The Birds
The Omnipresent Quest for Immortality
Gary A. David (Arizona, USA) and T.L. Subash Chandira Bose
Introduction
The powerful image of a bird perched on the apex of a pyramid
appears on a certain Hopi Indian artifact. At the beginning of
the twentieth century the prominent archaeologist Jesse Walter
Fewkes unearthed a stone slab covering a grave at Chevelon
Ruin (Sakwavayupki, occupied between A.D. 1280 and the
1380s) not far from Homol’ovi near the present town of
Winslow, Arizona.
Observations
On one side of the painted slab a white rectangular border
with black on the outside encloses three isosceles triangles or
pyramids of nearly equal size. On a yellow background each
of these black pyramids contains a white square located near
the base. A red bird, either a macaw or a parrot, is perched
facing to the right atop all three pyramids. Each of the stylized
birds has a downward triangular body, the base of which forms
its dorsal side. The body’s apex (where its feet would be)
touches each pyramid’s apex. Only the center bird has eyes.
They all have bifurcated tails and curving beaks.
Interestingly, the four colors used on this slab exactly match
the traditional Hopi directional colors: yellow (northwest), black
(southwest), red (southeast), and white (northeast).
What is the meaning of these figures? What is the link between
the colors and the directions of these figures? What could be
the reason that this painted rectangular stone slab was used as
a covering for a grave? Is there similar evidence elsewhere in
the world?
We were curious so we wrote to our South Indian brother of
ancient Bharat. He confirmed that there are ancient burial
grounds still intact in Tamil Nadu, India. He wrote that there
are ancient burial spots in the shape of a lengthy box covered
with a rectangular stone slab and decorated with many symbols
and signs. He said the red bird in the shape of a downward
triangle is a symbol of female energy (sakti), whereas the
upright triangular (pyramidal) shape is a symbol of male energy
or Lord Siva. In addition, he wrote that “Urangum Pattaadai” is
the name of such burial spots. Urangum means Sleeping. Pattu
+ Aadai: Pattu- means a specially woven cloth with very soft
thread used in soft garments, and Aadai means garments, a
dress, or a bedspread.
A detailed
research is essential; otherwise
the sacred
information left by our ancestors will vanish for all time. Let us
begin our study about burials or graveyards, the rectangular
cover slab, colors, and symbols such as the three upright
triangles with a box inside and a bird on each of them.
Graveyard and Burial Ground
The location of the graveyard or burial ground usually lies in
the western direction, but sometimes it can be observed at the
northwest direction of ancient settlements, dwelling places or
towns in a country such as India. In the graveyards corpses are
laid out and cremated on carefully constructed piles of wood,
so that the spirit may move on to a fresh birth. “One of the
oldest known myths deals with the Phoenix. The Golden
Phoenix was the bird that set himself on fire (sacrifice), causing
his death. Then he arose once more as a baby Phoenix,
repeating this cycle over and over again”.
Soon after the soul departs from the body, the well-dressed
body will be laid in a box prepared with a soft cloth and the box
will be covered with incense, etc. The body will be taken to the
church, and mass prayer will be conducted. Then it will be
taken to the graveyard and buried with a special prayer. All
those present during this final ritual will remain in deep silence.
Silence is the sign of the void, none other than the cosmic
sound.
The graveyard or burial ground, nevertheless, is where high
and low alike end up, and is a perpetual reminder of the death
that consummates life. Here the sadhaka must encounter the
reality of the disintegration of his neat conceptual universe, as
a necessary preclude to experiencing the state of rational nonintegration.
Tantra makes use of the graveyard or burial ground in several
ways. The Sadhaka is supposed to make it his home, at first
literally and later metaphysically. He must confront and
assimilate, in the most concrete form, the meaning of death
together with the absolute social defilement it entails. His
goddess, his loving and mothering time, which gives him birth
and loves him in the flesh, also destroys him in the flesh. His
image of Her is incomplete if he does not know Her as his dear
devourer.
Rectangular Box and Cover Slab
Presently the measurements (length, breath and height) are
followed for the burial box in India. These measurements were
standardized long ago and are still being maintained by us; no
one dares to change them. We would like to refer an ancient
verse
in
Tamil:
“Adi
adangum
valkaiyada
aradi
nilme
sonthamada”, which means, “The life is dancing and resting,
and can own six feet of land only”. Let us elaborate upon this
thrilling verse: “The life is a dance and certainly settles one
day. In the huge area of mother earth, there is only a single
piece of land with the size of six feet, allotted for each and
every one, nothing other than this”.
Colors
In this case four colors are used on this cover slab with the
traditional Hopi directional colors: yellow, black or dark blue,
red, and white.
We are amazed to observe the following: the nearest
comparison to the traditional Hopi directional colors and the
ancient ones of India is the “Gunatraya Charkasana”. The three
(traya) characters (Gunas) are also the root characters known
as Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These three root characters
are closely linked with creation and the cycle of birth and death
as well as the Cosmic Consciousness. We will discuss this
shortly.
Gunatrya Chakrasana. From an illuminated MS., Nepal, c. 17th
Century A.D.
We are reproducing the picture (above) and the texts from the
book Tantra Asana--A way to self realization, p. 136, plate 95,
written by Ajit Kukerjee and published by Ravi Kumar. “Asana
is visualized as the pattern of forces Sattva, Rajas and Tamas,
symbolized by the colors yellow, red and black along with the
colorless white of cosmic consciousness – that principle which
stays forever motionless, yet acts through its own radiation and
generates all forms of manifestation. The squares complete the
suggestion that all this is ‘within’.” It is interesting to observe
that the three Gunas (the root characters) combined with the
fourth (the cosmic consciousness) are within a square. What is
the
meaning
of
Sattva,
Rajas,
Tamas
and
cosmic
consciousness?
Sattva: Truth, Purity or equilibrium, the radiance of Being, the
first of three gunas, the constituents of Prakrithi, or material
nature. Rajas: Kinetic power of the universe, one of the three
gunas, the constituents of Prakrithi, or material nature. Tamas:
The power of Inertia, the lower of the three gunas, the
constituents of Prakrithi, or material nature. These are called
the qualities of objectivity (gunas), the most fundamental
attributes of reality. And the Cosmic Consciousness is
symbolized as colorless white.
In Kundalini Yoga the serpentine energy of the mother goddess
coiled herself three-and-a-half times in the Muladhara Chakra
or the root chakra. The three-and-a-half turns represent Sattva,
Rajas, and Tamas and the half turn represents the Vikritis, the
modification of Prakrithi, the nature.
It is great mystery that the white occupies the northeast
direction in both the cases. From a metaphysical point of view
the white-northeast direction of cosmic consciousness is the
ultimate level that each and every one has to attain. The same
is confirmed in the “Mahanirvana Tantra”; the Isana in the
northeast direction sits on a bull, holding a trident in one
hand, giving a blessing with the other hand. He wears tiger
skins and glows like a full moon.
The directions: North is for female (Sakthi) energy, east is for
male (Siva) energy, and the northeast is for Isana who glows
like the full moon. We are not surprised to know that there are
in turn symbols like the arrowhead found. The three lines of the
arrowheads represent the above three directions.
Symbols Such As Three Upright Triangles With a Box
Inside Each
The Mother Goddess Srilalitha (Kali) is the first of the most
important Hindu Goddesses--Transformations, the Mahavidyas.
They are ten in number, seven belonging to the creative
manifestation-stages of the universe, and three to the
withdrawal. The goddess extends herself from her own nature:
Desire (Iccha), Action (Kriya) and Knowledge (Jnana) colored
dark blue, red, and bright yellow or White respectively.
It should be noted that the three upright triangular (pyramidal)
shapes, male (Siva) energy, black in color, are united with
three downward triangular shaped birds, the female energy
(Sakti), red in color. The three downward triangular shaped
birds on the stone slab are the symbol of the mother goddesses
of withdrawal.
We have observed the following on the stone slab covering of a
grave at Chevelon Ruin: three black pyramids containing a
white square in each located near the base. In Kundalini Yoga
we find that the square is the symbol of Muladhara Chakra,
yellow or white in color, and represents Bhu Loka. It is also the
seat of the four-faced Brahma, the Creator.
The Birds
Yajurveda, Book 12: “O Agni, you are the goodly pinioned
eagle. Trivit stoma is your head and Gayatri your eyes, Brihat
and Ranthanntar your wings. The yajna is your soul, all the
verses your limbs and the formulas your names, Vamadevya
Soma is your body, yajna yajniya Sama your tail and the
sacrificial altars your claws. Thus, O Agni, you are a goodly
pinioned eagle, soar into the sky and reach the heaven.”
The Agni in the southeast, the god of fire, the goodly pinioned
eagle, indicates the color red. The exact presentation of the
color of the southeast direction is red as per Hopi tradition,
which is described in Mahanirvana Tantra: the red colored
“Agni (in the southeast, the god of fire) sits on a goat holding
his axe.”
Conclusion
It is also said in Mahanirvana Tantra: “When one has meditated
on the deities (of the cardinal directions) and worshiped them
in order, Brahma (the creator devata) should be worshiped in
the upper (red, extra) circle outside the mandala, and Vishnu
(the preserver) in the lowest (white) one. The painted cover
slab as a white rectangular border with black on the outside
leads us to conclude that it is a mandala as a whole. All the
symbols, particularly the upward triangle (the male energy,
siva), and the downward triangle in the form of a bird (the
female energy, sakti), as well as the white boxes (the symbol of
Muladhara Chakra), confirm the knowledge of the ancient
people who lived in and around that particular land. In essence
they practiced Kundalini Yoga to attain immortality.
Given the above evidence, it would not be unreasonable, then,
to assign to these three birds atop the upright triangular
(pyramidal) shape on a stone slab covering a grave at Chevelon
Ruin in Arizona the same function that the journeying soul of
the Bennu (bird) in Egypt performs— the omnipresent quest for
immortality.
Copyright  2006 by Gary A. David and T.L. Subash Chandira
Bose
References
01. Jesse Walter Fewkes, “Two Summers’ Work in Pueblo Ruins,” Twenty-
Second Annual Report to the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1900-1901
02. Stephen C. McCluskey, “Historical Archaeoastronomy: The Hopi Example,”
Archaeoastronomy in the New World, edited by Anthony F. Aveni
03. Ajit Kukerjee, Tantra Asana--A way to self realization, published by Ravi
Kumar
04. Philip Rawson, The Art of Tantra
05. Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga
Saturday, July 22, 2006