The fact that a highly civilized race inhabited America long before the modern civilization of Europe made its appearance there, is quite clear from the striking remains of ancient and his refinement existing in the country. Extensive remains of cities which must have been once in a most flourishing condition, of strong and well-built fortresses, as well as the ruins of very ancient and magnificent buildings, roads, tanks and canals that meet the eye over a very wide area of the southern continent of America, irresistibly force us to the conclusion that the country must have been inhabited at one time by a very highly civilized nation. But whence did this civilization spring?
The researches of European antiquarians trace it to India. Mr. Coleman says: "Baron Humboldt, the great German traveler and scientist, describes the existence of Hindu remains still found in America."
Speaking of the social usages of the inhabitants of Peru, Mr. Pococke says: "The Peruvians and their ancestors, the Indians, are in this point of view at once seen to be the same people." The architecture of ancient America resembles the Hindu style of architecture. Mr. Hardy says: "The ancient edifices of Chichen in Central America bear a striking resemblance to the tops of India." Mr. Squire also says: "The Buddhist temples of Southern India and of the islands of the Indian archipelago, as described to us by the learned members of the Asiatic Society and the numerous writers on the religion and antiquities of the Hindus, correspond with great exactness in all their essential and in many of their minor features with those of Central America." Dr. Zerfii remarks: "We find the remarkable temples, fortresses and viaducts, aqueducts of the Aryan group."
A still more significant fact proves the Hindu origin of the civilization of ancient America. The mythology of ancient America furnishes sufficient grounds for the inference that it was a child of Hindu mythology. The following facts will elucidate the matter:
Americans worshiped Mother Earth as a mythological deity, as the Hindus still do - Dhatri mata and Prithvi mata are well known as familiar phrases in Hindustan.
Footprints of heroes and deities on rocks and hills were worshiped by the Americans as devoutly as they are done in India even at the present day. Mexicans are said to have worshiped the footprints of Quetzal Coatl and the Indians worship the footprints of Buddha in Ceylon and of Krishna in Gokula near Mathura.
The Solar and Lunar eclipses were looked upon in ancient America in the same light as in modern India. The Hindus beat drums and make noises by beating tin pots and other things. The Americans, too, raise a frightful howl and sound musical instruments. The Carecles (Americans) think that the demon Maleoyo, the hater of light, swallows the moon and sun in the same way as the Hindus think that the demons Rahu and Ketu devour the sun and the moon.
The priests were represented in America with serpents round their heads, as Siva, Kali and others are represented by the Hindus.
Native Indian stories and traces of Vedic civilization
Notes by JanM, November 2000
General Vedic traces:
- universe originally dark and empty except for water,
then a god creates earth, sun, stars, animals and people
[cf. Brahma] - earth and sky originally as one, later separated
[cf. Dyaus & Prthvi] - in the beginning there is often no sun, moon, stars or water; sometimes they are held captured by some envious beings. They must be tricked, usually by the Raven
[cf. Rg Veda story of Indra fighting Vrtra demon] - natural phenomena have personal forms
(e.g. Lightning and Thunder man) - devas on higher planets, personifying the planets, sometimes relating to humans, teaching them
- existence of underworld [cf. Bila-svarga], human origin there according to Apache lore
- shapeshifting of men and animals
- animals originally man-like (talking etc.), later they changed into their present forms
- flood of the world as G/god's punishment for evil behavior of people, few good people saved by warning, being instructed to build a kind of makeshift watercraft or to escape on mountains or other safe places, they also took onboard various animals and plants and later became ancestors of present humans
[cf. Manu]
Stories:
BearAndIndianWife: (Haida, British Columbia)
bears previously people-like [cf. rkshas - ape/bears, yetti], crossbreeding possible
BirdSerpent: (Powhatan, Virginia)
birds as visible spirits of the deceased [cf. Pitas fed through pinda offerings left on the ground for birds]
BlessingWay: (Navajo/Dine, southwestern U.S.)
chants and rituals revealed by higher beings, the mantra is a holy being satisfying devas
BuffaloWife: (Blackfoot, Alberta and Montana)
revival of a man from a bone (cloning?)
ChangingWoman: (Navajo/Dine, southwestern U.S.)
children of devas grow up within a few days, deva is a planet's inner form [cf. Surya etc.]
CloudCatcher: (Ojibwa, Great Lakes)
devas eat sacrificed animals, time scale difference between the heaven and earth
Creation: (Tlingit, southern Alaska coast)
flood of the world, Raven in the role of savior, giant animals on earth (dinosaurs?), darkness in the beginning
DanceDead: (Luiseno, southern California)
dead people turned into birds [cf. sraddha offering to birds; reincarnation mentioned]
EarthMaking: (Cherokee, Great Lakes, eastern Tennessee)
flat earth, as an island on water, animals originally living on higher planets (see also SolitudeWalker)
Emergence: (Jicarilla Apache, northeastern New Mexico)
darkness and winds at the beginning; earth - mother, sky - father; underworld origin of people
EveningStar: (Karasha, South America)
a deva taught people to grow crops
FirstManFirstWoman: (Navajo/Dine, southwestern U.S.)
magic number 4
FishMonster: (Menomini, Wisconsin-Michigan)
biblical Job & leviathan analogy
Flood: (Zuni, southwestern U.S.)
sins punished by the flood
FloodOnSuperstitionMountain: (Pima, southwestern Arizona)
sinful people killed by flood, only a virtuous shaman and his wife survived in an "ark"
GirlMarriedDog: (Cheyenne, Minnesota)
sexual relations between humans and Pleiadeans
GreatFlood: (Salish/Cowichan, Pacific Northwest)
flood of the world
GreatSerpent&Flood: (Chippewa, Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin)
flood, people saved on a raft
GustOfWind: (Ojibwa, Great Lakes)
earth as a woman [cf. Bhumi] (see also MotherOfAllPeople), crossbreeding of devas and humans
HowCornCameToEarth: (Kansas state?)
in old times there were giants on earth, they stopped smoke sacrifice so God killed them by flood; people were told to hide in a large cave with all the animals, the cave was sealed from the floodwater, the people were lead out by a devi, taught various skills and wisdom and populated the earth
HowHopisReachedTheirWorld: (Hopi, southwestern U.S.)
underworld [cf. Bila-svarga] origin of people, degradation of dharma makes things go worse (first appearance of death, plant cultivation progressively more difficult)
IntheBeginning: (Yuchi, southeastern U.S.)
lower, middle and upper world [cf. Bila-svarga, Bhur-loka, Svarga-loka], extraordinary people and animals from the upper world visited the middle world but later returned home where they lived more comfortably
InvisibleOne: (Micmac, eastern Maritime Canada)
Cinderella version
LandOfDead: (Serrano)
time on death planet [cf. Yamaloka] moves slowlier than on earth (one day as one year)
Manabush: (Menomini, Wisconsin-Michigan)
a deva took a human wife and became a mediator between devas and humans
ManWhoActedAsSun: (Bellacoola)
devas' children grow very fast
MarriedRattlesnake: (Pomo, north central California)
crossbreed between humans and snakes
MedicineMan: (Passamaquoddy, northwestern U.S.)
who desires to live very long will become a tree [reincarnation mentioned]
MenVisitSky: (Seminole, Florida)
earth has an edge (see also SolitudeWalker)
MeteorLegends: (Ojibwa, Great Lakes)
Native Americans lived together with giant animals (dinos?)
who were destroyed by a comet
MicMacCreation: (Micmac, eastern Maritime Canada)
sacrificed animals brought back to life by the Great Spirit
MonsterSlayer: (Navajo/Dine, southwestern U.S.)
a deva keeping his heart, nerves, breath and blood in different places outside of his body [cf. Mahiravana, brother of Ravana]
Moon: (?)
sun is a being like ourselves
MorningStar: (Great Plains)
humans joining devas in marriage in heaven, planets as persons
Nisqually: (Nisqually, Puget Sound, Washington)
sinful people punished by the flood, a deva determined the women to be subservient to men, Pandora's box analogy
NorthStar: (Paiute, southwestern U.S.)
high central mountain in the universe [cf. Sumeru]
OldWomanSpring: (Cheyenne, Minnesota)
parallel dimension behind the waterfall as the original place of buffalo and corn
Opossum: (Cherokee, Great Lakes, eastern Tennessee)
previously the deer had sharp teeth [cf. ferocious deer of Ramayana]
OriginAnimals: (Apache, southwestern U.S.)
Apache origins in underworld [cf. Bila-svarga]
OriginOfCuring: (White Mountain Apache, southwestern U.S.)
healing songs [cf. mantras] revealed to people by the Creator
OriginOfSweatLodge: (Blackfeet/Piegan, Montana)
a man taken to higher planets to learn
ReleaseOfAnimals: (Comanche, southwestern U.S.)
buffalo were kept from the people by an evil being [cf. demon Vrtra of Rg Veda keeping heavenly cows in a cave], they were released by Coyote's trick (see also EmpoundedWater)
ScabbyOne: (Toltec, Mexico)
world destroyed because of people's sins (karma)
SeekYourFather: (Seneca, northwestern U.S.)
Sun living on a high mountain [cf. Sumeru] in the east
Shonto: (Anasazi-Navajo/Dine, southwestern U.S.)
punishment for adharma by the devas
SnakeBrothers: (Sioux/Dakota, South Dakota)
men turned into snakes, living underground, friendly relationship with people
SpiritLand: (general info)
astral travel of shamans, exorcism
SunMoonStars: (Navajo/Dine, southwestern U.S.)
people originating from the lower world [cf. Bila-svarga]; sun - male, moon - female; Milky Way as the path for the spirits between earth and heaven [cf. devayana] (see also OwlHusband, StoneMother)
TheFaster: (Winnebago, Wisconsin-Michigan)
the devas and spirits can't grant immortality (see also HuntingMedicine)
TheftOfLight: (Tsimshian, British Columbia)
analogy of Garuda stealing nectar from heaven and Prometheus stealing fire
ThunderBird: (northwestern Coast)
thunderbird analogous to Garuda
ThunderGods: (Dakota)
analogies of Jupiter/Indra
TotemAnimals: (general info)
totem animals in both Siberia and North America
TwinsAlterBook: (Winnebago, Wisconsin-Michigan)
a deva in charge of dead keeps a book of life [cf. Yama/Citragupta]
TwoGhostlyLovers: (Dakota, South Dakota)
a violent death indicates a man will turn into ghost [cf. Garuda Purana, Preta-khanda]
TwoJeebiUg: (Chippewa, Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin)
hospitality rewarded
WellBakedMan: (Pima, southwest Arizona)
Creator made humans according to his own form, breathing life into their bodies [cf. prana]
WhiteBuffalo: (Lakota, Great Plains)
a devi teaches a prayer
WhiteBuffaloWoman: (Lakota, Dakota, Great Plains)
a sacred buffalo [cf. Dharma bull] losing a leg in each age [cf. yuga], when he loses all four the Earth will be inundated
WhiteDeer: (Chickasaw, middlewestern U.S.)
a ferocious deer [cf. deer of Ramayana]
WhoIsStrongest: (Zuni, southwestern U.S.)
similar to a Vedic story
WhyStars: (Eskimo/Inuit)
stars are living beings, world has an edge, planet Jupiter wards off an evil
WomanFell: (Seneca, northwestern U.S.)
people came from the higher planets; original water in the universe [cf. Garbhodaka], Earth is made from the soil of its bottom; animals were originally bigger and later made small
FloodStories: in old times an old man came to Muysca tribe (Colombia)
and taught them agriculture, crafts, religion, and government [cf. dharmas of the four varnas]
Shuar (Andes)
tribe legend analogous to Arjuna & Ulupi story
Sources:
Mythology and Folklore
www.pibburns.com/mythfolk.htmNative American Lore Index
www.ilhawaii.net:80/~stony/loreindx.htmlNative American Traditional Storytelling
www.hanksville.org/storytellers/Native American Wisdom
www.angelfire.com/ca/Indian/stories.htmlRaven: Pacific Northwest Tales
www.eldrbarry.net/rabb/rvn/rvn.htmStonee's Buffalo Part I
www.ilhawaii.net:80/~stony/buffalo.html
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/connections/Americas.php#1
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