Rivers of religious life have a beginning, like other streams, and what are the sources to which man’s primitive faiths may be traced? The early “symbolic objects of man’s adoration” are arranged by General Forlong in the following order: First, Tree; 2nd, Phallic; 3rd, Serpent; 4th, Fire; 5th, Sun; 6th, Ancestral. The first “breathings of the human soul” were manifested under the sacred tree or grove16, whose refreshing17 shade is so highly valued in the East. All nations, particularly the Aryan peoples, have considered tree-planting a sacred duty, and the grove was man’s first temple, “and became a sanctuary18, asylum19, or place of refuge, and as time passed on, temples came to be built in the sacred groves20.” If tree-worship had such an origin as this, its origin ought to be shown in the ideas associated with it. What, then, are those ideas? General Forlong, after referring to Dr. Fergusson’s statement that the tree and serpent are symbolised in every religious system which the world has known, says that the two together are typical of the reproductive powers of vegetable and animal life. The connection between tree and serpent-worship is often so intimate that we may expect one to throw light on the other. The Aryans generally may be called “tree-worshippers,” and according to Fergusson they as a rule destroyed serpents and serpent-worshipping races. Yet at Athens and near Rome both those faiths flourished together, as they appear to have done also in many parts of Western Asia. They are intimately associated with religious notions of many Buddhist21 peoples. This is shown curiously22 in the early legends of Kambodia. These are said by General3 Forlong to present two striking features. First, a holy tree, which the kingly race, who came to this serpent country, reposed23 under, or descended24 from heaven by; secondly25, that this tree-loving race are captivated by the dragon princess of the land. It is the serpent king, however, who builds the city of Nakon Thom for his daughter and her stranger husband. It is not improbable that Buddhism26 originated among a people who were both tree and serpent-worshippers, although the former became more intimately and at an earlier period associated with its founder27.
Let us now see what ideas are symbolised by the serpent. We are told that he is “an emblem28 of the Sun, Time, Kronos, and Eternity29.” The serpent was, indeed, the Sun-God, or spirit of the sun, and therefore Power, Wisdom, Light, and a fit type of creation and generative power. Dr. Donaldson came to the conclusion that the serpent has always a Phallic significance, a remark which exactly accords with General Forlong’s experience, “founded simply upon close observation in Eastern lands, and conclusions drawn30 by himself, unaided by books or teachers, from thousands of stories and conversations with Eastern priests and people.” The testimony31 of a competent and honest observer is all important, and we must believe when we are told that the serpent, or the constant early attendant on the Lingam, is the special symbol which veils the actual God. The same may be said, indeed, of Tree Worship, and as tree-worship and serpent-worship embrace the Phallic faith, the first three streams of faiths are represented by them. It is evident, however, that Phallic ideas are at the4 foundation of both tree and serpent-worship, and the Phallic stream of faith should be given the first place as the actual source of the Rivers of Life. General Forlong does, indeed, affirm that Phallic worship enters so closely into union with all faiths to the present hour that it is impossible to keep it out of view. We can well understand how this should be as to the tree, serpent, and solar cults32, but it is not so evident at first sight in relation to fire-worship. If fire was, however, regarded as the servant of Siva, and all creating gods, there is no difficulty in accepting the position. The object of the worship offered to the sacred fire is consistent with that view. Thus Greeks, Romans, and Hindoos “besought Agni by fervent33 prayers for increase of flocks and families, for happy lives and serene34 old age, for wisdom and pardon from sin.” General Forlong appears to see in the worship of fire essentially35 a household faith, and this was undoubtedly36 so if his explanation of the Lares and Penates is correct. These symbols represented “the past vital fire or energy of the tribe, as the patriarch, his stalwart sons and daughters did that of the present living fire the sacred hearth37.” General Forlong states, indeed, that everything relating to blood used to be connected with fire, and he supposed, therefore, that agnatio may have been relation by fire, for the agnati can only be those of the fire or father’s side.
If the father derived38 his authority in the household from the sacred hearth-fire, we can understand why General Forlong has assigned to ancestor-worship the last place in his scheme. He says, moreover, that ancestor-worship is “a development and sequence of5 that idiosyncracy of man which has led him to worship and deify even the living—that which, according to the teaching of Euemerus, accounts for all the mythological tales of the gods and god-like men of Greece.” The ancestor was worshipped in the great chief, the Father of Fathers, each of whom was worshipped in the Dii Gentiles of his own class, and this not only during the comparatively modern Roman sway, but during the ages of serpent, fire, and solar faiths. In the still earlier faiths he was represented in the rude pillar, as well as in the little Lares and Penates of the hearths39. In this case, however, ancestor-worship would seem to be entitled to stand on the same level as tree-worship and serpent-worship as a phase of the Phallic faith. In fact, it is in a sense identified with serpent-worship. General Forlong remarks that among the Greeks and Romans “the ancestor came to be honoured and worshipped only as the Generator40, and so also the serpent as his symbol.” This agrees with the conclusion I have elsewhere endeavoured to establish, that the serpent is really regarded as the representative of the ancestor, in which case ancestor-worship is a very primitive faith, although, in a specialised form, it may possibly, as asserted by General Forlong, come later than fire-worship.
It can hardly now be doubted that the same ideas underlie41 all the early faiths. This view is entertained by General Forlong, who says:6 “So imperceptibly arose the serpent on pure Phallic faiths, fire on these, and sun on all, and so intimately did all blend with one another, that even in the ages of true history it was often impossible to descry42 the exact God alluded43 to.” The foundations of all those faiths, and of ancestor-worship as allied44 to them, must therefore be sought in the ideas entertained by mankind in the earliest times, “when the races lived untaught, herded45 with their cattle, and had as their sole object in life the multiplication46 of these and of themselves.” The question arises, however, whether the simple faith which man then entertained was the earliest he had evolved. General Forlong answers this question in the negative, for he says, then referring to the serpent Buddhism of Kambodia, that “Fetish worship was the first worship, and to a great extent is still the real faith of the ignorant, especially about these parts.” He finds that nearly one quarter of the world yet deifies, or at least reverences47, sticks and stones, rams’ horns and charms, a practice not unknown even to later faiths. The fundamental belief which furnishes the key to those phenomena48, as well as to the animal-worship which is so closely associated with one or other of the great faith streams, should not be lost sight of. Jacob Grimm pointed49 out, in his “Teutonic Mythology,”1 that all nature was thought of by the heathen Germans as living. Gods and men transformed themselves into trees, plants, or beasts; spirits and elements attained50 animal forms; and therefore we cannot wonder at the heavenly bodies, and even day and night, summer and winter, being actually personified. These ideas lend themselves as well to fetishism as to sun-worship, and all the ancient faiths alike may justly, therefore, be regarded as phases of one universal nature-worship. Mankind prays only for that which is thought good,7 and if one man seeks to obtain his desire through the agency of a stick or a stone, and another through a serpent or planetary god, the difference between them is purely51 objective. The prayers which were offered to the Vedic gods would be equally appropriate in the mouth of a native of Western Africa. They had relation simply to temporal needs, and were, says Mr. Talboys Wheeler,2 for plenty of rain, abundant harvests, and prolific52 cattle, for bodily vigour53, long life, numerous offspring, and protection against all foes54 and robbers. Moreover, the observances of the more advanced faiths have little practical difference from the fetishist. All alike have for their object the compelling the good countenance55, or counteracting56 the evil designs, of the gods or spirits, and the real difference is to be sought in the symbols under which they are represented. Thus the Vedic Aryans regarded their deified abstractions as personified with human wants, and invoked57 them with rites which “may have formed an accompaniment to every meal, and may have been regarded almost as a part of the cooking.” Mr. Wheeler adds3 that8 “Sometimes a deity58 is supposed to be attracted by the grateful sound of the stone and mortar59 by which the soma juice was expressed from the plant, or by the musical noise of the churning sticks by which the wine was apparently60 stirred up and mixed with curds61; and the eager invokers implore62 the god not to turn aside to the dwelling63 of any other worshipper, but to come to them only, and drink the libation which they had prepared, and reserve for them all his favours and benefits.”
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1 depicted | |
描绘,描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 ); 描述 | |
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2 mythologies | |
神话学( mythology的名词复数 ); 神话(总称); 虚构的事实; 错误的观点 | |
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3 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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4 intensity | |
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度 | |
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5 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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6 tributary | |
n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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7 mythological | |
adj.神话的 | |
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8 embodied | |
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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9 shrines | |
圣地,圣坛,神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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10 diligent | |
adj.勤勉的,勤奋的 | |
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11 mounds | |
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆 | |
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12 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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13 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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14 underlying | |
adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的 | |
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15 strata | |
n.地层(复数);社会阶层 | |
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16 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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17 refreshing | |
adj.使精神振作的,使人清爽的,使人喜欢的 | |
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18 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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19 asylum | |
n.避难所,庇护所,避难 | |
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20 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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21 Buddhist | |
adj./n.佛教的,佛教徒 | |
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22 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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23 reposed | |
v.将(手臂等)靠在某人(某物)上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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25 secondly | |
adv.第二,其次 | |
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26 Buddhism | |
n.佛教(教义) | |
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27 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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28 emblem | |
n.象征,标志;徽章 | |
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29 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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30 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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31 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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32 cults | |
n.迷信( cult的名词复数 );狂热的崇拜;(有极端宗教信仰的)异教团体 | |
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33 fervent | |
adj.热的,热烈的,热情的 | |
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34 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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35 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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36 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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37 hearth | |
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
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38 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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39 hearths | |
壁炉前的地板,炉床,壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 ) | |
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40 generator | |
n.发电机,发生器 | |
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41 underlie | |
v.位于...之下,成为...的基础 | |
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42 descry | |
v.远远看到;发现;责备 | |
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43 alluded | |
提及,暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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45 herded | |
群集,纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 ); 放牧; (使)向…移动 | |
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46 multiplication | |
n.增加,增多,倍增;增殖,繁殖;乘法 | |
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47 reverences | |
n.尊敬,崇敬( reverence的名词复数 );敬礼 | |
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48 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
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49 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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50 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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51 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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52 prolific | |
adj.丰富的,大量的;多产的,富有创造力的 | |
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53 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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54 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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55 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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56 counteracting | |
对抗,抵消( counteract的现在分词 ) | |
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57 invoked | |
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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58 deity | |
n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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59 mortar | |
n.灰浆,灰泥;迫击炮;v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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60 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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61 curds | |
n.凝乳( curd的名词复数 ) | |
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62 implore | |
vt.乞求,恳求,哀求 | |
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63 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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