| Is there a mystery here to be unravelled? Is there a | | | | Brahmins invaded India they found a race of wise |
| serpent code being held by the Grail myths? Can we | | | | men, half gods, half demons (snakes). These men |
| uncover this code by taking a look at the Lady of | | | | were said to be teachers of other nations and |
| Lake? The answer is yes to all these questions, for | | | | themselves instructed the Hindu's and Brahmans.In |
| held within the folds of the coiled snake we shall | | | | the Bhagavata Purana there is a description of the |
| discover the truth of the origin of the Arthurian tales | | | | Bila-svarga or the regions of the Nagas said to be |
| and the strange watery Lady who was to give | | | | subterranean. Some of the names associated with |
| Arthur his sword.There are various names attributed | | | | this place relate remarkably to the Mesoamerican and |
| to the 'Lady of the Lake;' Nimue and Vivienne are the | | | | South American terms such as Tlaloc. "My dear king, |
| two most used, but most pertinent to us here is | | | | beneath this earth are seven other planets [seven is |
| 'White Serpent.' Nimue is probably Mneme or | | | | important in Atlantean myths - seven islands!], known |
| Mnemosyne, who is one of the Muses or 'water | | | | as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rstala and |
| nymphs' from Roman and Greek mythology and who | | | | Patala... the residents are known as Daityas, Danavas |
| gave out weapons - just as the Lady of the Lake | | | | and Nagas . . . brilliantly decorated cities . . . wonderful |
| did. Vivienne in all likelihood comes from Vi-Vianna or | | | | houses, walls, gates, assembly houses, temples, |
| Co-Vianna the 'water goddess' or Coventina of Celtic | | | | yards and temple compounds . . . The houses for the |
| origin ('Coventina's Well' also had a skull offering | | | | leaders of these planets are constructed with the |
| discovered which is important in the worship of | | | | most valuable jewels, and are always crowded with |
| snakes and wisdom [1].)These water deities are | | | | the living entities known as Nagas and Asuras . . . |
| strongly related to the story of serpent worship, and | | | | Many great serpents reside there with gems on their |
| united with the tale of the sword or weaponry, it | | | | hoods, and the effulgence of these gems dissipates |
| introduces the duality of peace and war so well | | | | the darkness in all directions. Since the residents of |
| known in the serpent myths. The sword pierces and | | | | these planets drink and bathe in juices and elixirs |
| strikes and involves contemporaneously, the image of | | | | made from wonderful herbs, they are freed from all |
| the serpent upon the blade via the unique metallurgy | | | | anxieties and physical diseases. They have no |
| employed. This wonderful metallurgy of the Middle | | | | experience of gray hair, wrinkles or invalidity." |
| Ages and beyond reveals to us in actual artefacts | | | | (Bhagavata Purana)There is currently a lot of debate |
| that the serpent itself was fashioned into the blade | | | | about the original inhabitants of India - whether Aryan |
| as part of the process. This of course relates to the | | | | or Naga, but the fact remains, whether the Nagas |
| fact that Arthur's sword was said to be a fiery | | | | were Aryans or not, they were an ancient inhabitant. |
| serpent in the Dream of Rhonabwy. When Arthur's | | | | The very fact that they were mentioned in the |
| sword is drawn it was said that two flames of fire | | | | ancient Rig Vedas shows this to be true. They also |
| burst out of the jaws of the two serpents, and so | | | | intermarried with the Royal families, hence the |
| wonderful was the sword that it was hard for | | | | popular myths of serpent kings."Then come the |
| anyone to gaze at it. It is necessary for Arthur to | | | | Naaga, the Siren serpents, whose worship has been |
| maintain ownership of the sword, whether it is the | | | | so important a factor in the folklore, superstition, and |
| sword from the stone or Excalibur, as it ensures his | | | | poetry of India from the earliest times down to-day. |
| victory and his life. The infamous Arthurian writer, | | | | Cobras in their ordinary shape, they lived, like |
| Malory, indicates the brightness of the sword and its | | | | mermen and mermaids, more beneath the water, in a |
| fiery aspect, writing: "but it was so bright in his | | | | great luxury and wealth, more especially of germ, |
| enemies eyes, that it gave light like thirty torches." | | | | and sometimes, as we shall see, the name is used of |
| But the sword in the stone does not last long and | | | | the Dryads, the tree-spirits, equally wealthy and |
| the Lady of the Lake gives Arthur his Excalibur, and | | | | powerful. They could at will and often did, adopt the |
| also a serpent scabbard, which ensures eternal life. | | | | human form and though terrible if angered, were |
| Malory states quite clearly "for whiles ye have the | | | | kindly and mild by nature. Not mentioned either in the |
| scabbard upon you, ye shall never lose no blood, be | | | | Veda or in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads, the myth |
| ye never so sore wounded; therefore keep well the | | | | seems to be a strange jumble of beliefs, not |
| scabbard always with you." It is only when Arthur's | | | | altogether pleasant, about a strangely gifted race of |
| half sister Morgan le Fay steals the scabbard and | | | | actual men; combined with notions derived from |
| replaces it that Arthur becomes susceptible to the | | | | previously existing theories of tree worship, and |
| deadly blows of Mordred. The once prized sword is | | | | serpent worship, and river worship. But the history of |
| then returned to the water, the home of the Lady | | | | the idea has still to be written. The Naagas are |
| of the Lake - the serpent spirit.There is a remarkable | | | | represented on the ancient bas-reliefs as men or |
| resemblance between the tales of Arthur's sword | | | | women either with cobra's hoods rising behind their |
| and an unsuspecting Chinese legend. A hero from the | | | | heads or with serpentine forms from their waist |
| 6th century BC named Wu Tzu-hsu threw his sword | | | | downwards." Rhys Davies, Buddhist India, p.223.These |
| into a river "It shot forth like a spirit-glow, sparkling | | | | tree deities were Nagas anyway as Rhys Davies |
| brightly as it thrice sank and thrice came to the | | | | continues on page 223 "The tree-deities were called |
| surface with a great gush and then hovered above | | | | Naagas, and were able at will, like the Naagas, to |
| the water. The god of the river . . . heard the swords | | | | assume the human form and in one story the spirit |
| roar . . . he rolled in the waters in a great and frothing | | | | of a Nunyan tree who reduced the merchants to |
| frenzy . . . Dragons raced along the waves and | | | | ashes is called a Naaga-raja, the tree itself is a |
| leaped out of the water. The river god held the | | | | dwelling place of Naaga. It seems that they also left |
| sword in his hand and, frightened, told Wu Tzu-hsu to | | | | behind myths of healing as a story in the Journal of |
| take it back." (Mair 1983, 141 and 286.) This story | | | | the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society |
| related in the 8th century AD simply cannot differ | | | | demonstrates. When there was an epidemic among |
| from Malory's tale of the sword. In China there were | | | | the children, it seems the only answer was to bring |
| tales of great swords such as Dragon Spring and | | | | them to a snake skin which was hung on a pole and |
| others still that leap into the waters surrounded by | | | | allow them to touch it - reminding us of the idea of |
| dragons, which churn up the water. Wu Tzu-hsu's | | | | the Brazen Serpent of Moses, which was upon a pole |
| sword is also called Dragon Spring. [2]And this Dragon | | | | and for the healing of the "children" of Israel. This |
| Spring carries us back again to the water nymphs | | | | may explain why it is that the tree-gods are not |
| who were seen universally as controlling the essential | | | | specially and separately mentioned in the Maha |
| essence of life via their relationship with the healing | | | | Samaya list of deities who are there said by the poet |
| waters, springs and lakes. Coventina was worshipped | | | | to have come to pay reverence to the Buddha."The |
| widely and it is highly likely that the Arthurian Morgan | | | | history of the Nagas that we do have, textually |
| Le Fay is associated with her, as her name implies | | | | beginning around the 7th century BC is an amazing |
| water nymph. There are also elements, which | | | | history of ups and downs. It parallels the rise and fall |
| introduce her into the 'Triple Goddess' of the Celtic | | | | of the serpent worshipped by the Semites, with the |
| religion and therefore relating her to Bridgid. She was | | | | Brazen Serpent being raised in the wilderness and |
| a great goddess of healing; linked strongly with water | | | | then broken up in the temple. Like Melusine and Sibillia, |
| nymphs - and in relation to the sword she was also a | | | | Tante Arie also loved to plunge into cool pools in her |
| great smith.She also owned an apple orchard, which | | | | caverns of Milandre where she changed into a |
| relates nicely to Avalon, the isle of apples. Her day is | | | | vouivre or serpent; bringing to mind the concept that |
| called Imbolc - around the 2nd February - but it is also | | | | the shape-shifting Nagas of India which were said to |
| known as Oimelc, Candlemas and in the USA as | | | | reside in the underwater realms. Surely these ladies |
| 'Groundhog Day.' This special event in the American | | | | of ancient lore are folk memories of serpent |
| calendar involves of course the mass killing of snakes, | | | | worshipping leaders from the past - and a positively |
| and relates to the tale of Bridgid's snake, which | | | | feminine one at that. The Nagas were also said to |
| comes out of the mound from which it had been | | | | have jewels in their foreheads, like many other |
| hibernating.At Oimelc it is said that the singers cry, | | | | serpents from legend. As if knowing this, the vouivre |
| "The day of Bride, the birthday of spring, The | | | | too wears a jewel in the middle of her forehead. The |
| serpent emerges from the knoll." And in winter, | | | | Nagas are also said to protect great treasure, so too |
| Scottish folk poems still speak of the serpent that | | | | do the ladies of European lore.We know that the |
| dwells in the hillside.As the 'Lady of the Lake' forged | | | | Scythians were great worshippers of the serpent |
| Arthur's sword, so too the various parts of these | | | | from many sources - as in the bracelets found, which |
| ancient goddesses simply must have been collated | | | | the women wore as symbols of fertility. The |
| together in the form of this Arthurian water goddess | | | | Scythians were intimately linked with the Naga, |
| - a new deity forged.These goddesses, all basically | | | | serpent worshippers of India via trade and war. They |
| the same, are also related to Sibyl or the Sibillia who | | | | came to Europe via several means - one of them as |
| presides over witches; and in the Ukraine one of the | | | | hired hands of the Romans, and in this way crept |
| names for 'witch' actually means 'snake,' and in Russia | | | | into the Arthurian legend. Herodotus tells us of an |
| it was believed that witches had snake tails. This | | | | account of the Scythian snake goddess who was |
| sheds more light on the idea that witches mixed their | | | | mistress of the land where the Dniepr flowed into |
| famous brews and elixirs in their cauldrons, very | | | | the Black Sea. This Scythian serpent goddess was |
| much like the cauldron such as the one discovered at | | | | also a cave dweller.The xana serpent goddesses of |
| Gundestrup. For if it is true what we uncovered in | | | | Asturias even had a sacred and valuable chalice stolen |
| The Serpent Grail, then this brew was serpent | | | | by a human, only to eventually deposit the famed |
| venom and blood.Sibillia has the 'power over life' and | | | | cup in a Church - thus taking the sacred cup from |
| touches baskets and bottles with her wand to | | | | the serpent and giving it to Christianity. These xana's |
| restore them afresh. Sibillia taught magical arts in her | | | | kept their treasures in a "serpent cave" immersed in |
| serpent grotto where shape-shifting fairies | | | | pools, remarkably like the Patala of the Nagas. |
| reminiscent of the naginis (female serpents) of India | | | | In Wales the serpents were said to emerge and |
| emerge and dance around. These fairies are said to | | | | congregate on Midsummer's Eve to blow into the |
| turn into snakes each Saturday. Anyone who wished | | | | Serpent Stones / Eggs or Glain Neidr which is |
| to enter this Sybil Cave must love snakes or suffer | | | | reminiscent of Pliny's tale of this activity amongst the |
| the consequences. Sibillia is also seen in the Life of | | | | Gauls. The snakes are said to create eggs or |
| Robin Goodfellow (similar to Robin Hood and which | | | | alternatively 'new life.' In Wales these serpent stones |
| means "bright or shining hood") as Sib, who speaks | | | | were said to be coloured pebbles, which gave |
| for the fairies. She says that they live in "some great | | | | 'second sight' and healing.Midsummer's Eve was the |
| hill, and from thence we do lend money to any poore | | | | night when the serpents would role themselves into |
| man or woman that hath need." In the 15th century, | | | | hissing balls and create the glain egg, also known as |
| Perceforest has her as the 'Lady of the Lake.'In | | | | 'snake stone' or 'Druid's egg.' In Welsh myth even |
| Scottish myth one of these fairies lived inside a tree | | | | Merlin himself went in search of them.Victor H. Mair of |
| and often appeared holding a limpet shell containing | | | | the University of Pennsylvania also points to the |
| the 'milk of wisdom' which was called the "copan | | | | association between the Scythian and the Arthurian |
| Moire" or "Cup of Mary" in her hands - an obvious | | | | tales: "The Nart sagas [repositories of Scythian |
| allusion to the 'life-giving' element and wisdom of | | | | traditions] contain parallels with Arthurian legend so |
| these snake, shape-shifters remembered in | | | | numerous and so uncannily close that it is impossible |
| legend.There are many other tales, which link these | | | | they are unrelated."Interestingly, remains of these |
| European snake shape-shifters to the Nagas of India | | | | Scythians have been found on the Silk Road to China. |
| and we would just like to break off for a moment to | | | | Remains here of Caucasians dates back even before |
| take a look at these peculiar deities.Naga is a Sanskrit | | | | that and at present stand somewhere in the region |
| term meaning literally Serpent (especially cobra) but it | | | | of 3,000 years BC, with female Shaman being buried |
| also holds the meanings - a tree; a mountain; the sun; | | | | in full regalia, tattoos of spirals and zig zags and long |
| the number seven; wisdom and initiate - all symbols | | | | finger nails. This in itself shows the widespread travel |
| and emblems we will become familiar with in the | | | | of these Scythians or those like them and the |
| worship of the serpent. They are said to reside in | | | | transport of ideas, possible many thousands of years |
| Patala, however this has a meaning similar to | | | | ago. In China of course, we find the serpents or |
| antipodes, the same name given by the ancients to | | | | dragons as friendly creatures who become the |
| the America's. It is a similar term to the Mexican | | | | ancestors of the very Emperor's themselves and |
| Nagals, the medicine (healers) and sorcerers who | | | | seep into Chinese alchemy as symbols of the Elixir.So, |
| always kept a god in the shape of a serpent. In | | | | in summing up, what do we have? We have serpent |
| Burma they are Nats or serpent gods. Esoterically | | | | deities, across the world, living in underwater |
| Naga is a term for wise men. There is a folk tradition | | | | kingdoms, making great weapons and guarding |
| that Nagas washed Gautama (Buddha) at his birth - | | | | wondrous treasures. We have etymology linking |
| the wise men visiting the deity on Earth and cleansing | | | | them to the Lady of the Lake and we have |
| the enlightened one. They are also said to have | | | | Arthurian links and Grail connections through the |
| guarded him and the relics of his body after his | | | | mighty warrior race of the Scythians. In short, we |
| death.According to H. P. Blavatsky in Theosophical | | | | have here, the truth of the Lady herself and the |
| Glossary, the Naga were descended from Rishi | | | | origin of the Grail mythos is yet again to be found |
| Kasyapa who had twelve wives (therefore he is the | | | | within the tale of the snake. History, it seems, needs |
| sun), by whom he had numerous Nagas (serpents) | | | | re-appraising.Notes |
| and was the father of all animals. Rishi Kasyapa can | | | | 1 See The Serpent Grail by Philip Gardiner and Gary |
| therefore be none other than a progenitor of the | | | | Osborn, Watkins, 2005. |
| Green Man, and this explains the reasons for the | | | | 2 See for more information about the serpent |
| appearance of the snake in images of the Green Man | | | | sword or visit and go to articles.Permission to re-print |
| and Horned God, such as the Gundestrup | | | | this article is hereby given by Philip Gardiner and Gary |
| Cauldron.There is also a theory that the Nagas | | | | Osborn, Sept 2005. |
| descended from the Scythic race and when the | | | | |