These were capable of killing all sorts of
monsters, former children of his own. The Twins then return to earth, falling
from the skies "like lightning bolts". The place where the first twin landed
became known as "Like-zigzag-lightning-he-came-down", whereas that of the
second twin was named "Let-down-on-a-sunbeam". These "descents from heaven" in the shape of lightning bolts are avatars, a Sanskrit word meaning "falling star" and,
more exactly, implying the fall of the
vajra.
The fall of the Navajo Twins is quaintly reminescent of those of Christ and of Lucifer, the Twins of Judeo-Christian traditions, to which we return further below. Upon their return, the Twins
start killing off all sorts of terrible monsters: Giant Monster, Burrowing
Monster, Kicker-off-the-Rocks, Tracking Bear, Kills-with-the-eye, Walking
Rock, etc.. Next, the Twins set out again from their mother s house, leaving
behind their own counterparts in the persons of Holy Man and Holy Boy.
The Twins successively go
to Trembling Mountain, Whirling Mountain, Mountain-fallen-away, Striped
Mountain and Coiled Mountain, where they learn the magic chants and the
magic diagrams (sandpainted) from various local deities. These five mountains
are all holy. They closely correspond to Mt. Meru and its four flanking
mountains, which are the sites of the Hindu Paradises, as we shall see
further below. As such, the five mountains which form a quincunx like
the Hindu and the Pythagorean ones are endlessly portrayed in the Navajo
sandpainted mandalas which we will be discussing further below.
The Conquest of the Elixir and its
Old World Parallels
Finally, the Twins are given
the Elixir, called "Old-age-restored-in-beauty". This they give to their
mother, Changing Woman, in order to make her young again. After her change,
Changing Woman is made to move out to a place "near Canyon de Chelly" (the
Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona), forced out of her pristine home
by the Twins and other gods.
As is clear, Changing Woman
represents the Indians (Navajos) chased out of the Primordial Paradise
by encroaching nations, including their own offspring. Most of the features
in the Navajo myth of the Twins can be traced back to the Old World, as
well as to South America and other places. For instance the Clashing Rocks
are the same as the Symplegades of the
Odyssey and the
Argonautica,
and also have counterparts in South America, in the
Yvymomó
of the Apopocuva Guaranis, not to mention the other Indians.
It is impossible to read
the relation of the adventures of the Navajo Twins without noticing the
fundamental parallelism with the similar deeds of Old World Twins and Giant-Killers.
In particular the adventures of the Amerindian Twins closely correspond
to those of Krishna and Balarama of Hindu traditions, of Gilgamesh and
Enkidu of Sumerian myths, or the ones of Horus and Seth in Egyptian mythology
or, yet, those of Atlas (or Orion) and Hercules in Greece or of Thor
and Odin among the Scandinavians.
In fact, all these myths derive
from a single (Atlantean) source, which was endlessly copied and adapted by
each nation along the centuries, and came to form the base of their religion,
again of Atlantean origin. It was also thus that the myth of the Twins entered Christianism in the dual figures of Christ and the Anti-Christ(Lucifer), that we mentioned above.
The White Island, which turned
into a mountain at night and grew up into the skies, is visibly the same
as the Scylla of the
Odyssey, described in identical terms by Homer.
Here, the myth of this island-mountain has been is blended with the ones
of the Leukades ("White Islands") and of Shveta-dvipa (idem) of the Hindus.
In reality, this lofty mountain
is Mt. Atlas or Meru, called Mt. Cassius (that is,
Kachi or "White")
in some traditions such as the Greco-Roman and Phoenician ones reported
by Avienus. The dual of the Cosmic Mountain (Linga) is the Cosmic Chasm
(Yoni), figured in Homer as the terrifying Charybdis faced by Odysseus
in his trip to Phaeacia, which is no other thing than the sunken paradise
of Atlantis. In fact, Scylla and Charybdis one a giant volcanic peak,
the other the enormous caldera of a submarine volcano are allegories
of the impassable barrier of the Pillars of Hercules, as we explain elsewhere
in detail.
The Cutting Reeds that reach
out to grab and cut up people is another traditional motif of supreme importance.
This legend is connected with the one of the Sargasso Sea of the ancients
which, allegedly, did the same. Ultimately, the (Phoenician) legend of
the Sea of Sargassos derives from the Hindu one of Nalanala ("Sea of Weeds")
and that of Kushadvipa ("the Island of Kusha Grass"), whose reeds also
retained passing ships and dragged them to the bottom, just as Columbus
and his men feared would happen to them in the Caribbean region they mistook
for the one of the Indies, which they indeed intended to reach.
In fact, the above legends
refer to the islands and seas of Indonesia, in reality full of such sandbars
and muddy shoals, spiny reeds and weeds, as we comment in detail elsewhere.
And it is indeed in Indonesia that we find the huge chasm which the Greeks
called Symplegades, and which the Hindus call by the name of Vadava-mukha
("the Mare's Mouth"). The Vadava-mukha is actually the site of the Krakatoa
volcano, which turned into a immense caldera after the castastrophic explosive
eruption that devastated paradisial Atlantis.
This giant explosion spit
huge amounts of pumice-stone which formed enormous floating banks that
presented a terrible threat to navigation in those seas.
