The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth

The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth

Like a Digit of the Moon In the Shadow of the Earth Spirit undergoeth Swoon In the Vestibule of Birth; Dreameth transitory trouble, Weareth Hues of Heaven, hurled Hither, thither, as a Bubble On the Ocean of the World. As the title shows, it is a solar myth. Literally translated, its name is: The glory of the Going Down of the Sun. But this is only the exoteric, physical envelope of the inner, mystical meaning, which is: The Divine Lustre[1] of the Descent (Incarnation) of Him Who took Three Steps: i.e. Wishnu, or the Sun, the later Krishna, or Hindoo Apollo. And this epithet of the Sun is explained by the well-known passage in the Rig-Weda (I. 22. 17[2]), 'Three steps did Wishnu stride: thrice did he set down his foot.' A mythological expression for the rise, the zenith, and the set of the Sun. But the old magnificent simplicity of the Rig-Weda was perverted by subsequent Pauranik glosses; and Wishnu, according to the new legend, was said to have cheated his adversary, Bali, by striding, in his Dwarf Incarnation, over the three worlds. In our title, a different turn is given to the old idea, which we may express by saying that the steps commence, not with the rise, but the set of the Sun: his Going Down, his mysterious period of Darkness, his Rising again. This is the inverted Race, or Cycle of the Sun, which so much exercised the mind of primitive man, and seemed to be a symbol of the mystery of Birth and Death. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 68641
Author: Unknown
Release Date: Jul 29, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: Methuen & Co. Ltd.,1903
Publication Date: 1917
Publisher Country: United Kingdom

Contributors

Translator: Bain, F. W. (Francis William), 1863-1940