The Evolution of the Dragon

On 23 February, 1915, an essay on the spread of certain customs and beliefs in ancient times under the title "On the Significance of the Geographical Distribution of the Practice of Mummification", was presented to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and in Rylands Lecture two weeks later the general conclusions were summed up. In view of the lively controversies that followed the publication of the former of these addresses, the next Rylands Lecture was devoted to the discussion of "The Relationship of the Egyptian Practice of Mummification to the Development of Civilization". In preparing this address for publication some months later so much stress was laid upon the problems of "Incense and Libations" this more concise title was adopted for the elaboration of the lecture which forms the first chapter of this book. This will explain why so many matters are discussed in that chapter which have little or no connexion either with "Incense and Libations" or with "The Evolution of the Dragon". The study of the development of the belief in water's life-giving attributes, and their personification in the gods Osiris, Ea, Soma (Haoma) and Varuna, prepared the way for the elucidation of the history of "Dragons and Rain Gods" in a following lecture. What played a large part in directing the author's thoughts dragon-wards was the discussion of certain representations of the Indian Elephant upon Precolumbian monuments in, and manuscripts from, Central America. For in the course of investigating the meaning of these remarkable designs directing the author discovered that the Elephant-headed rain-god of America had attributes identical with those of the Indian lndra (and of Varuna and Soma) and the Chinese dragon. The investigation of these identities, established the fact that the American rain-god was transmitted across the Pacific from India via Cambodia.