Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

MYSTERIES. 125
an irresistible impulse. We have seen the symbols assume CHAP,
the character of talismanic tests, by which the refreshing „
ll
/
draught is dashed from the lips of the guilty; and, finally, in
the exquisite legend of the 'Sangreal the symbols have become
a sacred thing, which only the pure in heart may see
and touch. To Lancelot who tempts Guenevere to be faith-
less to Arthur, as Helen was unfaithful to Menelaos, it
either remains invisible, or is seen only to leave him stretched
senseless on the earth for his presumption. The myth which
corrupted the worshippers of Tarnmuz in the Jewish temple
has supplied the beautiful picture of unselfish devotion
which sheds a marvellous glory on the career of the pure
Sir Galahad. 1
]STo idea is, however, more prominent in most of the shapes Aryan and
which the myths connected with the Linga and Yoni have Sen"tl( !
•/ o mysteries.
assumed than that of a mysterious knowledge ; nor has any
feature in the ancient world attracted more attention than
the great Mysteries in which a knowledge hidden from the
profane was supposed to be imparted to the initiated. Is
the knowledge to which the myths refer the sum and substance
of the knowledge conveyed in the mysteries ? That
it has been and is so throughout India, no one probably
will deny or dispute. The wailing of the Hebrew women at
the death of Tammuz, the crucifixion and resurrection of
Osiris, the adoration of the Babylonian Mylitta, the Sacti
ministers of Hindu temples, the cross and crescent of Isis,
the rites of the Jewish altar of Baal-Peor, wholly preclude
all doubt of the real nature of the great festivals and mys-
teries of Phenicians, Jews, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hindus.
Have we any reason for supposing that the case was essentially
different in more western countries, and that the mysteries of
1 In the Arabian story the part of
Sir Galahad is played by AUah-ud-deen,
Boots or Cinderella. The treasure is
a lamp in which bums a liquid which
who is told by the magician that no one is not oil; with the possession of it
in the whole world but he can be per- are bound up wealth, happiness, and
mittcd to touch or lift up the stone and splendour: it is, in short, the Sangreal.
go beneath it. The Eastern story- The ring which the magician places on
tellers were not very careful about the
consistency of their legends. The
his finger is the ring of Gryges. Plato,
Polit. 359. If it does not make himself
magician, it is true, singles out the boy
for his
invisible, the visibility of the minister
' simplicity and artlessness ;'
of the ring depends upon the way in
bur the portrait drawn of the child at which it is handled, this being in both
the outset of the tale is rather that of stories the same.
,