The couples mate in a peculiar way, with the male standing up or seating upright and the female lying down. The idea is that the male is the World Pillar and the female is the support or foundation. In other words, the couple forms a Cosmic Cross, with the horizontal woman representing
the Sutala ("foundation") and the upright male the Skambha (or Pillar) of Shiva Sthanu, represented as the Cosmic Pillar (Mt. Meru). The idea is already present in the
Rig Veda, as the cruciform shape of Purusha, the Vedic archetype of Christ.
There can be little doubt that the Christian
myth derived its Cosmic symbolism from Vedic India and from rituals and
symbols such as the ones discussed above. To believe that the idea originated
independently on the two sides of the world as collective archetypes is
a thoroughly unscientific absurdity. Indeed, this is not far different
from the notion of preternatural revelation. Besides, why would the same
innate symbolism result in two thoroughly different modes of expression:
the
maithuna in one place and the crucifixion in the other?
