A 100 km wide comet plunged into Earth 12,800 ago. This is a recent scientific claim. During the impact, as much as 10% of the Earth’s surface was consumed by fires. (10 million km2). The smoke and the ash filled the atmosphere and blocking the Sun. The planet started to cool down again, the ocean currents were altered, and the overall impact on flora and fauna was catastrophic.
The cataclysmic event of this scale simply had to be imprinted in human memory for a really long time. And perhaps, some of those myths even made it to the present day.
India – Hanuman mistakes the Sun for a fruit
In a well-known Indian myth, the monkey-god Hanuman mistook the Sun for a fruit. Still young but very powerful, he flew to the sky to take a bite of it. Even the gods were petrified, but eventually, Indra managed to stop him. He hit his jaw with a thunderbolt. This angered Hanuman’s father Vayu, the god of wind. He withdrew the air from Earth causing terrible suffering to all living things.
Now, it is obvious that this myth explains an event related to the disappearance of the Sun and the lack of air on Earth. Can that be possible, if we know that the last such event took place some 12,800 years ago?
Hanuman and the Virgo constellation
In my previous articles, I proposed an original theory that Hanuman could be a representation of the Virgo constellation. I always found the imagery of Virgo as a woman a bit puzzling, as most of the zodiac signs are represented by animals.
Moreover, the wheat in her hands indicates an agricultural cult. And since the zodiac signs are probably older than agriculture, Virgo as a woman is probably an alternation of a later date.
Indeed, a playful monkey was probably the real image behind the Virgo constellation. This becomes quite obvious when we compare the typical Hanuman iconography with the stars. This ancient image probably predates agriculture, as even in India its original meaning is forgotten.
Also, the origins of this might not be exclusively Indian after all. Even in Ancient Egypt we see a similar idea, in the iconography of Babi meeting Ra, the Sun.
Moreover, the monkey is still one of the signs of the Chinese zodiac. Its season is autumn, just like Virgo’s. Also conveniently, Hanuman is a protector of those in celibacy.
Just like Hanuman, Virgo is related to autumn, because the Sun travels through this constellation in autumn. For this reason, it is not visible to the naked eye as it is covered by the daylight. On the contrary, we can see it quite clearly in spring, when the Sun travels on the opposite side of the sky.
Indeed, the playful monkey (or a playful maiden) nicely illustrates the spring season. In this period, the ancients saw Mother Earth as a young maiden, that will bear many gifts and fruits before getting old in the autumn.
But how does this all relate to the ancient cataclysm?
The world ages – spring equinox in Virgo
Due to the wobble of the Earth’s axis and an ecliptic path around the Sun, the stars do not always appear in the same place. There is a slight shift, around one degree for every 72 years. This means that one zodiac sign will take place of another every 30×72 years = 2,160 years.
Currently, we are in the age of Piscis, as for the last 2,000 years the spring equinox was in this sign. But this was not always the case. The image below illustrates this idea.
In short, the last time that the spring equinox was in Virgo was roughly 12,719 years ago. (2,019 AD + 10,700 BC).
For a long period of 2,160 years, between 12,860 BC and 10,700 BC, the Sun in Virgo marked the beginning of the spring. This is the very same image of Hanuman or Babi reaching for the Sun.
So this is what I am trying to say:
The spring equinox was between Virgo and Leo some 12,719 years ago, and according to science, the comet hit the Earth some 12,800 years ago.
Is this a coincidence? Maybe, but this could also be the original story behind the allegory of Hanuman swallowing the Sun. Before the cataclysm, people would witness the following events:
Another “star” would appear in the sky, in the background of the Virgo constellation. It would look as if it is racing towards the Sun. Then, there will be a strike from the debris hitting the Earth (a thunderbolt hit). Consequently, the Sun would disappear from all the ash in the atmosphere.
The suffocating air caused by the fires and ash fits the description of the wind god Vayu retrieving the air from the Earth.
Egyptian Sekhmet – the lion goddess
The Hanuman myth is by no means the only myth that could relate to the ancient comet strike. Another important story comes from Egyptian mythology, which as we just saw, certainly had some connections with ancient India.
The Sun-god Ra sent a lion-goddess Sekhmet to destroy the sinful humans. But once she tasted blood, she almost destroyed the entire humanity. At the last moment, god Ra tricked her into drinking the red alcoholic drink instead of human blood. She got drunk and fell asleep.
Now, the image of a lion once again fits perfectly the astronomical imagery from the time of the comet strike. We just saw that this was a shift from Virgo to Leo, the lion. Perhaps, the ancient Egyptians were more focused on the Leo constellation as it was the one that will remain dominant for the next two millennia. At the same time, the “red drink” could relate to the volcanic eruptions and fires that will surely be a part of this global catastrophe.
And finally, the Sfinx, and the image of a lion is the oldest construction in Egypt. Some alternative historians like Graham Hancock and Robert Bouval proposed the date of its construction to around 10,500 BC.
In the following image, we see Sekhmet sitting in a typical “Virgo pose”, with the Sun disk above her head.
Greek Phaeton – the sky charioteer
The story of Phaeton is best explained through Plato’s Timaeus:
“There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water… There is a story that even you, Greeks, have preserved, that once upon a time, Phaethon, the son of Helios… burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now, this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals.“
Obviously, there should not be a grain of doubt that Plato knew that these myths are related to great astronomical cycles and events that could lead to the destruction of mankind.
It is also very important to notice that Phaeton was stopped by the thunderbolt of Zeus, just like Hanuman was stopped by a thunderbolt of Indra. (!) But does this myth relate to the same event as the previous two myths? Probably yes, as According to Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata:
“…in the time of Crotopus occurred the burning of Phaethon, and the deluges of Deucalion.”
In other words, this “burning” was followed by a great flood. Quite appropriate imagery for the end of the ice age!
Phaethon as Perseus
But the image of a charioteer does not relate to Virgo. It probably relates to the opposite part of the sky – dominated by Perseus, Pegasus (the flying horse), and Auriga (the chariot).
During the spring equinox in Virgo, the Sun rose from the background of Virgo and set in the same place 12 hours later. But Sun was blocking the view of Virgo throughout the day. These were the constellations visible during the nighttime, as they lie directly opposite to Virgo.
However, the imagery of a horse and the chariot means that this myth was of a later date. It is an adaptation of an old story, made after the domestication of the horse. Even though the astronomical imagery has changed, the idea was to preserve the astronomical data and ancient memories of a fiery cataclysm followed by a great flood.
Hercules and Atlas – the myths of the polar star
The previous three myths clearly relate to the circle of the zodiac. But the zodiac is not the only thing that is moving in our night sky. The same is valid for the polar star. For the same reasons, the position of the polar star is not fixed. Here is an illustration of that movement:
As you can see, between 12,000 and 8,000 BC the “polar star” was in the area of the Hercules constellation. Since everything revolves around the polar star, the ancients saw it as the highest peak of an invisible cosmic mountain, the world tree, or the axis Mundi.
The area inside of this invisible circle contains a dragon (Draco constellation) and Ursa minor with bright Polaris on top… But in the old days, this was just a bright star, and perhaps an inspiration for the apple from the garden of the Hesperides.
Around 8,000 BC the polar star was in the region of Bootes. This constellation was always a “giant” in star mythology. However, during this specific period, when it marked the axis Mundi, Bootes could have been an inspiration for Atlas, holding the world on his shoulders.
According to the myth, Hercules and Atlas exchange roles for a little while, causing the Earth to tremble. Here, once again we may see a memory of a cataclysmic event, falling precisely in the same period as the other myths.
Conclusions
As we saw from the words of great Plato, the ancients had no doubts that some of the myths are astronomical allegories. They also knew about the great cycles of time tracked by the movement of the stars. And they knew that at certain positions of this astronomical clock, terrible calamities might happen.
Mainstream history claims that astronomy is an invention of 4000BC Babylon. Clearly, this is nonsense. This kind of knowledge simply cannot be acquired in just a few millennia. We are probably talking of tens of thousands of years and perhaps even hundreds, as this is how long our ancestors have observed the stars. But let us not forget that the Neanderthals have been here even longer than us…
For more information on this topic please refer to some of the following articles:
