The Bundahis
Theomachy, the battle of the gods, described in the Homeric epics, in the Edda, and in the Huitzilopochtli epos, is related also in the
2 The following formula may serve as an example of the Surya method: "Multiply the earth's circumference by the sun's declination in degrees, and divide by the number of degrees in a circle; the result, in yojanas, is the distance from the place of no latitude where the sun is passing overhead." (Chap. xii.)
3 Tycho Brahe, in post-Copernican times, still adhered to this view. * Surya-Siddhanta, note to p. 13. 5 Ibid., p. 248.
6 Bentley, A Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy (1825), p. 75: "The periods themselves were named Yugas, or conjunctions."
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Indo-Iranian text of the Bundahis.1 "The planets ran against the sky
and created confusion" in the entire cosmos.2
In the long battle of the celestial bodies, one of them made the world entirely dark, disfigured creation, and filled it with vermin. This act of the cosmic drama was recognized by us as the first contact of the earth with the comet Typhon, the same as Pallas Athene. Other acts of the drama followed. The planetary disturbances lasted for a long time. "The celestial sphere was in revolution. . . . The planets, with many demons, dashed against the celestial sphere, and mixed the constellations; and the whole creation was as disfigured as though fire disfigured every place and smoke arose over it." 3
The planet named Gokihar or "Wolf-progeny" and "special disturber of the moon,"4 and a celestial body called Mievish-Muspar, "provided with tails," or a comet,5 brought confusion to the sun, moon, and stars. But in the end "the sun has attached Muspar to its own radiance by mutual agreement, so that he may be less able to do harm." 6
In this description of "the battle of the planets," we recognize the wolf-progeny and disturber of the moon, the planet Gokihar, as Mars; Muspar with tails apparently is Venus, called also Tistrya, or "the leader of the stars against the planets." As the final result of these battles, the sun made Venus into an evening-morning star or put Lucifer lower down so that it could do no harm.
In the Bundahis the conflicting forces are called, not "gods," but merely "planets."
Lucifer Cut Down
robin-bobin
It can be said that the planet Mars saved the terrestrial globe from a major catastrophe by colliding with Venus. Since the days of Exodus and Joshua, Venus was dreaded by the peoples of the earth.
1 The Bundahis, Pahlavi Texts (transl. West).
2 "Die Planeten rarmten, Vervvirrung stiftend, gegen den Himmel an." J. Hertel, "Der Planet Venus in Avesta," Berichte der Sachsischen Akademie det Wissenschaften, Phil. hist. Klasse, LXXXVII (1935).
3 Bundahis, Chap. 3, Sees. 19-25. 4 See infra the Section "Fenris-Wolf," note 5. 5 Olrik, Ragnarok, p. 339. « Bundahis, Chap. V, Sec. 1.
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For about seven hundred years this terror hung over mankind like the sword of Damocles.
Human sacrifices were made to Venus in both hemispheres in order to propitiate her.
After centuries of terror, one sword of Damocles was removed from above the heads of mankind, only to be replaced by another. Mars became the dread of the peoples, and its return was feared every fifteen years. Before this, Mars had absorbed the blow, even the repeated blows of Venus, and had saved the earth.
Venus, which collided with the earth in the fifteenth century before the present era, collided with Mars in the eighth century. At that time Venus was moving at a lower elliptical velocity than when it first encountered the earth; but Mars, being only about one-eighth the mass of Venus, was no match for her. It was therefore a notable achievement that Mars, though thrown out of the ring, nevertheless was instrumental in bringing Venus from an elliptical to a nearly circular 1
orbit. Looked at from the earth, Venus was removed from a path that ran high to the zenith and over the zenith to its present path 2 in which it never retreats from the sun more than 48 degrees, thus becoming a morning or an evening star that precedes the rising sun or follows the setting sun. The awe of the world for many centuries, Venus became a tame planet.
Isaiah, referring figuratively to the king of Babylon who destroyed cities and made the land into a wilderness, uttered his remarkable words about Lucifer that fell from heaven and was cut down to the ground. The commentators recognized that behind these words applied to the king of Babylon must have been some legend about the Morning Star. The metaphor regarding the king of Babylon implied that his fate and the fate of the Morning Star were not dissimilar; both of them fell from on high. But what could it mean that the Morning Star fell from the heights?
asked the commentators.
Significant are the words of Isaiah about the Morning Star, that it "weakened the nations" before it was cut down to the ground. It weakened the nations in two collisions with the earth, and it weak-1 Eccentricity of Venus' orbit is .007.
2 Inclined 3° 4' to the plane of the ecliptic (Duncan, 1945).
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ened the nations by keeping them in constant fear for centuries. The Book of Isaiah, in every chapter, provides abundant evidence that with the removal of Venus, so that it no longer crossed the orbit of the earth, danger was not eliminated, but became even more threatening.
CHAPTER 4
Sword-God
IN BABYLON of the eighth century the planet Mars became a great and feared god, to whom many prayers were composed and hymns and invocations were sung and magic formulas were whispered. Such formulas are referred to as "magic words with raising the hand to the planet Nergal [Mars]." These prayers were addressed directly to the planet Mars.1 Like the Greek Ares, Nergal is called "king of battle, who brings the defeat, who brings the victory." Nergal could not be regarded as favoring the people of the Double Streams; on a most fateful night he inflicted a defeat on Sennacherib.
Shine of horror, god Nergal, prince of battle, Thy face is glare, thy mouth is fire, Raging Flame-god, god Nergal.
robin-bobin
Thou art Anguish and Terror, Great Sword-god, Lord who wanderest in the night, Horrible, raging Flame-god . . . Whose storming is a storm flood.
In one of its great conjunctions, Mars' atmosphere was stretched so that it appeared like a sword.
Often before and later, too, celestial prodigies assumed the shape of swords. Thus, in the days of David a
1 Bollenrticher, Gebete und Hymnen an Nergal, p. 19. Bezold in Boll, Sternglaube und Sterndeutung, p. 13: "Gebete der Handerhebung: von denen eine Anzahl an Planetengotter andere dagegen ausdrucklich an die Gestirne selbst (Mars) gerichtet sind" (prayers with the lifting of the hand: some of them are directed to the planetary gods and others expressly to the planets themselves).
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comet appeared in the form of a human being "between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem." 2
The Roman god Mars was pictured with a sword; he became the god of war. The Chaldean Nergal is called "Sword-god." Of this sword Isaiah spoke when he predicted the repetition of the catastrophe, a stream of brimstone, flame, storm, and reeling of the sky. "Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him . . .
and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign." 3 "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved . . .
for my sword shall be bathed in heaven." *
The ancients classified the comets according to their appearance. In old astrological texts, as in the book of Prophecies of Daniel, comets that took the form of a sword were originally related to the planet Mars.5
Besides the swordlike appearance of the atmosphere of Mars, elongated on its approach to the earth, there was also another reason to make of the planet Mars the god of war. A bellicose or martial character was ascribed to the planet because of the great excitement it caused, excitement that brought anxiety to peoples, that led to migrations and to wars. Since early times celestial prodigies have been regarded as portents that forecast great commotions and great wars.