The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical SystemsNuttall, Zelia
Religion
The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems
mountain in China is designated as the “King of Mountains, the summit of
the earth, the supporter of heaven and the axis which touches the pole”
(Meyer’s Conversations-Lexikon).
I should much like to know whether the name kul-kun is a variant of
kul-kan, and literally signifies “divine mountain.” In this case it would
strangely resemble the Maya Kukulkan and the Nahuatl Cul-hua-can, the name
of the fabulous recurved mountain of Aztec tradition. Feeling that I am
here treading upon extremely dangerous ground I shall abandon further
comparisons and conclusions to philologists and Chinese scholars and
merely conclude by stating the certain facts, that in Chinese and Maya
alike the syllable _ho_ seems to be associated with the Middle; while
_can_ is connected with four-fold division. I may perhaps venture to add
that, in Chinese, Maya and Nahuatl alike, the particles te and ti seem
closely connected with Heaven; while the Chinese kwan=earth, offers a
certain resemblance to the Nahuatl affix tlan, meaning land, and kan,
sometimes used for mountain.
Since the Chow Dynasty, the empire was spoken of as having five instead of
four mountains, which leads to the inference that reference was thus made
to the central metropolis also, the most sacred feature of which was its
central artificial mountain or pyramid. It is obvious that the empire was
governed from the central chief capital and from minor capitals situated
in the four provinces and built on the pattern of Peking. In an extremely
interesting and clever paper(80) Mr. James Wickersham has recently
remarked that “the arrangement of cities after the cardinal-points plan
was the rule not only in America but in China” and gives the following
quotations: “Mukden, the metropolis and ancient capital of Manchuria, was
a walled city like Peking. Main streets ran across the city from gate to
gate, with narrow roads, called Hu-ting, intersecting them. The palace of
the early Manchu sovereigns occupies the centre” (The Middle Kingdom,
Williams, vol. I, pp. 192-198). The Manchurian city of Kirin is also
divided into four quarters: “Two great streets cross each other at right
angles, one of them running far out into the river on the west supported
by piles.” Peune, another large city, is similarly divided. “It consists
of two main streets with the chief market [place] at their crossing. This
plan is the rule in the cities of northern China; the large cities are
walled and divided by cross streets emerging from the city gates at the
cardinal points” (Coxe’s Russia, pp. 316-17). The relation of the central
seat of government to its provinces is thus recorded in the Canon of
Shun.(81) “In five years there was one tour of inspection (performed by
the emperor) and four appearances at court of the nobles. They set forth a
report of their government in words. This was clearly tested by their
works. They received chariots and robes according to their services.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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