ArchTale 65. Escape from The Underworld

And The-Saviour came back from the dead.

He came out again from the belly of the serpent of death.

That serpent power that holds men in death was rid from him.

Now, in The-Saviour, a human existed who was not one with the serpent power though still one with the physical body of The-Woman.

The Serpent Power could not hold the Saviour

That serpent power that holds men in death was rid from him. He came out again from the belly of the serpent of death with the power and authority of The-Son of The-Man.

Here we shall see the hero enter into the belly of the serpent and victoriously make his way out.

Hindu

The great demon Vrtra-sura shook even the mountains and began crushing the surface of the earth with his legs, as if he were the Himalayas walking about. He came before Indra and swallowed him and Airavata, his carrier, just as a big python might swallow an elephant.” “With his thunderbolt, King Indra, who was also extremely powerful, pierced through Vrtrasura’s abdomen and came out. Indra, the killer of the demon Bala, then immediately cut off Vrtra-sura’s head, which was as high as the peak of a mountain.”831

The mother of Indra spoke.”With his great thunderbolt my Son hath slaughtered Vṛtra, and set these rivers free to wander. I cast thee from me, mine,—thy youthful mother: thee, mine own offspring, Kusava hath swallowed. Said Indra’s Mother.832

Seeing their greif and their helplessness Krishna rose up from the bonds of the serpent becoming so huge that Kaliya had to let him go. Then he suddenly sprang into Kaliya’s head and assumed the weight of the whole universe, and danced on all of the serpent’s heads, beating them with his feet. Then Kaliya began to die. He dashed his hoods about, putting forth his tongues with streams of blood pouring from his mouths. The thought rose in his heart, “This must be The-Man for none other could resist my venom.” He then gave up all hope and remained still.833

When Hanuman was swallowed by the female demon Surasa, he grew enormously to force her jaws apart and then shrank to the size of a finger and flew out of her ear.834

Tvasta, performed a sacrifice to kill King Indra. Unfortunately, if mantras are chanted irregularly, they yield an opposite result. This happened when Tvasta performed this yajna. While performing the sacrifice to kill Indra. Tvasta chanted a mantra to increase Indra’s enemies, but because he chanted the mantra wrong, the sacrifice produced an asura named Vrtrasura, of whom Indra was the enemy. When Vrtrasura was generated from the sacrifice, his fierce features made the whole world afraid, and his personal effulgence diminished even the power of the demigods. Finding no other means of protection, the demigods began to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the enjoyer of all the results of sacrifice, who is supreme throughout the entire universe. The demigods all worshiped Him because ultimately no one but Him can protect a living entity from fear and danger. Seeking shelter of a demigod instead of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead is compared to trying to cross the ocean by grasping the tail of a dog. A dog can swim, but that does not mean that one can cross the ocean by grasping a dog’s tail. Being pleased with the demigods, the Supreme Personality of Godhead advised them to approach Dadhici to beg him for the bones of his own body. Dadhici would comply with the request of the demigods, and with the help of his bones Vrtrasura could be killed.” “Vrtrasura was very powerful in physical strength and influence. He placed his lower jaw on the ground and his upper jaw in the sky. His mouth became very deep, like the sky itself, and his tongue resembled a large serpent. With his fearful, deathlike teeth, he seemed to be trying to devour the entire universe. Thus assuming a gigantic body, the great demon Vrtrasura shook even the mountains and began crushing the surface of the earth with his legs, as if he were the Himalayas walking about. He came before Indra and swallowed him and Airavata, his carrier, just as a big python might swallow an elephant.” “With his thunderbolt, King Indra, who was also extremely powerful, pierced through Vrtrasura’s abdomen and came out. Indra, the killer of the demon Bala, then immediately cut off Vrtrasura’s head, which was as high as the peak of a mountain.”835

831 Srimad-Bhagavatam 6:9- 6:13:10

832 Rigveda 4:18

833 Coomaraswamy. A. K. pp. 226-227.

834 Coleman. J. A. p. 971

835 Srimad-Bhagavatam 6:9- 6:13:10

Judaism

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea becalm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD and he cried, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.836

Ancient Australian

Two brothers went fishing. Kurrijarra the big snake humped out of the water. The elder brother hit the snake in the back of the neck with his spear. Lightning zigzagged out of the sky. In one lunge and gulp the snake swallowed the brothers, boat, fish and all. Later the snake was belching and breathing hard “I think I must have swallowed my own countrymen” he said. He lay down and heaved and brought out the first brother and then the other brother was heaved out. “The boat and the fish are mine; only these two men I bring out.”837

Wichita

One day while the boys were at home Afterbirth-Boy asked Lodge-Boy to bring out the netted ring and roll it where they were forbidden to roll it. Lodge-Boy went into their lodge and brought out the ring and rolled it toward the west, then they ran after it, but the ring kept on going, and they went after it with the expectation of catching up with it. The boys were running as hard as they could, but had no idea that they could not stop. Finally Afterbirth-Boy tried to stop, but could not. Afterbirth-Boy then told Lodge-Boy to go on, and see where the ring was going, saying they would soon find out. They kept on until they saw a great lake, and the netted ring was going toward it. It kept going until it went into the water. The boys followed, and found themselves inside of a great water-monster. Afterbirth-Boy said to Lodge-Boy that this was the first time anything had ever mastered them without his knowing it. There is no telling how long they stayed in there. When their father reached home he found his boys gone, and thought they were in trouble, or were killed. He left the place, became a Star, and went up into the sky. The boys were still inside of the water-monster. After-birth-Boy took the string of his bow, passed it through his left hand four times and commenced to swing it around, and when he swung it hard up went the monster, and it fell somewhere. The monster fell on dry land, but they did not know where. They at once began to look for a place to get out. They got out through the hind part of the monster. They then saw that it was a great, big fish.838

836 Jonah 1:1 - 3:5

837 Hallet.J.P. p. 182.

838 GEORGE A. DORSEY. pp 88-102

Maori of New Zealand

Te Tuna said to Maui: “We shall have to fight a duel, and when one of us has been killed the other will take the woman for himself.”

“What sort of duel would you like it to be?” Maui asked. And Te Tuna said: “We shall first engage in a contest in which each goes completely into the body of the other, and when that is over, I am going to kill you, take my woman, and return with her to my own land.”

“Let it be as you wish,” Maui agreed. Then he asked: “And who is to be the first?”

“I’ll begin,” the Monster Eel replied.

And Te Tuna disappeared completely into Maui’s body, where he disposed himself to remain. However, after a long while, he came out again. Maui had not been disturbed in the least. “Well, now it is my turn,” Maui said. Te Tuna agreed and the Wonder-worker began to chant his own spell, thus:

The Orea-eel swings and sways, The Orea balances his head lower and lower— A small man stands erect upon the land— You will urinate from fright!

The man contracts—becoming smaller and smaller.

It is I, Maui, who now enter, O Te Tuna, into your body!

Maui disappeared completely into Te Tuna’s body, and at once all the sinews of the Monster Eel were rent apart, so that he died. Whereupon Maui stepped forth and, cutting off Te Tuna’s head, bore it away.841

Ancient Greece

Poseidon punished the breach of a promise made by Laomedon by sending a marine monster into the territory of Troy, which ravaged the whole country. By the command of an oracle, the Trojans were obliged, from time to time, to sacrifice a maiden to the monster; and on one occasion it was decided by lot that Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon himself, should be the victim. Heracles promised to save the maiden, if Laomedon would give him the horses which Troy had once received from Zeus as a compensation for Ganymedes. She [Hesione] it was that the babbler, the father of three daughters, standing up in the council of his townsmen, urged should be offered as dark banquet for the grey hound [the Ketos], which with briny water was turning all the land to mud, spewing waves from his jaws and with fierce surge flooding all the ground. But, in place of the woodpecker [Hesione], he swallowed in his throat a scorpion [Herakles] and bewailed to Phorkys the burden of his evil travail, seeking to find counsel in his pain.”842

841 Joseph Campbell. pp. 191-195. PM

842 Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C

The Serpent Power could not hold the Saviour

Diegueno Indians

A big snake lived out in the ocean over in the west. He was called Maihaiowit. He was the same as the world shaper Teaipakomat but had taken another form. This big snake had swallowed all learning. All the arts were inside his body—singing, dancing, basket making, and all the others. The place where the snake lived was called Wicuwul The people at this time at Wikami wished to have an Image Ceremony. They had made awokeruk, ceremonial house, but did not know what else to do. They could neither dance nor make speeches. One man knew more than the others. He told them they ought to do more than just build the house, so that the people who came after them would have something to do. So they made up their minds to send to Maihaiowit and ask him to give them the dances. Another sea monster, XamiLkotat, was going to swallow everyone who tried to go out to Maihaiowit. So the people said the man who went had better change himself into a bubble. So the man who had first spoken about the matter changed himself into a bubble. The monster swallowed him anyway. When he found himself down inside he first went north, but he could find no way out. Then he went south, east, and west but could find no way out. Then he reached his hand toward the north—he was a wonderful medicine-man— and got a blue flint, awi-haxwa. He broke this so as to get a sharp edge. Then he cut a hole through the monster and got out. Then he went on and on till he got to the place where Maihaiowit lived. The snake had a big circular house, with the door in the top. The-Man went in there. When the snake saw him he called out. “Who-are-you my-house hole comes-in?” The-Man answered “I it-is, Uncle”. ‘’ Tell me what you want, ‘’ said the snake.”I came over from Wikami,” said The-Man. “They are trying to make a wukeruk ceremony there, but they don’t know how to sing or dance.””All right,” said the snake, “I will come and teach them. You go ahead and I will come slowly.”So The-Man went back. The monster came after him reaching from mountain to mountain. The people at Wikami were expecting him, so they cleared a space. He came travelling fast as a snake travels. He went to the wukeruk. First he put his head in. Then he began slowly pulling his length in after him. He coiled and coiled, but there was no end to his length. After he had been coiling a long time the people became afraid at his size. So they threw fire on top of the house and burned him. “When they put the fire on him he burst. All the learning inside of him came flying out. It was scattered all around. Each tribe got some one thing. 830

Iroquois Indians

Hiawatha was pacified. He returned to his lodge, where he was confined by the wounds he had received. But from his grandmother s skill in medicines he was soon recovered. She told him that his grandfather, who had come to the earth in search of her, had been killed by MEGISSOGWON,* who lived on the opposite side of the great lake. “When he was alive,” she continued, “ I was never without oil to put on my head, but now my hair is fast falling off for the want of it.”“Well!” said he, “Noko, get cedar bark and make me a line, whilst I make a canoe.” When all was ready, he went out to the middle of the lake to fish. He put his line down, saying, “Me-she-nah-ma-gwai(the name of the kingfish), take hold of my bait.” He kept repeating this for some time. At last the king of the fishes said, “Hiawatha troubles me. Here, Trout, take hold of his line.” The trout did so. He then commenced drawing up his line, which was very heavy, so that his canoe stood nearly perpendicular; but he kept crying out,” Wha-ee-he ! wha-ee-he !” till he could see the trout. As soon as he saw him, he spoke to him. “Why did you take hold of my hook ? Esa ! esa!*you ugly fish.” The trout, being thus rebuked, let go. Hiawatha put his line again in the water, saying,|” King of fishes, take hold of my line.” But the king of the fishes told a monstrous sunfish to take hold ofit; for Hiawatha was tiring him with his incessant calls. He again drew up his line with difficulty, saying as before,” Wha-ee-he ! wha-ee-he I” while his canoe was turning in swift circles. When he saw the sun fish, he cried,” Esa ! esa ! You odious fish! Why did you dirty my hook by taking it in your mouth? Let go, I say, let go.” The sunfish did so, and told the king of fishes what Hiawatha said. Just at that moment the bait came near the king, and hearing Hiawatha continually crying out,” Me-she nah-magwai, take hold of my hook,” at last he did so, and allowed himself to be drawn up to the surface, which he had no sooner reached than, at one mouthful, he took Hiawatha and his canoe down. When he came to himself, he found that he was in the fish’s belly, and also his canoe. He now turned his thoughts to the way of making his escape. Looking in his canoe, he saw his war-club, with which he immediately struck the heart of the fish. He then felt a sudden motion, as if he were moving with great velocity. The fish observed to the others,” I am sick at stomach for having swallowed this dirty fellow Hiawatha.” Just at this moment he received another severe blow on the heart. Hiawatha thought,” If I am thrown up in the middle of the lake, I shall be drowned; so I must prevent it.” He drew his canoe and placed it across the fish s throat, and just as he had finished the fish commenced vomiting, but to no effect. In this he was aided by a squirrel, who had accompanied him unperceived until that moment. This animal had taken an active part in helping him to place his canoe across the fish s throat. For this act he named him, saying,” For the future, boys shall always call you Ajidaumo.”*He then renewed his attack upon the fish s heart, and succeeded, by repeated blows, in killing him, which he first knew by the loss of motion, and by the sound of the beating of the body against the shore. He waited a day longer to see what would happen. He heard birds scratching on the body, and all at once the rays of light broke in. He could see the heads of gulls, who were looking in by the opening they had made. “Oh!” cried Hiawatha, “my younger brothers, make the opening larger, so that I can get out.” They told each other that their brother Hiawatha was inside of the fish. They immediately set about enlarging the orifice, and in a short time liberated him. After he got out he said to the gulls,” For the future you shall be called Kayoshk for your kindness to me.”839

Hino the Thunderer, whom the Iroquois deemed to be the guardian of the Heavens, armed with a mighty bow and flaming arrows, hater and destroyer of all things noxious, was especially revered for having slain the great Serpent of the waters, which was devouring mankind. He has many assistants, the lesser Thunderers, and among them the boy Gunnodoyah, who was once a mortal. Hino caught this youth up into his domain, armed him with a celestial bow, and sent him to encounter the great Serpent; but the Serpent devoured Gunnodoyah, who communicated his plight to Hino in a dream, whereupon the Thunderer and his warriors slew the Serpent and bore Gunnodoyah, still living, back to the Skies. 840

Scotland

In an egg there was an evil creature incubated by a malevolent spirit. When hatched it came to be known as the Mester Stoor Worm. The Stoor Worm lived in the depths of the sea. With his forked tongue alone he could sweep entire cities into the sea or destroy a large castle. His breath was poisonous to any living thing, and he would destroy ships sucking every creature alive into his gaping mouth. Now, a long time ago, the Stoor Worm set his awful head near the shore of an ancient country. The folk of that country had to feed the beast every Saturday at sunrise with virgin girls. A wizard told the people that if the King’s daughter were fed to the Worm, he would leave and trouble them no more. The Princess was the king’s only daughter and he loved her dearly. He was mightily grieved and so the people, seeing his tears, gave him time to find a hero to slay the Stoor Worm. The King declared that the man who could slay the Stoor Worm would be given the kingdom and the famous sword Sikkersnapper that he had inherited from Odin himself. Many valiant warriors attended the call but upon seeing the great beast all but twelve fled. These twelve brave men were not successful. An unlikely hero in the form of a common farm boy named Assipattle arrived on the last day of the people’s grace. Upon hearing of the King’s plea, Assipattle had slipped away from the farm and set out to sea in his little boat carrying only a bucket of smoldering peat from his hearth. As he approached the slumbering monster he could see its head as big as a mountain with eyes like dark round lochs. The creature began to yawn. Assipattle steered closer as the creature yawned a second time. With each yawn a vast tide of water was swept down into the Worm’s throat until finally, when he was close enough one of these waves swept Assipattle’s tiny little boat into the Stoor Worm’s maw. Assipattle and his boat were carried through a cavernous mouth, then down a long throat, through twisting passages and deep dark tunnels. Mile after mile he was whirled, with sea water gurgling all around him until at last the current lessened and the water level dropped. The boat grounded and Assipattle knew he only had a short time before the Stoor Worm yawned again so climbed from his boat and ran as he had never run before. Turning one corner after another he finally came across the creature’s liver. Pulling out his knife, Assipattle cut a hole in the liver and stuffed the smoldering peat into the wound. He blew and blew on the peat and finally it took light. With a crackle and a splutter the Worm’s monstrous liver began to burn and was soon blazing. Assipattle ran back to his boat and managed to clambering aboard just in time for the burning liver had made the Stoor Worm retch. A flood of water from its stomach picked up the little boat and set it hurtling back towards the Worm’s mouth. With a spray of water, Assipattle was spewed from the Stoor Worm’s mouth and hurtled back over the sea before landing safely on the shore. Once back on shore, Assipattle watched as the fire grew bigger. Black smoked billowed from the monster’s nostrils and in his agony his forked tongue shot and fell with such a crash that it made a deep rift on the earth. The Stoor Worm twisted and writhed in torment, flinging his head up into the sky. Every time it fell back to earth the whole world shook and groaned. With each fall, teeth dropped from the vile, foaming mouth. Then the creature coiled itself together tightly into a huge mass and died. Once the sky had cleared and the sun shone again, the King took Assipattle into his arms and called him his son. A week later, Assipattle and the Princess were married in the Royal Palace and never was there such a wedding and never shall there be such a one again for the people rejoiced that the Stoor Worm was finally gone.843

Bushmen of Southern Africa

Kaang the supreme god was swallowed by an ogre but was vomited up unharmed.844

Christian

Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But Jesus answered and said unto them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of that gaping fish; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, one greater than Jonah is here.”846

‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’ “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.847

Ancient Greece

843 Coleman. J.A. p. 963

844 Coleman. J. A. p. 551.

830 WATERMAN BERKELFY T. T. p. 339-341.

839 SCHOOLCRAFT. H. R. pp. 21-23

840 ALEXANDER. H. B. p. 24.

846 Mat 12:38 -41

847 Acts 2