The Dragon Stone

[ Serpent Mound of Ohio Index ]

Serpent faiths section of 'The Serpent Mound of Ohio' written by Frederic Ward Putnam (1890).

[ << Return to Previous Page | Continue to Next Page >> ]

That such a work, so carefully designed, and constructed under such difficulties along this narrow ridge terminating in the high rough cliff, was planned and built under some powerful influence, we can but believe. And what other than a religious motive can be conceived? Have we not here the evidence of the former existence of that ancient faith, which, rising probably in the East, ages before historic time, held millions of people under its terrible sway; and, spreading over Asia, Africa, and Europe, has not yet been wholly supplanted, in India and Africa, by later faiths?⁶

That the serpent was prominent in the religious faiths of the Americans is beyond question, and that, to a certain extent, in combination with phallic and solar worship, it extended from Central America to Peru and Mexico, cannot be doubted, whatever its origin. Its existence in Yucatan is shown, as in Cambodia, by sculptures on the ruined buildings which can only be properly designated as temples. We know from history and art that this form of worship existed in Mexico down to the time of the Spanish invasion and conquest, and that it still survives in the rites of the Zunis and Moquis, and probably other of the Pueblo tribes.

To this southwestern region, with its many Asiatic features of art and faith, we are constantly forced by our investigations as we look for the source of the builders of the older works of the Ohio Valley. With these considerations in mind, and with the knowledge that structures similar to this in Ohio existed in the Old World,⁷ where the serpent and other early faiths had their greatest development, will it be forcing the facts to argue - unless all religious symbolism is merely coincident, vague, and meaningless, which seems an absurd position to hold - that in the oval embankment, with its central pile of burnt Stones, in combination with the serpent, we have the three symbols everywhere regarded in the Old World as emblems of those primitive faiths? Here we find the linga-in-yoni of India, or the reciprocal principles of nature guarded by the serpent; or life, power, knowledge, and eternity. Moreover, its position, east and west, indicates the nourishing source of fertility - the great sun-god whose first rays fall upon the altar of stones in the center of the oval. So that here we have associated the several symbols which in Asia would be accepted without question as showing the place to be a phallo-solar shrine combined with the serpent faith. Its very position⁸ on the high cliff terminating in the rough overhanging rocks, washed by the spring torrents, and near the three forks of the river,⁹ is to be considered when comparisons are made. This combination of natural features probably could not be found again in any part of the great route along which the people must have journeyed from the Mexican Gulf. Is this all to be taken as mere coincidence in the development of a faith in America and in the 0ld World? There seems to be too much here to admit of such a theory; and when other facts, in other lines, point in the same direction, it is playing false with our reason to be too skeptical. Agreements, nay, identities, would then mean nothing in science, and comparative studies would be useless. Fergusson, in his Tree and Serpent Worship, mentions the existence of serpent worship on some of the Pacific islands, and refers to its possible transmission across the Pacific to America, and says if it is proved "that this worship is indigenous in the New World, we are thrown back on the doctrine that human nature is alike everywhere, and that man in like circumstances and with a like degree of civilization does always the same things, and elaborates the same beliefs. It may be so, but I confess it appears to me that at present the evidence preponderates the other way" (p. 39). When this careful author thus expressed his views, he was not acquainted with the details now pointed out in the combinations of the Ohio serpent shrine.

Footnotes

6 Forlong, in his carefully elaborated volumes and wonderful compendium of facts relating to the faiths of man,* shows the existence of serpent worship in India and Africa to this day; and the survival, in part, of its symbols, together with those of other primitive religious faiths. Fergusson, in his critical and widely known volume,† also states that serpent worship still holds an important place in the religion of India. He also speaks of its great development in Cambodia, at the time when the country was conquered by the Siamese in the last half of the fourteenth century, and Buddhism superseded serpent worship. Fergusson thinks this latter faith was there introduced in the fourth century, and resulted "in some of the most wonderful temples which the world ever saw, and in the most remarkable development of pure serpent worship anywhere to be found." The greatest of these temples, discovered in the jungle only thirty years ago, is that of Nakhon Vat, which is "600 feet square at the base, and rises to a height of 180 feet in the center, of which every part is covered with carvings in stone, generally beautiful in design, and always admirably adapted to their situation, and to tell the story they were meant to convey. . . . Every angle of every roof is adorned with a grim seven-headed serpent with a magnificent crest of what is apparently intended for feathers, and every cornice of every entablature is adorned with a continuous row of these seven-headed deities, but without crests. The former may be counted by hundreds, the latter by thousands. But it is not only there; every balustrade, every ridge, almost every feature of the building, bears the same impress."

* "Rivers of Life; or, Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in all Lands; showing the Evolutions of Faiths, from the Rudest Symbolisms to the Later Spiritual Developments." By Major General J. S. R. Forlong. London, 1883. 2 vols. 4to, and chart.

† "Tree and Serpent Worship; or, Illustrations of Mythology and Art in India in the First and Fourth Centuries after Christ," etc. 2d edition. London, 1873. 1 vol. 4to, with many photographic illustrations.

7 Forlong quotes, Vol. I., p. 287: "Mauretania had mighty dragon temples, avenues, and 'fields' of this faith 'over whose backs' grass was most abundant. Taxiles showed Alexander 'a serpent of five acres' in the Punjab. Strabo describes two somewhat similar ones, and Posidonius saw one in the plains of Macra, in Syria, such 'that two persons on horseback, when they rode on opposite sides, could not see one another; each scale was as big as a shield.' "

8 Forlong, on p. 255, refers to this: "As usual, we must carefully study the topography of the shrine; for it is always this, and not signs or miracles, from or by the gods, which first attracts wise priests. Fitting scenic effect is necessary towards the success of every drama we intend to place before the public, more especially if we wish to inspire an enduring reverence, awe, and worship, with tragic interludes."

9 In regard to this, Forlong, referring to the Ohio serpent, p. 290, writes: "A spot overlooking three streams being even more sacred than that which looks on to a hill with three cones, as does the serpent of Loch Nell. Three rivers form a Tri-Moorti of 'awful and sublime import.' "

[ Top of Page ]

[ << Return to Previous Page | Continue to Next Page >> ]