LEGENDS OF THE DELUGE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4577, 20 November 1875, Page 2 (Supplement)

LEGENDS OF THE DELUGE.

(From the Canadian Monthly.)

Turning to the Hindoos, with their cruel and hideous divinities, we are told by those learned in the subject, that there is no part ol the Indian mythology which has not some hidden meaning, either philosophical, astronomical, and historical. The legend of the deluge appears in what is called the third incantation, or Vahara-Satara, .from the Sanskrit—“ a boat ” —which has two stories. One, that for the wickedness of the inhabitants the earth was plunged into a great deep, and that Vishnu, wishing to rescue it, descended into the waters and bore it aloft on the horns of his tusks. The other is, that a certain devotee or demon obtained from Brahma the boon of universal empire and freedom from danger through noxious animals, which he enumerated one by one, but forgetting the wild boar. The demon having thus obtained universal empire seized upon the earth, and carried it with him into the depths of the sea. Vishnu, willing to preserve the earth, took the form of a boar, and descending into the abyss had a contest with the demon, and eventually slew him and rescued the earth on the point of his tusk. During the time the earth was plunged beneath the waters, another of the deities, Paravati, transformed herself into a ship, called Argha, of which a god, Mahadeva, became the mast; but when the earth was brought up from the waters, Paravati (Argha) and Mahadeva flew away in the shape of doves. These two deities are also typical of the productive energies of nature, and symbols of them are sometimes identified with the first parents 6i the second world. Sir William Jones has furnished a translation of the Hindoo story of the deluge, from the Bhagavat, in which Heri, the preserver of the universe, thus directs a pious king, Satyavrata: “In seven days from the present time the three worlds will be plunged in an ocean of death ; but in the midst of the destroying waves a large vessel sent by me for thy use shall stand before thee ; then thou shalt take all the medicinal herbs, all the variety of seeds, and accompanied by seven saints, and encircled by pairs of all brute animals, thou shalt enter the spacious vessel, and continue in it secure from the flood, on one immense ocean, without light, except the radiance of thy holy companions.” The myths of Egypt have a heaviness and massiveness of which their deities and structures are striking examples. Their temples of Luxor and Carnao were constructed of such a stupendous size as to suggest the idea that their builders were giants, and so we look for no romance in their legends. Of their mythology however, we have but scant traces, The Egyptian priests kept their secrets with wonderful tenacity, and allowed very little tc become common property. They spoke ir parables to the multitude, and those parables were understood only by the initiated. We have not, therefore, that full story of the deluge from them which we are able _to fine amongst other nations. The Egyptian ac count, which is found in Plato’s “Timceus,’ after discussing the destruction of the eartl by fire, proceeds to discourse of its destruotior by a mighty flood of waters, thus: “The gods, now wishing to purify and cleanse the earth by water, overwhelmed it by i deluge. On the flowing over of the waters .certain herdsmen and shepherds were savec by the gods bringing them to the tops of the mountains, but those who dwelt in the towni and valleys of Egypt were swept into the see by the rising of the waters.” Stories abou the ark are curious. One is that in the din mythological years, the eight principal gods o Egypt were represented as sailing over the sea in a curious ship. Another is that Typhoi —a personification of the sea, and brother o Osiris —envied and hated his brother, am desired to dethrone him. At last, during th absence of Osiris, he organised a conspiracy and under the guise' of a feast, on the retun of the king, he caused a beautiful box to b brought in, which had been mode exactly t fit the. size of Osiris, and declared he woul give the box to whomsoever would pet into i( The others tried, but none fitted into it. A length, Osiris, being urged, tried, and imme diately Typhon shut down the lid, and cause the box to be flung into the Nile, from whenc it floated into the sea, and ultimately reache the shores of Phoenicia, and there Osiris wa released. Another account says that the bo was an ark of crescent shape, and that at th ancient obsequies of Osiris the Egyptians i cutting wood prepared an ark in the shape of crescent. This vessel or ark, became know as the, Argo, or sacred ship of the Egyptians.