In 'THE KATHA SARIT SAGARA (THE OCEAN OF STORY)', edited by
Bhatta Somadeva., New Delhi, India., 1968., this Ten Volume
collection of ancient East Indian lore gives a description of the
7-leveled underworld of 'Patalas', which is the traditional abode
of the Nagas, or the Serpent Race. Vol. 6, pp. 108-112, gives a
legend concerning the journey of a King by the name of Bhunandana
to this underworld domain. Although the story may be largely
mythological, it is nevertheless a bizarre reflection of the
ideas which it's writer or writers, early Hindu's, had concerning
this underworld.
Take note that parts of the legend seems to
parallel certain ideas concerning the reptilian underground which
have appeared in other accounts. Whether this legend has any
direct connection with actual reported scenarios concerning
"vats" filled with human and animal vital fluids and biological
matter, such as that reportedly taking place deep below Dulce, New
Mexico, remains to be seen.
We will let the reader make their own determination. The legend,
as it appeared in 'THE OCEAN OF STORY', states that:
"There are
on this earth many openings leading into the lower regions; but
there is one great and famous one in Kasmira made by Maya... even
now the place is called by the two names Peak of Pradyumna and
Hill of Sarika... the king (Bhunandana) entered with... his
pupils, and marched along the road to Patalas for five days and
five nights. And on the sixth day they all crossed the Ganges of
the lower regions."
The king told his followers, "This is the
dwelling of the god Siva (note: Siva or Shiva
is an apparently supernatural being that has been identified with
the Serpent Race of the 'Nagas', as related in Andrew Tomas' book
'ON THE SHORES OF ENDLESS WORLDS' and elsewhere - Branton), who
inhabits the lower regions in the form of Hatakesvara, and whose
praises are sung in the three worlds..."
Could these 'three'
worlds be the subterran, terran and exterran 'worlds'? In the
legend, the underworld of Patalas gave off the impression of being
some kind of underworld paradise, yet the hero's of the story
soon learn that such 'beauty' is only superficial, and that
inwardly things were just the opposite. One of the kings
servants, becoming hungry, eats a fruit from one of the
subterranean trees and:
"...as soon as he had eaten it, he became
rigid and motionless."
At one point in the journey the king
encounters a being that appeared to him in the form of a woman,
and this being takes him to an underground garden and, according
to the legend,
"...then she sat down with him on the brink of a
tank filled with wine, and with the blood and fat of corpses,
that hung from trees on its banks, and she offered the king a
goblet, full of the fat and wine, to drink, but he would not
accept the loathsome compound. And she kept saying earnestly to
the king: 'You will not prosper if you reject my beverage.' But
he answered: 'I certainly will not drink that undrinkable
compound, whatever may happen.'"
In apparent response to his
refusal, instead of declaring that he had passed some test,
'she' then pours out the grotesque compound over his head and
departs, and shortly afterwards he was expelled from Patalas,
the legendary home of the Nagas or the Serpent Race (this
particular legend did not refer to the Naga's as the inhabitants
of Patalas, as most Hindu legends do, unless of course the 'woman'
was actually a Naga in disguise or a "host" for the same. Or
could 'she' have been a sorceress who lived in that dark underworld
realm and collaborated with its accursed inhabitants? This
is assuming of course that there is some seed of truth behind
this tale).
Whether fantasy or reality, the 'king' should be
commended for resisting the bloody 'drink', and may have been
fortunate that he himself did not end up as "food for the [false]
gods" of the underworld. This is, again, assuming that there
is some flame of truth behind the 'smoke' of such tales.
