TRANSLATIONS

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We will now move on to hipu in the glyph dictionary:

 

A few preliminary remarks and imaginations:

1. The hanging form indicates a body drawn down by gravity. Presumably the idea is to suggest a body filled with fluid, 'water'.

Water runs downwards and it is trying to go down as far as possible - only the form of the container is an obstacle, contains it.

Water is in opposition to fire. The contrast can be seen in Hanga Te Pau compared with Tama:

Gb5-12 (366) Gb6-17 (400) Gb6-18 Gb6-19

Closed fists are filled with fingers, meaning 'fire'. They are held high, towards the sky, because the flames of a fire stretch towards heaven. Tama is the new year - the little child (tamaiti) - filled with promise.

In the pau foot, on the other hand, the future is pointing downwards. The 'clubfoot' (va'e pau) is filled with fluid. It cannot hold any fire. Fire is up, water is down.

The socks which hang expectantly in the fireplace at Christmas may be connected with the hipu glyph type, I guess.

There are 3 fingers only inside the closed fist, presumably because sun has 3 hundred days to burn. We down on earth have 4 fingers - I regard the thumb as another sort, not to be counted together with the rest. We live in the dark.

Tama is not of the same sort. He is not A Hau Maka. But he seems to announce (or even generate, cfr Gb6-17) the coming new sun season. In Gb6-18 (where 6 * 18 = 108 = 3 * 36) the 'sock' is turned upwards, it is filled with flames.

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2. The last efforts of the king, Hotu A Matua, were directed towards digging wells (aga i te vai). Then he enjoyed a drink of fresh water (vai mauga mo unu) at Hua Reva. These two activities were announcing which way he was going, he was going down.

Next in the chain of events must come his death and being buried:

... They buried him in Hare O Ava. They dug a grave, dug it very deep, and lined it with stones (he paenga). When that was done, they lowered the dead into the grave ...

The grave is the nadir of living. Gravity will sooner of later pull everyone down. It is a necessary step in preparing for next generation. A grave down in Mother Earth is like the womb of a gravid woman.

From the bottom station new life will grow. Inside a juicy fruit there is a kernel and it must be put down into earth in order to succeed.

The experiences of early agriculture identified a connection with what happens above: Excepting the circumpolar stars, which are of a special kind, all stars rise up in the east and descend in the west. They come from somewhere below the horizon, from some cave (ana), and they are swallowed again after their cycle of visibility has been completed. Then follows another cycle down below before it is time to rise again.

Hare O Ava is the watery grave (harbour):

 

Avaga

1. Niche, recess in an ahu, where the skeletons of the dead were deposited. 2. Small oblong, free-standing monument built for the same purpose. Vanaga.

T. A grave. Churchill.
Ava

1. To remain (of dregs, of very small objects in the water or in a place which used to be full of water); he-ava, he-paroparoko, expression, said when small fishes swarm in the water holes along the coast. 2. Furrow, rut, groove, crevice, fissure; he-hahata te ava o te henua, a crevice opened in the ground. 3. To strike, to hit; to sound like a blow; ku-ava-á te poko (see also hatutiri), thunder sounded. Áva-áva. 1. To lift up. 2. to strike, to hit repeatedly; he-áva-áva i te koreha a ruga a te ma'ea, he struck the eel several times against a stone (to kill it). Vanaga.

1. a) Distance, distant; ava poto, a short distance. b) Space, interval. PS Mq.: ava, distance, space, interval. Ta.: ava, interval. The simpler form of the root is va, which is not found in Rapanui and Marquesan, and in Tahiti is narrowly restricted to the spacing of thatch, but in Nuclear Polynesia and in the Tongafiti migration [va] is expressive of the sense of distance and interval. In Samoa the same meaning is carried by an advanced form of the root, and ava in this sense is not found elsewhere. Its reappearance in these three languages of Southeast Polynesia points to a direct migration from Samoa. 2. Channel, strait, pass, passage, breach, entrance to a harbor. Avaava. 1. a) To strike, to slap, to grind, to dent. b) To correct, to maltreat, to exterminate. 2. Angle, chink. 3. Tobacco. In this nook of Polynesia tobacco and its common method of pleasurable use are alike imported. In Melanesia tobacco was indigenous but was employed for the business of medication and not to assuage the conditions of cannibal society. The leaves when fully grown were shredded, macerated and employed as a cataplasm. Applied upon the abdomen it was the principal agency in the production of emesis and catharsis. Applied secretly in axilla [arm-pit] it superinduced the ecstasy of the priest when in the trance of possession by his god. In Fiji it was used as an insecticide. Avahi, a wedge, to split; avahiga, part, partial; avahiga kore, inseparable. Avamouga (ava 1 - mouga 2), valley. Churchill.

Fornander gives three meanings:

"1. Awa, s. Haw., harbour, cove, creek, channel; awaa, to dig as a pit, a ditch; awawa, a valley, space between two prominences, space between the fingers and toes. Tah., ava, a harbour, channel. Sam., ava, a boat-passage, opening in the reef, anchorage; v. to be open, as a doorway. Marqu., ava, interval, passage.

The Malgasse ava, a rainbow, may refer to this family, in the sense of an arch, a bay, a hollow, curved space on the firmanent.

Sanskr., avaţa, a pit; avata, a well; avatas, below, in the lower regions; ava-kâça, space, interval; avama, low, opp. to high, probably all referring themselves to ava, prep. with the primary sense of 'down, below, away, off', as its derivatives plainly indicate."

"2. Awa, s. Haw., fine rain, mist. Tong., Sam., afa, storm, hurricane; afu, a waterfall. N. Zeal., awa, a river. Fiji., cava, a storm. Mal., awap, mist, dew. Sangvir Island, sawan, a river. Rotti, Ofa, id. Tagal., abo-abo, rain. Malg., sav, mist, fog.

Sanskr., ap, apas, water.

Lat., aqua; Romain, ava, water, rain-water.

Goth., ahwa; O. H. Germ., ouwa, water. Germ., aue, au, brook. Swed., å, id.

Irish, abh, water; abhan, river. Welsh, aw, fluid.

Pers., âw, âb, water.

A. Pictet ... refers the Celtic and Persian forms to a Sanskrit root av, 'ire', whence avana, rapidity, avani, river; and he refers the Latin and Gothic forms to a Sanskrit root aç or ak, 'permeare, occupare', from which spring a number of derivatives expressive of 'le mouvement rapide, la force pénétrante' ...

In view of the Polynesian forms, Haw., Sam., Tagal., and their meanings, I prefer to follow Benfey and Bopp in referring the West Aryan as well as the Polynesian forms to the Sanskrit ap, whether that be the original form itself or a contracted modification of it.

It seems to me to have been in the very nature of language that men in the olden times should have commenced by giving distinct and instantaneous names to objects around them, and to natural phenomena, before they invested those objects with names derived by after-thought and reflection from this or that quality characteristic of those objects. Many, if not most, of such original names were doubtless lost in the course of ages, and supplanted by synonyms derived from and expressive of some quality or other in the objects named; but many still survive to baffle the analysis of philologists, and to assert their claims to priority over synonyms that must necessarily have been of later formation."

"3. Awa, s. Haw., Sam., Tah., name of a plant of a bitter taste, but highly relished throughout Polynesia - 'Piper Methysticum' - from which an intoxicating drink is made; the name of the liquor itself. Tong., N. Zeal., Rarot., Marqu., kawa, id. Haw., awa-awa, bitter. Sam., a'awa, id. Tong., N. Zeal., kakawa , sweet.

Sanskr., av, to please, satisfy, desire (Benfey); ava, nourishment (Pictet).

Pers., âwâ, nourishment; abâ, bread.

Lat., aveo, crave after, long for; avena, oats. See au 1."

We should notice the close resemblance between ava and kava. I think this is the right place for a long quotation from Hamlet's Mill:

"Returned to Uruk, Gilgamesh washes his hair and garbs himself in festive attire. As he puts on his tiara, Ishtar, the goddess of love (in Sumerian, Inanna), is entranced with his looks and asks him to marry her. Gilgamesh rejects her, reminding her in scornful words of what happened to her previous mates, including the hapless Tammuz, later known as Adonis.

It is not unusual for a hero to refuse the love, and the unheard-of-presents, offered by a goddess. In every such case only two celestial personalities are possible candidates for this role: the planet Venus, and Sirius, alias Sothis, who has some of the reputation of a harlot.

There is the story of Ugaritic Aqht, who shows mocking haugthiness to Anat; of Picus who flatly turns down the offer of Circe and who subsequently turned into the woodpecker by the angry goddess; there is Arjuna - a 'portion of Indra' - who rejected the heavenly Urvashi, whom he regarded as the 'parent of my race, and object of reverence to me ... and it behoveth thee to protect me as a son'.

There is also Tafa'i of Tahiti (Maori: Tawhaki) who went with his five brothers courting an underworld princess. As a test, the suitors 'were told to pull up by the roots an ava tree, which was possessed by a demon, and which had caused the death of all who had attempted to disturb it'. Three of the brothers were devoured by the demon; Tafa'i revived them, and then gladly renounced the hand of the princess. (Ava = Kava, and stands for the 'next-best-substitute' for Amrita, the drink of immortality which is the property of the gods; mythologically Polynesian Kawa resembles almost exactly the Soma of Vedic literature; even the role of the 'Kawa-filter' is an ancient Indian reminiscence; and, as befits the pseudo-drink-of-immortality, it is stolen, by Maui, or by Kaulu, exactly as happens in India, and in the Edda, and elsewhere).

Meanwhile Ishtar, scorned, goes up to heaven in a rage, and extracts from Anu the promise that he will send down the Bull of Heaven to avenge her. The Bull descends, awesome to behold. With his first snort he downs a hundred warriors. But the two heroes tackle him. Enkidu takes hold of him by the tail, so that Gilgamesh as espada can come in between the horns for the kill. The artisans of the town admire the size of those horns: 'thirty pounds was their content of lapis lazuli'. (Lapis lazuli is the color sacred to Styx, as we have seen. In Mexico it is turquoise.)

Ishtar appears on the walls of Uruk and curses the two heroes who have shamed her, but Enkidu tears out the right thigh of the Bull of Heaven and flings it in her face, amidst brutal taunts. It seems to be part of established procedure in those circles. Susanowo did the same to the sun-goddess Amaterasu, and so did Odin the Wild Hunter to the man who stymied him.

A scene of popular triumph and rejoicings follows. But the gods have decided that Enkidu must die, and he is warned by a somber dream after he falls sick.

The composition of the epic has been hitherto uncouth and repetitious and, although it remains repetitious, it becomes poetry here. The despair and terror of Gilgamesh at watching the death of his friend is a more searing scene than Prince Gautama's 'discovery' of mortality.

'Hearken unto me, O elders, (and give ear) unto me! // It is for Enk(idu), my friend, that I weep, // Crying bitterly like unto a wailing woman // (My friend), my (younger broth)er (?), who chased // the wild ass of the open country (and) the panther of the steppe. // Who seized and (killed) the bull of heaven; // Who overthrew Humbaba, that (dwelt) in the (cedar) forest - ! // Now what sleep is this that has taken hold of (thee)? // Thou hast become dark and canst not hear (me)'. // But he does not lift (his eyes). // He touched his heart, but it did not beat. // Then he veiled (his) friend like a bride (...) // He lifted his voice like a lion // Like a lioness robbed of (her) whelps ...

'When I die, shall I not be like unto Enkidu? // Sorrow has entered my heart // I am afraid of death and roam over the desert ... // (Him the fate of mankind has overtaken) // Six days and seven nights I wept over him // Until the worm fell on his face. // How can I be silent? How can I be quiet? // My friend, whom I loved, has turned to clay'.

Gilgamesh has no metaphysical temperament like the Lord Buddha. He sets out on his great voyage to find Utnapishtim the Distant, who dwells at 'the mouth of the rivers' and who can possibly tell him how to attain immortality. He arrives at the pass of the mountain Mashu ('Twins'), 'whose peaks reach as high as the banks of heaven - whose breast reaches down to the underworld - the scorpion people keep watch at its gate - those whose radiance is terrifying and whose look is death - whose frightful splendor overwhelms mountains - who at the rising and setting of the sun keep watch over the sun'.

The hero is seized 'with fear and dismay', but as he pleads with them, the scorpion-men recognize his partly divine nature. They warn him that he is going to travel through a darkness no one has traveled, but open the gate for him.

'Along the road of the sun (he went?) - dense is the dark(ness and there is no light)' (Tabl. 9, col. 4, 46). The successive stretches of 1, then 2, then 3, and so on to 12 double-hours he travels in darkness. At last it is light, and he finds himself in a garden of precious stones, carnelian and lapis lazuli, where he meets Siduri, the divine barmaid, 'who dwells by the edge of the sea'.

Under the eyes of severe philologists, slaves to exact 'truth', one dare not make light of this supposedly 'geographical' item with its faint surrealistic tang. Here is a perfectly divine barmaid by the edge of the sea, called by many names in many languages. Her bar should be as long as the famed one in Shanghai, for she has along her shelves not only wine and beer, but more outlandish and antiquated drinks from many cultures, drinks such as a honeymead, soma, sura (a kind of brandy), kawa, pulque, peyote-cocktail, decoctions of ginseng. In short, from everywhere she has the ritual intoxicating beverages which comfort the dreary souls who are denied the drink of immortality. One might call these drinks Lethe, after all.

Earnest translators have seriously concluded that the 'sea' at the edge of which the barmaid dwells must be the Mediterranean, but there have also been votes for the Armenian mountains. Yet the hero's itinerary suggests the celestial landscape instead, and the scorpion-men should be sought around Scorpius. The more so as lambda ypsilon Scorpii are counted among the Babylonian mashu-constellations, and these twins, lambda ypsilon, play an important role also in the so-called Babylonian Creation Epic, as weapons of Marduk."