The Holy Grail

In medieval tradition, Prester John ruled over the Garden of Eden, which was not so much a mythical place as a mythologized one. Europeans linked aromatics such as aloeswood, cinnamon, cassia and ginger with Eden. It was also viewed as a type of El Dorado, a tradition going back to the Old Testament:

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads.

The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

-- Genesis 2

A few centuries after the introduction of the Kalacakra into Tibet possibly by the Shambhala king himself, Prester John sends messengers to the emperors and Pope. At this time, the situation of European Christendom was grave. The expanding Seljuk Turks had administered a crushing defeat to the Byzantime Empire and had even captured Emperor Diogenes in 1091 who was released in an act of magnaminity.

From 1144 to 1187, one Crusader state after the next fell and until Jerusalem, which had been recaptured by the Crusaders, fell in 1187.

Prester John's appearance at this time may have been designed to create hope since that king promised to bring relief to the Christian kings by invading from the East. He claimed to have been Christian, and maybe he was in a syncretic way of thinking. However, Sanfotsi/Zabag had its hands full taking care of things in its own region and was in no position to offer any real assistance.

However, sometimes hope is all that is needed to continue the struggle. In the end, help did come in the form of the great Mongol eruption from Central Asia.

Prester John appears to have created something else designed to psychologically spur the Christian warriors into action. In the romance literature that arose after the letters of the eastern king, we hear of the relic known as the Holy Grail.

Whatever the Holy Grail was, and the literature gives divergent views, it was located somewhere in the farthest Indies. If the Garden of Eden was not enough, surely the Holy Grail could lure the brave soul past Saracen armies to the mysterious East.

Wolfram von Eschenbach, in the early 13th century, first suggested that Titurel, the grandfather of Parzival, had brought the grail back from somewhere "near the Ganges" and founded an order of knights to guard the relic. These knights were known as Templars according to von Eschenbach. In order to make Prester John more palatable to European audiences, he makes that king none other than the nephew of Parzival.

In the same way, other romances sought to Europeanize Prester John. In Jungere Titurel, Parzival becomes the spiritual son of Prester John and assumes his name and throne. In the Dutch Lancelot, Prester John is the son of Parzival. In the Carolingian cycle, Ogier the Dane becomes the linear ancestor of Prester John through is marriage with the local fairy princess.

These traditions show that it in addition to being Christian, Prester John had to be genetically European, or at least partly so to gain acceptance into the literature.

However, von Eschenbach in particular gives us some of the first examples of medieval European forays into a "multicultural" society. Feirefiz, the half-brother of Parzival and father of Prester John in his version is multi-ethnic and said to be of 'polka dot' complexion.

Three "Indians" figure in the story -- the lovely Queen Secundille of Tribalibot and the dark-skinned siblings Cundrie la sorcière and her brother Malcreatiure. Both of the latter are spoken of usually in unflattering terms for their physical appearance.

In some cases, especially with reference to Malcreatiure the obsession with appearance is startling and von Eschenbach feels need to give an explanation for the two emissaries of Secundille. He states that in Tribalibot there are "a great many of these people with distorted faces, and they bore strange, wild marks."

Our father Adam received from God the art of giving names to all things, both the wild and the tame. He knew the nature of each, and the revolutions of the stars as well, and what forces the seven planets had; and he also knew the virtues of all herbs and what the nature of each one was. When his daughters had acquired the power of years and might bear human offspring, he counseled them against intemperance. Whenever one of his daughters bore a child, he warned her repeatedly and rarely spared the admonition, to avoid eating many herbs which would spoil the human fruit and bring shame on his race: "Other than God appointed when He sat at work over me," as he said, "my beloved daughters, be not blinded as to your salvation."

Despite her uncomeliness, Cundrie plays an important role in the work as prophetess, astrologer and healer. Even Malcreatiure is called "the kinsman of the herb and the stars." The two visitors from Tribalibot have valuable knowledge to give regarding the Grail. One fascinating point is that Richard Wagner, a confirmed Indophile, transforms Cundrie into a beautiful enchantress who even tempts the Fisher King centuries later in his opera Parsifal.

The early romances generally agree in placing the Holy Grail in India or the Indies. It is not until the early 14th century that it is first suggested Prester John might be located in Africa.

Von Eschenbach places the Grail in Tribalibot from which it comes for a time to Montsalvat, only to return again to the Indies with Feirefiz and his wife Repanse de Schoye, the sister of the Fisher King. In Titurel, Parzival together with his knights return the Grail and the other holy treasures back to the Indies.

King Arthur together with the whole Grail chivalry take the relic back to the Indies in the farthest "Orient" in Lohengrin, the "Knight of the Swan."

While the Kalacakra Tantra contained instructions on the "art of war," von Eschenbach states that the Templars resided with and guarded the Grail. Was this simply a device of the author or was there some reason for him to have made this statement?

Wolfram von Eschenbach states that his main source was a Provencal bard named Kyot rather than Chretien de Troyes who composed a similar romance, but with major differences, at around 1180. He was said to have been illiterate and to have dictated the story to a transcriber. It was from the mysterious Kyot, thought by some to a fictional device, that Wolfram claimed to have learned the Grail mysteries, which he states were acquired by Kyot in Toledo.

In Toledo, Jews, Christians and Muslims had lived peacefully for centuries. It was here at the great library that many ancient Greek and Roman works were protected from the Inquisition. The city was captured by Alfonso VI in the 11th century and according to Wolfram, Kyot obtained a manuscript in "heathen writing" there which was the source of his knowledge of the Grail.

The manuscript was said to be written by a "heathen" name Flegetanis. On his father's side, he was said to be descended from a heathen "who worshipped a calf." He was also said to have descent from King Solomon of Israel. Wolfram describes him as a skilled astrologer.

Kyot has been identified by many as Guiot de Provins, a troubadour, Cluniac monk and Templar advocate. Wolfram states that after obtaining the heathen manuscript, Kyot found in the chronicles of Anjou the complete story of the family of "Mazadan." It was from these two sources that he composed his song of Parzival.

Mazadan marries a fairy named Terdelaschoye in the land of Feimurgân and they have two sons, Lazaliez and Brickus. The latter becomes the father of Arthur and the elder, the grandfather of Gandin of Anjou, the grandfather of Parzival.

The name Mazadan is mysterious and suggestions of links from Ahura Mazda to Masada have been made. The land of Feimurgân also known as Fêmurgân diu rîche, Fâmorgân and Fata Morgana has the same name as Morgan La Fay of the Arthurian cycles and has been identified with Avalon.

Comparing this to the "orthodox" royal genealogy of the House of Anjou, we have to go to Fulk IV Rechin who admitted he knew nothing of his ancestors. The 12th century is known to have been a time when many noble or newly-noble families concocted hoary lineages for themselves. If we consider Fulk IV as the first count of Anjou, his son Fulk V who became King of Jerusalem through marriage would be the father of Gahmuret i.e., Geoffrey the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty.

This makes sense since Gahmuret, the father of Parzival, is said to have married the childless widow of the emperor, and indeed Geoffrey's wife was Matilda (Maud Augustus) the childless widow of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.

However, Titurel, the founder of the Knights Templar, would have to be Baldwin II, the father of Geoffrey's stepmother rather than a relative of Matilda (Herzoloyde). Baldwin II accepted the services of the newly-formed Templars in 1118.

So there was a strong connection between the House of Anjou and the Templars. Three generations ruled Jerusalem until the house went extinct and the city passed by marriage to the House of Lusignan. Von Eschenbach's tale is easily related to the historical events and the few inconsistencies may have been inserted to protect him from any accusations.

The lands of Zabag, and the rest of the Indies for that matter, had been cut off from the Christian world within a century of the rise of Islam. However, as the Muslim literature readily attests, the Islamic kingdoms had frequent intercourse with these eastern realms. When the Crusaders managed to capture regions of Palestine and Syria, lines of communication reopened that had been lost for centuries.

We first hear of formal contacts from the east when a certain Patriarch John of India in 1122 visited Rome. Magister Philippus, the papal doctor, encountered emissaries of Prester John while on a trip to the "East." When the Pope sent him back with a letter for the King of the Indies, Philippus was last seen in Palestine in 1177.

One interesting account that comes out in the 14th century is that of the so-called Sir John of Mandeville. The text is thought to be a collection of stories from travelers to the East after the opening of the trade routes by the Mongols.

Mandeville mentions priests of "Ind" (India) in the city of Jerusalem along the Via Dolorosa:

And on these grees went our Lord when he bare the cross on his shoulder. And under these grees is a chapel, and in that chapel sing priests, Indians, that is to say, priests of Ind, not after our law, but after theirs; and alway they make their sacrament of the altar, saying, PATER NOSTER and other prayers therewith; with the which prayers they say the words that the sacrament is made of, for they ne know not the additions that many popes have made; but they sing with good devotion.

He mentions merchants from India that came by sea to Damascus, but most interesting is what he has to say about Prester John "Emperor of Ind" regarding the origin of his name:

It was sometime an emperor there, that was a worthy and a full noble prince, that had Christian knights in his company, as he hath that is now. So it befell, that he had great list for to see the service in the church among Christian men. And then dured Christendom beyond the sea, all Turkey, Syria, Tartary, Jerusalem, Palestine, Arabia, Aleppo and all the land of Egypt. And so it befell that this emperor came with a Christian knight with him into a church in Egypt. And it was the Saturday in Whitsun-week. And the bishop made orders. And he beheld, and listened the service full tentively. And he asked the Christian knight what men of degree they should be that the prelate had before him. And the knight answered and said that they should be priests. And then the emperor said that he would no longer be clept king ne emperor, but priest, and that he would have the name of the first priest that went out of the church, and his name was John. And so ever-more sithens, he is clept Prester John.

So like the Shambhala king Sripala, Prester John is also said to have ventured abroad personally, and I would say for the cause of the clan! Mandeville states this happened before the Muslim invasion of Egypt, so maybe it is not particularly relevant to the Templars. But notice that according to this work, Prester John also had apparently Western Christian knights in Mandeville's time. This would agree with the letters of Prester John that state the king had Templars in his service.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Kalacakra III

The art of war as taught in the Kalacakra Tantra may have been too late for India where Buddhism eventually vanished. The doctrine though passed on quickly to Buddhist Tibet, a land whose ruggedness presented difficulties to any potential invader.

The passages in the text doubtless refer only to defensive war. Buddhism generally got along well with other religions including those in India and East, Central and Southeast Asia. However, the situation with the Lalos was seen as different.

In particular, the level of violence used by these cultures was addressed.

As for the behavior of the Lalos, whatever country in the world they are in, they have asura (demonic) aspects or proclivities or are of that family, the party of Maara (God of Evil). Dwelling on having power and violent action, without kindness toward sentient beings is the Lalo form or way.

-- Kalacakra Tantra

The lack of compassion of the Lalos was seen particularly in their treatment of animals and in their diet which was described of consisting mostly of nearly raw, bloody meat.

The text describes a situation in which the Lalos conquer all the lands "south of the River Sita." Only Shambhala north of the river is spared although its borders are breached.

After the Kalacakra Tantra reached Tibet, that country had good and active relations with Shambhala despite the ongoing threat of the Lalos. Students and pilgrims are said to have traveled from Tibet to Shambhala, and maybe more importantly, also from Shambhala to Tibet, dispelling doubt that the former was simply a mythical kingdom.

However, only a few decades after the Kalacakra reaches Tibet, the mighty Samudera empire had established itself in insular Southeast Asia. Even a few centuries earlier the smaller Peureulak kingdom had arisen in the region of Aceh. Gradually, Shambhala becomes less of a reality and more of a myth as travel for Buddhist travelers becomes more difficult.

Despite the grim outlook, the text offers hope in the form of a future savior from Shambhala. In the view of the Dragon and Bird Clan, I submit, the cycles in the clan war witness a regular ebb and flow of fortunes with each major decline reversed by the arising of a dynamic clan king. In the great cycle, when in their view the final victory over the materialists must be achieved, a king of equal proportions must arise.

In the Hindu world, this king is known as Kalki who comes from the village of Sambhala on a white horse. In the Kalacakra it is Raudracakrin of Shambhala who also rides a white horse.

The horse may be linked with the Milky Ocean and also with the submarine fire in the shape of a mare's head found in Hindu belief. It would stand for the powers of the Earth, particularly the fiery volcanic energy found under the ocean and the world. In other words, this is the king connected with the great volcanic world mountain.

Such views also made their way into the beliefs of the Zoroastrians of India and Iran. The Bahman Yact speaks of the savior king Kai Bahrám Varjávand who comes from the "eastern quarter" in the direction of "Chinistan" (China) or Hind (South India and the East Indies). The king's exploits are mentioned in several Pahlavi and New Persian texts.

In the Shahnamah, the chronicles of the kings, Kai Khusraw, the eighth and last king in the Kayanian line, journeys to the mysterious subterranean fortess of Kang-Dêz in the East. To reach Kang-dez, he first must travel through Khotan and China before embarking on a seven month sea voyage to the paradisical fortress.

Like Shambhala, the actual directions to Kang-Dêz are somewhat obscured and maybe purposefully so. It is said to lie within the cosmic Mount Qaf, the axis mundi, where the three worlds -- the sky-world, the terrestrial-world and the underworld -- meet and provide access to one another. The inhabitants are classic "Happy Islanders" who live long, carefree and pious lives.

The great kings go to rest in Kang-Dêz to await the final age when the future Saoshyant comes to transform the world into a Golden Age. As with Shambhala, it is not entirely clear whether the final battle of "good" versus "evil" is fought on a spiritual or mundane level. Some say it occurs on both planes but mostly on the former.

The description of Kang-Dêz fits that of the classic mandala. The castle is surrounded by seven walls made of different metals, and by an enclosure of 14 mountains and seven rivers. The lush description matches that of the utopian "Emerald Isle" of the Hidden Imam in Shi'ite belief. The journey to Kang-Dêz is a spirtual one and like most pilgrimages, including that of Gilgamesh to the East, it involves a spiritual recapitulation.

The cosmic cycle is recreated by the pilgrim as in the walking of the Via Dolorosa or the circumambulation of the Patala Palace in Lhasa. However, this does not mean that Kang-Dêz was not a real geographical reality in the Zoroastrian mind. The description of travel over real localities like Khotan and China suggest strongly that they did envision a geographical location from which the "King of the East" would come.

For the Dragon and Bird Clan, the knowledge (or myth) of a future savior created hope to keep up the struggle. We will see this also in the form of Prester John, the "Christian" king who was expected to save Christendom from Islamic invaders.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Kalacakra II

So when Buddhism spread into Southeast Asia it absorbed previous layers of Hinduism, mostly Siva worship mixed with local beliefs centered around sun and goddess worship particularly.

These syncretic Siva-Buddhist elements from Southeast Asia together with those from Mahacina or East Asia helped in formulating the Tantric doctrine known as Vajrayana. From the Vajrayana milieu we see the first evidence of the Kalacakra springing up associated with insular Southeast Asia.

Using the traditions and the process of elimination, it's fairly easy to deduce where the semi-legendary land of Shambhala was located. It was from there that the Kalacakra came into India at about 966 AD, and thus we have only to locate those areas where this doctrine existed before that time. In fact, the only evidence would point toward Southeast Asia. While the Kalacakra later became established in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal and Burma, all this was after the introduction into India.

Again, there is even the tradition of the Shambhala king Sripala from the "Southern Ocean" bringing the Kalacakra practice to India. All the traditions agree that it was first carried to the coastal eastern states of Orissa and Bengal which had documented close relations with Suvarnadvipa at the time including religious exchanges.

The Kalacakra was preserved to the present day mainly by peoples of Tibetan, Mongolian and Nepalese origin. It is from their texts that we have rather abundant information on the kingdom of Shambhala. The Kalacakratantra and its commentaries are among the most important of these texts.

They relate that the Kalacakra was taught by the Buddha himself to the first king of Shambhala named Sucandra. This early dynasty of Shambhala kings were known as Dharmarajas and were said to have been of the same Sakya clan as the Buddha. This may be a legendary device to trace back the lineage to the founder of Buddhism.

Possibly the more historical dynasty linked with the Kalacakra arises 600 years after the death of the Buddha and is known as the Kulika or Rigden dynasty. The names "Kulika" and "Rigden" identify the king as the holder of the clan or lineage.

This lineage was founded by the king Mañjushrikiirti who was said to have folded the four Hindu castes into a single clan (kula) and to have abolished related dining and marriage discrimination.

Interestingly this anti-caste attitude also appears in Hindu literature related to the priests of Sakadvipa.

The traditions vary as to whom was the Shambhala king when the Kalacakra was brought to India. The Dro tradition says it was the 18th Rigden Sripala (Senge) while the competing claim is that this happened during the reign of the 12th Rigden Surya (Nyima). The texts also prophesy the names of future kings of Shambhala indicating that these names were more descriptive or titulary than anything else. According to the Dro tradition we are currently in the reign of Rigden Raudracakrin (Drakpo) while in the competing view the current king is Rigden Aniruddha (Magakpa).

The Kalacakra texts have much to say about the invasions of "barbarians" known collectively as the Lalo. These texts show considerable knowledge of the expansionist wars of Muslims and Christians. They refer particularly to aberrant forms of astrology used by the Lalos.

Many of these texts originate starting only in the 10th century at a time when Muslim invasions were threatening Buddhism in India. By 1194 the great university of Nalanda in eastern India had been destroyed.

The Kalacakra Tantra contains material on who to defend against enemy invaders including instructions on how to build fortresses and various types of weapons. This may relay the importance that the Shambhala kings had placed on stopping the advance of the Lalos.

We read of different types of war machines: stone-catapults, "Naga" swords, chariots, "show-houses," circle cannons, "throwers" and 12 types of "water-leading" devices.

After giving instructions on how to build one type of catapult, the following instructions are given:

Having strong human power those who pull it, pull the ropes and, as it shoots, suddenly they will go quickly into space, and having gone they will accurately and suddenly fall on houses, roads etc., and having struck all those things the rocks ill go below the ground, like a suddenly descending thunderbolt.

One defensive weapon consisted of a wind or water-driven wheel of hooked swords:

"...placed on the lower wheel spokes are sharp swords are put which whirl swiftly. They will cut the bodies of enemies. That machine by which it is made so that the machine's lower wheel's base turns by means of water or wind."

After describing a windmill type of device to protect fortresses, an armored machine to destroy stone walls, and a defensive system of ground-mounted crossbows with iron-piercing arrows, the text tells of a hydraulic device apparently meant to provide water for gardens during times of siege.

The detailed instructions on military weapons in the prime Kalacakra text gives us some idea of the political situation that existed at this time.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

Mipham, Mi-pham on the Kālacakra tantra : a reproduction of the two volumes from the collected works of Jam-mgon Ju Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho dealing with the cycle of the Wheel of Time. Publisher Gangtok : Sonam Topgay Kazi, 1971-1972.

Newman, John Ronald, Jackson, Roder; and Sopa, Lhundup, The Wheel of Time: The Kalacakra in Context, Madison 1985.

The Wheel of Time

Coedes referring to Austronesian practices of burying their dead:

"... in jars or dolmens and for which purpose the megalithic structures
are constructed, throughout not only the island chain but wherever
this system occurred, is characteristic. So also is the cosmological
dualism which is inherent in the system. This dualism is not only of
gods but of the spirits of mountain and sea and of species and
further of mountain and lowland peoples. This system is indelibly
stamped on the Austronesian people, probably the Chinese K'unlun or
the Sanskrit Dvipantera, 'the people of the islands'. These people
had a civilisation that penetrated it and an approximate idea of
this civilisation can still be obtained by observation of some
peoples of the mountains and back country of Indochina and Malaya."

(The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, pp. 9-10)

The dualism mentioned also plays an important role in Tantric doctrine. Tantra claims to offer a "fast track" path to enlightenment or liberation. The practitioner, by identifying with the goal, reduces the time taken to achieve that goal.

In dualistic philosophy, the ultimate reality consists of the splitting of the two cosmic principles and their subsequent interaction, until finally reuniting. This end result is the same goal as that in the minds of the Tantric practitioner, and can be viewed in ways that some might consider profane.

In Tantric Buddhism, or Vajrayana, the initiate visualizes the union of knowledge/wisdom with compassion in the form of corresponding representative deities. These are seen as polarities -- as male and female respectively. Vajrayana means "Way of the Thunderbolt" after the use of the iconic vajra "thunderbolt" in meditation and other rituals.

The vajra, as a male symbol, was used together with the bell, as a female symbol, in rituals aimed at increasing self-identification with a particular deity. In the same sense, the curved knife was used with a skull, as complimentary duals, in shamanic and exorcism rituals.

The vajra was initially in the design of a double-sided spear or javelin with variable number of prongs on each end. According to legend, the Buddha closed these prongs by fusing them to the central shaft, thus creating a "peaceful" weapon.

Vajra with closed prongs and lotuses ornamenting central shaft

Vajrayana bell

Vajrayana curved knife

The phurba dagger used in visualization to subdue demons

The practice of self-identifying with deity or the act of becoming the deity is, of course, very similar to what happens in shamanistic practices. The gods that were the objects of this self-identification are known in Tibetan Buddhism as Yidam deities.

Shamans visualize themselves as a totem, spirit, hero or god. In this visualization a battle takes place between "good" and "evil" forces. We can see from the use of ritual weapons that Tantric visualization also involves something akin to shamanic warfare.

If Tantric Buddhists see the more efficient and effective paths to enlightenment as better, the in the Tibetan world none is better than the Kalacakra "the Wheel of Time."

Time after all is the main thing that separates the disjoining of the polarities from the rejoining, or the seeker from the goal. Time is thus the all-controlling factor and is personified in the Kalacakra Deity. This god takes on the form of the Adibuddha, the "First" or "Primordial Buddha," a pantheistic being from which all things arise.

The cosmic cycles of time are also found in microcosm within one's own body according to Kalacakra principles. By identifying with these cycles and with the Kalacakra Deity one transcends time and attains enlightenment swiftly.

In Kalacakra visualization, mandala's are constructed representing the cosmos. These are forms of the cosmic mountain in the shape of a terraced pyramid viewed from the top.

Sketch of Borobodur pyramid viewed from the top looking down

The Kalacakra mandala

As noted earlier, the Kalacakra practice appears to have originated in Suvarnadvipa, the lands of the Nusantao. And what is interesting about the Kalacakra texts is that they have what has been generally interpreted as strong views against expansionist religions particularly Islam and Christianity.

A type of world conflict is envisioned that we will examine in more detail as we go along.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

A brief look at the merchandise

In 1154, the Arab geographer Idrisi states: "The residents of Zabag go to the land of Sofala (near Beira, Mozambique) and export the iron from there supplying it to all the lands of India. No iron is comparable to theirs in quality and sharpness."

So in addition to tortoise shell mentioned by the Periplus, the Zabag traders were trading iron from Africa in "all the lands of India," which would include India proper and the "East Indies." As mentioned earlier, the tin mentioned in the Periplus in South Indian ports also likely came from Southeast Asia.

The Muslim texts mention among the other products traded by Zabag, at least within its own territories, were: camphor, aloeswood, sandalwood, ivory, a type of lead known as "Cabahi, "ebony," red-wood, nutmeg, mace, aloeswood, cardamom and cubeb.

The Chinese texts mention additionally as the products of Sanfotsi, which we have connected with Zabag: four varieties of gharu-wood, tortoise shell, laka-wood. cardamon and also, although not necessarily native, gold, silver, porcelain, silk, brocades, sugar, iron, samshu, rice, dried galangal and rhubarb.

Idrisi writes that in the 12th century, the Chinese often directed their trade toward Zabag especially during times of trouble (translated by Georges Coedes):

It is said that when the states of affairs of China became troubled by rebellions and when tyranny and confusion became excessive in India, the inhabitants of China transferred their trade to Zabag and the other islands dependent on it, entered into relations with it, and familiarized themselves with its inhabitants bcause of their justice, the goodness of their conduct, the pleasantness fo their customs, and their facility in business. It is because of this that this island is so heavily populated and so often frequented by strangers.

The islands of Wakwak, or Toupo as the Chinese knew them, competed fiercely with Zabag, it's close neighbor. The two were in fact described as continuous with each other with Wakwak situated to the south of Zabag.

Although the Arabic accounts vary somewhat, the reliable traditions agree in placing both Zabag and Wakwak in the "Sea of Champa" or the "Sea of China." That is in the seas directly off the east coast of Champa (southern and central Vietnam) and/or China. Here are some geographical notes on Wakwak from the Muslim texts:

One goes from the sea of Champa to the land of Wakwak
-- Shahriyar

The sea of Champa which is before the China Sea, joins Wakwak
-- Shahriyar

Wakwak lies to the east of China...
-- Ibn Khurdadhbih

It is a land situated south of China
-- Yakut

The islands of Wakwak situated in the China Sea are near Zabag
-- Kazwini

They are in the extreme East
-- Ibn Sa`id

Interestingly, Wakwak is often said to be ruled by a queen known as Damhara. The Chinese texts also mention a queen at one time ruling Toupo.

The ruler of the islands of Wakwak is a woman. She sits nude on a throne, a crown of gold on her head, surrounded by four thousand young slaves also nude.
-- Kazwini and Ibn al-Wardi

The queen is called Damhara, wears a robe woven of gold and shoes of gold.
-- Ibn al-Wardi, Idrisi

The queen sits on a throne with a crown of gold on her head, surrounded by 400 young virgins.
-- Abshihi

(translated by Gabriel Ferrand)

The Chinese chronicles mention Queen Sima of Toupo who struck fear in the heart of the "King of the Arabs."

It seems also women played a major role in Zabag as the tales of Sinbad in the One Thousand and One Nights mention a princess of Zabag who greatly assists her father in ruling over the kingdom.

Like Zabag, Wakwak was also famed for its gold and probably even more so.

The horse bits, and the chains and collars of dogs are of gold
-- Shahriyar

The people make shirts woven of gold
-- Shahriyar

The chiefs have bricks made of gold with which they build fortresses and houses
-- Ibn al-Wardi, Abu Zaid Hasan

The gold is exported in ingots and as dust
-- Idrisi

When the Spanish reached the Philippines, they were surprised at the quantity of gold to be found:

"... the natives proceed more slowly in this ,and content themselves with what they already possess in jewels and gold ingots handed down from antiquity and inherited from their ancestors. This is considerable, for he must be poor and wretched who has no gold chains, calombigas, and earrings."
-- Antonio de Morga


"On the island [Butuan] where the king came to the ship, pieces of gold as large as walnuts or eggs are to be found, by sifting the earth. All the dishes of the king are of gold, and his whole house is very well set up."
-- Pigafetta

"...they possess great skill in mixing it [gold] with other metals. They give it an outside appearance so natural and perfect, and so fine a ring, that unless it is melted they can deceive all men, even the best of silversmiths."
-- Pigafetta

"According to their customs, he [Raja Siaua] was very grandly decked out, and the finest looking man we saw among those people. He wore two large golden earrings fastened in his ears. At his side hung a dagger the shaft of which was somewhat long and all in gold. He had three spots of gold on every tooth , and his teeth appeared as if bound with gold. That island of his was called Butuan and Calagan."
-- Pigafetta

The other products mentioned as coming from Wakwak/Toupo are very similar to those mentioned as coming from Zabag. Pigafetta states that at Butuan and Calagan was found the finest cinnamon in the world known as caumana. The latter word itself looks like a possible ultimate etymological source for "cinnamon" which is derived directly from the Hebrew kinamon.

In the earliest mention of Toupo in the Funan tu su luan of Kang-Tai the pronunciation is Toubak which happens to be same as the old name for the kingdom of Cotabato in the southern Philippines.

Although medieval writings up to Pigafetta describe homes and buildings decorated with gold, great cities seem to be lacking. I Ching describes Foshi, which may be the same as Sanfotsi, as a "fortified town." Muslim writers also describe the location of the Zabag king's palace as a "town." This palace though seems to have been imposing and its legend may have survived to the time of the Age of Exploration.

The king of Zabag was said to have a very heavy crown of gold and jewels, and also to have a golden image of himself for posterity. Offerings of gold vessels were made by the people to this image. This collection of gold was in the form of a shrine known as the "Mountain of Gold and Silver."

The description of the homes in Toupo given by the Chinese is positive:

The dwellings are of imposing appearance and painted in greenish tints. Traders going there are put up in visitor's lodges, where food and drink both plentiful and good (are supplied).

-- Chau Ju-Kua

When Pigafetta arrived, he found that the natives of the Philippines were still conducting long-distance trade and that Magellan's crew was conducted to "their boats where they had their merchandise, which consisted of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, nutmegs, mace, gold, and other things: and they made us understand by gestures that such articles were to be found in the islands to which they were going."

The Pandanan wreck also gives us an idea of the types of things brought back from these trade journeys. Dated at about 1410, the wreck consisted of 4,722 items stored in seven hull compartments. These were not water-tight compartments and large holes at the bottom of each bulkhead drained bilge water into the bottom of the hull.

More than 70 percent of the cargo consisted of Vietnamese ceramics. Other items included blue and white porcelain wares, celadons and iron cauldrons and gongs.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The development of Kalacakra

In eastern Asia and various parts of India, particularly in the East and the South, Buddhism and Hinduism began to fuse through the vehicle of Tantra. The texts make clear that the flow of culture was in both directions.

From Tibet, Burma and China, probably known collectively as Mahacina we hear of substantial Tantric influence. The yab-yum philosophy of the Tibetan Bon religion and the related yin-yang doctrine of Taoism are quite evident in Tantric literature including the Mahacinatantra.

The goddess Tara, who was of utmost importance in both Buddhist and Hindu tantrism, shared many similarities to eastern Asian sea goddesses. She was herself the patron deity of seafarers in Tantric tradition.

In Southeast Asia, we see the rise of important Buddhist learning centers. When I Ching visited Foshi in the seventh century, he stated that "the level of the sciences has reached such a state, that one can say all the knowledge of the world flows from this island."

The great Tantric Buddhist teacher Atisha traveled to insular Southeast Asia to study under the master guru Suvarnadvipi.

Tantric forms of Buddhism like Vajrayana and Kalacakra became strongly identified with this region known as Suvarnadvipa "the Golden Isles." This region was part of what what we have described before as Sakadvipa "the Isles of the Saka (Teak) Tree."

These islands form part of the eastern quarter of the world known as Bhadrasva in the Puranic literature. The Sita River was the great river of Bhadrasva and was said also to be one of the rivers of Sakadvipa. The kingdom of Shambhala was said to lie on the north side of this river.

The region was famed as fragrant with the scent of cloves and rich in gold and other precious metals. The The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea a first century Greek work on Indian Ocean trade mentions the commerce between the markets at the mouth of the Ganges and Chryse "the Gold Isle" the very farthest land to the East.

Among the products from Chryse was said to be the finest tortoise shell in all the Indian Ocean trade. Reports of near-by gold mines are also mentioned. The Chryse merchants apparently used "very large" ships known in the text as colandia.

The Tantric doctrine of Kalacakra will play an important role in the history of this area beginning in about the 8th or 9th century. The Kalacakra like all Tantras has strong dualistic elements combined with the predominant doctrine of cyclic time. The supreme Kalacakra Deity is, in fact, a sort of personification of time, particularly time as a destroying and hence rejuvenating factor.

In the Kalacakra doctrine we see a very strong emphasis on messianism and end-times prophecy linked specifically with the kingdom of Shambhala. This was at a time when the Dragon and Bird Clan was maybe at its highest height but also preparing to face its greatest challenge.

A Tibetan representation of the kingdom of Shambhala

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Back East

We will leave Europe for now and go back east to India. It was to here, as we have mentioned, that the Nusantao merchants brought their goods for distribution to points beyond on the Clove Route.

Good relations with India would have been important especially for the Dragon and Bird Clan who mostly controlled this northern route as opposed to the southern transoceanic Cinnamon Route. The gradual migration of Indian religious influences into Southeast Asia helped foster good relations.

While it is difficult to gauge when these influences began, by the time of the Chinese traveler Fahsien in the 5th century, the influece was apparently strongly established. Fahsien mentions that in Ye-po-ti an island on the last leg of the journey from India to China, he found a form of Brahminism in practice. When I Ching traveled to India and back a few centuries later, he found at Foshi, again the last stop from India to China, that Buddhism was flourishing instead .

Indeed, there are some who believe that the syncretic forms of belief that combined Hindu worship of Siva and the Sun together with Buddhism originated in Southeast Asia and were carried back to India.

I suggest in one of my articles that the location known as Sakadvipa to the Indians was in Southeast Asia. In Hindu texts, Sakadvipa is associated strongly with Sun worship.

Indeed, in insular Southeast Asia we find that Siva is combined with local manifestations of the Sun god. Solar worship was and is widespread among indigenous religions of this region and also beyond into the Pacific. Forms of Siva such as Batara Guru and Maharaja Dewa (Mahadewa) are closely identified with the Sun in local forms of Hinduism or Kebatinan, and even in the genie lore of Muslims.

Apparently people from Sakadvipa also migrated to India forming the caste known today as the Sakadwipi brahmins. These Sakadwipis are dispersed mainly in eastern India where we also find syncreticism of Sun and Siva worship as in the Bhairava sect. Orissa on the eastern coast, in particular, becomes a center of Sun worship and pilgrims often visit to worship at Sun temples here.

One of the specific forms of solar worship was to bathe in the sea or to meditate in the forest (vana) and this was recommended especially to be done in Orissa.

The Sakadwipi brahmins became established mainly in Bihar, Bengal and Orissa, and from these places migrated to other regions. This occured during a time of significant recorded contact between East India and Suvarnadvipa (insular Southeast Asia). Specifically we know that Gauda and Varman kings of Bengal were said to have brought Sakadwipi brahmins into their courts. The Sakadwipis of today are often of the Sakta sect, which worships the goddess in the form of the spouse of Siva. They generally are held in low esteem by brahmins who claim North Indian origin (Pancha Gauda).

However, at one time they were leaders in the fields of astronomy and ayurvedic medical sciences. Even today, many are found practicing traditional astrology and healing.

The Sakadwipis are located where Siva/Sakti worship combines with Sun worship as in northern Bihar where the Chhath Sun festival is still of great importance. Here one encounters many syncretic temples combining Siva/Sakti images with those of the Sun god.

Sakadwipis were apparently very important in the astronomical circles around Magadha and latter in Avanti. The great astronomer Varahamihira was a Sakadwipi. It was during the period starting around the fifth century that we see a real flourishing of astronomy and geography in India.

One important feature of this astronomy/geography is found in the relation of the place known as Yamakoti or "Yama's peak." As mentioned previously, Yama is the Indian god of death and the Underworld. According to the astronomical text Surya Siddhanta we find from Lanka "at a quadrant of the earth's circumference eastward, in the clime Bhadrasva, is the city famed as Yamakoti, having the walls and gateways of gold."

Bhadrasva is the eastern region in the Puranas fed by the Sita, the river which also happens to be linked with both Sakadvipa and Shambhala.

Varahamihira states that when it is midnight in Yamakoti, it is sunset in Lanka and midday in Romaka, which refers either to Rome or Alexandria. If we accept Romaka as the latter, then Yamakoti would be roughly at the same meridian as Mt. Pinatubo.

Lanka is said to be on the same longitude as present-day Ujjain or at about 75° East longitude. Alexandria is at about 30° East and Pinatubo is at about 120° East, so they are both separated by about 45 degrees from Lanka.

Of course, 45 degrees is only one half of a quadrant of the earth's circumference. Rome would be much closer to a quadrant although still far off the mark.

We should note that Marinus of Tyre and Ptolemy of Alexandria tend to give similar indications in respect to longitude. If you remember, we mentioned that when Magellan landed in the Philippines he was heading for the port known as Cattigara.

In Ptolemy's Geographia, we find that Alexandria, Cattigara and the approximate location as best we can determine of Ujjain, are about proportionately equidistant from one another.


A medieval rendition of Ptolemy's world map by Girolamo Ruscelli in 1561

Marinus of Tyre states that the distance from the Fortunate Isles (Canary-Madiera Islands) to Cattigara was 230 degrees. The actual distance is about half that amount. Thus, both the Indian and Greek astronomers appear to overestimate distance in degrees by the same amount at least a these long ranges.

If Yamakoti mentioned by the Indian astronomers coincides fairly well with the Cattigara of the Greeks and Magellan, then we can see the Mt. Pinatubo would definitely be a good candidate for "Yama's Peak."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

Burgess, Rev. E.(trans), Gangooly, P.(ed.), The Surya Siddhanta: A Text-Book of Hindu Astronomy: Motilal Banarsida Publishers Private Ltd., Delhi, India, 1860 (reprinted in 1935 and 1989).

Varahamihira, Panchasiddhantika, Translated by G. Thibaut and Mahamahopadhyaya Sudhakara Dvivedi. Benares: Medical Hall Press, 1889.

Dolmens II

The dolmens of the world tend to lack any of the markings of the more established religions. Even the more specific known symbols of the pre-Christian religions of Europe rarely find a place on the dolmens. These monuments and other megaliths though do have carvings and other marks quite commonly and the meanings of these symbols has fueled much speculation.

To sort this out we can explore the traditions connected with the European megalithic sites. As noted, the greatest monuments often have only relatively late notices in the literature. Stonehenge is first mentioned only in 1135 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. The impressive ruins of Carnac despite rather detailed early descriptions of the surroundng area are only related in 1779 by Sauvagère in Recueil d'Antiquités dans les Gaules who attributes them mistakenly to the Romans.

However, it may be through the folklore linked with these monuments that we can work back and connect with the more ancient literature. In northern Europe, the dolmens and other megaliths are often associated with fairies, elves and other folkloric peoples or creatures. These mythological beings may at one time have been real cultures that over the centuries or millennia became transformed through the telling of tradition.

In the medieval literature, these peoples play a rather distinct role and are often associated with faraway mystical places. In the chansons de geste, Arthurian cycles and other romantic epics, the fairies are linked with the lush paradisical place called the "island of apples" or Avalon.

A land of apples is also found in earlier Greek and Norse myths. In the Greek versions, this place is located "beyond the river Oceanus at the outer limits of the world." As mentioned earlier, the river Oceanus was seen as existing both to the west and to the east. This could be either according to the astronomical view of a globular world or to the popular and medieval one of a flat circular world.

"As for Okeanos, the Greeks say that it flows around the whole world from where the sun rises, but they cannot prove that this is so." - Herodotus 4.8.1

"The unending flow and ebb of Tethys, of the sacred flood of Okeanos fathomless-rolling, of the bounds of Earth that wearieth never of her travail, of where the Sun-steeds leap from orient waves." - Quintus Smyrnaeus 2.115

"[The] rivers [of the world] are many, and mighty, and diverse, and there are four principal ones, of which the greatest and outermost is that called Okeanos, which flows round the earth in a circle; and in the opposite direction flows Akheron, which passes under the earth through desert places." -Plato Phaedo 112E

"The root-fixt bed of refluent Okeanos surrounds the circle of the world and its four divided parts, girdling the whole earth coronet- wise with encircling band." –Dionysiaca 2.247

The golden apples of the Garden of Hesperides were a gift from Gaea during the wedding of Zeus and Hera, have been located in many places including Africa and America. The golden apples in many ways resemble the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden. The tree possessing these apples was said to be guarded by a serpent or dragon sometimes called Ladon.

The serpent Ladon protecting the golden apples

Earlier I mentioned that the forbidden fruit of the Bible has often been equated with the banana. Could this also be the case with the "golden apples." The tree was cared for by the sisters known as the Hesperides. As one of his labors, Hercules went to fetch the golden apples and came to a land known as Hyperborea.

The country of Hyperborea was said to be located in the far north beyond the north wind or the Boreas in Greek (Latin Aquilon).

However, like Avalon, Hyperborea was described as a lush warm paradise where the natives ran naked and carefree. Abaris, a Hyperborean priest, was said to have carried a magic arrow and is linked with the founding of magic and shamanist traditions in Greece and also to a particular school of medicine. It was said that the Sun was worshipped here in the form of Apollo, and both Kronus and Leto, the grandfather and mother of Apollo were stated to have come from Hyperborea.

It was here that Hercules finds Atlas or in some versions Prometheus. Interestingly, Titans alone seemed to know the way to the mystical Garden of the Hesperides.

The Norse myth of Iðunn also mentions golden apples and contains the following motifs: 1) The tree's fruit provides eternal youth to the gods of Asgard, 2) Loki takes the form of a bird to steal Iðunn and the golden apples, 3) Loki and Thor hide the apples in the belly of the Midgard serpent.

You may notice here the combination of the tree, the bird and the serpent that we discussed earlier.

Vennemann believes the Hesperides are linked with North Africa and that even that the name is of Afro-Asiatic origin. He has suggested pre-Indo-European peoples like the Picts and the Scandinvian Vanirs were Afro-Asiatic speakers.

However, like Avalon, the Hesperides and Hyperborea are linked in some ways with voyages to the north as well as the west. While there is some indication of polar days and nights, these lands are thought of as having warm, even tropical climates.

Could we have here some vague recollection of northern journeys that eventually led to the South Seas as postulated by Hornell and others? In the medieval romances, Ogier the Dane was said to have spent a long time in Avalon where he reportedly made many conquests in the "Indies."

We find later too that Prester John becomes entwined in the romance literature connected, for example, with Parzival and Ogier, often with the further geographical link of the Indies. We will discuss this in greater detail later on in the blog.

Vennemann has also suggested that the word "apple" was borrowed into Indo-European from Afro-Asiatic 'abol "genitals." However, Pedersen notes that the apple words like those for "river bank," i.e., German uber and Welsh aber, show an alternation between the letters "a" and "u" and he believes this may be related to Austronesian influence.

Of the symbols found on the megaliths, one of the most common is the cup mark. Monuments in Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea, Europe, India and other regions all display, often profusely, these concave etchings.

Oppenheimer notes that in Sumatra and eastern Indonesia, these cup marks are found in parallel rows in a pattern similar to a Mancala board game (Sungka in the Philippines). In fact, these cup etchings are actually used to play this Indo-Pacific-wide game locally. Similar patterns have been found on megaliths in Turkey and East Africa, and amongst the rock carvings of Scandinavia. That a game would be played on a sacred tomb should not be thought of as strange. In many ancient cultures, ancestral tombs were looked at as not less than a home away from home, where family activities such as eating and playing were encouraged.

Other cup marks seem to represent something else entirely and are often shown with surrounding concentric rings. In the view of the dragon and bird clan, these symbols might represent the holy volcano in a Mt. Meru design with the concave cup symbolizing the volcanic crater.

Megalithic cup and ring marking from Achnabreck, Scotland

Megalithic cup and ring marking from Ballochmyle, Scotland

In some cases, these cup markings are connected by grooves that follow the natural contours of the stone. They have been thought of in many ways to include outlines of tomb structures and representations of constellations. Some believe the groove system is designed to help drain water off the rock although this is usually not obvious. It may be that the builders saw the stone's contours as a representation of a natural landscape and that the grooves represented water ways leading from one mountain (cup mark) to another.

The early Greeks divided history into different ages of which the first was the Golden Age. During this period, Kronus ruled over the Titans, the Golden Race, in Hyperborea also sometimes described as the "Saturnian isle." After the volcanic overthrow of the Titans, the Golden Age continued in the mysterious otherworldly "Isles of the Blessed." The period was known as one of innocence and natural living.

Plato writing in Cratylus notes that the Golden Race were also known as "demons" although the meaning of that word was different in earlier times. Referring to Hesiod, he states:

And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he called them demons, because they were daemones (knowing or wise), and in our older Attic dialect the word itself occurs. Now he and other poets say truly, that when a good man dies he has honour and a mighty portion among the dead, and becomes a demon; which is a name given to him signifying wisdom. And I say too, that every wise man who happens to be a good man is more than human (daimonion) both in life and death, and is rightly called a demon.

Hesiod described the early Golden Race as "holy demons upon the earth, Beneficent, averters of ills, guardians of mortal men."

It is probably not by coincidence that the word "demon" has come to refer to the "fallen angels" of Biblical lore.

Indeed we have shown that the fallen angel camp "ruled" first through their willingness to exploit the trade routes without moral reservation. However, the eruptions and corresponding alliance of the dragon and bird clans allowed for the "overthrow" of the old regime and their expulsion from "Eden."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

On the folklore of the megaliths

Evans-Wentz, W. Y., The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, 1911.

Dumézil, Georges, “The Gods: Aesir and Vanir,” in Gods of the Ancient Norsemen 3-25 (1973).

MacRitchie, David. Ancient and Modern Britons : A Retrospect, W. Preston, 1986 (reprint).


On Vennemann's and related theories

Linguistic abstracts, http://www.germanistik.uni-muenchen.de/theoretische_linguistik/vennemann.html#abstracts

Dolmens

The worldwide distribution of megaliths has spawned theories of a megalithic culture that spanned the globe at some early epoch. Grafton Elliot Smith was among the first to speculate on such hyperdiffusion.

The concept of moving or raising large stones for purposes ranging from marking boundaries to building tombs is natural enough to have risen independently in many cultures. However, one type of megalith does attract our attention.

The dolmen tomb occurs over a wide distribution in an arrangement that does not lead one to think of independent origin. The dolmen often occurs as a "stone table" consisting of a massive flat capstone lying horizontally on smaller upright stones acting as "table legs."

What make the dolmen unusual is that it usually is found surrounded by a mound or tumulus. Underneath the dolmen, one will again usually find a stone cist containing one or more burials. A large hole in one of the rocks, apparently symbolic in nature, will also be associated with the dolmen. The Marquis of Nadaillac commented on the unlikely possibility of this occuring independently:

We can understand how men were everywhere impelled to raise mounds above the bodies of their ancestors, to perpetuate their memory or to enclose their mortal remains between flat stones to save them from being crushed by the weight of earth above them. We may even, by straining a point, admit the idea that a large cist developed into a dolmen, but when in districts separated by enormous distances we see monuments with the wall pierced with a circular opening or combining an interior crypt with an external mound and dolmen, it is impossible to look upon these close resemblances as the result of an accidental coincidence, and equally impossible to fail to conclude that the men whose funeral rites were remarkable for such close similarity belonged to the same race.

Dolmens in Europe and eastern Asia appear divided mainly into Neolithic and Bronze Age categories. In some cases, iron is found in these tombs but often along with evidence that this metal was deposited only long after the dolmen was erected. This is different than in other areas such as India where megalithic burials are often associated with iron. Heine-Geldern thus thought there were two "waves" of megalith builders in Europe and Southeast Asia who were in fact linked.

The strongest evidence that would suggest the dolmen builders of Europe came from far away in the East is found in the megalithic fields of France. Here burials with jade, nephrite and jadeite (chloromelanite) hatchets and celts have been found.

Jade is not found in Europe and turns up only very far to the east. There is a difference of opinion on nephrite and jadeite. Some limited deposits have been found of both although most experts tend to agree that jadeite was probably imported from an eastern source. Nephrite deposits have been found with workshops in proximity although without evidence that the deposits had ever been worked.

The strongest argument against local mining of these minerals is that their use totally disappears after the megalithic age. Like the hard-fired pottery of Neolithic Iraq and Syria, and the early lashed-lug boats of Scandinavia, the jade tools vanish either due to the loss of a culture or to a lost trading source.

We know as a fact that with the rise of urban China, jade and nephrite became increasingly harder to obtain outside of that country. For example, in the Philippines, the situation with nephrite shows clear signs that the supply diminished over time.

We find jade, nephrite and jadeite tools also among the pile dwellings or "Lake Stations" of neolithic Switzerland. Remains from this culture included perforated clay spindle whorls and net sinkers similar to those found in the neolithic shell mound cultures much further east. The Lake Stations are naturally linked with the nearby pile dwellings of northern Italy.

The dolmen burials also contained tools made of fibrolite, another material not native to Europe, and Indo-Pacific cowries.

The neolithic Shandong and related coastal Korean cultures raised dolmens. Indeed, Korea has more dolmens than all the rest of the world combined. Today, the peoples of Sulawesi and Sumba in eastern Indonesia continue to build dolmen tombs although with some modern touches.

The traditional dolmens of this region often were combined with carved totemic menhirs.

In both Europe and Southeast Asia we find evidence in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the cult of the axe. Blades with no signs of wear are found, often in large numbers, as burial items. Sometimes these tools appear purposely broken as if due to some form of ritual.

The mounds associated with dolmens can be either artificial or natural, and some of the former are massive having circumferences of thousands of feet and standing over 170 feet high. They remind us of similarly expansive shell mounds that were also used for burial.

In many ways, the dolmen resembles also the houses, and at times, semisubterranean houses built on mounds in the northern regions. The hole found in many of these monuments may represent an opening allowing the souls interned to exit the structure. However, it has also been theorized that dolmens were used to bury entire families using secondary internment, and that dessicated skeletons were placed through the opening. Often the local folklore connected with dolmens views them as homes made by little people, or by giants for little people.


Dolmen with opening from India

Also of interest is the fact that the megaliths of Europe though extensive and spectacular in scale are hardly mentioned at all by the ancient Greek and Roman writers, or even by early medieval chroniclers. They certainly were known as there is abundant evidence especially of Roman intrusion into these monuments. However, it was almost as the memory of these structures was thought to be better forgotten.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Architectural motifs

One can see similarities in architecture and motifs over these vast areas that seems to indicate rather continuous contacts. The interaction was probably linked with the Nusantao trade activity to some extent.

One example is the stave church of the north. Built in a manner similar to Viking ships with all wood joints and no nails. The tongue and groove method is employed. They resemble to a great extent Batak traditional architecture. The stave church is suspended on a low post base protected from soil rot by placement on stones. In the same way, the piles of a Batak home are placed on stones.

Both tend to be tiered and decorated with finials. The frames are pre-fabricated with the rest of the structure then built over the frames.


Model of Batak home


Fantoft stave church, Norway





The decorative motives in northern Europe going back at least to early Pictish times included the strong use of spirals and serpent/dragon coils. We see these also in the east starting at least by the Jomon and Neolithic periods.

The Picts also built houses on piles like the early pile dwellings of Italy, and some of these were suspended over water. The name "pict" refers to the tattoos painted over the entire body by these people.


Serpentine design from Urnes stave church

Borgun stave church

Batak house

Batak house during World War II

Beams of Batak house

Maori taihu canoe prow

Maori taurapa

Gold neck rings, Celtic La Tene culture

Jomon design

Jomon markings

Maori tattoo

Dragon coil on Dongson axe

The "Pictish Beast" entwined from Scotland

Recreation of a Pictish crannog home


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Corded Ware and the Terramara

The Battle Axe folk are also known as the Corded Ware Culture after the cord-marked pottery that suddenly appears around the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition period.

Although scenarios vary, the Battle Axe people have been suggested as non-Indo-European speakers who are invaded or otherwise amalgamate with an early Indo-European folk described as Nordwestblock.

The resulting culture is, in turn, invaded by or met with migrations from Proto-Germanic speaking people.

Cord-marked pottery appears very early far to the east in Asia. In fact, the earliest pottery in the world is that of the Jomon of Japan. The name "jomon" refers to the use of cord-markings. Possibly this practice influenced the later corded horizon in Southeast Asia, which also has relationship to the Hoabinhian tradition.


Distribution of Corded Ware Culture

Among the reconstructions for "jar" in Austronesian are *kundu which appears related to *kundu "gourd." Dempwolff reconstructs *kenD(ih) "pitcher, water jar," and Hayes has Proto-Austric *(kEn)zeh "pitcher".

Pedersen offers the following list of possibly related words:

from Danish Etymological Dictionary:

kanna "pitcher" Old Norse
kande id. Danish
kanne id. Norwegian
kanna id. Swedish
kanna id. Old Saxon
either
loan from
canna "reed, tube; flute" Latin
("clay container with spout" > "pitcher")?
cf., with suffix
cana:lis "canal" Latin
loan from
kánna "tube" Greek
loan from
qanu: Babylonian-Assyrian
gin id. Akkadian-Sumerian
or
*gan(dh)- Proto-IndoEuropean
gann "vessel, container" Middle Irish
*gandhna- Proto-IndoEuropean

kani "plate" Old Norse
kane "boat" Danish dial.
"sleigh" Danish
kane id. Norwegian
kane "bowl with handles",
"scoop" Norwegian dial.
kani "boat" Old Swedish
kana type of sleigh Swedish dial.
kani "small wooden bowl",
"trunk, snout",
type of boat Icelandic
kane "boat" Middle Low German
Kahn id. German
kaan id. Dutch

Pedersen feels these words belong to non-Indo-European Nordwestblock as they do not reconstruct clearly into earlier branches:

The restricted number of IE branches that the root occurs in (Celtic, Germanic, Italic) makes one suspicious that it is not IE, but non-IE Nordwestblock (with two other "container" words in the Germanic languages, and , we can be certain they aren't Germanic; roots in Germanic of the form CVC where the C's are unvoiced stops (p, t, k, kW), would have to be from PIE roots CVC, where the C's are voiced stops (b, d, g, gW), but such roots do not occur in PIE. Further the /a/ of the Latin word makes it likely it was borrowed into Latin too. In my opinion the root can be accounted for much more easily by assuming it travelled as a loanword from SEAsia to Europe.

The natural frozen mummy known as Ötzi found in the Italian Alps and dating to this period might be related to this culture. The pile dwellings or terramarra of northern Italy have been linked with the shell mounds further north. They are also known as pile-middens. Like shell middens, pile-middens are mounds of accumulated rubbish.

The pile dwelling settlements were protected by plank-fortified earthen walls with a moat on the inner side, and the homes built on dry land. The earthen fortress was divided into four parts and usually located near a stream.


Recreation of a terramara

Settlements of nearly exactly the same type are constructed to this day in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (New Guinea). The earthen embankments are strengthened by logs, and middens accumulate under the pile-dwellings just as in early Italy. Even the height of the piles is usually the same. They are built over both dry land and over water.

Ötzi wore a loincloth but had plenty of other clothing to keep warm including leggings, insulated shoes, a bear-skin hat, a skin jerkin and a cape of linden tree bark fibers and feathers. He also had birch bark containers which he used to carry live embers. His stone axe was quadrangular in cross-section. His body had what may have been medicinal tattoos.

Most interestingly though, Ötzi wore barkcloth gauntlets!

Mummy of Ötzi

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Torc and the Valknut

The chaining of Prometheus was part of the overall conflict between Zeus and the gods versus the Titans.

According to Hesiod, when the gods overthrew the Titans the forests were set ablaze and the oceans "seethed and boiled." Homer states that Zeus "had also thrust great Cronos down beneath earth and the restless sea" banishing him to Tartaros, the Underworld.

In Greek myth, when volcanoes erupt they reveal the Titans or Giants imprisoned by Zeus beneath the earth.

The conflict in many ways parallels that between the good and bad angels in Hebrew lore with the Titans playing the role of teachers who lead humanity toward their downfall.

In Northern Europe we sometimes find the division of the banks of a river in a manner similar to that found in Austronesia. At Skelbæk, on the Kongeå in Denmark, for example, bronze age mounds are found on one side of the river while homes and agriculture are found on the other.

Torsten Pedersen also believes that the European root for "brother" is related to the word for "to bear, carry," and might be related to relationships that existed on opposite sides of a river i.e., someone who bears something across the river. This could be something in exchange for a spouse or even the spouse him/herself. Linguistic links between Austronesian and Indo-European have long been recognized although at one time they were considered genetic relationships.

Franz Bopp, often called the "father of Indo-European," and Sir William Jones, the person who first suggested a link between European languages and Sanskrit, were two early researchers who thought the Malayo-Polynesian languages and European ones were genetically related. Pedersen's research shows that these links do indeed seem valid but as borrowings rather than inheritance.

Another interesting parallel that we find in these regions separated by half the globe involves the grisly practice of human sacrifice. As noted earlier, this ritual often pops up when we see signs of sharp social stratification. In many cases it is involved directly with funerary rites and in latter times often occurs in state or community rituals.

An artifact linked with this practice is the neck ring or torc. On the island of Nias they make elaborate neck rings, which like the ancient European ones, were plaited with fiber and metal, in this case with coconut fiber and brass.

Traditionally the neck rings or kalabubu were worn only by those who had killed one of the enemy. Tacticus mentioned that the Chatti wore 'iron collars' until they had killed someone in battle.

Oppenheimer following Frazer notes that in Scandinavia the torcs were used for ritual killings. In offerings to Odin, the victims were hung and then stabbed with a spear.

Frazer notes a similar custom in the Philippines in a fertility ritual were the victim is hung and then finished off with a spear to the side. The analogy to the Crucifixion is striking.

The torcs found on peat bog mummies at Lindow, Borromese and Tolland were fashioned into triple knots resembling the valknut motif.


Celtic god Cerunnos wearing and holding neck ring on Gundestrap Cauldron


Ancestor image with neck ring from Nias (EITE)

Although the symbolism of the valknut is not well-known it is believed that it may represent death and it has been connected with the Nornir, the three sisters of fate who weave the destinies of humans. The valknut motif is often represented by three interlinked triangles or by knots forming triangular lattices.

The triangular form is similar to the method of three-way weaving found widely distributed in Austronesia and used for extensively for a variety of purposes from constructing homes to making stick maps. The sipa or takraw a wicker ball used from Thailand to the Philippines is a good example of the three-node weaving pattern. Having twenty nodes with six great circles and eighty triangulated surfaces, the sipa maximizes compression when using tensile materials.

Bunkminster Fuller believed three-way weaving was conceived in Austronesia as a means of imparting tensile strength to flexible wooden structures. In comparision to grid-pattern weaving and structures that tend to collapse, the three-node structure has much greater "bend."

Knots as symbols were used commonly in Austronesia particularly in divination. As noted earlier knots were also used to keep records, and the trigrams created by the legendary Fu Hsi may have originated in knots used to keep weather records by the Dong Yi.

The sipa or takraw three-node wicker ball

The Fenrir wolf bound in a valknut

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Labyrinth

Among theories used to explain the non-Indo-European influence on northern European languages is that the people known in archaeological circles as the Battle Axe Culture were the primary source.

The battle axe is an important symbol in early Europe. The double axe or double hammer is the stone weapon of Thor known as Mjolnir. As in Southeast Asia, the crash of the stone axe causes lightning and thunder.

In earlier times, the double stone axe appears as the weapon of Pelasgian and Etruscan deities. In Crete and Lydia, the double axe is known as the labrys and again is associated with lightning and possibly with the maze known as the labyrinth. The latter link is surmised mainly through the similar looking words, labrys and labyrinth.

The double axe in Aegean art is often connected with animal sacrifice and it may be that the labyrinth link is related to the divinatory sacrifice.

The labyrinth is often compared to entrails, which were used for divination in Mesopotamia. The mask of the Minotaur in the Ritual of the Labyrinth appears covered with intestines. A similar feature is found in representations of the Sumerian god Humbaba, who we linked earlier with volcanic eruptions.


Humbaba with furrowed face thought to represent intestines


Face of Humbaba

The face of Humbaba was itself used for divination purposes in Mesopotamia. The pattern on both the Minotaur mask and the face of Humbaba has been described as "unicursal" (having one path) in a manner similar to that of the Cretan Labyrinth.

The appearance also resembles that of the divinatory livers portrayed in Mesopotamian art.

In Sumerian texts, the seventh Sumerian king Enmeduranki learned the art of liver divination from the seventh sage or abgal/apkallu (fish-man) named Utu'abzu. As you may remember, the abgal were said to have come from Dilmun across the Indian Ocean in Greek texts.

The Book of Enoch states that the art of signs and other mystic arts were taught to humanity by the "fallen angels" led by Azâzêl"

Enoch 8

"1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all

2 colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they

3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Êzêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven..."

Azazel was eventually chained in the wilderness for causing the "fall" of humanity. In the book of Leviticus, there are instructions to send a scapegoat carrying the sins of Israel into the wilderness for "Azazel." This has been interpreted by some as the same Azazel of Enoch although others think that it refers to a description of the place where the goat is sent.

The goat is none other than the scapegoat carrying the sins of the world and transferring them to Azazel.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus steals the fire of the forge of Hephaestus, which was believed to have been located under one or all of the volcanoes known to the Greeks. He gives the gift of fire to humanity which again causes the latter's downfall. As punishment, Prometheus is chained to a mountain where every day an eagle comes to devour his regenerating liver.

The appearance of the liver here in the punishment of Prometheus is interesting. The liver is considered in many cultures as the center of the body and the source of desire and "fire."

For stealing the fire of the forge of Hephaestus, whose own name might be derived from hepar "liver," Prometheus receives the reciprocal punishment of having his own liver, the internal source of fire, devoured daily.

The divinatory sacrifice can thus be seen as the opening of the body, which is the earth in microcosm, with the double axe. The liver, intestines and other entrails are the source of the fire. They represent the ultimate source in microcosm, or the answer revealed by that ultimate source.

And this source is, of course, the volcano deity who provides the fire for Hephaestus's underworld forge.

The battle axe also has another association of interest. The Roman fasces used by the lictors of the Etruscan kings of Rome and later by the imperial lictors consisted of a model battle axe bound to a bundle of reeds or sticks. This reminds us of the nation concept as related to the bamboo as found in the word "bansa" and its cognates.

The Roman fasces, used as a symbol of power by the Etruscans and thousands of years later by the Italian nationalists known as the Fascists

Reed bundles with ring and bandlet at top symbolizing Ishtar (Venus) and the Uruk city-state

In Sumer, a bundle of reeds was the symbol of Innana/Ishtar and also the heraldic emblem of the city-state of Uruk, the home of Gilgamesh.

Returning to the imagery of the labyrinth, if we look at the liver as representing the fiery center of the earth, then the intestines would stand for part of the path to the surface. The opening at the surface is represented by the mouth -- the symbol of the volcano and the entrance to the Underworld. Escaping the labyrinth may be looked at as escaping the clutches of fate symbolized by the Minotaur's mask and the face of Humbaba.

In the New Hebrides (Malekula), the mystic initiate must draw half of a labyrinth belonging to the female ghost Lehevhev before admission into the order. We also find survivals of the labyrinth design in Austronesia for which the meaning is apparently lost, at least to the vast majority of the people.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

For more information on the labyrinth, see The Ritual of the Labyrinth,
Ta Hiera Laburinthou by John Opsopaus. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/HL/

Folk Language

The reconstructed Proto-Germanic language contains a large body of words that do not belong to other branches of the Indo-European language family. Linguists have suggested that these words were borrowed from one or more languages spoken by peoples who inhabited northern Europe before the Proto-Germanic expansion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Indo-European_roots_of_Germanic

There are many words in Germanic languages whose roots are difficult to identify. Some believe that the lack of clear cognates among other Indo-European languages is indicative of a mixed origin for the Germanic languages.

One group of these words has to do with ships and the sea; words like keel, oar, rudder, and steer are shared by almost every Germanic language (or at least by the Scandinavian ones), but
cognates for these specific words and senses are not found in other branches of Indo-European. This likely reflects the land-locked nature of the Indo-European homeland. Another group of these words deals with war and weapons; words like sword, shield, helm, and bow are all found in almost every Germanic language, but again, not with these meanings among other ndo-European languages (knight is in this class as well, but does not usually have a military meaning).

-- Wikipedia

The other word senses that occur in this group are names of animals, parts of the body and objects in nature.

While many of these words have been contested as having plausible Indo-European etymologies, others simply do not fit into the sound system of reconstructed Proto-Germanic. For example, those words with initial p-, since Proto-Germanic lacked this sound.

Some of these words are shared with a few other Indo-European languages found or originating in Northern Europe. There have been four major theories to account for this linguistic borrowing:

Theo Vennemann suggests that the loans in Northern European and Greek come from an Afro-Asiatic language he calls Atlantic, and from Vasconic, the ancestor of the modern Basque language.

Hans Krahe uses the term "Old European" to identify the source of ancient European river names.

Hans Kuhn identifies a Nordwestblock language from Northwest European placenames and from words in Celtic, Italic and Germanic which violate Indo-European root rules. He also uses the term "Old European," or the ar-/ur- language for a wider substratum source.

Peter Schrijver refers to a "language of geminates" in words from Celtic, Italic, Germanic and Finnic with roots of a certain form. A language of bird names is also associated with this substrate.

Torsten Pedersen has given a new theory that these influences may come instead, at least partly, from an Austronesian source. Again, he sees many of the words involved as related to the "waterfront" including words for fish hooks, fishing poles, bailers and the like.

Some researchers have referred to the substrate language as Folkish under the presumption that the word "folk" is also one of the borrowed words.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The warm "Maritime Phase" of the Arctic

The earliest shell mounds of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition period in Europe agree well with the dating of the third and last rapid-rise Sundaland flood.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the Marquis of Nadaillac commented on what he thought were clear similarities between the shell mound cultures of the Americas and those of Neolithic Europe.

http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Prehistoric/00000014.htm

"I cannot close this account of the kitchen-middings, without
calling attention to two very interesting facts. The importance of
these mounds bears witness alike to the number of the inhabitants who dwelt near them, and the long duration of their sojourn. Worsaae sets back the initial date of the most ancient of the shell-mounds of the New World more than three thousand years. This is however a delicate question, on which in the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to hazard a serious opinion. It is easier to come to a conclusion on other points: the close resemblance, for instance, between the kitchen-middings of America and those of Europe. In both continents we find the early inhabitants fed almost entirely on fish; their weapons, tools, and pottery were almost identical in character; and in both cases the characteristic animals of Quaternary times had disappeared, and the use of metals still remained unknown. Are these remarkable coincidences the result of chance, or must we not rather suppose that people of the same origin occupied at the same epoch both sides of the Atlantic?"

It has been rather popular to theorize on pre-Columbian passages from Europe to the Americas. More recently, we have seen the theory that the Paleo-Indian Clovis culture originated in Europe. However, rarely do we hear of the possibility of pre-Columbian journeys from the Americas to Europe.

I would say that these definitely occured and Austronesians played a part in these journeys.

Shell mounds from late Mesolithic Maglemose culture, Denmark

Maglemose cultural artifacts including bifid canoe and fish hooks


On left and right, renderings of boat-shaped burials from Slätteröd, Sweden and Batan Island, Philippines (from Chris Ballard et al.), a Maglemose boat-shaped burial in center (http://cientual.com/7tesis/Paginas/C12/Ritos.htm)

The use of boat burial or boat-shaped burials were common in both Scandinavia and Southeast Asia. The Niah caves have examples of very early boat burials and also cave art showing what are apparently bifid boats. These are Neolithic burials and the artwork is positioned over the high water mark of the last major sea flood.

Another common cultural feature is found in the types of bailers used in both regions to empty water from boats. Pedersen has noted a similarity between the Proto-Oceanic and Danish words for this device:

*asu "scoop or ladle out; ladle, bailer," Proto-Oceanic
øse "bailer, scoop," Danish

The "Oceanic" bailer from Hornell. Similar bailers are also found in Pacific coast Amerindian culture

We will study next the linguistic evidence that links the Nusantao with these far-ranging similarities.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Ballard C.; Bradley R.; Myhre L.N.; Wilson M. "The ship as symbol in the prehistory of Scandinavia and Southeast Asia," World Archaeology, December 2003 2004, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 385-403(19).

Hornell, James. Water Transport: Origins and Early Evolution (1946, repr. 1970).