1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
Khoury and his colleague Lasha Berezhiani, now at Princeton
University, suggest that the reason we can't reconcile dark matter's
behaviour on both large and small scales in the Universe is because it
can shift forms.
We've got the 'cold' dark matter particles for the massive
galaxy clusters, but on a singular galactic scale, they suggest that
dark matter takes on a superfluid state.
And as strange as they sound, superfluids are starting to appear more accessible than ever before, with researchers announcing just last week that they were able to create light that acts like a liquid - a form of superfluid - at room temperature for the first time.
The
more we come to understand superfluids, the more physicists are willing
to entertain the idea that they could be far more common in the
Universe than we thought.
"Superfluids
may exist inside neutron stars, and some researchers have speculated
that space-time itself may be a superfluid. So why shouldn't dark matter
have a superfluid phase, too?"
The idea is that the 'halos' of dark matter that exist around
individual galaxies create the conditions necessary to form a superfluid
- the gravitational pull of the galaxy ensures that it's densely
packed, and the coldness of space keeps the temperature suitably low.
According to ancient and medieval science, aether (Ancient Greek: αἰθήρ, aither), also spelled æther or ether and also called quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.
The word αἰθήρ (aithēr) in Homeric Greek means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky". In Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air breathed by mortals. It is also personified as a deity, Aether, the son of Erebus and Nyx
in traditional Greek mythology. Aether is related to αἴθω "to
incinerate". and intransitive "to burn, to shine" (related is the name Aithiopes (Ethiopians; see Aethiopia), meaning "people with a burnt (black) visage").
Ancient Aethiopia, (Greek: Αἰθιοπία Aithiopia) also known as Ethiopia, first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the upper Nile region, as well as certain areas south of the Sahara desert. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad, and three times in the Odyssey. The Greek historian Herodotus specifically uses the appellation to refer to such parts of Africa as were then known within the inhabitable world.
Homer
(c. 8th century BC) is the first to mention "Aethiopians" (Αἰθίοπες,
Αἰθιοπῆες); he mentions that they are to be found at the east and west
extremities of the world, divided by the sea into "eastern" (at the
sunrise) and "western" (at the sunset). In Rhapsody A of the Iliad, Thetis visits Olympus to meet Zeus, but the meeting is postponed, as Zeus and other gods are absent, visiting the land of the Aethiopians. Hesiod (c. 8th century BC) speaks of Memnon as the "king of Aethiopia".
"In
times long past, the Sith race proved malleable…splitting into a meek
and servile slave class…an intelligent and nimble engineer class…others
interbred with the early exiled Jedi—like the ancestors of Ludo
Kressh—watering down the powerful bloodlines…but most useful of all were
members of the vicious Massassi Warrior class."
―Naga Sadow describes the Sith caste system
The Sith art of alchemy allowed them to imbue objects as well as living beings with the dark side.[9]
Due to their great skill in sorcery and magic, the Sith often created
Talismans in order to focus their concentration as well as to further
tap great amounts of dark side power. Such artifacts were often used
during long elaborate rituals and allowed a sorcerer to temporarily
enhance their abilities. These constructs often took many different
forms ranging from crystals to amulets.
After encountering Jedi attempting to use their talismans for the light
side of the Force, the Sith developed ensnarement talismans which, when
used, turned their users to the dark side. This in turn led to Sith
artifacts being outlawed following the destruction of the Sith. In
addition to these artifacts, the Sith long ago developed healing
talismans after a revolt led by Naga Sadow which led to pure blooded
Sith finding means to provide an advantage to their faction. Healing
talismans worked by quickening natural healing processes but at the
expense of the user's connection to the Force. Another talisman was the
shield talisman that worked by absorbing any form of energy attack and
using that as a power source for the relic. Following the destruction of
the Sith Empire, the Jedi discovered that talismans were very difficult
to destroy due to different means employed in obliterating them - some
made use of the destruction of physical components while skilled Jedi Masters
were sometimes needed to remove the reservoir of Dark side energy in
the relics and some were even capable of being destroyed by the dark
side only. This led to certain talismans being hidden while others were
placed in hazardous locations such as nebulas or stars in order to
prevent them from falling into anyone's hands
Pg. 3 The speech of Henry Berry, (of Jefferson,) in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the abolition of slavery
"We have, as far as possible closed every avenue by which light might
enter their mind; we have only to go one step further — to extinguish
the capacity to see the light, and our work would be completed; they
would then be reduced to the level of the beasts of the field, and we
should be safe; and I am not certain that we would not do it, if we
could find out the necessary process"
Psalms 83
"They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted
against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off
from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in
remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are
confederate against thee"
The Mayas primarily associated jaguars with the underworld and the night; the Classical Mayan god of the underworld is usually represented as a jaguar. Throughout Central and South America, jaguars are seen as a symbol of strength, courage, and spiritual power, much as bears are in most of North America.
Economy and Trade. The ancient Egyptians were wonderful traders. They traded
gold, papyrus, linen, and grain for cedar wood, ebony, copper, iron,
ivory, and lapis lazuli (a lovely blue gem stone.) Ships sailed up and
down the Nile River, bringing goods to various ports.
"A thousand years ago, this world belonged to us. You are the intruders here."
―Teneb Kel, to the Republic Governor of Begeren[src]
Begeren was a planet in the Sith Worlds region of the Outer Rim Territories. It was originally part of the Sith Empire, which constructed enormous monuments dedicated to notable Sith on the planet's surface—a project that cost the lives of an estimated hundred thousand slaves. Following the Empire's defeat in the Great Hyperspace War, Begeren was claimed by the Galactic Republic. The Republic allowed the construction of a gemstone quarry at the expense of the Sith statues, which fell into ruin
This discovery was made completely by chance in 2008, and if we
know what happened is certainly thanks to the Russian media, and to the
television press. It happened in Kurdistan, Iran, a country quite closed
to the world, at least in the western world, but with good relations
with Russia.(Body of a Anunnaki King)
Although hidden until today, we get to know what has been published
by the Russian press.The discovery occurred in a work, when digging the
ground to make the foundations of a house. Then came a mausoleum
containing three coffins, and after making more concise excavations, the
remains of an ancient civilization and the ruins of a city were found
in a layer of earth.(Body of a Anunnaki King)
Archaeologists determined that the monument and the city were built
between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, a date quickly revised by the
Islamic authorities after Find publication in the Russian press. The
Iranian authorities publicly stated that the ruins were 850 years old,
which obviously does not correspond to the facts and is, again, an
official lie.
A widespread late but probably false etymology is that the name derived
from the union of heaven (Anu) with the earth (Ki). Their relation to
the group of gods known as the Igigi is unclear - at times the names are
used synonymously but in the Atra-Hasis flood myth the Igigi are the
sixth generation of the Gods who have to work for the Anunnaki,
rebelling after 40 days and replaced by the creation of humans.
According to later Assyrian and Babylonian myth, the Anunnaki were the
children of Anu and Ki, brother and sister gods, themselves the children
of Anshar and Kishar (Skypivot and Earthpivot, the Celestial poles),
who in turn were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu ("the muddy ones"),
names given to the gatekeepers of the Abzu (House of Far Waters) temple
at Eridu, the site at which the creation was thought to have occurred.
Finally, Lahamu and Lahmu were the children of Tiamat (Goddess of the
Ocean) and Abzu (God of Fresh Water).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Holehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Serpent
Dreamtime (or The Dreaming[5] or Tjukurrpa or Jukurrpa[1]) stories tell of the great spirits and totems during creation, in animal and human form that moulded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains, and gorges as it pushed upward. The Rainbow Serpent is understood to be of immense proportions and inhabits deep permanent waterholes
https://www.studylight.org/bible/nrs/genesis/1-20.html
The Amplified Bible
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly and swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_monster
Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or multi-armed beasts.
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8577.htm
tannin: serpent, dragon, sea monster
Original Word: תַּנִּין
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: tannin
Phonetic Spelling: (tan-neen')
Definition: serpent, dragon, sea monster
The mušḫuššu (???; formerly also read as sirrušu, sirrush) or Mushkhushshu (pronounced "Mush·khush·shu"), is a creature from ancient Mesopotamian mythology. A mythological hybrid, it is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like
forelimbs, a long neck and tail, a horned head, a snake-like tongue,
and a crest. The mušḫuššu most famously appears on the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, dating to the sixth century BC.
The form mušḫuššu is the Akkadian nominative of the Sumerian ??? MUŠ.ḪUS, "reddish snake", sometimes also translated as "fierce snake".[1] One author,[2] possibly following others, translates it as "splendor serpent" (? MUŠ is the Sumerian term for "serpent". The reading sir-ruššu is due to a mistransliteration in early Assyriology.
The constellation Hydra was known in Babylonian astronomical texts as Bašmu, "the Serpent" (??, MUL.dMUŠ).
It was depicted as having the torso of a fish, a tail of a snake, the
fore paws of a lion, the hind legs of an eagle, with wings, and with a
head comparable to the mušḫuššu.
A long-standing association with a Canaanite word for "fish" (as in Hebrew: דג, Tib. /dɔːg/), perhaps going back to the Iron Age, has led to an interpretation as a "fish-god", and the association of "merman" motifs in Assyrian art (such as the "Dagon" relief found by Austen Henry Layard
in the 1840s). The god's name was, however, more likely derived from a
word for "grain", suggesting that he was in origin associated with
fertility and agriculture.
The World Turtle in Hindu mythology is known as Akupāra (Sanskrit: अकूपार), or sometimes Chukwa. An example of a reference to the World Turtle in Hindu literature is found in Jñānarāja (the author of Siddhāntasundara,
writing c. 1500): "A vulture, whichever has only little strength,
rests in the sky holding a snake in its beak for a prahara [three
hours]. Why can [the deity] in the form of a tortoise, who possesses an
inconceivable potency, not hold the Earth in the sky for a kalpa [billions of years]?"[1]
The British philosopher John Locke made reference to this in his 1689 tract, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,
which compares one who would say that properties inhere in "substance"
to the Indian, who said the world was on an elephant, which was on a
tortoise, "but being again pressed to know what gave support to the
broad-backed tortoise, replied—something, he knew not what".[2]
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable lists, without citation, Maha-pudma and Chukwa as names from a "popular rendition of a Hindu myth in which the tortoise Chukwa supports the elephant Maha-pudma, which in turn supports the world"
'When the Father was explaining to them [some Huron seminarists]
some circumstance of the passion of our Lord, and speaking to them of
the eclipse of the Sun, and of the trembling of the earth which was felt
at that time, they replied that there was talk in their own country of a
great earthquake which had happened in former times; but they did not
know either the time or the cause of that disturbance. "There is still
talk," (said they) "of a very remarkable darkening of the Sun, which was
supposed to have happened because the great turtle which upholds the
earth, in changing its position or place, brought its shell before the
Sun, and thus deprived the world of sight."'
The "world-elephants" are mythical animals which appear in Hindu cosmology. The Amarakosha
(5th century) lists the names of eight male elephants bearing the world
(along with eight unnamed female elephants). The names listed are:
Airavata, Pundarika, Vamana, Kumunda, Anjana, Pushpa-danta,
Sarva-bhauma, Supratika. The names of four elephants supporting the
earth from the four directions are given in the Ramayana : Viroopaaksha (east), Mahaapadma (south), Saumanasa (west), Bhadra (north).[1][2]
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable lists Maha-pudma and Chukwa are names from a "popular rendition of a Hindu myth in which the tortoise Chukwa supports the elephant Maha-pudma, which in turn supports the world".[3] The spelling Mahapudma originates as a misprint of Mahapadma in Sri Aurobindo's 1921 retelling of a story of the Mahabharata,
The popular rendition of the World Turtle supporting one or several World Elephants is recorded in 1599 in a letter by Emanual de Veiga.[4]Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed, without any proof, that the idea of a world-elephant maybe due to a confusion, caused by the Sanskrit noun Nāga
having the dual meaning of "serpent" and "elephant" (named for its
serpent-like trunk), thus representing a corrupted account of the
world-serpent.
In Hinduism the Guardians of the Directions (Sanskrit: दिक्पाल, Dikpāla) are the deities who rule the specific directions of space according to Hinduism and VajrayānaBuddhism—especially Kālacakra. As a group of eight deities, they are called Aṣṭa-Dikpāla
(अष्ट-दिक्पाल), literally meaning guardians of eight directions. They
are often augmented with two extra deities for the ten directions (the
two extra directions being zenith and nadir), when they are known as the Daśa-Dikpāla. In Hinduism it is traditional to represent their images on the walls and ceilings of Hindu temples. They are also often portrayed in Jain temples.[1] Ancient Java and Bali Hinduism recognize Nava-Dikpāla,
literally meaning guardians of nine directions, that consist of eight
directions with one addition in the center. The nine guardian gods of
directions is called Dewata Nawa Sanga (Nine guardian devata). The diagram of these guardian gods of directions is featured in Surya Majapahit, the emblem of Majapahit empire.
There are strong similarities between the concept of the guardians of the directions and the lore surrounding the Chinese four symbols, four ancestral spirits who are responsible for four of the cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West).
In the Prose Edda, the Dökkálfar and the Ljósálfar are attested in chapter 17 of the book Gylfaginning. In the chapter, Gangleri (the king Gylfi in disguise) asks the enthroned figure of High what other "chief centres" there are in the heavens outside of the spring Urðarbrunnr.
Gangleri responds that there are many fine places in heaven, including a
place called Álfheimr (Old Norse 'Elf Home' or 'Elf World'). High says
that the Ljósálfar live in Álfheimr, while the Dökkálfar dwell
underground and look—and particularly behave—quite unlike the Ljósálfar.
High describes the Ljósálfar as "fairer than the sun to look at", while
the Dökkálfar are "blacker than pitch".
As chapter 17 continues, Gangleri asks what will protect the beautiful hall of Gimlé, previously described as "the southernmost end of heaven", when the fires of Surtr "burn heaven and earth" (Ragnarök). High responds that there are in fact other heavens. The first called Andlàngr,
he says, is "south of and above this heaven of ours" and "we believe"
Gimlé is located in the third heaven "still further above that one", Víðbláinn. High adds that "we believe it is only light-elves who inhabit these places for the time being"
The sub-classification perhaps resulted from Christian influence, by way of importation of the concept of good and evil and angels of light and darkness. Anne Holtsmark aired this view,[c] though with some reservation, since "good vs. evil" dualism is not confined to Christian thinking.[d] Aside from some additional observations to encourage the hypothesis,[e]
Holtsmark has been credited with demonstrating that Snorri borrowed
from Christian writings, specifically that "Snorri’s description of Víðbláinn
[the third heaven populated by light-elves] was almost certainly
influenced by (and possibly based on) the account of the angels in the Elucidarius."
Dissenters of the view that elves were a later invention, such as Rudolf Simek and Gabriel Turville-Petre,
feel rather that "dark" and "light" aspects of the same beings not
inherently unlikely, death and fertility cults often being closely
related.
Since the Prose Edda describes the dökkálfar as being subterranean dwellers, they may be dwarves under another name, in the opinion of a number of scholars such as John Lindow.
The Prose Edda also uniquely mentions the svartálfar ('black elves'), but there are reasons to believe these also refer to merely dwarves.
Consequently, Lindow and other commentators have remarked that
there may not have been any distinction intended between dark-elves and
black-elves by those who coined and used those terms.[h]Lotte Motz's paper on elves commingles, and hence equates "dark-elves" and "black-elves" from the outset.
Jacob Grimm surmised that the proto-elf (ursprünglich)
was probably a "light-colored, white, good spirit" while the dwarfs may
have been conceived as "black spirits" by relative comparison. But the
"two classes of creatures were getting confounded", and there arose a
need to coin the term "light-elf" (ljósálfar, or hvítálfar—"white elves") to refer to the "elves proper". This was counterpart to the "dark-elf" (dökkálfar, or svartálfar—"black elves").
Preferring it over duality, Grimm postulated three kinds of elves (ljósálfar, dökkálfar, svartálfar) present in Norse mythology.
But Grimm's "tripartite division" (as Shippey calls it) faced
"trouble" in Snorri's statement that dark-elves were pitch-black, as
this would lead to the "first reduction" that "dark-elves =
black-elves". As a solution, Grimm "pronounce[es] Snorri's statement
fallacious", and hypothesizes that "dark elves" were not really 'dark'
but rather 'dingy' or 'pale'. And while conceding that "such a Trilogy still [lacks] decisive proof," draws parallels from the white, brown and black subterranean in Pomeranian legend, and the white, pale, and black troops of spirits come to claim souls in the tale of Solomon and Marcolf.
Midi-chlorians were intelligent
microscopic life forms that lived symbiotically inside the cells of all
living things. When present in sufficient numbers, they could allow
their host to detect the pervasive energy field known as the Force. Midi-chlorian counts were linked to potential in the Force, ranging from normal Human levels of 2,500 per cell to the much higher levels of Jedi. The highest known midi-chlorian count—over 20,000 per cell—belonged to the Jedi Anakin Skywalker, who was believed to have been conceived by the midi-chlorians.
Comments
Khoury and his colleague Lasha Berezhiani, now at Princeton University, suggest that the reason we can't reconcile dark matter's behaviour on both large and small scales in the Universe is because it can shift forms.
We've got the 'cold' dark matter particles for the massive galaxy clusters, but on a singular galactic scale, they suggest that dark matter takes on a superfluid state.
Superfluids are a form of cold, densely packed matter that has zero friction and viscosity, and can sometimes become a Bose-Einstein condensate, referred to as the 'fifth state of matter'.
And as strange as they sound, superfluids are starting to appear more accessible than ever before, with researchers announcing just last week that they were able to create light that acts like a liquid - a form of superfluid - at room temperature for the first time.
The more we come to understand superfluids, the more physicists are willing to entertain the idea that they could be far more common in the Universe than we thought.
"Recently, more physicists have warmed to the possibility of superfluid phases forming naturally in the extreme conditions of space," Jennifer Ouellette explains for Quanta Magazine.
"Superfluids may exist inside neutron stars, and some researchers have speculated that space-time itself may be a superfluid. So why shouldn't dark matter have a superfluid phase, too?"
The idea is that the 'halos' of dark matter that exist around individual galaxies create the conditions necessary to form a superfluid - the gravitational pull of the galaxy ensures that it's densely packed, and the coldness of space keeps the temperature suitably low.
German East Africa. Massassi
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jaguada
Jaguada was one of many worlds of the ancient Sith. In the time of the Galactic Republic, Jaguada was quarantined, and its affiliation to the Sith was hidden from history
https://archive.org/details/speechofhenryber00berr/page/2/mode/2up
Kemet, kmt or km.t may refer to:
- Kemet or km.t, an ancient Name of Egypt
Economy and Trade. The ancient Egyptians were wonderful traders. They traded gold, papyrus, linen, and grain for cedar wood, ebony, copper, iron, ivory, and lapis lazuli (a lovely blue gem stone.) Ships sailed up and down the Nile River, bringing goods to various ports.https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNSmZMB52k7_Cr0ZlUfrkKSxINz2hQ:1583069521907&source=hp&ei=UblbXsD6M--kytMP4uil-AM&q=body+of+a+anunnaki's+king+12+000+years+old+and+completely+intact&oq=Body+of+a+Anunnaki+King,+12,000+years+old&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.33i22i29i30l2.1673.1673..4742...2.0..0.82.82.1......0....2j1..gws-wiz.C7hZ0wf6uYA
Body of a Anunnaki King, 12,000 years old and .. Completely intact?
Although hidden until today, we get to know what has been published by the Russian press.The discovery occurred in a work, when digging the ground to make the foundations of a house. Then came a mausoleum containing three coffins, and after making more concise excavations, the remains of an ancient civilization and the ruins of a city were found in a layer of earth.(Body of a Anunnaki King)
Archaeologists determined that the monument and the city were built between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, a date quickly revised by the Islamic authorities after Find publication in the Russian press. The Iranian authorities publicly stated that the ruins were 850 years old, which obviously does not correspond to the facts and is, again, an official lie.
Origins: Project A-ko: Uncivil Wars
Classification: Dragon, Deity
Threat level: Quantum
Physical strength: At least star+, likely higher ("Can devour suns in a single gulp")
Destructive capacity: Multiverse+ (can destroy every universe in existence, but requires concentrating all time/space in a single point to do so)
Durability: At least universe+
Speed: Transuniversal+ (capable of crossing half the universe in instants)
The mušḫuššu (???; formerly also read as sirrušu, sirrush) or Mushkhushshu (pronounced "Mush·khush·shu"), is a creature from ancient Mesopotamian mythology. A mythological hybrid, it is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, a horned head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest. The mušḫuššu most famously appears on the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, dating to the sixth century BC.
The mušḫuššu is the sacred animal of Marduk and his son Nabu during the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was taken over by Marduk from Tishpak, the local god of Eshnunna.[4]
agon (Phoenician: ???, romanized: Dāgūn; Hebrew: דָּגוֹן Dāgōn) or Dagan (Sumerian: ???, romanized: dda-gan[1]) is an ancient Mesopotamian and ancient Canaanite deity. He appears to have been worshipped as a fertility god in Ebla, Assyria, Ugarit, and among the Amorites.
The Hebrew Bible mentions him as the national god of the Philistines with temples at Ashdod and elsewhere in Gaza.[2]
A long-standing association with a Canaanite word for "fish" (as in Hebrew: דג, Tib. /dɔːg/), perhaps going back to the Iron Age, has led to an interpretation as a "fish-god", and the association of "merman" motifs in Assyrian art (such as the "Dagon" relief found by Austen Henry Layard in the 1840s). The god's name was, however, more likely derived from a word for "grain", suggesting that he was in origin associated with fertility and agriculture.
https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Dagon
Dagon, known to the Japanese as Raijin (雷神 Raijin), is a member of Godzilla's species that first appears as a skeletal corpse in the 2014 Legendary Pictures film Godzilla, and is explored further in Godzilla: Aftershock, the official graphic prequel novel to Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
The World Turtle in Hindu mythology is known as Akupāra (Sanskrit: अकूपार), or sometimes Chukwa. An example of a reference to the World Turtle in Hindu literature is found in Jñānarāja (the author of Siddhāntasundara, writing c. 1500): "A vulture, whichever has only little strength, rests in the sky holding a snake in its beak for a prahara [three hours]. Why can [the deity] in the form of a tortoise, who possesses an inconceivable potency, not hold the Earth in the sky for a kalpa [billions of years]?"[1] The British philosopher John Locke made reference to this in his 1689 tract, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which compares one who would say that properties inhere in "substance" to the Indian, who said the world was on an elephant, which was on a tortoise, "but being again pressed to know what gave support to the broad-backed tortoise, replied—something, he knew not what".[2]
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable lists, without citation, Maha-pudma and Chukwa as names from a "popular rendition of a Hindu myth in which the tortoise Chukwa supports the elephant Maha-pudma, which in turn supports the world"The Lenape myth of the "Great Turtle" was first recorded between 1678 and 1680 by Jasper Danckaerts. The myth is shared by other indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, notably the Iroquois.[5]
The Jesuit Relations contain a Huron story concerning the World Turtle:
'When the Father was explaining to them [some Huron seminarists] some circumstance of the passion of our Lord, and speaking to them of the eclipse of the Sun, and of the trembling of the earth which was felt at that time, they replied that there was talk in their own country of a great earthquake which had happened in former times; but they did not know either the time or the cause of that disturbance. "There is still talk," (said they) "of a very remarkable darkening of the Sun, which was supposed to have happened because the great turtle which upholds the earth, in changing its position or place, brought its shell before the Sun, and thus deprived the world of sight."'The "world-elephants" are mythical animals which appear in Hindu cosmology. The Amarakosha (5th century) lists the names of eight male elephants bearing the world (along with eight unnamed female elephants). The names listed are: Airavata, Pundarika, Vamana, Kumunda, Anjana, Pushpa-danta, Sarva-bhauma, Supratika. The names of four elephants supporting the earth from the four directions are given in the Ramayana : Viroopaaksha (east), Mahaapadma (south), Saumanasa (west), Bhadra (north).[1][2]
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable lists Maha-pudma and Chukwa are names from a "popular rendition of a Hindu myth in which the tortoise Chukwa supports the elephant Maha-pudma, which in turn supports the world".[3] The spelling Mahapudma originates as a misprint of Mahapadma in Sri Aurobindo's 1921 retelling of a story of the Mahabharata,
In Hinduism the Guardians of the Directions (Sanskrit: दिक्पाल, Dikpāla) are the deities who rule the specific directions of space according to Hinduism and Vajrayāna Buddhism—especially Kālacakra. As a group of eight deities, they are called Aṣṭa-Dikpāla (अष्ट-दिक्पाल), literally meaning guardians of eight directions. They are often augmented with two extra deities for the ten directions (the two extra directions being zenith and nadir), when they are known as the Daśa-Dikpāla. In Hinduism it is traditional to represent their images on the walls and ceilings of Hindu temples. They are also often portrayed in Jain temples.[1] Ancient Java and Bali Hinduism recognize Nava-Dikpāla, literally meaning guardians of nine directions, that consist of eight directions with one addition in the center. The nine guardian gods of directions is called Dewata Nawa Sanga (Nine guardian devata). The diagram of these guardian gods of directions is featured in Surya Majapahit, the emblem of Majapahit empire.
There are strong similarities between the concept of the guardians of the directions and the lore surrounding the Chinese four symbols, four ancestral spirits who are responsible for four of the cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West).In the Prose Edda, the Dökkálfar and the Ljósálfar are attested in chapter 17 of the book Gylfaginning. In the chapter, Gangleri (the king Gylfi in disguise) asks the enthroned figure of High what other "chief centres" there are in the heavens outside of the spring Urðarbrunnr. Gangleri responds that there are many fine places in heaven, including a place called Álfheimr (Old Norse 'Elf Home' or 'Elf World'). High says that the Ljósálfar live in Álfheimr, while the Dökkálfar dwell underground and look—and particularly behave—quite unlike the Ljósálfar. High describes the Ljósálfar as "fairer than the sun to look at", while the Dökkálfar are "blacker than pitch".
As chapter 17 continues, Gangleri asks what will protect the beautiful hall of Gimlé, previously described as "the southernmost end of heaven", when the fires of Surtr "burn heaven and earth" (Ragnarök). High responds that there are in fact other heavens. The first called Andlàngr, he says, is "south of and above this heaven of ours" and "we believe" Gimlé is located in the third heaven "still further above that one", Víðbláinn. High adds that "we believe it is only light-elves who inhabit these places for the time being"The sub-classification perhaps resulted from Christian influence, by way of importation of the concept of good and evil and angels of light and darkness. Anne Holtsmark aired this view,[c] though with some reservation, since "good vs. evil" dualism is not confined to Christian thinking.[d] Aside from some additional observations to encourage the hypothesis,[e] Holtsmark has been credited with demonstrating that Snorri borrowed from Christian writings, specifically that "Snorri’s description of Víðbláinn [the third heaven populated by light-elves] was almost certainly influenced by (and possibly based on) the account of the angels in the Elucidarius."
Dissenters of the view that elves were a later invention, such as Rudolf Simek and Gabriel Turville-Petre, feel rather that "dark" and "light" aspects of the same beings not inherently unlikely, death and fertility cults often being closely related.Since the Prose Edda describes the dökkálfar as being subterranean dwellers, they may be dwarves under another name, in the opinion of a number of scholars such as John Lindow.
The Prose Edda also uniquely mentions the svartálfar ('black elves'), but there are reasons to believe these also refer to merely dwarves.
Jacob Grimm surmised that the proto-elf (ursprünglich) was probably a "light-colored, white, good spirit" while the dwarfs may have been conceived as "black spirits" by relative comparison. But the "two classes of creatures were getting confounded", and there arose a need to coin the term "light-elf" (ljósálfar, or hvítálfar—"white elves") to refer to the "elves proper". This was counterpart to the "dark-elf" (dökkálfar, or svartálfar—"black elves").
Preferring it over duality, Grimm postulated three kinds of elves (ljósálfar, dökkálfar, svartálfar) present in Norse mythology.
But Grimm's "tripartite division" (as Shippey calls it) faced "trouble" in Snorri's statement that dark-elves were pitch-black, as this would lead to the "first reduction" that "dark-elves = black-elves". As a solution, Grimm "pronounce[es] Snorri's statement fallacious", and hypothesizes that "dark elves" were not really 'dark' but rather 'dingy' or 'pale'. And while conceding that "such a Trilogy still [lacks] decisive proof," draws parallels from the white, brown and black subterranean in Pomeranian legend, and the white, pale, and black troops of spirits come to claim souls in the tale of Solomon and Marcolf.