Michael Cremo - Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory

The origin of males and females is explained as follows. The original stone churingas of the totem groups were split in two, making pairs. These pairs were tied together. Spencer and Gillen (1927, p. 359) say, “One Churinga of each pair had an atua or man’s spirit, the other an arragutja or woman’s. Each Churinga had also an aritna churinga , or sacred name, associated with it and its Kuruna and all these names were given, originally, by Numbakulla. Later on, the Kurunas emanated from the Churinga and gave rise to men and women, each of whom bore as his or her sacred name, the one given to the Churinga by Numbakulla.” Neither Numbakulla nor the original Achilpa Inkata Maraknirra, or the first forefathers of the totem groups had mates, but all subsequent kurunas were manifested in male and female pairs (Spencer and Gillen 1927, pp.

361–362).

A child is born after a kuruna enters a woman. The kuruna will have existed previously in another body, and the old men of the totem group have ways of telling which kuruna has reincarnated into the group (Spencer and Gillen 1927, p. 103). About the birth process, W. E. H. Stanner says in his paper “The Dreaming” (1956), “The means by which, in aboriginal understanding, a man fathers a child, is not by sexual intercourse, but by the act of dreaming about a spirit-child. His own spirit, during a dream,

‘finds’ a child and directs it to his wife, who then conceives. Physical congress between a man and a woman is contingent, not a necessary prerequisite” (Lessa and Vogt 1958, p. 515).

The churinga from which the kuruna (soul) of the child came remains in the pertalchera of the child’s original totem group. A double of the kuruna , called the arumburinga, remains with the churinga in the pertalachera. The arumburinga can travel outside the pertalchera and sometimes goes to visit its embodied kuruna double. The embodied kuruna is called ulthana. At death, the ulthana kuruna goes to the churinga in the pertalchera in which it was originally placed in the original time, alchera (Spencer and Gillen 1927, p. 103).

The relationships between soul, body, and churinga are complex, as is the language related to these relationships. The word aradugga (or aradukka ) refers to the physical birth of a child from the womb. The word knailjalugga refers to the kuruna or soul coming out of the churinga . In the birth process, a kuruna leaves the churinga and enters the body of the woman who is to be its mother. In the body of the mother, the kuruna receives its own body, which is called mberka (Spencer and Gillen

1927, p. 358). The kuruna is said to be small, like a tiny pebble, and colored red.The body of the child within the womb is called ratappa (Spencer and Gillen 1927, p. 363).

At the end of a person’s life, two spirit brothers called Inchinkina, who normally exist as stars in the heavens, come down to earth to hasten the person’s death (Spencer and Gillen 1927, p. 429). Another evil spirit called Eruncha sometimes helps them. If the dead person tries to rise from the grave, Eruncha forces him back (Spencer and Gillen 1927, p.430).

The embodied kuruna soul (called ulthana ) remains with the body of the dead person for some time, watching over it in its burial mound until the final burial ceremony is performed. Sometimes the ulthana is with the body in the grave, sometimes it is observing the relatives of the deceased, and sometimes it is visiting with its spirit double, the arumburinga , which stays with the person’s churinga in the pertalchera (Spencer and Gillen 1927, p. 432).

For the Australian aboriginal, existence between birth and death is just a transient phase. A. P. Elkin, in his book the australian aborigines (1964), says, “Found by his parent in a spiritual experience, he is incarnated through his mother and so enters profane life. But a few years later, through the gate of initiation, he partially re-enters the sacred dreamtime or sky-world which he has left for a season. After passing farther and farther into it, so far as the necessities of profane life allow, he dies, and through another gate, the transition rite of burial, he returns completely to his sacred spirit state in the sky, the spirit-home . . . perhaps to repeat the cycle later” (Eliade 1967, p. 162).

Similar beliefs are found among the Ngaju Dayaks in nearby Borneo. Hans Schärer, in his book ngaju Religion: the Conception of God among a South Borneo People (1963), says, “Man originated from the godhead. The godhead has guided him through the various stages of life until his death, until he returns to the godhead and is given new life and a new existence in the Upperworld from which he once departed and from which there will be no more separation” (Eliade 1967, p. 170). Schärer adds: “This idea has nothing to do with any Christian influence; it is an ancient Dayak concept which is understandable in relation to the primeval sacred events and the mode of thought connected with them” (Eliade

1967, pp. 155–156).

Cosmology of the Easter islanders

The Polynesians of Easter Island regarded the Great God, Etua, as superior to other gods and goddesses. The particular personal name of Etua was Makemake. He rewarded good and punished evil, and spoke to people through male and female priests. Thunder was the expression of his anger. The Easter Islanders did not have in their system an equivalent to the Christian devil. Makemake was seen as the creator of the heavens and earth. The Easter Islanders offered Makemake the first products of the land. He was honored in the form of wooden images, but was not directly worshiped (Métraux 1940, p. 312).

Métraux (1940, pp. 312–313) records an account of the appearance of Makemake from a skull: “There was a priestess watching over a skull on a rock in the bay of Tonga-riki . . . One day a wave came and took the skull that was watched on the rock in front of the bay of Tonga-riki. The wave swept away the skull from above; it floated. The eyes of the priestess saw the skull. She leaped to take it, she swam behind the skull which floated ahead. She arrived in the middle of the sea, she was tired, she landed on the island of Matiro-hiva. Haua saw this woman who was a priestess. He asked: ‘where do you come from?’ ‘I am pursuing my skull.’ Haua said: ‘It is not a skull, but the god Makemake.’ The priestess stayed.” Later, at the suggestion of Makemake, all three (Haua, Makemake, and the priestess) went back to the people of the priestess and taught them to utter the names of Haua before taking food.

Makemake did not have a female consort, but other gods did have consorts and children. By the will of Makemake, the first man and first woman sprang up from the earth like plants. They were known as Tive and Hiva. They and their offspring had souls that lived forever. These souls could travel outside the body during dreams, and could be victimized by evil spirits (Métraux 1940, p. 312, 315; Routledge 1919, p. 238).

The lesser gods of the Easter Islanders were known collectively as akuaku. They had residences at various places on the island, and existed in relationship to the local residents. The gods were of different kinds. Métraux (1940, pp. 316–317) says: “They were supernatural beings who belonged to a certain district or family. A few of them were real gods, others were demons or nature spirits, and others were spirits of deified dead. All lesser gods are now grouped under the general term akuaku, which is applied also to the spirits of the dead when they appear as ghosts. . . . it is difficult to distinguish between minor gods who were worshipped and legendary characters who were endowed with superhuman power but who never functioned as actual gods. . . . akuaku were both male and female. They were often represented as human beings, who might have been mistaken for ordinary creatures had the story teller not classified them as akuaku or tatane . They married ordinary men or women, had children by them and died. They could even be killed if their adversary was strong enough or sly enough. At times their supernatural power manifested itself in the ability to fly through the air and change rapidly from one place to another. Some akuaku were embodied in animals, in natural or artificial things, or in phenomena. . . . Spirits embodied in things or phenomena bear the names of their material representation. . . . Thus, Te Emu is a ‘Landslide’; Mata-vara-vara ‘the Rain-withheavy-drops’. Men are indebted to the minor gods or demons for many important discoveries and improvements in their culture. The art of tattooing was introduced by the sons of two akuaku— Vie Moko (The Lizard Woman) and Vie Kena (The Gannet Woman). The female akuaku, in the form of birds, taught men to extract dye from turmeric ( Curcuma longa ). The first bone fishhooks were made by Ure, a capricious and strange character of Easter Island folklore. An akuaku bird (the frigate) brought a new kind of yam as a gift to a man called Rapu.”