CHAPTER XIV

BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE
The statement in The Secret Doctrine that the fifth Root Race began one million years ago appears, as already stated, to refer to the beginning of the choosing of materials by the Lord Vaivasvata, the Race Manu. He was a Lord of the Moon, taking the first step in Initiation on Globe G of the seventh round, where also He attained Arhatship. About a million years ago, then, He chose out from the ship-load which included our 1,200-year group, a few people whom He hoped to shape for His Race, and with whom He therefore kept up a connection. Four hundred thousand years later, He picked out some more. It was rather like looking over a flock of sheep, and choosing out the most suitable. Of these, numbers would be dropped out on the way, and the selection would be thus narrowed down from time to time.
The isolation of a tribe from the white fifth sub-race (the moon-coloured race, as the Stanzas of Dzyan poetically describe it) which lived in the mountains to the north of Rufa, was the first decisive step in the building of the Race, and this took place about 100,000 B. C. The fifth sub-race, it may be said in passing, was
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fVW
addicted to mountains generally, and the Kabyles of the Atlas Mountains are its best modern represen¬ tatives. Their religion was different from that of the Toltecs living in the plains, and the Manu took advantage of this to isolate the sub-race. Then His Brother the Bodhisattva, who became later the Lord Gautama Buddha, founded a new religion ; and people coming into that were segregated off, and bidden to keep apart, inter-marriage with other tribes being forbidden. His disciples went out into other lands and gathered a few together, who, later, joined the main body. They were told that one day they would journey far away into another land, which became to them 4 the promised land,’ and that they were under a King and Lord, physically unknown to them ; they were thus kept in a state of preparation for the coming of the great One who was to lead them forth ; He was going to guide His people to a place of safety, where they would escape the coming catastrophe — that of 75,025 B.C. 1 Some of the Hebraic story was probably derived from these facts, although the separation of the people who were known in history as Hebrews came later. These ancestors of theirs were literally a 4 chosen people,5 set aside for a great purpose.
The immediate cause of the emigration was the impending subdual of the white sub-race by the Dark Ruler, and the wish of the Manu to withdraw His people from that influence. So, in 79,797 B.C., He called them to the coast, that they might be shipped off through the Sahara Sea, 1 Usually called that of 80,000 B. C.
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 241
whence they travelled forwards on foot by the south of Egypt to Arabia. A small fleet of ships, thirty in number, was provided ; the largest did not seem to be over 500 tons, and three were cutter-like vessels, carrying only provisions. They were clumsy-looking ships, sailing fairly well on a wind, but tacking very badly. Some had oars as well as sails, and these were certainly not well adapted for a long sea-voyage. However, they had to cross open water only as far as the mouth of the Sahara Sea (which was a crooked sort ef bight opening into the Atlantic), and then to sail along its almost land-locked waters. The fleet carried over about two thousand nine hundred persons, de¬ posited them on the shore at the eastern end of the Sahara Sea, and returned to the place
of embarkation for another set. The voyage
was performed three times, and the little nation, made up to nine thousand men, women and children by the additional few from elsewhere, set forth eastwards on foot.1 They had with them a number of animals also, looking like a cross be¬ tween a buffalo and an elephant with something of the pig, reminding one rather of a tapir, a
half-and-half sort of beast. These were used for food when other supplies ran short, but were regarded as too valuable for such use ordinarily.
The whole process of embarkation, debarcation, settling down to wait for their comrades, and preparing for the journey on foot, occupied some
1 Five-sixths of the nine thousand were from the fifth sub-race : one-twelfth were Akkadian, and one-twelfth Toltec, each the best of its kind.
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242 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
years, and the Manu, with some other great Officials, was then sent by the Head of the Hierarchy to lead them to the high plateau of Arabia, where they were to remain for a time.
[The Atlanteans had conquered Egypt and were ruling the country at this period. They had built the pyramids, on which Cheops put his name many thousands of years later ; when Egypt was swamped by a flood, some seventy-seven thousand years ago, the people tried to climb these pyramids for safety, as the waters rose, but failed in consequence of the smooth¬ ness of their sides. This great Atlantean civilisa¬ tion perished ; then came the flood, and a negroid domination, and another Atlantean Empire, and an Aryan (B. C. 13,500) — all perhaps before that which history recognises as ‘ Egyptian \ But we must not follow this fascinating by-way.]
Suffice it that a splendid Toltec civilisation was flourishing in Egypt when our emigrants passed along its borders, and the Egyptian Ruler, following the Toltec tradition that other races existed in order that the Toltecs might exploit them, tried to bribe them into remaining in his land. Some succumbed to the temptation and remained in lower Egypt, in defiance of the Manu’s command, to become, a little later, slaves to the dominant Toltecs.
The rest reached Arabia by way of the route which is now the Suez Canal, and were settled down by the Manu in groups, in the various valleys of the great Arabian highlands. The country was sparse¬ ly inhabited by a negroid race, and the valleys were fertile when irrigated. But the emigrants did not much like their new quarters, and while the majority
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 243
*
of the people, who had been prepared by Vaivasvata Manu in Ruta, were even fanatically devoted to Him, the younger generation did a good deal of grumbling, for it was pioneer work, not a ‘ per¬ sonally conducted Cook’s tour
We found in one of the valleys a large number of the 1200 and 700 years5 groups, including many members of ‘ the family,’ and their devotion cer¬ tainly ran into violent fanaticism. They proposed to kill all the people who were not wholly devoted to the Manu, and prepared to fight the deserters, who had settled down comfortably in Egypt. This drew down upon them the wrath of the Egyptians and a considerable slaughter followed, our fanatics being completely wiped out. Mars and Corona gallantly resisted the Egyptian onslaught, while a side party, with Herakles — a young unmarried man — among them, mistaking the direction of the enemy, was annihilated by the Egyptians ; Vaivasvata Manu came up with reinforcements and turned the fortunes of the day, driving back the Egyptians ; a side party of them, in turn, was attacked by a larger force, among which Sirius, the father of Herakles, was prominent, furious at finding his son among the dead ; knowing the country, they shepherded the Egyptians into a crater-like depres¬ sion, with steep sides covered with loose rocks ; these rocks they joyfully hurled down on their surrounded foes, and the last we saw of Sirius on this occasion was his ride down the steep slope on an avalanche of stones, waving his spear, and shouting a war-song of an uncomplimentary nature, to become part of the gory mass of crushed
244 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
men and heavy stones which filled the lowest part of the crater.
The few Egyptian soldiers who finally escaped and reached Egypt were incontinently put to death, as having disgraced the army by their defeat.
After this there was peace for a time for the colonists, and they cultivated their valleys, which were rather cold in winter, and biazingly hot in summer. They had brought seeds of various kinds from Atlantis, and some of these were suitable to their new home ; they grew some tasteless fruits resembling apples, and, on the slopes of the hot
part of the valley, they raised a very large fruit,
as large as a man’s head, which, in stickiness and general messiness, was like a date. A kind of crater, where the sun was reflected from the rocks, served as a forcing-house, and they produced there a fruit of the size of a cocoa-nut, of which they seemed to be inordinately proud. It was nutritious, and, boiled in water, it yielded sugar by evapora¬ tion of the water, while the residuum of the fruit
gave a flour, which the people made into a sort of sweet bun. Sirius had two of these buns in his cloth when he rode down the hill-side of death.
In a succeeding incarnation, Herakles appeared as a tall, slim, and rather striking-looking young woman, hanging a somewhat squawky baby-brother — Sappho — up to a tamarind-like tree in a bark cradle.
The selection from the fifth Atlantean sub-race grew and multiplied exceedingly, and became a nation of several millions in about two thousand years ; they were quite isolated from the world in general by a belt of sand, which could only be crossed by
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 245
caravans carrying with them plenty of water, and there was only one way across it with grass and water, about where Mecca now stands. From time to time emigrants left the main body, some set¬ tling in the south of Palestine and some in the south of Egypt ; and these movements were en¬
couraged by the representatives of the Manu, for the plateau was limited in size and became crowded to an uncomfortable extent. The least desirable types were sent away as emigrants, while He
preserved unmixed within His belt of desert the most promising. Suggestions were made from time to time that a caravan of settlers should go off, make a colony, or found a city ; among one of these the horse was developed. Occasionally He
Himself incarnated, and His descendants formed a class apart of a somewhat improved type. But
generally He was not physically present, but directed affairs through His lieutenants, of whom Jupiter and Mars were the most prominent.
The people were pastoral and agricultural, not settling in large cities, and the plateau became thickly populated till, at the end of about three thousand years, it resembled a single huge village ; then He sent out a very large number of people to Africa to found a big colony, so as to reduce the numbers in the central settlement. This colony was, later, quite exterminated.
It was only a few years before the catastrophe of 75,025 B. C. that — on receipt of a message from the Head of the Hierarchy — He selected about seven hundred of His own descendants to lead them north¬ wards. He had made these people once more into an
246 MAN : WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
unorthodox sect, stricter in their lives than those around them, and they were not looked on favour¬ ably by the orthodox among whom they lived ; He advised them therefore to follow Him to a land where they might live in peace, escaping from the persecutions of the orthodox, a land which was distant several years’ journey. Even His own lieutenants were not apparently admitted to His confidence, but were simply following out His directions ; among these were several who are now Masters, and others who have passed onwards, away from our Earth.
The number of His followers being small, they made a single caravan, and the Manu sent a mes¬ sage to the Ruler of the Sumiro-Akkad Empire, praying for peaceful passage through his dominions — including the present Turkey in Asia, Persia and the countries beyond ; He reached the borders of that Empire without difficulty, and the Emperor proved friendly ; his passport carried Him right into Turkestan, and then He had to treat with a Con¬ federation of Turanian feudatory States, including what is now Tibet. He passed between mountain- ranges, of which the present Tianshan range was one ; these marked the boundaries of the Gobi Sea, and stretched up to the Arctic Ocean. He had passed through Mesopotamia and Babylonia, slanting north, and the mountains He had to cross were not of great height ; the Turanian Confederation gave permission for His passage, partly because His people were not numerous enough to cause apprehension, and partly because He stated that He was carrying out a mission imposed upon Him by
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 247
the Most High. After some years of journeying He reached the shores of the Gobi Sea, but, bear¬ ing in mind the message He had received, He did not remain in the plain, but turned into the hills to the north, where a great shallow sea stretched northward to the Arctic Ocean and thus to the Pole. The Lemurian Star was much broken up by this time, and its nearest point was about a thousand miles to the north. He posted some of His followers on a promontory looking out to the north-east, but the greater number settled down in a fertile crater-like depression, something like the ‘ Devil’s Punch-bowl 5 in Surrey, but much larger ; this was more inland, though from an adjoining peak they could catch sight of the sea. From this promontory, which stood high, they could see the Gobi Sea, and the land where later they were to settle. This was to be their dwelling until after the great catastrophe, then close at hand. The White Island was to the south-east and was entire¬ ly out of sight, though later, when covered with lofty temples, it became visible from this spot. The promontory and adjoining land were formed of shelves of rock, which would be very little harmed by earthquakes, unless the whole land was broken up. Here He was to remain till all danger was passed ; and a few years were left in which to settle down. Many of the people died on the journey and after arrival, and He Himself reincar¬ nated to improve the type more quickly.
These people, as said above, were really His own family, being His physical descendants, and, as bodies died, He packed the egos into new and improved ones.
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248 MAN : WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
In Atlantis the reincarnated Metal-Man was again ruling, none the wiser, apparently, for his previous experiences. He was in possession of the City of the Golden Gates, and the nobler types of the Atlanteans were much oppressed.
The City was suddenly destroyed by the rush¬ ing in of the sea through huge fissures caused by explosions of gas ; but, unlike the catastrophe in which the island of Poseidonis sank within twenty- four hours, these convulsions continued over a period of two years. Further explosions occurred, new cracks were made, earthquakes shook the land, for each explosion led to a further disturbance. The Himalayas were heaved up a little higher ; the land to the south of India was submerged with its population ; Egypt was drowned, and only the pyramids were left standing ; the tongue of land which stretched from Egypt to what are now Morocco and Algeria disappeared, and the two countries remained as an island, washed by the Mediterranean and the Sahara Sea. The Gobi Sea became circular, and land was thrown up, now Siberia, separating it from the Arctic Ocean ; Central Asia rose, and many torrents, caused by the un¬ precedented rainfall, cut deep ravines through the soft earth.
#
While these seismic changes were in progress, the Manu’s community was left undisturbed by absolute cleavage or change of surface ; but the people were constantly terrified by the recurring earthquakes, and were almost paralysed by the fear that the sun (which had been rendered invisible for a year by masses of cloud, largely composed
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 249
of fine dust) had gone out for ever. The weather was unspeakable. Terrible rains fell almost inces¬ santly : masses of steam and clouds of dust en¬ veloped the earth and darkened the air. Nothing would grow properly, and they were exposed to severe privations ; the community, originally com¬ posed of seven hundred people, which had increased to a thousand, was reduced by these hardships to about three hundred. Only the stronger survived; the weaker were killed off.
At the end of five years, they had again be¬ come settled ; the punch-bowl depression had become a lake ; some years of warm weather followed the years of disturbance ; much virgin soil had been thrown up, and they were able to cultivate the land. But the Manu was growing old, and an order came to Him to bring His people to the White Island. To hear was to obey.
There, by the Head of the Hierarchy Himself, the great plan of the future was unrolled before Him, stretching over thousands upon tens of thou¬ sands of years. His people were to live on the mainland, on the shores of the Gobi Sea, and they were to increase and grow strong. The new Race was to be founded on the White Island itself, and when it had increased, a mighty City was to be built on the opposite shore for its dwelling, and the plan of the City was suggested. There was a mountain range running along the shores of the Gobi Sea, some twenty miles distant, and low hills stretched out from that range to the shore ; there were four great valleys, running from within the ranges to the sea, entirely separated from each
33
250 MAN : WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
other by the intervening hills ; He was to plant certain selected families in these valleys, and develop therein four separate sub-races, which then were subsequently to be sent to different parts of the world. Also He was to send some of His own people to be born elsewhere, and then bring them back, and thus form new admixtures — for they would have to marry into His family ; and when the type was ready, He would have again to in¬ carnate in it and to fix it. For the Root Race also some admixture was needed, as the type was not quite satisfactory.
Thus a main type and several sub-types had to be formed, and the differences were to be started in the comparatively early days, thus obtaining five groups to develop on different lines. It is interest¬ ing to notice that after refining His people for generations and forbidding marriage with those out¬ side themselves, He yet found it necessary, later, to introduce a little foreign blood, and then to separate off the posterity of that foreign ancestor.
The Manu proceeded to settle His people (about 70,000 B. C.), bidding them build villages on the mainland, there to increase and multiply for some thousands of years. They had not to begin at the beginning like savages, for they were already a civilised people, and used a good deal of labour-saving machinery. In one of the towns dotted rather widely along the coast-line, we noticed a number of familiar faces. Mars, a grandson of the Manu, was the head of the community, and, with his wife Mercury and his family — among whom were Sirius and Alcyone — lived in a pleasant house, surrounded by a large
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 251
garden and fine trees.1 Corona was there, and Orpheus, an elderly and stately gentleman, very dignified and much respected. Jupiter was the ruler of the province — if we may so call the whole settlement of the embryonic Race numbering about seven thousand souls — wielding an authority which was delegated to him by the Manu, the recognised King of the community, residing at Shamballa.
As we were observing this town, there came galloping in a tumultuous band of men, who had evidently been out on a foray ; they were riding on rough-looking animals, resembling horses, and were headed by Vajra ; they drew up at the house of Mars, who was Vajra’s brother, soon after galloping off again, as tumultuously as they came ; and we followed them to another town, also on the shores of the Gobi, where we found Viraj as Chief. His son, Herakles, was in the band of raiders, wherein also we observed Ulysses.
More familiar faces were seen here ; Cetus and Ulysses were at feud ; they had first quarrelled over an animal, which both claimed to have killed, then over some land which both wanted, and finally over a woman whom both desired. Pollux and Herakles were great friends, Pollux having saved the life of Herakles in a foray, at the im¬ minent risk of his own. One of the daughters of Herakles, Psyche, a big bouncing girl, attracted our attention at the age of fourteen ; for she was carrying in her arms a small brother, Fides, when she was attacked by a large goat ; the goat had big horns, curling at the base and spiked at the 1 See Appendix III.
252 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
top, but the girl was not daunted ; she seized the goat by the horns and turned it head over heels, and then, picking it up by the hind-legs, she banged it vigorously on the ground. The child Fides seemed to be rather a family pet, as we noticed Herakles carrying him about on his shoulder.
Much excitement was caused some years later by the Manu, who was then a very old man, sending for Jupiter, Corona, Mars and Vajra ; on their return, obeying His order, they selected some children from the settlement, and sent them over to Shamballa ; these children were the best in the community and have since risen to the position of Masters. They were Alcyone’s sons, Uranus and Neptune, and his daughters Surya and Brhaspati ; Saturn and Vulcan, boys, and Venus, a girl, were
also selected. A few women were sent with
them to take care of them, and the children were brought up in Shamballa ; in due course
Saturn married Surya, and the Manu was reborn as their eldest son, to restart the Race on a higher level.
For meanwhile things had been moving on
the mainland. Soon after the removal of the above- named children, the Turanians swept down on the community like a devastating flood, for this was the event of which the Manu had forewarned His lieutenants and from which the children were saved ; the assailants were bravely beaten back several times, but horde succeeded horde. At last the bulk of the fighting men were killed, and the battle became a mere massacre, not a man, woman or child being left alive. Our old friend Scorpio was the Chief of one tribe, once more renewing his
BEGINNINGS OF THE FIFTH ROOT RACE 253
perennial conflict with Herakles. A number of promising children were cut off, but, after all, it did not much matter, for they all went out of earth-life together, grandparents, parents and children, and were ready to come back when the Manu founded His family. Mars returned earlier, and was born in Shamballa as a younger brother of the Manu, while Viraj was His sister.
Then, everything began over again, but on a higher level; they invented, or re-invented, many useful things, and in some thousands of years there was a populous and flourishing civilisation. Our old friends were there among the pioneers, Herakles, this time, as the son of Mars. Those of the group of Servers then in birth worked hard under the direction of their leaders, trying to carry out their will. Thick-headed and stupid they often were, and they made many mistakes, but loyal and whole¬ hearted they always were, and that bound them closely to those they served.
Houses were built of great size, to accommodate several generations (in fact, all the members of a family), and were strongly fortified, with only one entrance, and the windows opening into a large courtyard in the middle, where the women and children could be in safety. After a time, strong walls were built round villages and round towns, as additional defences, for the savage Turanians were constantly hovering on the outskirts of the community, terrifying the inhabitants by their wild yells and sudden onslaughts. The outlying villages were in a continual state of alarm, the dwellers on the sea- coast being left more at peace.
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254 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
When the Race had again grown to the propor¬ tions of a small nation, there was another determin¬ ed onslaught of the Turanians, and finally another massacre, with only, once more, a few children and their nurses saved and brought up in Shamballa. It is noteworthy that even the bloodthirsty Turanians did not attack the White Island, for they held it in the deepest veneration. Thus the Race-type was ever preserved, even when the bulk of it was twice swept away, and on each occasion the Manu and His lieutenants incarnated in it as soon as possible and purified it still further, ever approach¬ ing the type at which He aimed.