrates. The other province—
Kaldia Upper or Proper, the capital of which was Babel or Babylon—extended up to