THE MESOAMERICAN CONNECTION
Dr. H. V. SHINTRE

   Columbus was not far from truth when he declared the land mass newly discovered in the West to be Indies and the people living there as Indians. Indian settlers had established their colonies in America long before the Spanish invaders reached the continent. They might have followed a land route from the North or sailed eastwards across the Pacific Ocean. The Maya and the Inca people boasted of a highly sophisticated culture and the most remarkable correspondence between their temple architecture, the calendar, the four-fold caste divisions and elaborate rituals and similarity in the form and function of various gods and goddesses of ours goes to suggest that we share a common heritage. Based on his research in the field of anthropology, linguistics, and ethnology Mr. Miles Poindexter advocated the Asiatic origin of the Peruvians. The ritualistic human sacrifice and cannibalism of the Aztecs which scandalised the Spanish invaders can be reconciled with their natural sweetness and kindness if we assume that vamacari tantriks migrated to America. The Sakti cult was very influential among the Hindus, the Buddhists, and the Jains. The ritual directed towards attracting a woman still practised among the Mexicans shows remarkable correspondence with the dictates of `ratisastra' in India (i.e. vasikarana).

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