Page:Queen Moo's talisman; the fall of the Maya empire (IA queenmoostalisma00leplrich).djvu/17



word Maya, though not familiar to modern ears, is a most interesting one to the antiquary. It appears to have originated with the great nation whose people, as well as their language and country, bore that name, even thousands of years back; their empire extended over the land comprised between the isthmus of Tehuantepec and that of Darien; known collectively to-day as Central America.

Dr. Le Plongeon has shown that in Yucatan and in Egypt the radical MA, of the word Maya, meant earth and place. This word was used by Hindoo sages to indicate matter, the earth, as it is found in their cosmogonic diagram. All matter being regarded as illusion, the word maya, in India, has that meaning. The mother of Buddha was Maya Devi (Beautiful Illusion). Maya is matter, the feminine energy of Brahma. But in the Indian epic, "Ramayana", Maya is spoken of as a great magician, an architect, a terrible warrior and famous navigator, who took forcible possession of, and settled in, the countries at (xi)