Mexico's
Holiest Shrines Are Indian Imports!
-Gene D. Matlock, B.A., M.A. It has been truly
said that the most glaringly obvious is often the most difficult
to see. This is certainly true in Mexico's case. When I
was a young student there, an English ex-Bengal lancer living
there told me that he thought Mexico was more Indian than
India itself!
To say that India never conquered Mexico is like saying
that England had nothing to do with the settlement of the
United States. Wherever one goes in Mexico, he sees place
names that are as Indian as curry and rice. The state of
Chihuahua was named after a Native-American name for the
region: Shivava; Tamaulipas = Tamralipta; Nayarit = Nairtti.
In pre-Columbian (or should I say in Hindu?) times, the
hereditary kings of the area were called Nayar. Tehuantepec
= Devantepec (Divine Hill); Tabasco = Tapas-Koh (Place of
Meditation); Sinaloa = Sinhala; Jalisco (pronounced HallEEsko)
= Halys-Koh. Halys was an ancient North Indian name for
"Sun." Chiapas = Shiva-Pas (Chiefs of Shiva);
Yucatan = Yakhustan (Land of Guardian Angels); Cosala =
Cousala; Sonora = Sunuta, a mythical Hindu devil. The place
is well-named. It has one of the most inhospitable deserts
on earth. Purandaro = Puruandaro, a name of Shiva. The list
is endless!
Taking into consideration that the Nahuatl-speaking people
could not pronounce "R," their word for "Temple
Mount," Sacualli, is nearly identical to its Sanskrit
equivalent: Sugkharu. Citlalli (pronounced "S'tlalli"),
was the Nahua "Star Goddess." This name must surely
derive from the Sanskrit Str (Star) plus Ili (Goddess).Early
in December, 2000, my wife and I attended a Novena (nine
day rosary ceremony in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe)
in the home of a neighbor. While I was watching the people
chant, I wondered whether they could appreciate the antiquity
of their sacred hill of Tepeyac, and the deep significance
of that name, on which the Virgin of Guadalupe made her
appearance to the Native-American farmer Juan Diego.
They probably didn't know that the words Tepe and Depe meant
"hill" in Northern India and Central Asia. A Tepe,
in both ancient Northern India and Mexico, was usually a
natural stronghold, usually rocky and devoid of vegetation,
jutting up abruptly from the surrounding region. The English
term for such a hill is "Acropolis." In ancient
India, as in Mexico, the shrine of an important deity was
usually located on top of the Tepe. In Northern India, many
of the Tepes appear to have been abandoned about 2,000 BC.
It is curious to observe that the name Tepe, known first
in ancient India, given to certain sacred mountains and
to a deity to which such mountains was related, would go
to Mesopotamia and Persia, finally arrived in Mesoamerica…
(El Astronauta de Palenque, by Tomás Doreste, p.
28.)
More than 120 Tepes can be found on the map of Mexico.
In ancient Harappa, several villages were built on Tepes
and Depes. Yakh was the Northern Indian word for "Guardian
Angel." In remotest times, the Northern Indians worshipped
guardian angels. "Gods" were a later innovation.
They evolved from the Yah(k)s Yakhs, Yakhus, or Yaksas.
Some Harappan ruins in South Central Iran are named Tepeya-yah.
(See From Sumer to Meluhha, edited by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer,
p. 4.)
When the Spaniards invaded Mexico, the most sacred holy
Tepe of the Aztecs was Tepeyac, outside of Mexico City.
On top of Tepeyac, the Aztecs had erected the temple to
their Mother Goddess, Innan. This goddess's ancient Indian
equivalent was named Inan or Innana. They also called this
goddess No-nan-tsin. Tsin was an Aztec or Nahua honorific,
nearly exactly the same in pronunciation as the Sanskrit
Sin. No-Nan-Tsin derived from the Sanskrit Naya-Nan/Naya-Nana,
which meant "Wise Mother Goddess." I believe this
Innan to be none other than Parvati, the consort of Shiva.
When the Spaniards conquered and destroyed the Aztec civilization,
they eventually turned the latter away from all their old
gods except one: Nonantsin, The Mother Goddess, whose shrine
was at the top of Tepeyac hill. Not even the cruelest of
tortures could make them quit worshipping Nonantsin, the
beloved mother of the Mexicans. Since torture couldn't turn
the Mexicans against Nonantsin, the priests in Mexico City
devised another strategy.
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One day, a Mexican
Indian named Juan Diego, supposedly a dyed-in-the-wool Christian,
was running to Mexico City to buy some healing herbs for
his deathly ill uncle. The small but exceedingly steep hill
of Tepeyac, which stands on a plain, was beside the path.
When Juan was passing by the hill, a beautiful lady appeared
before him, requesting that he convince the Church to build
a shrine in her honor atop Tepeyac. The rest is history.
Nonantsin became the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Mexico became totally Christianized almost overnight, without
the Spaniards having to gouge out any more eyes or burn
anyone else at the stake. The Nonantsin tradition, inherited
from India itself, has been kept alive for thousands of
years! We must ask ourselves why that hill was named "Hill
of the Guardian Angel" several thousand years ago,
and in the Near Eastern language Farsi (Persian): Tepeyahk.
Perhaps something supernatural has always happened there.
The guardian angel Nonantsin could have taken on the form
of the Holy Virgin in order to save her people from further
misery. Even today, the Mexican country people hear the
cries of a beautiful woman in a blue dress who wanders around
at night sobbing, "My children! What has happened to
my children!" I say that she is the holy goddess of
both the Hindus and Mexicans, who constantly grieves at
the poverty and suffering of her people!
In Sanskrit, Zailamaya = "Stony; of stone." In
Kashmiri, Shail = "Rock; a big stone." Maya =
"Source; essence."
In my opinion, the shrine of Chalma (Shalma), near Toluca,
Mexico, provides extraordinary evidence that Hindus once
inhabited the country. The word "Shalma" (similar
to the Hebrew and Indian "Salem") has the same
meaning in Sanskrit that it does in Nahuatl: "Great
Stone." Similar "Great Stone" place names
exist in various parts of the world "Jerusalem"
= "Great Stone of the Yadavas." There is also
"Dar-es-Salaam" in Africa. In the Sarawan district
of ancient Afghanistan was the land of Shal or Shali. They,
too, were devoted to God Shiva and shivalinga. The Native-Americans
living in today's Chalma probably descended from the people
of Shal.
Before the Spanish invasion, the ancient Mexicans made frequent
pilgrimages to Chalma to adore a large, man-sized, black,
cylindrical stone reputed to have magical healing powers.
The pre-Colombian pilgrims honored the Chalma "shivling"
by decorating it with garlands made of fresh flowers. When
the Spaniards conquered Mexico, they sculpted the stone
into the shape of Jesus Christ. Although few foreigners
visit the shrine, I regard it as one of Mexico's most beautiful
and fascinating tourist attractions. It is said to be Mexico's
second greatest shrine after that of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
However, it is my favourite. It is said in Mexico that he
who makes a pilgrimage to Chalma (Shal-Mah) always gets
a wish granted during his visit. The stories I can tell
you about the wishes granted at Chalma are nothing short
of unbelievable.
When today's pilgrims approach the suburbs of Chalma,
vendors sell them brightly-colored crowns and chains made
of fresh flowers. After putting the crowns on their heads,
and if they are in automobiles, decorating their autos
with floral chains, an old Native-American man approaches,
violin in hand, and obliges females and males to dance
together (Nataraja, or Lord Shiva in his role as "Lord
of the Dance?). After dancing for a minute or two, the
pilgrims enter Chalma. At the entrance to the temple housing
the "worked over" stone shivling, visitors must
place their garlands and other floral offerings on a a
wooden shivling, just as the Indian Shaivites did and
do. After that, they enter the temple. Indian members
of the Shaivite cultus would feel at home, both geographically,
culturally, and spiritually, in Chalma. Pilgrims are not
permitted to get too close to the black stone effigy of
Christ. The local Indians never did take kindly to the
liberties that the Spanish priests took with their shivling.
I know that some of them would like to remove it from
the temple and return to their ancient practices of Ishvara.
Pilgrims visiting Chalma also adore an ancient tree which
is reputed to have the same powers to grant wishes as
the Christ (Shiva) image in the local temple.
The description of Mexico's most popular Catholic/Hindu
shrines is just one of many hundreds of proofs in my possession
that India once conquered Mexico. I can almost guarantee
that any Hindu pilgrim to these shrines will almost convince
himself that he never left home!
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