One of the oldest of the Hindu Puranas called The Vishnu Purana, speaks of "Atala, the White Island," one of the seven dwipas (islands) belonging to Patala (Book II, chaps. i, ii, and iii). This ancient text locates Atala geographically on the seventh (heat, or climate) zone, which according to Francis Wilford (the translator) is 24 to 28 degrees north latitude, putting it in the same latitude as the Canary Islands just off the North African coast. Col. Wilford rightly calls Atala, "Atlantis, the White Island". It is described as the mountainous homeland of a powerful and highly civilized race located in “the Western Sea” on the other side of the world from India. The Vishnu Purana relates that Atala was destroyed by a violent storm, and according to other Puranas six other islands (dwipas) were destroyed during this awesome convulsion of nature.
 |
| "Narayana" by BenjamÃn Preciado Centro |
The great Indian epic Mahabharata (circa. 600 B.C.) also refers to "Atala, which is described as an "island of great splendour." It continues: "The men that inhabit that island have complexions as white as the rays of the Moon and they are devoted to Narayana . . . Located in the North Atlantic, the denizens of White Island believe and worship only one God, Narayana" (Santi Parva, Section CCCXXXVII). According to this account it is inhabited by white men who never sleep and never have to eat. This was the “Son of the Waters” and “the blessed supporter” (Atlas, “the supporter”), who was later responsible for a world-flood. Atala itself sank in a violent storm. All this unquestionably bespeaks Atlantis and its destruction. In Hindu myth, Atala was the center of seven realms. “They are embellished with the magnificent palaces in which dwell great snake-gods [compare with Valum, “Kingdom of Serpents,” from which Votan, the Quiche Mayas’ founding father, arrived in Middle America]—and where the sons of Danu are happy. There are beautiful groves and streams and lakes.” This description mirrors Plato’s description of Atlantis in Kritias.
In other words, Atala, the White Island is remarkably similar to Plato's Atlantis, even down to its circular capital city, Tripura. Tripura is made in three concentric parts, just as Plato's Metropolis is divided into three parts by concentric canals. During the war of the gods and Asuras, the wicked cities of the Asuras began to fall, one by one, amidst loud cries of woe: "Burning those Asuras, he [the hero] threw them down into the Western ocean" (Karna Parva, Section XXXIV).
The six regions surrounding Atala correspond to another Atlantean allegory, the Tower of Babel, which “was built after the model city in the sphere of Saturn.” Saturn, or Kronos, was synonymous for the Atlantic Ocean in Greek and Roman myth. Moreover, the fifth-century Greek poet Nonnus described “Atlas, in the enclosure of the Seven Zones.” Among the sacred numerals of Atlantis, Seven signified the completion of cycles, while Six stood for the perfection of human forms. “The sons of Danu” recur in other parts of the world directly affected by the Atlantis experience, such as the Irish Tuatha da Danann (“the Followers of Danu”) and the Dananns (the sons of Danaus, himself a son of Poseidon, brother of Atlas, and the founder of civilized Greece).
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in the American South, Atala is the word for “mountain” among the Cherokee Indians, who may have used it to describe a 40-foot high pyramid found in Georgia. Etowah Mounds is today an archaeological park including a prehistoric ceremonial center of large earthen temple-mounds built around 900 A.D., and abandoned in the early part of the 14th century, but whose earliest origins are still undetermined.
Berber traditions likewise describe Atala as an island of miners, wealthy in gold, silver, copper, and tin. Not content with these riches, they launched a military invasion that swept eastward across North Africa, a conquest cut short by a flood that drowned their homeland, the same Atlantean War and inundation described by Plato. The Berbers predicted that Atala will one day rise to the surface of the sea that long ago overwhelmed it. Berber tribesmen of the Shott el Hameina, in Tunisia, still refer to themselves as the “Sons of the Source, Atala.” A Norse version of Atala was Landvidi, similarly known as the “White Land.”
Sources:
Atlantis Encyclopedia by Frank Joseph;
Paradise Rediscovered: "The Roots of Civilisation, Vol.2 by Michael A. Cahill;
http://www.atlantisquest.com/Writings.html
Pic Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana#mediaviewer/File:Narayana.jpg
In other words, Atala, the White Island is remarkably similar to Plato's Atlantis, even down to its circular capital city, Tripura. Tripura is made in three concentric parts, just as Plato's Metropolis is divided into three parts by concentric canals. During the war of the gods and Asuras, the wicked cities of the Asuras began to fall, one by one, amidst loud cries of woe: "Burning those Asuras, he [the hero] threw them down into the Western ocean" (Karna Parva, Section XXXIV).
The six regions surrounding Atala correspond to another Atlantean allegory, the Tower of Babel, which “was built after the model city in the sphere of Saturn.” Saturn, or Kronos, was synonymous for the Atlantic Ocean in Greek and Roman myth. Moreover, the fifth-century Greek poet Nonnus described “Atlas, in the enclosure of the Seven Zones.” Among the sacred numerals of Atlantis, Seven signified the completion of cycles, while Six stood for the perfection of human forms. “The sons of Danu” recur in other parts of the world directly affected by the Atlantis experience, such as the Irish Tuatha da Danann (“the Followers of Danu”) and the Dananns (the sons of Danaus, himself a son of Poseidon, brother of Atlas, and the founder of civilized Greece).
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in the American South, Atala is the word for “mountain” among the Cherokee Indians, who may have used it to describe a 40-foot high pyramid found in Georgia. Etowah Mounds is today an archaeological park including a prehistoric ceremonial center of large earthen temple-mounds built around 900 A.D., and abandoned in the early part of the 14th century, but whose earliest origins are still undetermined.
Berber traditions likewise describe Atala as an island of miners, wealthy in gold, silver, copper, and tin. Not content with these riches, they launched a military invasion that swept eastward across North Africa, a conquest cut short by a flood that drowned their homeland, the same Atlantean War and inundation described by Plato. The Berbers predicted that Atala will one day rise to the surface of the sea that long ago overwhelmed it. Berber tribesmen of the Shott el Hameina, in Tunisia, still refer to themselves as the “Sons of the Source, Atala.” A Norse version of Atala was Landvidi, similarly known as the “White Land.”
Sources:
Atlantis Encyclopedia by Frank Joseph;
Paradise Rediscovered: "The Roots of Civilisation, Vol.2 by Michael A. Cahill;
http://www.atlantisquest.com/Writings.html
Pic Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana#mediaviewer/File:Narayana.jpg
Please don't put your website link in Comment section. This is for discussion article related only. Thank you :)