(G.) We have seen that many of the Hindu temples, or rather altars, were studied transcripts of the sacred Mount Meru, the abode of the Gods." This mountain was supposed to consist of seven stages, or heavens, increasing in sanctity as they ascended. Within the upper dwelt Brahm, from whom emanated the Demiurgic Powers. The altar transcripts of Meru had therefore seven stages. The Mexicans, on the other hand, supposed there were nine heavens ; their conception differing only in this respect from that of the Hindus. According to the explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, No. 3738, (Kingsborough's Collection, vol. ii.,) the first or superior heaven was called Homeyoca, the residence of the Supreme God, also Homeiocan, or "place of the Holy Trinity." It is proper to say that no support for the latter interpretation seems to be found in the etymology of the original word. The second, or next inferior heaven, was called Ylhuicatl Xoxoucha, the Azure Heaven; the next, or seventh, Ylhuicatl Yayaucha, the Green Heaven, etc. * * In the Codex already referred to, is a representation of the signs of these heavens, upon which Lord Kingsborough remarks:-"The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus informs us that the Mexicans believed in nine heavens, which they supposed were distinguished from each other by the planets which they contained, from the color of which they received their several denominations. They also believed that these heavens, acting as secondary causes, exercised a sovereign influence over affairs below; while the great First Cause, the Deity, resided in the highest heaven, and controlled the effects of all the inferior ones. And although the interpreter of the Codex does not expressly say that their nine heavens were of spherical form, still little doubt can be entertained that Homeyoca, their highest heaven, corresponded with the cœlum immobile of the ancient astronomers, which the Jews supposed to be the immediate habitation of the Deity; and that they believed the other heavens were eight lesser spheres, the lowest of which included the earth, while the highest was the Empyrean heaven, the heaven of heavens, or the place of the Most High." (Kingsborough, vol. viii. p. 254.) In the Selden MS., now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, we have a mythological painting, the precise significance of which is not known, but which seems to refer to the ascent of the human race, personified by a man and woman, to the heaven of heavens. The different heavens, as will be seen from the accompanying reduced copy of the original, (FIG. 18,) are distinctly represented. The concentric semicircles, depending from the horizontal boundaries of the respective heavens, are stars, this being the common mode of representing them in the paintings. Beneath these we perceive the sun and the moon, and yet beneath all the earth. Underneath the plane of the earth are two signs: that on the right is the sign of the year Chicome-acatl, the 46th of the Mexican cycle; and that on the left is the day Chicome-acatl, which is either the 1st of February or the 16th of October, for the yearhere indicated. The four signs attached to the four figures on the plane of the earth, and the one between them, (reading from right to left,) are Matlactliome-tecpatl (March 5 or October 31); Macuilli-tecpatl (Jan. 24 or October 11); Ce-tochtli (September 12); Chicome-tecpatl (14th of April or 26th of February); and Ce-tecpatl (May 24). The sign at the right of the representation of the sun is the year Ce-acatl, or the 14th of the cycle; and the sign to the left of the moon is the day Cecipactli, which, for the year last named, may be either the 7th of January or the 23d of September. The sign immediately in front of the Deity, at the top of the plate, is Matlactliey-tochtli, or the 13th of the cycle. The sign of the day accompanying it is Ome-mazatl, which for that year is March 13. The signs over both the male and female figures, at the right and left of the God, are Ce-mazatl, which, for the 13th year of the cycle, may be February 1 or October 19. The reason for the introduction of these signs is, of course, unknown. It is not an assumption supported only by analogy, that the Mexican teocalli were symbolical structures. Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli, kings of Tezcuco, reared a temple in honor of the Supreme Unity, in which no sacrifices were permitted, except the burning of incense, and where no images were placed. This temple was of nine stages, or stories, for the reason that it was dedicated to the Supreme God. This number, we are explicitly informed by Boturini, had reference to the nine heavens, intervening between earth and the abode of the Supreme. We subjoin Boturini's account of this temple:-" This celebrated Emperor, (Nezahualcoyotl,) inwardly abhorring idolatry, inspired by God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, at his command, built in Tezcuco a tower of nine stages, symbolizing the nine heavens; and upon its summit erected a dark chapel (or shrine), painted within of the finest blue, with cornices of gold, and dedicated it to God, the Creator, called in the Indian language Tlóque Nahuaque, that is to say, The One, Almighty, and All-Merciful God, who has his seat above the Heavens. In his praise the king composed sixty songs, which have perished under the hands of the ignorant. In this Tower were constantly placed certain sentinels, charged to strike, four times a day, upon a plate (or cymbal) of the finest metals; the sound of which, reaching the Emperor, reminded him to pray to God, raising his eyes to heaven, for aid to govern his subjects, etc." (Idea de Nueva Historia General, p. 79.) Among the various structures yet remaining in Mexico which seem to have been built to conform to this idea of nine heavens, is the one of which an engraving is herewith presented (FIG. 19), from Du Paix's Second Antiquarian Tour. It is situated in the vicinity of Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca, and occurs in connection with other imposing structures. It is perfectly regular in form, built of stone, covered with cement, and painted with ochre. Du Paix conjectures that its flat summit was once occupied by a statue of some one of the major gods. We have a most distinct allusion to the nine heavens in the congratulations, quoted by Sahagun, (lib. vi. cap. 34,) as being used amongst the Mexican lords, on the occasion of the birth of a first son, They first complimented the mother, and then turning to the infant, exclaimed: "O precious gem, emerald, rich feather, hair and nail of lofty sires! Welcome hast thou come! Thou hast been formed in the highest place, where resides the Supreme God, who is above the nine heavens," etc. And Gomera informs us that " They held for an assured faith that there were nine places appointed for souls, and the chiefest place of glory was to be near the sun."—(Gomera in Purchas, vol. iii. p. 1137.) It is not necessary to our purpose to point out the parallelisms between the Mexican notion of nine heavens and those which were entertained by many nations of the East. It may be mentioned, nevertheless, that the Scandinavians not only had nine superior spheres, or heavens, but also nine inferior ones, between which the earth and man occupied a middle place. In the Voluspa, the prophetess says:— "I call to mind nine worlds And nine heavens." The giant Vafthrudner also boasts of having seen the nine worlds; and the dwarf Alvis tells Thor, "All the nine worlds Have I travelled through, And every being known." The Prose Edda says: "Bad men go to Hela, and from her to Niflhel, that is, down to the ninth world." The superior heaven, Gimle, is the abode of the Supreme Being, and the place to which the good may aspire. (See Pigott's Scandinavian Mythology, p. 18.) |