Chapter 25 Killing the God-King: The king is executed at the end of his term

In the examples described above, the people allowed the god-king or priest to reign until the time when a defect in his physical appearance, decline of health, or some visible sign of old age reminded the people that he could no longer perform the duties of the priesthood.He would not be put to death until such signs appeared.Some peoples, however, seem to think that it is not safe to wait for even the smallest sign of infirmity, and prefer to kill the king while he is still young and strong.Therefore, they fixed a time beyond which he could not reign, and when the time expired he must die, so short as to ensure that he could not grow old physically during this time.In some places in southern India the time limit is set at twelve years.According to an ancient traveler, in Kirakalban, "there is a prayer-house of the pagans, in which there is an idol which they venerate, and every twelve years a great assembly is held for him, and the pagans go there, as in This temple has a lot of land and a lot of income: the assembly is a great thing. There is a king in this state, whose reign is limited to twelve years, from one festival to the next. He The way of life is like this, that is to say, at the end of twelve years, countless people gather together on this festival and spend a lot of money to feed the Brahmins. The king makes a wooden frame and hangs silk on it; With great ceremony and music, he went to bathe in a barrel, then went to pray before the idol, climbed up the wooden frame, took some very fast knives in front of everyone, and began to cut off his own nose And ears, lips, and limbs, cut as much flesh from him as possible; and threw it away quickly, till he bled profusely, and began to faint, whereupon he cut his own throat. That's how he sacrificed to idols. Anyone Whoever wants to be king for the next twelve years, and promises to make such a sacrifice to show respect and love for this idol, is to be watched on the trestle. That is where the people make him king."

The Malabar coast [belonging to India, is located on the western coast of the Indian peninsula, from the port of Panjim in the north to Cape Comorin in the south. ] The kings of Calicut were called Samorin or Samori.He "pretends to be higher than the Brahmans, but only a little lower than the invisible God; his subjects admit his pretending, but the Brahmins think it is absurd and abhorrent, and they only regard him as a Sudra People are divided into four castes: Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaishya (farmers and businessmen), and Sudra (unskilled laborer).]".Once upon a time, at the end of each twelve-year term, Summerlin had to slit his own throat in public.But towards the end of the seventeenth century the rule was changed as follows: "Once upon a time many strange customs were observed in this country, and some very queer ones continue to prevail. The Summerlins ruled only twelve years, not more than ten. Two years, it is an ancient custom. If he dies before the expiration, he saves a troublesome ceremony: cutting his own throat in public on a specially erected shelf. He first feasts all his nobles, There were a great many. After the banquet he took leave of his guests, stepped up to the aisle, and in full view of all, calmly slit his own throat, and after a while his body was burned with great pomp and ceremony, nobleman Let us choose a new Samorin. Whether this custom is religious or civil, I don't know, but it is out of fashion now. The modern Summerlin obeys a new custom: at the end of twelve years, in the whole territory The emperor announced a grand gathering, pitched a tent for him on a wide flat ground, set up a banquet for ten or twelve days in a row, with joy and laughter, shooting guns day and night, and at the end of the banquet, all the guests The four who wanted to risk their lives for the crown fought their way out of the king's 30,000 to 40,000 policemen until they killed Summerlin in the tent, and whoever killed him would inherit in his kingdom His throne. In 1695 A.D. there was another such assembly, and tents were pitched near Pounani, one of the king's seaports, forty-five miles south of Calicut. Only three men were willing to attempt the desperate act, and they Armed with swords and shields, they broke into the guards, and after they killed and wounded many, they themselves were killed. Among the outlaws, one of them took a nephew of fifteen or sixteen years old. The boy followed his uncle closely, and when he saw When the uncle attacked the guard and fell, he passed through the guard and entered the tent, and hit His Majesty on the head with a blow, which would have sent him off if the big brass lamp burning on the king's head had not blocked him. But the boy was too late One more time and he was killed by the guards. I believe that Summerlin is still ruling today. I happened to be passing by the sea at that time, and I heard gunshots two or three nights in a row."

I am quoting the account of an English traveler who himself did not see the assembly he describes, although he heard gunshots in the distance.Fortunately, precise records of these spectacles and the number of deaths at them are preserved in the royal archives at Calicut. In the second half of the 19th century, Mr. W. Logan consulted these archives, and also received the personal help of the current king.An exact conception of that tragedy and scene, which continued until 1743 and took place regularly, can be derived from his writings. The festival on which the King of Calicut staked his crown and life on the outcome of battles is called the High Sacrifice.Once every twelve years, when Jupiter travels in Cancer, it lasts for twenty-eight days and ends on the eighth day of Macalan.Since the festivals depend on the position of Jupiter in the sky, and the time between two festivals is twelve years, roughly the period of Jupiter's orbit around the sun, we can deduce that this glorious planet is probably (in a certain sense) the king's fate, In charge of his destiny, its cycles in the heavens coincide with the cycles of the king's reign on earth.Whatever it is, the festival ceremony is always performed with great pomp at the Tirunafay Temple on the north bank of the Punani River.The site is very close to the current railway line.As the train passed, you could just catch a glimpse of the temple, which was almost completely hidden behind the trees on the river bank.A straight road extends from the west gate of the temple. The road surface is almost as high as the surrounding rice fields, covered with beautiful tree-lined roads. After half a mile, it reaches a high ridge with a steep slope. Traces of the outline of the four-level platform.On the festival day the king was at the top of the platform.The view from here is beautiful.A flat rice field, a wide and calm river meanders through the field, and at a glance, there is a high platform in the west, its low slope is surrounded by trees, and farther away is the raised mountain range in the west of Mount Gaoci. In the farthest reaches were the Neilgerries or Blue Mountains, almost inseparable from the blue sky above them.

At this fateful moment, the king's eyes are naturally not looking at the distant scenery.His attention was focused on something closer to him.Because the entire plain is full of bustling troops, their flags fluttering briskly in the sun, and their many white camping tents stand out against the emerald green and golden of the rice fields.Forty thousand warriors, or more than forty thousand, were assembled there to protect the king.The plain was full of soldiers, but the road from the temple to the king's residence was deserted.There were fences on either side of the road, and spears held by strong arms stretched out from behind the two fences into the clear road, and the points of the spears met in the middle of the road, forming a shining arch of steel.At this point, everything is ready.The king swung his sword.At the same time, a long gold chain carved in cameo was placed on the back of the elephant beside him.This is the signal.There was an instant commotion at the gate of the temple half a mile away.A few warriors with swords, adorned with flowers and painted ashes, stepped out of the crowd.They had just eaten their last meal on earth and were now receiving their last wishes and farewells from their friends.After a while, they came to the alley where the spears were erected, slashing and stabbing the spearmen from left to right, turning, turning, and twisting in the spear blades, as if they had no bones on their bodies.It was all futile.One by one they fell, some closer to the king, some farther away, and all died contentedly, not for an empty crown, but to show the world their fearlessness and swordsmanship.The same glorious show of bravery, the same senseless sacrifice of life, is repeated over and over again in the last days of each festival.However, perhaps as long as it can be proved that some people value honor more than life, then any sacrifice is not completely meaningless.

When the time came, and the king was about to die, whether by his own hand or by someone else's, they were naturally willing to hand over this painful duty, along with some of the privileges of ruling, to a substitute who would suffer in his place.This expedient was practiced by some of the princes of Malabar.An authoritative local author tells us, "In some places all power, both executive and judicial, is delegated to the natives by the king for a definite period. Amu', which means power in exchange for being beheaded... This is a five-year position during which the incumbent has the highest dictatorial power in his jurisdiction. When the five-year period expires, he The head was chopped off and thrown into the air in a large gathering of villagers, and when the head fell, everyone scrambled to catch it. Whoever caught it was appointed to serve, and it was another five years."

Those kings who must die at the end of their term, when they have the pleasant idea of ​​having someone else die in their place, will naturally carry it out; It's popular, and it's no wonder.Scandinavian traditions have some clues that the ancient Swedish kings only reigned for nine years, after which they were either killed or had a substitute die.It is said that the Swedish king Orn, or Onn, paid homage to Odin for several days, and then the god replied that as long as he sacrificed one of his sons every nine years, he could live.He sacrificed nine children, as the gods said, and would have sacrificed the tenth and last, had the Swedes not permitted him to do so.So he died and was buried on a hill in Absalah.Strange legends about Odin's coronation or exile are another indication of similar conditions for maintaining the throne.Odin's wrong actions angered some other gods, they deprived him of his authority and exiled him, but set up a substitute in his place, named Orel, a cunning wizard, and they separated the royal power and The signs of theocracy were handed over to him.The proxy had ruled in Odin's name for nearly a decade, at which point the original Odin returned and ousted him from the throne.He retired to Sweden, where he was killed in an attempt to regain the throne.Since gods are often nothing more than human beings magnified in the fog of tradition, we can presume that this Norse myth preserves a disorganized fragment of history: the ancient Swedish king who reigned every nine or ten years and then abdicated to be replaced by someone else. country to die.The feast held every nine years at Absalah may have been the occasion for the execution of the king or his vicars.We know that human sacrifices are part of this ritual.

According to the materials we have, it can be determined that many ancient Greek kings reigned for only eight years, at least when the eight-year period ended, the ceremony of inauguration would be held again to receive the new vitality bestowed by God.This enabled the king to perform his administrative and religious duties.Therefore, there is a provision in the Spartan constitution that the five elected chief executives must choose a clear and moonless night to sit down and observe the sky every eight years.If they saw a fireball or a shooting star, they presumed that the king had sinned against the gods, and suspended him from power until the oracle of Delphi or Olympiad would restore him.This custom, with all its antiquity, was a dead law even in the last days of the Spartan monarchy; thrones, of which the one that sees evil omens in the sky occupies a prominent place.

If the Spartans formerly limited the term of the king to eight years, we naturally ask, why should such a period be fixed for the duration of the king's reign?The reason for this may be found in the astronomical ideas which determined the ancient Greek calendar.It is always difficult to coordinate the time of the lunar calendar with the time of the solar calendar. This is a long-term problem that makes people who have just emerged from the barbaric state rack their brains. The eight-year cycle is the shortest period during which the solar and lunar timings are always partially consistent for a full eight years, and it is only at the end of the eight-year cycle that the solar and lunar calendars really coincide in timing, e.g. , the full moon happens to be either the longest or the shortest day, which happens only once in eight years; this coincidence can be observed by a simple heliodon, for a method that roughly (though not precisely) harmonizes the lunar and solar calendars. As far as the calendar is concerned, this observation naturally provides the basis first.But in ancient times the proper adjustment of the calendar was a matter of religion, for it depended upon it to know the proper seasons of invoking the gods whose favor was indispensable to the welfare of society.It is not surprising, then, that the king, who is the high priest of the state, or a god at all, steps down or dies, of course, most likely at the end of an astronomical cycle.The sun, the moon, and the stars are moving high in their orbits, and when they are about to start their race in the sky again, people naturally think that the king should also renew their divine power, or prove that they have not declined, and this is done by letting to a more energetic successor.We have talked about how in southern India the reign and life of the king ended with Jupiter going around the sun.In Greece, on the other hand, the fate of the king also hung on one end of the scale at the end of eight years, and a shooting star was placed on the opposite scale, and it was immediately lifted, and it was not enough to compete with it.

Whatever the origin of the eight-year cycle, the normal period of kings' reigns was also of the same eight-year duration in other parts of Greece besides Sparta.For example, Minos, king of Cnosius on Crete, whose huge palace has only been excavated in recent years. It is said that his term of office is eight years. At the end of each term, he retreats to the god cave on Mount Ida. Lived a quarter, and there conversed with his priest Zeus, related to him the past years of his reign, and received instruction from him for guidance in the years to come.This tradition expressly states that at the end of every eight years, the king's powers need to be renewed by talking with the gods, and that without this renewal, he will be deprived of the right to the throne.

We can speculate without recklessness that the reason why the Athenians had to send seven virgins to Minos every eight years is related to the renewal of the king’s energy in another eight-year cycle.Traditions vary as to what happened to the virgins and virgins upon their arrival in Crete, but the common one seems to be that they were imprisoned in a labyrinth, where they were eaten by the Minotaur, or at least Is a life sentence.They were roasted alive, perhaps in bronze bull statues or tauren statues, in order to renew the vigor of the king and the sun, who was the king incarnate.At any rate, there is a hint of a Talos legend, that Talos was a bronze man who took people in his arms and threw them into the fire to roast them alive.It is said that Zeus gave him to Europa [in Greek mythology, the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor, who was loved by Zeus, turned into a white bull and robbed her to Crete, and later gave birth to Minos and Radamanty. s.Minos later became king of Crete. ], or Hephaestus [the son of Zeus and Hera in Greek mythology, the god of fire and forging. ] sent him to Minos for the defense of Crete, which he patrolled every day for three weeks.According to one version he was a bull, according to another he was the sun.He may be the minotaur, stripped of his mythical aspect, but a bronze statue of the sun, represented by the minotaur.To renew the sun's fire, a living sacrifice might be offered to the idol, roasted in its hollow body, or rolled into a pit of fire on his drooping hands.The Carthaginians offered sacrifices to Morlock in the latter manner.The children were placed in the hands of a statue with the head of a bull and slid from it into the fire, while the people danced to the music of flutes and tambourines, stifling the screams of the burning victims. go down.Cretan traditions, similar to those of the Carthaginians, show that the Semitic worship of Apollo had a strong influence on the worship of Minos and the Minotaur.In the legend of Agrigenton's tyrant Delaris and his brazen bull we see the same ritual repeated in Sicily, where the Carthaginian influence was strong.

In Babylon, the king's term of office was practically life-long during the recorded period, but in theory it seems to be only one year, because at the annual Zagmuk festival, the king will renew his power at the place of Isgil in Babylon. Shake the hands of the statue of Maedak in the temple of Mardak.Even after Babylon came under the control of Assyria, the kings of that country had to legitimize their rights to the throne once a year by going to Babylon during the New Year's festival to perform that ancient ceremony.Some kings found it too troublesome, and instead of carrying it out, they renounced the title of king at all, and were content to be lesser consuls.But it appears that in ancient times, before recorded history, the kings of Babylon, or their barbaric ancestors, at the end of their one-year reign, not only lost their crowns, but even their lives.At least the following evidence can support this conclusion.According to the historian Berothes, who was well informed as a Babylonian priest, Babylon celebrated a festival called Saccaia every year.The festival begins on the sixteenth day of the month Lous and lasts for five days, during which master and servant change places, servants give orders, and masters obey them.A condemned criminal puts on royal robes, sits on the throne, issues whatever orders he pleases, eats, drinks, plays, and lives with the princess.But at the end of five days, he was stripped of his imperial robe, whipped, hanged or stabbed to death.During his short tenure, his title was Zognis.Perhaps the custom was nothing more than a festive occasion for the festive people to entertain the unfortunate prisoner.However, the fact that the fake king can enjoy the princess is certainly not applicable to this explanation.The harem of Eastern dictators is a forbidden place, so we can be sure that unless there is a very serious reason, the dictator will never allow anyone to occupy the harem, let alone let a death row prisoner.The reason for this is probably that the condemned prisoner was going to die in the king's place, and in order to fully replace him he needed to enjoy full kingship during his brief reign.This is nothing surprising.At any sign of infirmity, or at the end of the term, the king must die, a rule which the king sooner or later sought to abolish or amend.We have seen how, in Ethiopia, Sudela, and Aeolus, wise princes boldly departed from this rule.We also talked about the old custom of killing the king at the end of every twelve years in Calicut. Instead, at the end of the twelve years, anyone is allowed to attack the king. Standing around, this kind of promise is just a formality.Another mode of modifying the austere old law is found in the Babylonian customs just described.When the time came for the execution of the king (in Babylon about the end of the year's reign), he retired for a few days, during which time the interim king reigned and suffered in his place.At first the interim king may have been a sinless man, possibly a member of the king's own family: but as civilization progressed, it was always against public sentiment for an innocent man to be sacrificed, thus putting the short end to death The ruling activities were handed over to the death row.Later we shall see other instances of condemned prisoners in place of dying gods.We must never forget that, as the case of King Sinnuk shows, the king was slain as a god or demigod, and that his death and resurrection were the only means of immortalizing the life of the god, which was thought to be Necessary to save the people and save the world. The practice of killing the king at the end of a year's reign survives in a festival called Makahiti.This holiday is always celebrated on the island of Hawaii during the last month of the year.About 100 years ago, a Russian navigator [referring to the Russian sailor Offendo Kotseb who sailed around the world from 1815 to 1818] described this custom as follows: "The Makahiti Festival of the natives is not the same as our Christmas. There is nothing like it. It lasts for a whole month, during which there are merry-go-rounds, dancing, theatres, all kinds of fake fights, etc. The king will inaugurate this festival wherever he is. At this time, His Majesty wears the most Beautiful robe and helmet, rowed along the shore in a small boat, sometimes followed by many subjects. He boarded the boat early, and had to finish the cruise before sunrise. The strongest and most powerful warrior received him when he landed. The warrior Watching the small wooden boat along the shore; as soon as the king came ashore and took off his robe, he threw his spear at the king, about thirty paces apart, and the king had to catch the spear with his hand, or he would be stabbed by the spear: this is no joke Yes. After he caught the spear, he carried it between his arms with the tip point down and carried it to the temple (the native name is "Xifu"). As soon as he entered the temple, the assembled crowd began to fight, and for a while the spearheads were like clouds, and even people I can't see clearly. These spearheads are specially made blunt spearheads. Hamamiya (King) often advises people to abolish this ridiculous ceremony, and every year his life is in danger during the ceremony. But his advice has nothing to do with it. He can only answer forever that he can catch any spear thrown at him by anyone on the island. During the Makahiti Festival, all punishments in the country are abolished; no one who started the festival there is allowed to leave Go, no matter how important it is." The execution of the king at the end of the usual period of a year's reign did not appear very improbable.We know to this day that there is a kingdom in which the king's reign and life are limited to one day.In the Ngoyo area of ​​the ancient Kingdom of Congo, the chief who wore the crown was always killed on the night after wearing the crown.The right of succession belonged to the chief of Msurango; but he did not exercise this power, and the throne was vacant.In this regard, we need not be surprised. "No one wants to lose their life to enjoy a few hours of glory on Ngoyo's throne."