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

But such animism does not exhaust the cosmology of the Ainu. They have quite a developed picture of the universe, following the basic pattern of our template Vedic spiritual cosmology. For example, the Ainu have in their cosmology a creator god in addition to a supreme God. This subordinate progenitor god was called Aeoina. He descended from heaven and created the first human being on earth. He stayed on earth for some time, teaching humans how to live. During his time on earth, Aeoina dressed just as humans did. Upon finishing his task, he returned to heaven, still wearing terrestrial human clothes. The gods in heaven did not very much like the smell of these clothes, and they sent Aeoina back to earth to get rid of them. When he returned once more to heaven, he did so without any unpleasant human smell. Because of this incident Aeoina was sometimes called Ainu-rak-guur, which means “Person Smelling of Men” (Batchelor 1927, p. 115).

In each Ainu home is installed a fetish representing the household deity, generally pictured as an old man. The original fetish came not from the creator god Aeoina, but from the divine being said to be the True God. The Ainu Chief Penri told John Batchelor, “The deity who rules the household was first made by the True God, Who, after He had made him, sent him down from heaven to be the husband of the Goddess of Fire and to help her to attend to the wants of the Ainu. He is therefore called The Ancestral Governor of the House” (Batchelor 1927, p. 177). The Ainu distinction between the progenitor god and the true supreme being is parallel to the distinction between the creator god Brahma and the supreme being of the Vaishnava Vedic cosmology (variously named Vishnu, Narayan, Krishna, etc.).

The Ainu believe that the spirits of the dead live on in an afterlife. The household hearth is the gateway to the spirits of the dead. When the spirits of ancestors are invoked, they come through the hearth. The hearth is also the residence of the fire goddess, Kamui Fuchi. The household fire is carefully attended. Burning coals are covered with ashes during the night, during which time Kamui Fuchi is said to be sleeping. It is considered most inauspicious for a household woman to allow the fire to go completely out during the night. Neil Gordon Munro, in his book ainu Creed and Cult, wrote (1963, p. 58): “There was no worse sin than neglect to provide fuel for Kamui Fuchi, who reared all Ainu at her hearth.” Munro also noted (1963, p. 58), “All food . . . , at any ceremony, is supposed to be Kamui Fuchi’s, and is placed on or near the hearth before distribution to guests.”

In the cosmic hierarchy of the Ainu, the bottom region is called Chirama-moshiri, or “the Lowest World.” This was not the place of judgement where souls went after death. They called that place Pokna-moshiri, “the Underworld.”And the place of punishment for the wicked was called Nitne-kamui-moshiri, “the world of devils” or Teinci-pokma-moshiri, “the wet underground world.” Chirama-moshiri, according to John Batchelor in his book ainu life and lore (1927, p. 367) , was not inhabited and represented “the bounds of material creation.”

Elaborating on the Ainu view of Chirama-moshiri , Batchelor (1927, p. 368) explained: “As regards place, it is thought by them to be situated at the very confines of all created worlds. There are supposed by some to be six worlds beneath this upon which we dwell. The very lowest of these is called ‘the lowest world’ ( Chirama-moshiri ). . . . But as regards the nature of this land, it is not supposed by the Ainu to be a place of darkness, though it may have iron gates. It is said to be a very beautiful country, as full of light as this world; and it does not seem to be the prison house or abode of fallen angels or any other living beings, whether they be gods, men, or demons. The thunder demon, after having waged war upon this earth, is said to have proceeded to do so in heaven, because this world was unable to stand such a grievous conflict. The Creator, Who resides in heaven above, was much distressed at this, and sent the demon to fight in the ‘lowest world.’ Here the thunder demon was slain, but as no god or demon can actually die, his spirit again ascended to its original home, namely, the clouds of the lower skies.”

The concept of there being six worlds below the terrestrial world is similar to the Vedic cosmology, which places the earth of our experience as the seventh of fourteen worlds, with six worlds beneath it and seven above it. The similarity of concepts might have resulted from diffusion of religious ideas throughout Asia, or from common perception of an existing spiritual reality, or from a common revelation by a supernatural being. That the accounts might differ in various respects and degrees does not rule out common perception or revelation. Once it is accepted that there is a supreme being, it becomes possible for the supreme being to reveal aspects of cosmology to greater or lesser degrees to various peoples, according to their particular structures of consciousness and sensory capabilities. Even if we wish to accept a purely local naturalistic explanation for the similarity of accounts, i.e., that the manufacture of such accounts is somehow favored by the process of evolution by natural selection, we must still take the accounts seriously and cannot dismiss the idea that they might reflect some underlying feature of reality. At the very least, we must wonder why the human physiology is so constructed as to produce mental cosmological pictures that so heavily govern human behavior. If we favor a simple diffusionist concept, we must still ask why the human mind, at all times and places, has the disposition to accept and incorporate into its deepest cultural concepts strikingly similar elements of our template cosmology. The most natural explanation for the similarity of accounts remains common perception or common revelation.

According to Ainu tradition, one of the worlds beneath the terrestrial world of our experience is a place where the wicked are sent after death. Another subterrestrial world is called Kamui-moshiri, the Land of the Gods. It is a place where good souls are sent. It is said that the inhabitants of this region walk with their feet pointed up toward the bottom of the terrestrial plane of existence and that the day of this heavenly region corresponds to the night of the terrestrial region (Batchelor 1927, p. 368). Batchelor concludes (1927, p. 368), “This myth shows very clearly that the Ainu believe the soul to exist apart from the present material body after death.” Batchelor (1927, p. 346) also said about his conversations with the Ainu Chief Penri: “The old chief and I had much conversation on these matters soon after, and I learned many things from him. Particularly did I learn that in their idea, death in no way implied the extinction of the life or soul. He said they did not like the body to become a senseless corpse, but we must not imagine that because it became such, the soul also decomposed or got withered up.”

From what we have seen above, the Ainu cosmology included heavens above and heavens below the earth. An Ainu chief told John Batchelor (1927, pp. 142–143) that the earth of our experience is, by arrange ment of the supreme god, under the control of the fire goddess, who serves as his deputy. He sent her down from her home in heaven to rule the earth. A heavenly serpent, in love with her, desired to come with her. The goddess tried to dissuade him, telling him that if he came with her, he would have to endure fire. But the serpent still desired to make the journey, and the fire goddess gave him permission. He came down with her in a flash of lightning, which made a large hole in the ground. To this day, the descendants of the heavenly serpent sometimes come to earth to visit him, and they make their journeys, as he did, by lightning bolts, which also make holes in the ground. It is believed that these holes lead to underworlds in the subterrestrial regions of the cosmos, and it is there that the original serpent from heaven lives along with his serpent followers. The Ainu chief told Batchelor (1927, p. 143), “Snakes live in large communities in the underworld, and there they assume the bodily forms of men and women. They have houses and gardens just as we have, and their food consists largely of dew.” They take the form of snakes when they come to our world. The Ainu chief said, “As his origin is divine, the snake is of a very haughty disposition. . . . From the very beginning the snake was desirous of doing evil; nevertheless, if fetishes are made of walnut wood and presented to him with the words ‘Thou art a good God’ he will be much pleased and render help. Again, if snakes are treated in a slighting manner they cause sickness. Yet, if they cause illness it may be cured by making fetishes of the walnut tree and offering these to them with worship.”