The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

IN HINDOOSTAN. 33
rose speedily to contemplate the monsters of the skies, 43
personified in his imagination by the appearance and situa-
tion of the fixed stars. 44 "In the hot season he sat
exposed to five fires, four blazing around him, with the
in the rains he stood uncovered, without even
Sun above ;
a mantle, when the clouds poured the heaviest showers ;
in the cold season he wore wet clothing, and went on
increasing by degrees the austerity
of his devotion."45
His probation being at length completed, he was admitted
by initiation to participate
in the privileges which
the mysteries were believed to confer.
Sanctified by the sign of a Cross, 46 which was marked
on every part of his body, he was subjected to the probation
of Pastos, 47 which was denominated the door of
Patala, or hell. 48 His purification being completed, he
was led at the dead of night to the gloomy cave of mystery,
which had been duly prepared for his reception.
The interior of this holy cavern blazed with a light
equal to that of the meridian sun, proceeding from
myriads of brilliant lamps. 49 There sat in rich and
costly robes 50 the three chief hierophants, 51 in the East,
West and South, to represent the great Indian triad,
Brahma Vishnu Siva. 52 The attendant Mystagogues,
43 The singular arrangement of the Fixed Stars into Constellations
by the ancient Indians, was of a nature calculated to encourage the
indulgence of this feeling.
44 Maur. Ind. Ant., vol. vi.. p. 974.
45
Ordin. of Menu. Sir W. Jones. Works, p. 228.
4(5 The Christian reader may start when he beholds the sacred
emblem of his faith used as a symbol of heathen devotion but it is
;
even so. The holy Cross pointed to the four quarters of the compass
and was honoured as a ; striking emblem of the universe, by
many ancient nations. It is found engraven on their monuments ; and
even the erection of many of their temples was conducted on the same
cruciform principles. The two great pagodas of Benares and Mathura
are erected in the form of vast crosses,
of which each wing is
equal in extent, (Maur. Ind. Ant., vol iii., p. 3GO, 377,) as is also the
pyramidal temple of New Grange, in Ireland (Ledwich. Ant. Irel., p
316.) and many others. A specimen of the Crux Ansata may be seen
in Pococke's elaborate description of the East. Plate 69, fig. 19.
47
Signs and Symbols, Lect. 6.
** The Tartarus of the Grecian mysteries.
49 Maur. Ind. Ant., vol. v.. p. 898.
60
Ibid. vol. ii., p. 357.
51
Signs and Symbols, Lect., 7.
53 When the Sun rises in the east, he is Brahma when he ;
gains his
meridian in the south, he is Siva and when he sets in the , west, he is
4