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Introduction The powerful image of a bird perched on the apex of a pyramid appears on a certain Hopi Indian artifact. At the beginning of the twentieth century the prominent archaeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes unearthed a stone slab covering a grave at Chevelon Ruin (Sakwavayupki, occupied between A.D. 1280 and the 1380s) not far from Homol’ovi near the present town of Winslow, Arizona. Observations On one side of the painted slab a white rectangular border with black on the outside encloses three isosceles triangles or pyramids of nearly equal size. On a yellow background each of these black pyramids contains a white square located near the base. A red bird, either a macaw or a parrot, is perched facing to the right atop all three pyramids. Each of the stylized birds has a downward triangular body, the base of which forms its dorsal side. The body’s apex (where its feet would be) touches each pyramid’s apex. Only the center bird has eyes. They all have bifurcated tails and curving beaks. Interestingly, the four colors used on this slab exactly match the traditional Hopi directional colors: yellow (northwest), black (southwest), red (southeast), and white (northeast). What is the meaning of these figures? What is the link between the colors and the directions of these figures? What could be the reason that this painted rectangular stone slab was used as a covering for a grave? Is there similar evidence elsewhere in the world? We were curious so we wrote to our South Indian brother of ancient Bharat. He confirmed that there are ancient burial grounds still intact in Tamil Nadu, India. He wrote that there are ancient burial spots in the shape of a lengthy box covered with a rectangular stone slab and decorated with many symbols and signs. He said the red bird in the shape of a downward triangle is a symbol of female energy (sakti), whereas the upright triangular (pyramidal) shape is a symbol of male energy or Lord Siva. In addition, he wrote that “Urangum Pattaadai” is the name of such burial spots. Urangum means Sleeping. Pattu + Aadai: Pattu- means a specially woven cloth with very soft thread used in soft garments, and Aadai means garments, a dress, or a bedspread. A detailed research is essential; otherwise the sacred information left by our ancestors will vanish for all time. Let us begin our study about burials or graveyards, the rectangular cover slab, colors, and symbols such as the three upright triangles with a box inside and a bird on each of them. Graveyard and Burial Ground The location of the graveyard or burial ground usually lies in the western direction, but sometimes it can be observed at the northwest direction of ancient settlements, dwelling places or towns in a country such as India. In the graveyards corpses are laid out and cremated on carefully constructed piles of wood, so that the spirit may move on to a fresh birth. “One of the oldest known myths deals with the Phoenix. The Golden Phoenix was the bird that set himself on fire (sacrifice), causing his death. Then he arose once more as a baby Phoenix, repeating this cycle over and over again”. Soon after the soul departs from the body, the well-dressed body will be laid in a box prepared with a soft cloth and the box will be covered with incense, etc. The body will be taken to the church, and mass prayer will be conducted. Then it will be taken to the graveyard and buried with a special prayer. All those present during this final ritual will remain in deep silence. Silence is the sign of the void, none other than the cosmic sound. The graveyard or burial ground, nevertheless, is where high and low alike end up, and is a perpetual reminder of the death that consummates life. Here the sadhaka must encounter the reality of the disintegration of his neat conceptual universe, as a necessary preclude to experiencing the state of rational non-integration. Tantra makes use of the graveyard or burial ground in several ways. The Sadhaka is supposed to make it his home, at first literally and later metaphysically. He must confront and assimilate, in the most concrete form, the meaning of death together with the absolute social defilement it entails. His goddess, his loving and mothering time, which gives him birth and loves him in the flesh, also destroys him in the flesh. His image of Her is incomplete if he does not know Her as his dear devourer. Rectangular Box and Cover Slab Presently the measurements (length, breath and height) are followed for the burial box in India. These measurements were standardized long ago and are still being maintained by us; no one dares to change them. We would like to refer an ancient verse in Tamil: “Adi adangum valkaiyada aradi nilme sonthamada”, which means, “The life is dancing and resting, and can own six feet of land only”. Let us elaborate upon this thrilling verse: “The life is a dance and certainly settles one day. In the huge area of mother earth, there is only a single piece of land with the size of six feet, allotted for each and every one, nothing other than this”. Colors In this case four colors are used on this cover slab with the traditional Hopi directional colors: yellow, black or dark blue, red, and white. We are amazed to observe the following: the nearest comparison to the traditional Hopi directional colors and the ancient ones of India is the “Gunatraya Charkasana”. The three (traya) characters (Gunas) are also the root characters known as Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These three root characters are closely linked with creation and the cycle of birth and death as well as the Cosmic Consciousness. We will discuss this shortly. We are reproducing the picture (above) and the texts from the book Tantra Asana--A way to self realization, p. 136, plate 95, written by Ajit Kukerjee and published by Ravi Kumar. “Asana is visualized as the pattern of forces Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, symbolized by the colors yellow, red and black along with the colorless white of cosmic consciousness – that principle which stays forever motionless, yet acts through its own radiation and generates all forms of manifestation. The squares complete the suggestion that all this is ‘within’.” It is interesting to observe that the three Gunas (the root characters) combined with the fourth (the cosmic consciousness) are within a square. What is the meaning of Sattva, Rajas, Tamas and cosmic consciousness? Sattva: Truth, Purity or equilibrium, the radiance of Being, the first of three gunas, the constituents of Prakrithi, or material nature. Rajas: Kinetic power of the universe, one of the three gunas, the constituents of Prakrithi, or material nature. Tamas: The power of Inertia, the lower of the three gunas, the constituents of Prakrithi, or material nature. These are called the qualities of objectivity (gunas), the most fundamental attributes of reality. And the Cosmic Consciousness is symbolized as colorless white. In Kundalini Yoga the serpentine energy of the mother goddess coiled herself three-and-a-half times in the Muladhara Chakra or the root chakra. The three-and-a-half turns represent Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas and the half turn represents the Vikritis, the modification of Prakrithi, the nature. It is great mystery that the white occupies the northeast direction in both the cases. From a metaphysical point of view the white-northeast direction of cosmic consciousness is the ultimate level that each and every one has to attain. The same is confirmed in the “Mahanirvana Tantra”; the Isana in the northeast direction sits on a bull, holding a trident in one hand, giving a blessing with the other hand. He wears tiger skins and glows like a full moon. The directions: North is for female (Sakthi) energy, east is for male (Siva) energy, and the northeast is for Isana who glows like the full moon. We are not surprised to know that there are in turn symbols like the arrowhead found. The three lines of the arrowheads represent the above three directions. Symbols Such As Three Upright Triangles With a Box Inside Each The Mother Goddess Srilalitha (Kali) is the first of the most important Hindu Goddesses--Transformations, the Mahavidyas. They are ten in number, seven belonging to the creative manifestation-stages of the universe, and three to the withdrawal. The goddess extends herself from her own nature: Desire (Iccha), Action (Kriya) and Knowledge (Jnana) colored dark blue, red, and bright yellow or White respectively. It should be noted that the three upright triangular (pyramidal) shapes, male (Siva) energy, black in color, are united with three downward triangular shaped birds, the female energy (Sakti), red in color. The three downward triangular shaped birds on the stone slab are the symbol of the mother goddesses of withdrawal. We have observed the following on the stone slab covering of a grave at Chevelon Ruin: three black pyramids containing a white square in each located near the base. In Kundalini Yoga we find that the square is the symbol of Muladhara Chakra, yellow or white in color, and represents Bhu Loka. It is also the seat of the four-faced Brahma, the Creator. The Birds Yajurveda, Book 12: “O Agni, you are the goodly pinioned eagle. Trivit stoma is your head and Gayatri your eyes, Brihat and Ranthanntar your wings. The yajna is your soul, all the verses your limbs and the formulas your names, Vamadevya Soma is your body, yajna yajniya Sama your tail and the sacrificial altars your claws. Thus, O Agni, you are a goodly pinioned eagle, soar into the sky and reach the heaven.” The Agni in the southeast, the god of fire, the goodly pinioned eagle, indicates the color red. The exact presentation of the color of the southeast direction is red as per Hopi tradition, which is described in Mahanirvana Tantra: the red colored “Agni (in the southeast, the god of fire) sits on a goat holding his axe.” Conclusion It is also said in Mahanirvana Tantra: “When one has meditated on the deities (of the cardinal directions) and worshiped them in order, Brahma (the creator devata) should be worshiped in the upper (red, extra) circle outside the mandala, and Vishnu (the preserver) in the lowest (white) one. The painted cover slab as a white rectangular border with black on the outside leads us to conclude that it is a mandala as a whole. All the symbols, particularly the upward triangle (the male energy, siva), and the downward triangle in the form of a bird (the female energy, sakti), as well as the white boxes (the symbol of Muladhara Chakra), confirm the knowledge of the ancient people who lived in and around that particular land. In essence they practiced Kundalini Yoga to attain immortality. Given the above evidence, it would not be unreasonable, then, to assign to these three birds atop the upright triangular (pyramidal) shape on a stone slab covering a grave at Chevelon Ruin in Arizona the same function that the journeying soul of the Bennu (bird) in Egypt performs— the omnipresent quest for immortality. © Copyright 2006 by Gary A. David and T.L. Subash Chandira Bose References 01. Jesse Walter Fewkes, “Two Summers’ Work in Pueblo Ruins,” Twenty-Second Annual Report to the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1900-1901 02. Stephen C. McCluskey, “Historical Archaeoastronomy: The Hopi Example,” Archaeoastronomy in the New World, edited by Anthony F. Aveni 03. Ajit Kukerjee, Tantra Asana--A way to self realization, published by Ravi Kumar 04. Philip Rawson, The Art of Tantra 05. Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga Saturday, July 22, 2006 |
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The Birds The Omnipresent Quest for Immortality Gary A. David (Arizona, USA) and T.L. Subash Chandira Bose |
| Gunatrya Chakrasana. From an illuminated MS., Nepal, c. 17th Century A.D. |
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