Atlantis the Lost Continent Finally Found

by Arysio Santos

  Finally, the dolphin is also closely associated with Atlantis. The dolphin is the sacred emblem of both Poseidon and Dionysos, the Greek counterparts of Shiva. Dionysos is the Greek Mystery god often said to have been born in India (Nysa). Poseidon is in turn the founder of Atlantis and the father of Atlas and Gadeiros, his successors as the twin rulers of Atlantis.

  Shiva, the “Pillar of Heaven” (Sthanu, Stambha) is also the Hindu archetype of Poseidon and hence of Atlas, the first ruler of Atlantis. Shiva’s

  emblem is the trident (trishula). And the trident is also the emblem of Poseidon. This charming coin from Sicily (330 BC) shows Poseidon in the obverse and his trident flanked by two dolphins in the reverse. ↑058

  This curious symbol, together with the anchor, are both precursors of the Cross of Christ. Some iconographies explicitly show the dolphin impaled on the trident. And this quaint imagery was adopted by the early Christians as an alias and disguise of Christ’s Cross when their nascent religion was still a well-guarded secret. ↑059

  In fact, the twin dolphins correspond to the twin saviors, themselves aliases of Hercules and Atlas or, if you prefer, Shiva and Vishnu or Apollo and Dionysos, etc.. In this context it is interesting to compare the two dolphins with the falling figures of Solomon and Hiram of Arcane #17, the Tower, commented further above.

  The vase itself (rython) is another emblem of Atlantis. The sacred vase is, in many ways, an alias and precursor of the Holy Grail. The footless shape of rhytons and amphoras is also ritual in character. It derives directly from the Svayambhu Linga of India. The linga represents Shiva as the “Pillar of the World”. Even more exactly, the linga is the symbol of Atlantis, again in the same connection. ↑060

  The word svayambhu signifies “existing of itself; self-originated” in Sanskrit. The idea here is that Atlantis existed of itself, and did not originate, like all subsequent civilizations, from the diffusion of other cultures, arts and techniques. This idea is vividly represented here, through a curious inversion of the symbolism, by the vase or the egg which cannot stand of itself.

  In this context the Svayambhu linga is often identified to the Cosmic Egg from which all things originally developed. The egg or linga often turns into the mandorla, its feminine counterpart. In fact, the two symbols are often represented together, by the yoni-lingam, the two sex symbols in intimate union. ↑061

  These symbols in turn represent the twin volcanoes of Atlantis, the Toba and the Krakatoa. These two volcanoes – the Krakatoa in special – also correspond to what the Hindus call the Vadavamukha (or “Submarine Mare”). The Submarine Mare is also called the “Doomsday Fire”, which periodically destroys the world, when the respective eras are to end.

  The aforementioned symbolisms are all closely linked and ultimately derive from a common source of extreme antiquity, probably Atlantean in origin. Their meaning is somewhat complex, particularly in their connection with the Flood. This connection is instanced by the figure just linked of Vishnu quietly asleep over the coiled body of the Serpent Shesha, itself an allegory of the Flood.

  When traced to its origin, this symbolism is visibly derived from the Hindu ones just commented. And its very universality proves both its hoary age and its probable connection with Atlantis, the sole possible conveyor of this worldwide diffusion to distant overseas locations.

  Curiously enough, the “starfish motif” is also characteristic of the Australian Aboriginal sacred traditions on the Flood. So is the dolphin itself, often associated in Atlantis type decorations in Australia, precisely as they were in Minoan Crete and other locations. Such is the case of the rhyton in question here or the “dolphin and trident” coins just discussed above.

  One of these Australian illustrations is shown in the above figure. The seven concentric circles correspond to the Seven Isles of the Blest and the Seven Dvipas of Hindu traditions. But these often become three, in correspondence with the “Atlantis Plan motif” instanced here. ↑062

  The four dolphins in turn correspond to the Four Guardians (Lokapalas) of Hindu traditions, themselves aliases of the two main ones. In Australian symbolism, the dolphin often becomes the “Rainbow Serpent”. And the Rainbow Serpent is himself an alias of the Serpent Shesha in his quality of sea serpent, a creature which abounds in the whole of the South Seas region and essentially nowhere else. ↑063

  Shesha is often specifically compared to the rainbow as a marker of the Universal Flood. And his myth is particularly important and widespread in the whole of the South Seas region, where Atlantis sank down.

  The “Atlantis plain motif” is often portrayed sunken underseas in Australian paintings, such as the ones illustrated below. The resemblance is too close to require further comments, and the two traditions, Minoan and Australian, obviously originated from a common source, very probably Atlantean.

  The motif of the “submarine sun” is also as old as it is widespread.

  As we already mentioned, it corresponds to the Vadavamukha, the “Fiery Submarine Mare” of Hindu traditions. The Vadavamukha, also called Aurva, is considered to be the “Fire of Doomsday”. This because of the fact that it destroys the world when the time comes for it. ↑064

  In Hindu traditions, the tenth and forthcoming avatar of Vishnu – or of Shiva, according to Shivaite beliefs – is called Kalkin. Kalkin will come about riding the Vadava, and destroying the world with its fire.

  The name of Kalkin is more or less synonymous with that of the Serpent Shesha, showing their esoteric connection. Both these names mean “scum, spume, froth”. And it closely corresponds to the Greek word ilus or pelos, the scum or froth which, according to Plato, covered the seas of Atlantis after its destruction, rendering them innavigable.

  This “froth” is actually pumice stone, which is in fact volcanic spume (Latin pumex = “spume, froth”). And these parallel traditions attest, better than anything else, the volcanic nature of the Atlantean cataclysm of fire and water.

  Some texts even identify Shiva, in his Kalagni shape, with the Vadava itself. And Kalagni means “Fire of Doomsday”. Another passage in the majestic Mahabharata (12:348) identifies the Vadavamukha with Vishnu (Narayana) himself, rather than his horse. And it tells of the destruction of the world by a giant volcanism, which covers all lands and creates an utter universal darkness which leads the world into a global death. ↑065

  The Mahabharata (I:180-4) also tells the story of the genesis of the Vadavamukha, alias Aurva. This name means “born of the thigh”, because of the fact that, like Dionysos, Aurva was born out of the thigh of his mother, where she had hid his fetus, for fear of the Kshatryas. These had killed all of Aurva’s race, the Bhrigus, excepting Aurva himself. ↑066

  Aurva’s rage was so great that from his eyes poured forth a fire, which became the Vadavamukha. This was later enclosed within a mare’s skull, and confined to the Ocean, on whose bottom it burns quietly until the time of Doomsday. Come this time, the Vadava goes haywire, and grows without limit, destroying the world with Fire and Water (supervolcanisms and giant tsunamis).

  There are a great many variants of this legend in the Puranas and other holy books. But all describe the Vadavamukha in terms that can only refer to a submarine supervolcano such as the Krakatoa. As such volcanoes are extremely rare, the odds of the legend referring to the Krakatoa volcano are overwhelming.

  Moreover, the Mahabharata text just linked, and several others of enormous antiquity, explicitly identify the Aurva with the Submarine Sun, the second such: “And the son of Saktri, like the Sun just emerging from the clouds, illuminated the whole firmament by that stainless sacrifice of his [of the Rakshasas] into which the large libations of clarified butter were poured. Then Vasishtha and the other Rishis regarded that Muni blazing with his own energy as if he were the second Sun.”

  The Mahabharata further affirms that the fire of Aurva destroyed the Rakshasas in their totality. And the Rakshasas are the semi-demonic people of Lanka, whom we have identified with the decayed Atlanteans. This quain
t symbolism of the Submarine Fire or Sun as a submarine volcano is so exact that it leaves little room for doubting its direct connection with Atlantis, destroyed in just this way.

  Finally, we note that the island of Lanka, the former abode of the Rakshasas, was also called Vadavamukha. Lanka is also the same as Taprobane or Sumatra, the abode of the Krakatoa volcano, which lies inside the waters of Sunda Strait, its frontier with Java. Now, Taprobane is the very place which we have identified with Atlantis.

  It is also worth remarking that both Shiva and Vishnu are often identified with volcanoes. As such, they are also identified to the two “Pillars of the World”. This imagery dates from the Rigvedic times, and hence long predates the similar ones of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and other Mediterranean peoples.

  It is strange to see one’s gods and heroes identified with volcanoes and cruciform celestial pillars. But this identification can be explained. Religion started out as Naturism, and gods and heroes were originally natural sprites (genii or angels) controlling natural events: volcanoes, earthquakes, winds, tempests and so forth.

  It is hence natural that the two supreme gods of India would be identified to supervolcanoes, the supreme natural disaster. In this role, Vishnu and Shiva correspond to the twins of all mythologies.

  These omnipresent Twins are the ones who bring about Doomsday when they start to quarrel: Atlas and Hercules, Zeus and Poseidon, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, Solomon and Hiram, the Two Dolphins, and so forth. Even in the Americas these two figures are often found: Nhanderykey and

  Tyvyry in South America, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca in Mexico, the Twins of the Mayan Popol Vuh, the ones of the Navajo Indians commented in my site, and so forth.

  The two volcanoes in question here are the ones of Atlantis, the two Pillars of Hercules and/or Atlas. The two are both volcanoes or, alternatively, the two pylons flanking the volcano inside Sunda Strait, the Gate of Dawn. As such, they also correspond to the Split Mountain discussed above (Mt. Mashu), the one from which the sun rises every morning, in the Orient. Hence its other name of “Mountain of the Orient (or of Sunrise)”

  In more realistic terms, this quaint symbolism originated from the twin volcanoes heralding the new “day” that the terrestrial sun in fact inaugurates, the new era of the world. As the eras change, these twin volcanoes also change: the Toba and the Krakatoa in Sumatra; the Krakatoa and the Dempo in Sunda Strait and so on. It is natural that the presiding gods change residence when their former abode is destroyed as the eras come and go. Only the last two eras count, forming Heaven and Earth.

  Originally, these two volcanoes were the Gunung Agung and the Gunung Rinjani, the two majestic volcanoes flanking Lombok Strait, near Bali. These two volcanic peaks – towering at 3,726 meters (Mt. Rinjani) and 3,142 meters (Mt. Agung) – were the original Pillars of Hercules – and/or Atlas or, more exactly, Shiva and Vishnu, their Hindu archetypes.

  These two volcanoes formed the two pylons of the original Gate of Dawn which led to the interior of Paradise during the Ice Age. As such, Lombok Strait corresponded to the very start of Wallace Line, the only maritime passage open to the interior of Atlantis during the Ice Age.

  This was before Sunda Strait and Malacca Strait were opened – one by the Atlantean cataclysm itself, the other by the rise of sea level which took place after this catastrophic event. This rise turned the River of Paradise into the narrow channel which now separates Sumatra from the Malay Peninsula, Malacca Strait.

  Part III - The Many Sites of Atlantis

  There is no place for dogma in Science. The scientist is free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any error. Where Science has been used in the past to erect a new dogmatism, that dogmatism has found itself incompatible with the progress of Science; and in the end, the dogma has yielded, or Science and Freedom have perished together.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer

  Chapter 10 - The Atlantic Ocean of the Ancients

  If anyone can show me that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which has never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does us harm.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Introduction

  In the present section (Part III) we discuss in some detail the several sites that have been thus far proposed for Atlantis over the two and a half millennia that have elapsed since Plato slightly lifted the veil of secrecy which has impenetrably surrounded the Lost Continent since remotest antiquity. In Part IV we comment, in some detail, our proposed localization, the one of Sundaland, under the seas of Indonesia.

  We also here argue the identity of Eden with Atlantis, and demonstrate its true location in Taprobane (Indonesia). There, we have discovered the former existence of a huge continent, now sunken under the seas presently called Java Sea and South China Sea. And we have also discovered that this now sunken continent was the actual source of Civilization, where agriculture and other such seminal inventions were made long ago.

  Even today, Atlantis remains the greatest enigma posed to humans since the beginning of history. And the myriad experts who have so far attempted to discover its true site cannot agree even on fundamental matters such as the ocean in which Atlantis is located, whether the Atlantic, the Indian or the Pacific Oceans, or even if Atlantis was wholly sunken or not.

  Strangely enough, the sole obstacle that still remains in accepting the fact that the true site of Atlantis now lies under the Indonesian seas lies in the fact that people often grossly misunderstand what Plato really meant by words such as “island”, “island of Atlantis”; “Atlantic Ocean”, “Pillars of Hercules”, “seism”, “earthquake”, “flood”, “mud shoals”, etc..

  People – regrettably including most academic experts – normally believe that these words had the same meaning in Plato’s time that they have today. Plato lived some 2,500 years ago, an enormous span of time, by linguistic standards.

  One should not forget that Plato specifically affirms that the original names of the Atlantean localities and personages were actually translated into Egyptian from the unknown equivalents in the original language, whatever this mysterious Atlantean tongue might have been. 5

  From the Egyptian tongue they were next translated into ancient Greek and then, two and a half millennia later, into the modern languages such as English, French, etc.. It is unlikely that Solon – who did the retranslation into Greek – was actually an expert in ancient Egyptian.

  It is equally improbable that either the ancient Egyptians, or the Greeks themselves, were skilled in Atlantean, a tongue spoken 9,000 years earlier than their own time. Even ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek changed so much as to often become unrecognizable in practice today, particularly in esoteric contexts.

  Most fortunately, I was lucky enough to discover that the original Atlantean tongue was a form of proto-Dravida, a language that has partly survived in the dialects of South India as well as in its many holy books and traditions. This lucky trove of ours allowed us to linguistically reconstruct the etymology of many toponyms whose meaning had otherwise become utterly lost.

  Many of these words actually passed into Sanskrit, the other sacred tongue of ancient India. Sanskrit is actually an artificial tongue, derived or reconstructed from Dravida itself, as we have shown in great detail. In this way, these theonyms and toponyms were sometimes preserved in a recognizable way in that sacred tongue of India.

  The Case of Ys Brazil

  Ask any competent linguist, and he/she will tell you that languages and words change so much in the course of millennia as to become unrecognizable in both sound and meaning (semantics and phonetics). So do toponyms and onomastics, particularly when they pass from one language to another, often through translation. The examples I give below demonstrate the truth of what I just said.

  For example, the name of Brazil changed from the original one of Ilha de Vera Cruz to Terra de Santa Cruz and then to America, which is today only associat
ed with the USA and almost never with Brazil. The land’s name finally became Brazil, nowadays more correctly spelled Brasil. This name was adopted from the one of Hy Brazil (or Ys Brazil, Island of Brazil), a mythical “Atlantic Island”.

  These islands were believed to be a remainder of sunken Atlantis itself, and to be located in the Pacific rather than the Atlantic Ocean. All these changes in perception about Brazil and its name happened within a matter of just a few centuries, instead of ten thousand years and more. Similar changes also occurred in the United States and other locations in both the Old and the New Worlds.

  Hence, it seems reasonable to concentrate on the geographical features themselves, rather than on the place-names which often change, in the course of time. Except for sea level rise, geographical features normally take millions of years to change substantially. This, in contrast to geographical place-names, which normally change a lot even in a matter of a few centuries only.

  Is it hard, then, to believe that what happened to Brazil in a few scant centuries could also have happened to the Atlantean Island itself (hê Atlantis nêsos), since we know so little of what Plato really meant by that curious name? Hence, it is clear that the usual view that the above toponyms (place-names) apply verbatim to the features presently so named is erroneous. ↑067

  First of all, by “Atlantic Ocean” the ancient Greeks normally designated the whole of the world-encircling ocean. By “island” they often meant what we nowadays improperly call “continent”.

  The Greeks and the Phoenicians habitually named any important strait connecting two different seas in which they roved as “Pillars of Hercules”. In order to justify this name, they often erected temples decorated by such twin pillars there.