Exploring
the Mystery of Atlantis
-Gene D. Matlock, B.A., M.A.
Anyone who has spent part or all of his life living
with European traditions will sooner or later hear about
the sunken continent of Atlantis. The Greek philosopher
Plato first described this mysterious, highly civilized
and productive land in his discussions entitled Timeaus
and Critias. According to the story, this land lay far beyond
the Pillars of Hercules (the island of Gibraltar), on the
western end of the Atlantic Ocean. On a certain day, a tremendous
earthquake caused it to sink under the sea.
This story has so excited and inspired Westerners that over
the centuries, more than 25,000 books and countless articles
have been written about it. In every year that I remember,
we Westerners have been bombarded with different ideas about
what Atlantis was and its true location. Everyone seems
to treat the word Atlantis like a dirty word, insisting
on calling it by everything except its name – and placing
its true location in every part of the world except the
western end of the Atlantic, as Plato declared. For example,
some say that Atlantis was England; others say it lay at
the North Pole.
The most popular account is that Atlantis was the island
of Santorini. Others say it was Crete. Some Spanish authorities
insist that Spain is Atlantis. One online writer insists
that it is Indonesia. Others say that it was India, which
is closer to the truth if we are willing to admit that America
was Atala or Patala. One writer even claims that Atlantis
was in Outer Space.
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Early in 2001, an
author published a book in which he said that the legend
of Atlantis had finally played itself out. During the same
year, the movie Atlantis appeared in theaters all over the
world. According to the movie, Atlantis lay under Iceland.
Since then, Atlantis has risen from the dead and is haunting
the minds of Westerners more ardently than ever before,
burying a red-faced, embarrassed, stammering author of a
"dead Atlantis account" under a pile of books
that no longer sell! The Atlantis myth is now more alive
and vigorous than ever before.
For me, the legend of Atlantis never did die. As a young
man, I went to live and study in Mexico. While there, I
found out that the country we call Mexico was really at
one time Tlan, Tollan, or Tullan, which meant, as in Sanskrit,
"Upper or Surface World." Another Nahuatl (Toltec)
word called places or communities that were beside or under
water, Atlan. Cities and places in Mexico with Atlan suffixes
abound in Mexico. Even as a young man, I realized that this
"Tollan" word derived from Sanskrit: A-Tala-anta
(The Under World Settlement). Now, let’s add a Deza:
A-talan-deza (The Underworld Continent): Atlantis.
Several Hindus have told me that during their schooldays,
their teachers demonstrated to them that the word Atala
or Patala proves that the ancient Indians knew about America.
These teachers would fold a world map, pushing a pin through
India. The pin emerged through the other side – in
America!
In the series of articles and discussions to come, I will
prove that those teachers did, indeed, push their pins through
"bullseye"!
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