Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism: With an Essay on Baal Worship, on the Assyrian Sacred "Grove," and Other Allied SymbolsInman, Thomas
Religion
Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism: With an Essay on Baal Worship, on the Assyrian Sacred "Grove," and Other Allied Symbols
Inman, Thomas
Christian art and symbolism; Symbolism
Figure 184 is taken from plate xxiv., fig. 1, of Moor's Hindu Pantheon.
It represents a subject often depicted by the Hindoos and the Greeks,
viz., androgynism, the union of the male and female creators. The
technical word is Arddha-Nari. The male on the right side bears the
emblems of Siva or Mahadeva, the female on the left those of Parvati or
Sacti. The bull and lioness are emblematic of the masculine and feminine
powers. The mark on the temple indicates the union of the two; an
aureole is seen around the head, as in modern pictures of saints. In
this drawing the Ganges rises from the male, the idea being that the
stream from Mahadeva is as copious and fertilising as that mighty river.
The metaphor here depicted is common in the East, and is precisely the
same as that quoted in Num. xxiv. 7, and also from some lost Hebrew
book in John vii. 38. It will be noticed, that the Hindoos express
androgyneity quite as conspicuously, but generally much less
indelicately, than the Grecian artists.
Figure 135 is a common Egyptian emblem, said to signify eternity, but
in truth it has another meaning. The serpent and the ring indicate l'
andouille and l' anneau. The tail of the animal, which the mouth appears
to swallow, is la queue dans la bouche. The symbol resembles the crux
ansata in its signification, and imports that life upon the earth
is rendered perpetual by means of the union of the sexes. A ring, or
circle, is one of the symbols of Venus, who carries indifferently this,
or the triad emblem of the male. See Maffei's Gemme, vol. iii., page 1,
plate viii.
Figure 136 is the vesica piscis, or fish's bladder; the emblem of woman
and of the virgin, as may be seen in the two following woodcuts.
Figures 137, 138, are copied from an ancient Rosary of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, printed at Venice, 1524, with a license from the
Inquisition; the book being lent to me by my friend, Mr. Newton.
The first represents the same part as the Assyrian "grove." It may
appropriately be called the Holy Yoni. The book in question contains
numerous figures, all resembling closely the Mesopotamian emblem of
Ishtar. The presence of the woman therein identifies the two as symbolic
of Isis, or la nature; and a man bowing down in adoration thereof shows
the same idea as is depicted in Assyrian sculptures, where males offer
to the goddess symbols of themselves. Compare Figs. 68, 64, 65, 66, pp.
48 seq.
If I had been able to search through the once celebrated Alexandrian
library, it is doubtful whether I could have found any pictorial
representation more illustrative of the relationship of certain symbolic
forms to each other than is Figure 138. A circle of angelic heads,
forming a sort of sun, having luminous rays outside, and a dove, the
emblem of Venus, dart a spear (la pique) down upon the earth (la terre),
or the virgin. This being received, fertility follows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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