48 The third gate he caused her to enter and touched her, he threw away the necklace of her neck. 49 Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the necklace of my neck? 50 Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. 51 The fourth gate he caused her to enter and touched her, he threw away the ornaments of her breast. 52 Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the ornaments of my breast? 53 Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. 54 The fifth gate he caused her to enter and touched her, he threw away the gemmed girdle of her waist. 55 Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the gemmed girdle of my waist? 56 Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. 57 The sixth gate he caused her to enter and touched her, he threw away the bracelets of her hands and her feet. 58 Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the bracelets of my hands and my feet? 59 Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. 60 The seventh gate he caused her to enter and touched her, he threw away the covering robe of her body. 61 Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the covering robe of my body? 62 Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. 63 When for a long time Istar into Hades had descended, 64 Allat saw her and at her presence was arrogant ; 65 Istar did not take counsel, at her she swore, 66 Allat her mouth opened and speaks 67 to Namtar (the plague-demon) her messenger a command she addresses: 68 Go Namtar [take Istar from] me and 69 take her out to . . . even Istar, 70 diseased eyes (strike) her with, 71 diseased side (strike) her with, 72 diseased feet (strike) her with, 73 diseased heart (strike) her with, 74 diseased head (strike) her with, 75 strike her, the whole of her (strike with disease). 76 After Istar the lady [into Hades had descended], 77 with the cow the bull would not unite, and the ass the female ass would not approach; 78 the female slave in the street would not let herself be touched. Literally" precious stones." 79 The freeman ceased to give his command, 80 the female slave ceased to give her gift. COLUMN II. 1 Papsukul, the messenger of the great gods, bowed his face. before (Samas); 2 ... 3 Samas (the sun-god) went and in the presence of his father the moon-god he stood, 4 into the presence of Hea the king he went in tears; 5 Istar into the lower regions has descended, she has not ascended back; 6 for a long time Istar into Hades has descended, 7 with the cow the bull will not unite, the ass the female ass will not approach; 8 the female slave in the street will not let herself be touched; 9 the freeman has ceased to give his command, 10 the female slave has ceased to give her gift. 11 Hea in the wisdom of his heart formed a resolution, 12 and made Atsu-sunamir1 the sphinx: 2 13 Go Atsu-sunamir towards the gates of Hades set thy face; 14 may the seven gates of Hades be opened at thy presence; 15 may Allat see thee and rejoice at thy presence; 16 when she shall be at rest in her heart, and her liver be appeased. 17 Conjure her by the name of the great gods. 18 Raise thy heads, to the roaring stream set thy ear; 19 may the lady (Istar) overmaster the roaring stream, the waters in the midst of it may she drink. 20 Allat on hearing this, 21 beat her breast, she bit her thumb, 22 she turned again, a request she asked not: 23 Go, Atsu-sunamir, may I imprison thee in the great prison 24 may the garbage of the foundations of the city be thy food, 25 may the drains of the city be thy drink, 26 may the darkness of the dungeon be thy dwelling, 27 may a stake be thy seat, 28 may hunger and thirst strike thy offspring. 29 Allat her mouth opened and speaks, 30 to Namtar her messenger a command she addresses: 31 Go, Namtar, strike the firmly-fixed palace, 32 the ashérim 3 adorn with stones of the dawn, That is, "Go forth, cause it to be light!" 2 Literally "the man who is a female dog," or "lion." 3 Literally" stone stakes" or "cones," the symbols of the goddess Ashêrah. Cf. 1 Kings vii. 15–22. 33 bid the spirits of earth come forth, on a throne of gold seat (them), 34 unto Istar give the waters of life and bring her before me. 35 Namtar went, he struck the firmly-fixed palace, 36 the ashérim he adorned with stones of the dawn, 37 he brought forth the spirits of earth, on a throne of gold he seated (them). 38 To Istar he gave the waters of life and took her. 39 The first gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the covering robe of her body. 40 The second gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the bracelets of her hands and her feet. 41 The third gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the gemmed girdle of her waist. 42 The fourth gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the ornaments of her breast. 43 The fifth gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the necklace of her neck. 44 The sixth gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the earrings of her ears. 45 The seventh gate he passed her out of, and he restored to her the great crown of her head. 46 Since thou hast not paid, (he says) a ransom for thy deliverance to her (i.e., Allat), so to her again turn back, 47 for Tammuz the husband of (thy) youth; 48 the glistening waters pour over (him), the drops (sprinkle upon him); 49 in splendid clothing dress him, with a ring of crystal adorn (him). 50 May Samkhat appease the grief (of Istar), 51 and, Kharimat,1 give to her comfort. 52 The precious eye-stones also she destroyed not, 53 the wound of her brother (Tammuz) she heard, she smote (her breast), she, even Kharimat, gave her comfort; 54 the precious eye-stones, her amulets, she commanded not, 55 (saying): O my only brother, thou dost not lament for me. 56 In the day that Tammuz adorned me, with a ring of crystal, with a bracelet of emeralds, together with himself he adorned me, Tillili, the Accadian name of Kharimat, is here used. Tillili was the wife of the sun-god Alala symbolized by the eagle, which we are told was “the symbol of the southern" or "meridian sun." What Sir H. Rawlinson calls the monotheistic party among the Babylonians resolved Tillili into Anatu and Alala into Anu. 57 with himself he adorned me; may men mourners and women mourners 58 on a bier place (him), and assemble the wake. [This remarkable text shows Istar fulfilling her threat and descending to Hades, but it does not appear that she had as yet accomplished her vengeance against Izdubar.] ANCIENT INDIAN HYMNS.1 BY SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS. To what deities were the prayers and hymns of the Vedas addressed? This is an interesting inquiry, for these were probably the very deities worshiped under similar names by our Aryan progenitors in their primeval home. The answer is: They worshiped those physical forces before which all nations, if guided solely by the light of nature, have in the early period of their life instinctively bowed down, and before which even the more civilized and enlightened have always been compelled to bend in awe and reverence if not in adoration. To our Aryan forefathers God's power was exhibited in the forces of nature even more evidently than to ourselves. Lands, houses, flocks, herds, men, and animals were more frequently than in Western climates at the mercy of winds, fire, and water; and the sun's rays appeared to be endowed with a potency quite beyond the experience of any European country. We cannot be surprised, then, that these forces were regarded by our Eastern progenitors as actual manifestations, either of one deity in different moods or of separate rival deities contending for supremacy. Nor is it wonderful that these mighty agencies should have been at first poetically personified, and afterwards, when invested with forms, attributes, and individuality, worshiped as distinct gods. It was only natural, too, that a varying supremacy and varying honors should have been accorded to each deified force-to the air, the rain, the storm, the sun, or fire-according to the special atmospheric influences to which particular localities were exposed, or according to the seasons of the year when the dominance of each was to be prayed for or deprecated. 1 From "Indian Wisdom." By permission of author and Luzac & Co. This was the religion represented in the Vedas and the primitive creed of the Indo-Aryans about twelve or thirteen centuries before Christ. The first forces deified seem to have been those manifested in the sky and air. These were at first generalized under one rather vague personification, as was natural in the earliest attempts at giving shape to religious ideas. For it may be observed that all religious systems, even the most polytheistic, have generally grown out of some undefined original belief in a divine power or powers controlling and regulating the universe. And although innumerable gods and goddesses, gifted with a thousand shapes, now crowd the Hindu Pantheon, appealing to the instincts of the unthinking millions whose capacity for religious ideas is supposed to require the aid of external symbols, it is probable that there existed for the first Aryan worshipers a similar theistic creed; even as the thoughtful Hindu of the present day looks through the maze of his mythology to the philosophical background of one eternal self-existent Being, one universal Spirit, into whose unity all visible symbols are gathered, and in whose essence all entities are comprehended. In the Veda this unity soon diverged into various ramifications. Only a few of the hymns appear to contain the simple conception of one divine self-existent omnipresent Being, and even in these the idea of one God present in all nature is somewhat nebulous and undefined. It is interesting to note how this idea, vaguely stated as it was in the Veda, gradually developed and became more clearly defined in the time of Manu. In the last verses of the twelfth book (123-125) we have the following: "Him some adore as transcendently present in fire; others in Manu, lord of creatures; some as more distinctly present in Indra, others in pure air, others as the most high eternal Spirit. Thus the man who perceives in his own soul, the supreme soul, present in all creatures, acquires equanimity towards them all, and shall be absorbed at last in the highest essence." In the Purusha-sukta of the Rig-veda, which is one of the later hymns, probably not much earlier than the earliest Brahmana, - the one Spirit is called Purusha. The more common name is Atman or Paratman, and in the later system Brahman, neut. (nom. Brahmă), derived from root brih, to expand, and denoting the universally expanding essence or universally diffused substance of the universe. It was thus |