citlallin.

The supreme veneration and importance accorded in India to the North, from
time immemorial, are shown by passages of the book of Manu, which
prescribe the severe penances which were to be performed by the Brahmans
who attained advanced age. He "is to inflict all sorts of tortures upon
himself and when he falls ill in consequence, he is to set out to walk to
the northwest, towards the holy mountain Meru, until his mortal frame
breaks down and he unites himself with Brahma." It is likewise stated that
when a Brahman king grew old and ill he was obliged to abdicate in favor
of his son and voluntarily seek death in battle or by starvation, whilst
wandering towards the holy mountain Meru, in the northwest. I point out
the curious parallelism of this custom, which was carried out during
countless centuries and determined a periodical migration towards the
northwest of venerable sages, presumably accompanied by faithful
followers, and the search for the stable centre of the world which caused
the wanderings of American tribes under their chiefs.

According to various encyclopaedias and general works of reference, Brahma
is said to have made the world in two parts, _i. e._, heaven and earth;
placed air between both and made the eight regions, fire and the eternal
waters. The mythical mountain Meru, on the summit of which the supreme
power is said to be enthroned in eternal majesty, is the traditional
paradise and is supposed to lie somewhere in the northwest of the
Himalayas. It is situated in the centre of the seven zones in which the
earth is divided, thence its name Meru=the Middle. The association of the
central mountain with divinity and eternal stability is further shown by
the statement that the sun, moon and stars circled about it and that it
supported the heaven.

As the natural complement to the above, I can cite the following evidences
of an all-pervading quadruplicate division and organization, as set forth
in an ancient manuscript which was brought from India by Count Angelo de
Gubernatis and exhibited in Florence in 1898, by Mr. Pulle, in an
extremely instructive series of native maps of India: 1. In the oldest
maps, the empire of India was represented as a disk, divided into a number
of concentric zones, in the centre of which arose the sacred mountain. 2.
These representations were, in several cases, accompanied by
representations of the swastika obviously representing quadruplicate
territorial di