The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

52 HISTORY OF INITIATION.
was produced, 42 after having remained a full year enclosed
in absolute absorption, who was hence termed the emanation
of the deity. The egg was afterwards divided
into two equal parts, one of which formed the concave
and egg-like canopy of heaven, and the other the earth. 43
Brahma, invested with power, created inferior gods and
men ; the latter springing from his head, his arms, his
thighs, and his feet, were naturally divided into so many
distinct castes, 4* between which all communication was
strictly interdicted.
They taught the unity of the godhead j
45
the happiness
46
of the first created men the destruction occasioned ;
by
47
the general Deluge the ; depravity of the human heart,
and the necessity of a mediator to atone for sin; the
instability of life; 48 the final dissolution of all created
things; 49 and the restoration of the world in a more per-
than the Ark ; and the legend in the text corresponds exactly with the
belief of other nations Dionusus was fabled by the Greeks to be
born from an egg (Orph. Hymn, 5).
And he and Noah were the
same person ; therefore the birth of Brahma or Dionusus from an
egg was nothing more than the egress of Noah from the Ark. ( Vid.
Fab. Pag. Idol., b. i., c. 4.)
43 Here is a manifest confusion of terms. The creation of the
world, and its restoration after the Deluge are frequently identified in
the heathen cosmogonies ; and, in the present case, although the
work of creation is intended to be exclusively illustrated, yet the year
which Brahma spent in the egg was evidently the confinement of
Noah in the Ark for ; Brahma equally represented Adam and Noah.
43 See Manava Sastra, translated by Sir William Jones, Asiat.
Res., vol. i., p. 244.
44 These were called the Brahmins the ; Csheiriya, the Vaisya, and
the Sudra; so named from Scripture, Protection, Wealth, and Labour.
(Ordin. of Menu. Sir W. Jones. Works, vol. iii., p. 69.)
45 It is a question whether the Creator in India was esteemed to be
the true God, or an emanation, from their belief in a succession of
similar worlds; and, consequently, a personification of Adam and
Noah, who were equally worshipped under the name of Brahma, or
the creative power, because he was the parent of mankind ; for
Brahma was only a created being. In truth, Brahma appears to have
been Adam or Noah ; and Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, was either Abel,
Seth, Cain, or Shem, Japheth, Ham and ; there exists considerable
doubt after all, whether the being to whom the rites of Hindoo wor-
ship are so devoutly paid,
were not a mere deified mortal. See
Faber's Pagan Idolatry (b. i., c. 2), where many powerful arguments
are used to this effect.
46
Signs and Symbols, Lect. 5. Ibid. Lect. 5.
48 Hitopadesa, 1. 4.
49 The Indians believed that the duration of the world would cease,