SUMERIAN MYTHS (Part 2)

 

• The myth of Dumuzi and Inanna :

This is the myth where Inanna descends into the underworld (where the dead are). The myth was in fragmentary form then. But it is known now as the myth of 'Dumuzi and Inanna' in its complete form. Dumuzi is the Sumerian form of the more familiar name Tammuz,  and Inanna is the Sumerian equivalent of semitic Ishtar. So, Ishtar is Inanna, the queen of heaven, (in other words she is the queen of the sky). As you know there are vegetation gods. These gods have their roots in the winter-spring cycle of the vegetation. They die in autumn-winter and rise in the spring. Dumuzi is one of them.  He goes down or is taken down by demons to the nether-world, and Inanna resorts to schemes of her own invention to bring him up to the world-of-the-living again. This is clearly a ritual myth. With the Semitic (Akkadian) rule in the country all the names of the gods were changed to Akkadian. Dumuzi became Tammuz, Inanna became Ishtar. In the liturgies Tammuz and Ishtar are frequently represented as the figure of the male and female fir tree. But fir trees do not belong to the Tigris-Euphrates delta, on the contrary they are found in the mountainous region from which the Sumerians came. Evidence shows that Sumerians and Semites were occupying the delta for a long time before the Amorite invasion, and until  the final subjugation of the Sumerians by the Semites. Semites took over from the Sumerians their cuneiform script, much of their religion and myths. Of course Semites have introduced their motifs and understanding to the myths, which may have led to the changes we see in the Tammuz-Ishtar myth of the Assyro-Babylonian period.

• The myth of Creation :

This is the second basic myth. As far as the ancient myths of creation are concerned we do not find the concept of ex nihilo creation. All of these ancient myths have a theme of bringing order out of an original state of chaos. The Assyro-Babylonian myth of creation is in the form of the well known Epic of Creation - Enuma Elish. There is nothing corresponding to this in the Sumerian material. Sumerian cosmogony has to be pieced together from various myths of origin partly because many of the tablets upon which the myths have been preserved are broken and incomplete. So we are in an uncomfortable situation of piecing together a coherent account of Sumerian mythology. To make a difficult task a bit easier we will look into this story of creation under three headings:

a. The Origin of the Universe : The goddess Nammu ('Primeval Ocean' - Sumerian 'Mother of the Gods') whose name is written with the ideogram for 'sea', is the 'mother who gave birth to heaven and earth.' From other material which are also recorded on clay tablets we learn that heaven and earth were originally a mountain. Earth was the base and summit was the heaven. Personification of heaven was the god An, and goddess Ki was the personification of earth. Their union produced the air-god Enlil. Then Enlil had An-Ki (the heaven-earth mountian) separated. This way Universe came into being with heaven, earth and air in between.  Here we have no explanation for the primeval sea, which existed before creation (An identical concept appears in Kuran where it is said that there was only water before creation). This endless primeval ocean was called the Goddess Nammu. Nammu produced a mountain out of water. Her son, God of Air separated this mountain in two. The top became the sky and An (God of Sky and Wisdom) got it. The lower part became the earth, and Nammu and Enlil together took it. An and Enlil furnished the earth with trees and waters. They created animals and brought into being the gods who will be in charge of all that.   The Old Testament in Genesis, has the same primeval ocean, separation of earth and sky, creation of land, furnishing the land with trees, and Kuran in 21:30 asks: 'Don't they know that sky and earth was one and we separated it?' Sumerian and Old Testament stories are very close. Kuran is superficial and undetailed on this subject.

It is written in the Old Testament that creation happened 6000 years ago. Christianity accepts this period. Kuran does not have this kind of a time scale but according to the  Islamic belief creation has happened 5000 years ago. According to the Sumerian list of kings it has happened 241,200 years ago; to the Chinese 49,000 years ago; to the Egyptians 13,000 years ago; to Herodotus 17,000 years ago. None of these periods are in harmony with the evidence and dates shown by the scientific studies in our age. (One has to think and think hard. What is the reason behind these differences between the numbers. If the creator is one, who created everything, then why these believers, who are all 'lowly' humans and 'creatures of the god' don't have a single time span for the creation? If the codebooks are given by this sole creator why didn't he get these 'lowly' humans write the same period for creation? On the other hand science has a specific proposition: For the time being it is between 12 and 16 billion years, and with every discovery this number changes, as it should be.

• So whose mathematics is right?

• This sole creator purportedly has given mankind an intellect. Wouldn't it be wrong for man to believe in what is written by other man in these books, without any question?

• If your response is 'no' then which time scale is the right one?

• Wouldn't this 'no-questions' attitude constitute a rejection of intellect itself which is supposed to have been  given by the 'sole creator' to provide us with a tool to separate the right from wrong?

b. The Organization of the Universe : A number of myths deal with this subject. One of them is the birth of Moon-god, Nanna, or Sin: Enlil the high god of the Sumerian pantheon fell in love with the goddess Ninlil (A Sumerian Goddess) and raped her. For this act Enlil was banished to the underworld, but Ninlil, who was pregnant, refused to be left behind and insisted on following Enlil to the nether-world. But if Ninlil's child was born while she was in the underworld, the child - the moon god - would have been born in the underworld instead of becoming a light of the sky. So Enlil devised a scheme by which Ninlil became the mother of the three deities of the nether world as substitutes for Nanna. Ninlil was set free and was able to ascend to heaven. Enlil becomes frequently the title of Tammuz in the Tammuz liturgies, and Ninlil is the designation of Ishtar. When Inanna descended into the nether-world there was no explanation. But now we have the reason for Ninlil's descent. So, Nanna/Sin was the chief astral deity. The Sun-god Utu was regarded as the offspring of Nanna and his consort Ningal (Wife of Nanna). Later on when the Hebrew cosmogony was invented, the Sun became the major luminary, the Moon became female, (As seen in the classical mythology). According to the Sumerians Nanna traversed the night sky in a quffah, the circular boat used in the navigation of the Euphrates (these boats are reportedly still in use there and called 'kufe'). But the Sumerians had had no explanation for the origin of stars and planets that accompanied Nanna.

Enlil separated the heaven from the earth. Heaven was illuminated by the Sun-god Utu, Moon-god Nanna, planets and the stars. Now it was time to bring order to the earth. Different elements of the terrestrial order are dealt with in various myths. For example the cities and temples of the gods are thought of as existing before the creation of man (Lu-dingir-ra's account, clearly shows us what they believed then).

" We need servants. Lets create them!". According to what the Sumerians  believed, creation of man was made possible in the end, as a result of the divine activities involved in the creation of the order of the Universe. Enlil is the ultimate source of vegetation, cattle, agricultural implements, and the arts of civilization. Enlil brings into being all these by creating lesser gods who carry out his instructions. To provide cattle and grain for the earth, Enki ( Ea in Babylonia - the god of wisdom) calls on Enlil to do something. Enlil in turn creates two minor deities, Lahar the Cattle God and Ashnan the Grain Goddess. They created an abundance on the earth. But they drank wine, got drunk, began to quarrel and neglected their duties.

Anunnakis still needed food and clothes. They had to find a solution - for their own sake! They found it. They created man, as a loyal servant, and according to the Sumerian myth titled Herd Animals and Grain, "...to look after their (gods') beautiful sheepfolds, life is blown into man"  (This expression, 'life is blown into man' is extremely important because it appears in the Old Testament and Kuran. In the Old Testament; Genesis 2:7 it is written: 'And the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul. In Kuran; 32:7,9 the story begins with 'He has started creating man with mud' and concludes, 'then gave it a form, and breathed his essence into it.' So now you know where this expression comes form: Sumer!). Furthermore the same myth describes how Enki, beginning with Sumer, journeyed through different parts of the world, 'fixing the destinies' (This is a Sumerian term which refers to the creative activity of the gods in bringing order to the universe. There is an object in the Babylonian myths which is called in Akkadian the 'tablet of destinies'. Possessing such a tablet was one of the attributes of deity. Myths tell us that these tablets were stolen or taken by force on several occasions. Because the god who possessed them had the power to control the order of the universe (here Jews and Muslims may detect the origin of their belief in the destiny-determining-attribute of their god). But let us go back to our story. Enki's itinerary began with Ur, Tigris and Euphrates rivers - which he filled with fish - and progressed with Meluhha (possibly Egypt or lands on the banks of the Gulf of Basra). He appointed over each of these a god or a goddess. He then went on to place the brick-god Kabta in charge of the pickaxe and the brick-mould. Enki laid foundations, built houses and put them under the charge of Mushdamma - the 'great builder of Enlil.' He filled the plain with vegetable and animal life, and placed Sumuqan - 'King of the mountain' in charge. Enki built stables and sheepfolds and placed them under the shepherd-god Dumuzi.

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At this point let us consult again the tablets written by our friend Lu-dingir-ra the Sumerian. Here it is:

• "..According to our belief, our gods have made ready these cities with roads and institutions in them. Then created us and said to us 'take your cities.' Between you and me, I don't really believe this. But I have no doubt that we are a chosen people by the gods. According to a saying coming from our forefathers we the Sumerians are the 'salt' of the earth. Why didn't they say 'taste' and 'salt' instead, I could not solve."

 

The Creation of Man: I have mentioned the myth of Lahar the Cattle God, and Ashnan the Grain Goddess which resulted in the creation of man. But this is not the only myth which resulted in the creation of mankind (Like we see in the Old Testament, man could be created in various ways under different conditions. Don't forget that since only the imagination of the mankind is involved there are lots and lots of possibilities!). Here I must point out that the Sumerian myth and and the Babylonian Epic of Creation differ considerably. But the object for which man was created is identical in both accounts: Yes! Just to serve the gods. In the Sumerian myth, the gods complain that they cannot get their food. And they appeal to Enki, as they usually do in times of need, who, unfortunately, is asleep. Nammu, the primeval ocean, the mother of the gods, wakes him up. Enki instructs Nammu and Ninmah (Sumerian 'Goddess of Birth').  According to Samuel Noah Kramer (Tablets of Sumer) Nammu and Ninmah, assisted by deities who are the 'good and princely fashioners', mixed clay which was 'over the abyss' and brought man into existence (you may find a possible echo of these 'fashioners' in the page on Zoroastrianism in the form of Amesha Spentas - 'Benevolent-Beneficient Immortals').

 

 WHO WERE THERE AT THE CREATION OF MAN?

In another story, this time Enki makes figures out of soft clay and addresses goddess Nammu: "O mother! the creature you are going to name has come into being/Give it the image (appearance) of gods/Mix the mud of the bottomless pit/Make his arms and legs/O mother! announce the newborn's destiny/That is man!' (As it is clear from this quotation, Sumerian gods have created man in their image. Which is the proof that Sumerians visualized their gods as human-like figures. This act of gods creating man in their image' appears in the Old Testament, Genesis 1:27. While this act of creating was in progress Goddess Nammu, the mother of all gods; Ki, the God of Earth; Goddess of Birth Ninmah; and the God of Wisdom Enki were together.

 

 PALAVER, PALAVER

This is not all! How about another creation story? Enki gives a banquet to the gods to celebrate the creation of man. Enki and Ninmah drink much wine, and become drunk. Ninmah takes some clay which is 'over the abyss,' creates six different kinds of human beings. Two of these are a barren woman and a eunuch. The same myth goes on to describe a further act of creation by Enki. Where he creates a human being who is weak in mind and body, then asks Ninmah to do something to improve this creature. But Ninmah was unable to cure the creature. (One of the words which denote man in Hebrew is enosh which means 'weak' or 'sick.' Those who are familiar with Hebrew poetry know that this aspect of humanity - weakness, and lowliness - is emphasised. This Sumerian myth may have been another source for the Hebrew presentation of man as a failure vis a vis the place the 'divine purpose' had intended for him). In Sumer there were four 'creator' gods in the creation of man, and in Islam four archangels help the supreme being in the creation of man. The parallels are interesting. Are they not?

SUMERIAN MYTHS (Part 1)

 

SUMERIAN MYTHS

by Mudarras Kadhir Gaznavi

 

WHEN DID HISTORY BEGIN?

You must have heard the statement that 'history has begun at Sumer.' The evidence we have today indeed show that it actually had begun between 4000-1000 BC.; If history had started with writing then the first page was written in Mesopotamia about 6000 years ago! Sumerians started keeping record of their times in the form of pictograms on clay tablets, and around 3000 BC. a form of cuneiform writing and a full syllabic alphabet appeared. Peoples in the neighbouring lands has adopted, amended and used this alphabet  according to their needs. 

 

 WHERE WAS THIS SUMER? WHO WERE THESE SUMERIANS?

The land called Sumer was in the Middle East in between and along the rivers Euphrates and Tigris (in present day Iraq). Have you ever asked yourself?

• Why and how did this Sumerian civilization appeared out of nowhere?

• Who were these Sumerians?

• Where were they before establishing themselves as the 'initiators' of history?

• Have they migrated? If so, from where?

• And what made them 'shine' suddenly like a light bulb in the long history of mankind and civilization?

According to the story on clay tablets of the Sumerian Lu-dingir-ra (Could be translated as God's man's) who lived 4000 years ago, this is the answer to 'where they had come from?': 

• "We migrated to where we are living now thousands of years ago, but they were unable to write down from where because they did not know how to write then. Later on inquisitive scribes and the archivists in the royal palace studied the orally transmitted information in an attempt to find out about the past. Our people came to this land from a mountainous country to the northeast. But it is also said that some of them had come via sea from a land called Dilmun in the east. And the reason behind this migration is said to be the onset of an unexplained drought in their warm and rainy country. Great Enlil had some of us 'darkheads' settle here... According to the rumours and results of my research as to why we have called ourselves 'darkheads,' I found out that before our forefathers migrated here, people with blonde hair and blue eyes were living next to their country. They may have adopted this name to separate themselves from their neighbours. I cannot visualize a person with blonde hair and blue eyes. And I don't think it would be nice. I haven't seen any person like that in my country."

This is what Lu-dingir-ra had written on a clay tablet. The area where the Sumerians established themselves is actually a crossroads of peoples, cultures, and trade routes; it is right in the middle of the 'old world'. So there must have been all kinds of influences passing right through this region before Sumerians and also in their time. In order to find out these influences and the cross fertilization they have led to we have to look into this region. First centres of high culture were flourishing 5000 years ago along great rivers: Egyptian culture on the Nile, Babylonian in the Land of the Two Rivers, and the Indus civilization. Indus civilization was almost twice the size of the Kingdom of Egypt and four times the size of Sumer-Akkad Empire. Sumerians were in between these two great centres of that age. S. Radhakrishnan even came to the conclusion that the Indus culture was linked with that of Sumer, which has  transformed itself into Babylonian culture, thereby established a tradition that Europe has inherited. Seals originating from the Indus valley (some of them dated to at least 2000 B.C) were found during the excavations at former Babylonian cities. At Ur they found a seal dating from pre-Sargonid times (2500 B.C.) which is a local imitation of an Indian seal. Some scholars think that the basic elements of the Babylonian astrology were possibly derived from the Harappa culture. A large quantity of Indus seals were found along the Euphrates. People called Elamites are an important link between the Mesopotamian and Indus civilizations. They lived to the north of the confluence of Euphrates and Tigris, in the region which is shared between Iran and Irak today. Archeological discoveries have now shown that an early Elamite culture flourished in the 4th millenium B.C., 200-400 years before the oldest Indus valley culture - the Amri culture - in centres, only 600 miles away from the later high civilization of Harappa. All these finds should be taken as evidence of important contacts between India and a high culture to the west (immeasurably far away for those times) over 4000 years ago. Celtic god Cernunnos sitting in the Buddha position corresponds to a Harappa seal from the Indus valley. Numerous analogies and correspondences between Celtic and Celto-Iberian religion and India are to be found in the idea of reincarnation, a vegetarian diet, the tree cult and the Swastika - a symbol that is still found today on the door-posts of Basque farmhouses. A Buddha's head from the same period has even been found in a Celto-Iberian burial chamber in the south of France. Speculation is that at an early stage of the Amri culture (4th millenium B.C.), a unified population group, to which the Sumerians belonged had spread over a large part of the Asia Minor. We know that Aryan tribes that invaded Indus valley originally lived in Anatolia and northern Iran. The cuneiform contractual documents relating to the Hittite kings of Mitanni found at Bogazkoy in Anatolia (dated around 1400 B.C.) stand as witnesses to the exchanges within a few centuries. They contain invocations of deities Mi-it-ra, Ur-w-na, Indar, Na-sa-at-ti-ia. These are the deities worshipped in ancient India under the same names: Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Nasatyas. Ancient Persians called themselves 'aryans' and their language differed little from Sanskrit. The Avesta, the holy scripture of ancient Iran is in part almost identical with the Rig-Veda, the oldest Indian text. One could come across the Indian God-King Rama in the Avesta as well as the divine potion 'soma' ('haoma in ancient Iranian), and the holy river Saraswati (Haraquati in ancient Iranian). Dr. B.G. Siddhart from Hyderabad attributes Avesta and Ramayana an inconceivable date of 7000 B.C. That is not all! In his opinion the Rig-Veda had originated in Asia Minor (Anatolia), 1000 years earlier than these two books. A research team from Heidelberg University in Germany has found the remains of a highly developed urban culture dating from the 7th millenium B.C. at Nevali Cori (Nevali Çeri) in Anatolia. The sculptures there include the life size depiction of a man displaying all the characteristics of a priest from the time of the Rig-Veda.

Civilizations came and gone in this region since the Stone Age right up to the golden age of Greco-Roman culture. Peace and prosperity must have reigned supreme in those years along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates because nothing is discovered which points to a large scale warlike activity in this region, which has been a fertile crescent and a centre for many civilizations - it is a semi-circle bordering on the south the Arabian desert with Yerushalim, Tyre, Sidon, Damascus (Dimişk-eş Şam) in the west, Haran and Nineveh in the north, and Ashur (Aşur), Babylon, Ur in the east. But one day, 'suddenly', a horde of nomadic tribes of semitic stock from the heart of the Arabian desert launched violent assaults on the north and northwest, on Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. These nomads, called Amorites, attacked the kingdoms of the fertile crescent. They have adopted the Sumerian culture and cuneiform writing but not the Sumerian language. Their language was known as Akkadian, one of the languages of the Semitic family. In the end, Empires of Sumer and Akkad collapsed in 1960 B.C. Amorites founded a number of states and dynasties. One of them was eventually to become supreme: The first dynasty of Babylon, a great centre of power between 1830-1530 B.C. Its sixth King was the famous Hammurabi the law-giver. Then came the Assyrian Empire. That is why Mesopotamian myths came to us in Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian.

This is a very very short summary about Sumerians, their extremely important geographical position, their land at the crossroads of the cultures and how it all ended with the Amorite attacks. We all know that Sumerians have invented many things which were all 'firsts' in the history of mankind. But only one of those inventions, a belief system is in our field of interest. Mankind has left behind all of those inventions and made tremendous improvements on them. That is only natural when one thinks of the thousands of years which separate us from them. But in spite of  all the developments in the intellectual, technological, and psychological fronts that Sumerian invention - the belief system - still perplexes the educated and uneducated minds alike and leads them inevitably to the concepts of  'subservient mankind,' and the 'supreme creator' with all the accompanying 'accessories.'

So, we come to the crucial question:

• What did the Sumerians invent then, which has captured man's conscience and made him a 'servant' in his (man's) 'kingdom'?

In order to give an answer to this question we have to look into the Sumerian pantheon of gods and cosmogony.

 

  SUMERIAN COSMOGONY

•  How did the universe came into being?

• How is it organized?

• How does it function?

Sumerians have thought about and debated these questions. There are valid reasons to think that there had been scholars and teachers who proposed a fairly clever and convincing cosmology and a theology to find a solution to this riddle in 3000 B.C. These ideas became popular later in much of the Middle East. None of these scholars had the capacity to think logically and coherently on these matters. Sumerian thinkers believed that their perception of things were beyond dispute and what was known about the creation and functioning of the universe was definite. There was no contradiction and discussion. Sumerian thinkers have started with the things which they could observe in their environment. That was why the observable universe for them was a hemisphere the dome of which was the sky and the base was the earth. The name they had given to this formation was applicable to the whole of the universe: An-Ki (Sky-Earth). The earth appeared to them as a disk surrounded by water (sea). They called this sea Apsu-Abzu (This sea from the shores of the  Mediterranean to the end of the Persian Gulf was the boundary of their world). And this disk (Ki) was floating freely on this sea which was also the diametrical plane of an endless sphere. The dome of the sphere above the earth was the sky. The unseen canopy underneath the sea was considered to be an 'opposite-sky' which covered the nether-world (hell) Sumerians called their hell, 'Kur'. They believed in the existence of a third component called 'Lil', the meaning of which is air, breath, spirit. But we can accept 'wind' as a reasonably close meaning. According to the Sumerians the Sun, planets, stars and even 'brilliance' were made of the same substance. And beyond the boundaries of the observable universe existed in every direction a mysterious and endless cosmic ocean. The stationary 'sphere of universe' was in the centre of all this.

Then scholars have felt the need to explain the source of the cosmic components and to establish a lineage among them: There was a beginning. The first thing that existed in the beginning was the endless primeval 'mother-ocean'. Sumerian thinkers have invented from this 'mother-ocean' a first-cause,  a 'first-mover.' This 'sea' (Apsu-Apzu) gave birth to the Universe. An-Ki (Sky-Earth) was born. An-Ki has created the Sky and the Earth. Sky and Earth have brought into being other gods. No Sumerian thinker was able to explain fully this mixture of cosmology and theogony in the beginning. To find the reality one has to consult what the mythographers had written. On the tablet which gives the list of the Sumerian gods, goddess Nammu, whose name is written with the pictogram denoting 'sea' is described as the 'mother who gave life to Sky and Earth.' The god who separated Sky and Earth is Enlil.

Here is the Sumerian cosmogony: There was the primeval ocean (Mother-Sea) in the beginning (There is no information on its origin and how it came into being). This Mother-Sea produced the Cosmic-Mountain which was formed by the un-separated Sky and Earth, An-Ki. Sky (An) was male and Earth (Ki) was female, the union of which produced Enlil. Enlil separated sky and Earth. An took the sky. Enlil took his mother Ki (Earth) to himself. The union of Ki and Enlil established the basis for the ordered universe. This union was the starting point and the source of man, animals, plants and the institution of civilization. Which means that Universe was created by these supreme entities. The first gods were mixed with cosmic elements: Sky, Earth, Air, Water. These cosmic gods brought into being other 'lesser' gods. The 'lesser' gods eventually have  produced everything that filled even the tiniest corners of the Universe. Only the first gods (sky, earth, air, water) were 'creators'. Since they were the organizers of the Universe they hold it in their hands. The existence, development and survival of vast kingdoms have depended on them. This was the fundamental 'truth of itself' for the Sumerians. These gods did not reveal themselves to the mortals. Each god was in charge of a different corner of the universe. Sumerians have started with the human society they knew and progressed to the super human level of supreme overseers. In other words they have invented these 'kingdoms in the sky' (There may be real kingdoms in the sky of the extraterrestrials but it is not our subject) with assorted supreme beings in charge of this or that. For the Sumerians Universe was necessarily supervised, cared for, administered and controlled by the living superior beings resembling humans. They made plans and carried them out like man did. Even the most powerful ones were acting like humans. They were eating, building families, employing a large number of servants. They were subject to  humanly passions and weaknesses. All the gods were invisible but they had their statues in the temples. Priests were showing great respect to these statues and the gods they represented. They never thought of the contradiction between the resemblance of gods and humans and the immortality of the gods. The gods were immortal but they needed food. They were thought of as very powerful because they governed the universe. They were thought as immortals because their death may mean the loss of the order of the universe and consequently life may come to an end.

So, this must be how the Sumerians have decided on the existence, nature and functions of these super human and immortal beings they called dingir (supreme creator, god). In none of the Sumero-Babylonian creation stories were the gods actually creators in a transcendental sense, because they were an integral part of the universe and a product of its creative process.

There was a hierarchy among these supreme beings. (Of course there should be! A god in charge of a pickaxe and a brick could not be on par with the god who is in charge of the sun.) On the top was the king-god. He was the head of the council of gods. In the forefront of this council there were four 'creator' gods together with the seven most eminent gods who were the 'determiners of destinies.' Then there were fifty 'great gods'. Creator gods were called An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursag. There are reasons to believe that in the beginning Sumerians considered An as the top-god in their pantheon. But in later sources going back to 2500 B.C. we see Enlil as playing the role of the chief deity. How and why and when Enlil had taken An's place is not clear. The oldest comprehensible documents describes him as the 'father of gods', 'king of sky and earth', 'king of all countries'. Later myths and hymns tell us that Enlil was a benevolent god who was responsible for the design and creation of the universe and also furnishing it with all the best things. He was the source of almost everything. In the Sumerian tablets which were read and published since 1930s hymns and myths present Enlil as friendly and fatherly god who safeguarded the security and well-being of mankind generally and Sumerians especially. Ninhursag who is also known as Ninmah (Magnificent Lady) was the fourth of the four 'creator gods.' She was higher up the scale previously, coming before Enki in the list of gods. She was the one who gave life to all the gods. She was called Nintu (Fertile Lady). She was the mother of all living beings. Enki, the God of Apsu-Abzu (God of unfathomable deep) and the god of wisdom was looking after earthly affairs working harmoniously with Enlil. Enlil was designing the general plan and Enki was carrying it out. [In all the 'religions of the book' there has always been a chief deity with lesser deities or angels, and archangels around him starting with Zoroastrianism]. Nowhere in Sumer was there the anxiety to search for the origins of the concrete events and progress towards civilization. All of these were tied to Enki's creative effect. The judgement was 'Enki did it' or 'Enki did it and organized it so'.

According to the Sumerian wise men, gods preferred morality to immorality. Goodness, equity, candidness and honesty of gods were exalted in all the hymns. The Son God Utu had a basic function of overseeing the moral order. But at the same time Sumerians believed that gods have embedded in mankind equal amounts of evil, lie, cruelty and tyranny. Gods have invented 'Me's. A 'me' is a principle invented and signed by the gods with the aim of ensuring the trouble-free functioning of the universe. 'Me's are seen as very effective in the formation of mankind, and civilization. Gods had many important things to do, and no one would have expected  them to involve themselves with the affairs of mortals down on earth. Like a subject needing an intermediary to request something from a king, mankind needed a mediator to make himself heard by gods. This mediator should be in favour with the gods. This belief undoubtedly led to consulting personal supreme overseers. These personal supreme overseers have become the protective angels connected to the leader of the family. One pleaded with and saved from disasters by the 'personal' supreme overseer.

In short, Sumerian belief system was polytheistic. Their supreme entities were like humans. But they were immortal and had  super human powers. They had families. They lined up under a king-like chief deity. These supreme entities would fall in love experience sadness, become jealous, fight with each other, etc. like human beings. They were malicious. They fell ill, and received wounds as well. The supreme entities of Sky, earth, water and air are creators and the others are administrators and protectors. There were about 1500 supreme entities each in charge of something. The Sumerian supreme overseers were anthropomorphic 'gods' symbolizing the natural phenomena and the forces of nature. Sacrificial offerings were made to these deities in the temples called Ziggurats. Deities were believed to be organizing and controlling everything. Sun-god Utu (Babylonian Shamash) was an all-seeing supreme entity ensuring justice and equity, and helping mankind. Enki the God of Wisdom and Water is the protector of mankind and magicians. Goddess Inanna, the symbol of planet Venus, is the protector of lovers and hunters. All the supreme beings in Sumer did as they pleased. They never told humans what their wishes were. Humans had to ask these supreme entities if they wanted to know their wishes. Moreover the signs in the livers of the sacrificed animals made known the wishes of the supreme entities. Another way these supreme overseers have made their wishes known was dreams. In order to know what a supreme overseer thought about a certain action, one had to go to the temple, make an offering, pray and go to sleep (Many cultures of the Middle East, especially devout Muslims jeep this Babylonian practice of praying and going to sleep, hoping to dream, which will be a pointer as to whether a certain action or an event would be beneficial or harmful). Sumerians have believed that everything could be known beforehand by consulting 'oracular' material. This belief continued until the 1st. millennium B.C.

The polytheistic belief system of Sumer gradually became monotheistic with all the supreme entities - accept the chief deity - turning into angels, demons, satans, and jinns in the later belief systems (one can see these 'entities in the 'belief systems of the book').

There are three basic myths. They are so widespread that we have no choice but to call them 'basic.' All of these myths appear in the Semitic mythology but their origin is Sumerian. They are  the myth of Dumuzi and Inanna. The myth of Creation. The myth of the Flood.

 

PRIMAL RELIGIONS

 

PRIMAL RELIGIONS 

by Mudarras Kadhir Gaznavi

 

ARE YOU SURE WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT?

What is the western perception of primal religions? What do you know about these primitive societies and their beliefs? Let Spenta Mainyu give you the answers by citing those examples (The Elements of World Religions, Liz Flower)   which will take us on our road to the sole God: The popular belief is that primal religions are animistic, ancestor-worshipping, sacrificial, fetishistic, ritualistic, shamanistic, superstitious, and polytheistic. But the truth is rather different.

Most of these tribal and primal societies have a very strong social structure. And much of their religion is based on that structure. Dignity in life and death is paramount. Morality is conformation to traditions. Everything has a particular reason, everything has its place. They have a surprising tolerance. Most communities recognize that their belief is theirs, and do not necessarily involve the community next door. There are differences of course. We come across a plurality of beliefs, myths, cosmologies and rituals.

The bottom line is: There is a strong social structure.. Religion is based on that structure.. Dignity is paramount.. Everything has its reason.. Everything has its place.. There is tolerance to other beliefs.. Everything sounds more natural and simpler than today.

Which is better? Today's speculation and ambiguity or their simplicity?

Although there are great differences, the primal religions worldwide have originated from a half dozen basic beliefs. Majority of the primal religions are monotheistic. Surprised? All of them have a fundamental belief in the power of spirits. There is ancestor worship/reverence in the majority of primal religions. A kind of prayer, gifts, and sacrifice exist in most of them. There are also a medicine man and a shaman or a witch doctor. Lastly, majority of these primal religions have celebrations of a new season or a new year.

 

HIERARCHY : WITH THE REMOTE SUPREME BEING ON TOP

Indigenous religions have a hierarchy. At the lowest level there are rocks, earth and grass. Then come the animals among which mankind is in a superior position. Next come the more powerful spiritual people and the ancestors. Divinities come next. On the last level is the remote supreme being.  Most of these primal religions have a belief in a creator god. Having created, this god is too great, very powerful and too distant to be worshipped directly; whenever there is something extraordinary he is called upon; he is believed to be all-seeing (Maybe a distant clue to one of the characteristics of the supreme being of our times?). This god is unbound by time, unbound by place and has no end. He is regarded as compassionate, but having an unpredictable nature. Man needs intermediaries, because he cannot get close to this superior being (This sounds familiar! Compassion and unpredictability brings to mind certain aspects of the Elohim and afterwards the YHVH of the Old Testament). Earthlings may communicate with lesser superior beings (So they needed a kind of a 'go between', as angels and archangels were needed in our times. So little has changed!). Most religious activity takes place around the lesser gods, around the spirits in everything, and especially around ancestors who are intercessors between the mankind on the one hand and his environment and god on the other. But ancestors are especially revered. Some of those ancestors are worshipped as gods. But their main role is mediation and facilitation. They watch over their community and warn them against the breaking of taboos.

Ancestors have a special place, but death is not welcomed. Death, except in very old age, is considered as unnatural.  Here is a paradox; death is feared but death at the same time is the gateway to becoming an ancestor. Except that in Ashanti (a people living in Ghana) there is no doctrine of reincarnation and the spirits of ancestors do live in this world. They are ever-present and inhabit the living sometimes. There is an underlying relationship between the human being, society, animals, plants and the supreme beings, and care is taken to preserve this net of relationships. Many rites are directed towards the maintenance or to the reparation of relationship.

Most tribal groups have ceremonies for all the rites of passage: Birth, naming, initiation, marriage and death. Initiation takes different forms; often it means induction into adulthood.. Sometimes initiation comes up as acceptance into secret societies.

 

SACRIFICIAL OFFERING

Almost all the African cultures use sacrificial offering of some sort. In those nomadic tribes often a cow - which is the most valuable asset - is offered to the only god. More advanced and richer groups replace sacrifice by gifts. But these gifts are not made always to the gods, sometimes recipients are the ancestors in acknowledgement of their powers. A great deal of ritual is given over to ancestral or funeral rites. Breaking of taboos, or even worse, acting against the community necessitates sacrifice and collective atonement.

Australians believe that the spirit in self, rock, stone, water, tree, animal is one and the same and is mutually interdependent. Some animals and plants have a special relationship with a tribe. They are identified with that tribe. So they act as guardians.

Each and every tribal group has a particular mythical ancestor. This ancestor is taken as the group's totem. Caring for the totem animal is the responsibility of those who have supposedly descended from that animal. And they have a further responsibility to ensure plentiful supplies of totem animal's meat for the community. This act reinforces the links between all lives.

 

CREATION ?

What do they think about Creation? The world is considered to have been created. There is supposedly a sky god but he has no part in the lives of men. The totemic ancestors walked the earth in a period known as the dream time.

 

DEATH : JUST A TRANSITION FROM ONE STATE TO ANOTHER

How about death? It is Just a transition from one state to another - from one kind of life to another. Spirit stays around as part of the community.

Elders and medicine men are those who know. Know what? Of course the secret and  hidden  knowledge. They are all male (Well, the supreme being   did create(!) man first. Didn't he? Then he decided to create a woman to alleviate the loneliness of that man).

 

CIRCUMCISION & BLOOD SPILLING

There are initiation rites involving circumcision. Islam borrowed circumcision from Hebrews.  Hebrews are believed to have borrowed it from Egypt and adopted it as the sign of belonging to the Mosaic code. The truth is, circumcision is borrowed from the Mandaeans. Mandaean faith is Sabianism, which predates Judaism (Check the pages on the Sabian Faith and Islam). Another rite is the spilling of  blood (Of course, this means sacrificial offering of animals. So, today's sacrificial rites, wherever they are, including Islam's, are originally pagan practices.

 

LIFE FORCE : A GIFT FROM THE GODS & THE ESSENCE OF EVERYTHING

Maoris share some features of the Polynesian belief systems. Such as myths of Mother Earth and Father Sky creator gods. These two were separated by their sons. These sons in turn have become immortals, created the earth and the human race. The 'life force' is the essence of everything and is a gift from the gods.

 

MAORI UNIVERSE AND THEIR GOD

Maori universe has three levels. The sky +The world of light + The world of the dead. (Typically familiar! Is it not?) Their supreme god is Io. He is the source of  power. But unfortunately known to only a few initiates (Again a familiar theme of our era. Today's supreme being is still in that position, cannot be seen, cannot be heard, only experienced by his deeds which means that general public can only know him by the results of his actions. And only a limited number of 'initiates' are able to know(!), see(!) and hear(!) him.

Land is sacred. Universe is sacred. Man has to have land. Without it he is nothing. Care must be taken in order to hold it in trust for the generations to come. There are no temples but certain places are dedicated to certain gods. Sacrifice is not usual, except occasionally offering of food in order to placate a god.  

 

EAT THE HEART OF YOUR ENEMY

The first enemy killed is dedicated to the god of war. Eating the heart of the enemy killed is a must. This is believed to confer the enemy's strength. (This theme is found frequently in some of the primal religions).

 

DEATH, TAPUS, ABLUTION

Most important rites are related to birth and death. There is no initiation because birth confers membership of community. Death rituals are long and elaborate. They aim to placate the spirit of the departed and to speed him on his way, and to return the family to normal life after being involved with the tapu (taboo) of death. Tapus are necessary for the preserving of morality, breaking of which have dangerous effects and can only be neutralized by purification in running water (In other words, ablution. It comes from the taboo and totem days.)

For some Melanesian cultures it is impossible to separate the sacred from the secular. Rites are everywhere in everyday life: before hunting, planting, marriage. In other words religion exists within the totality of life. Religion is recognized as an enduring relationship and communion between man and nature, man and spirit, man and environment.

 

'IN THE BEGINNING'

A concept of  'in the beginning' exists in some cultures, from which everything have fallen. Many beliefs and ceremonies are an eternal attempt to return  to that beginning when everything was perfect.

Relationship between the living and their ancestor-spirits is the most important element. Ancestor-spirits have access to supernatural powers and have the ability to maintain the life and prosperity of the living or to cause them trouble. These spirits are closer to  the earth and living than to gods.

 

WHO CREATED THE WORLD ?

There is little curiosity about the origins of the world. But it is assumed that some gods have created the world and provided man with the means to live. But the world they live in is important and naturally there is more communication between man and his ancestors than with the gods. Most rites are directed at keeping these links intact.

Rituals vary from those that deal with everyday life, hunting, fishing, etc. to those of birth, initiation and funerals.

 

SORCERERS

Sorcerers are everywhere. They do symphatetic magic, healing, divination, protection from evil. Sorcerer holds a very important place and plays an important part in the community. There are elaborate initiation rites for the young men. Ancestors are called on for their help through these initiation rites.

 

40.000 YEARS OLD

It is said that the origins of some of the primal religions of North America are at least 40.000 years old. There are several creation myths, many tribes and peoples believed in one great creator spirit along with the Earth mother. Nature's powers and the ideal of the sacred have a mutual dependency (a metaphysics of nature). 'Holy Mother Earth, trees, and all nature, are witnesses of your thoughts and deeds' (A Winnebago wise saying). Sacred areas and sacred symbols such as stones or trees are not for worship they are for understanding the thread that runs between the occult and the manifest, the link between the sacred and the secular.

North American Indian had a comprehension of nature and the earth and of his place within it. He had a responsibility to care for it and knew that all life is sacred, not just at times of worship. North American Indian was concerned with living here and now, with the continuity of existence and the cycles of seasons.

Relationship with man and animal was very particular because tribes were nomadic and depended on hunting. Success at hunting was often dependent upon a good relationship with the spirit that owned each animal, and rites were conducted to ensure that the spirit was favourable. These spirits were hierarchical, reflecting the hierarchy of the tribe and were bound under one great ruling spirit ('One great ruling spirit'! Could this be the earliest concept of monotheism?) Interrelation between the worlds of mass and spirit, of animal and vegetable, is sacred and must be preserved at all times. 'The great spirit' was at the centre of a circle and the concept of the circle was vital in every area of life. It was seen not only in the sun, moon and stars, but in the never-ending round of the seasons, in worship, in art, in living. It was also referred to as the 'sacred hoop of the nation.'

Man was commanded to work towards perfection. Perfection was generally sought in this life, through the understanding of natural and sacred patterns. The idea was to become indivisible, both personally and communally, with the world around them (They had it then: The universal consciousness. We are still trying to realize it). Man is also at the centre of the circle, which is divided into four equal parts, the symbol of wholeness, each part mutually interdependent. Four is the sacred number among many tribes. It stands for the four quarters of the earth. The four seasons. The elements (earth, water, wind, fire). Divisions of time (day, night, moon, year). The four stages of life (babyhood, childhood, adulthood, old age). It expresses a total harmony and unity. The concept of partnership between man, life, nature and spirit. Today the Navajo Indian understands that man is a whole: that everything is interrelated within and without. He is macrocosm and microcosm. Contains the seeds of all things within him and represents all things.