Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/547

Rh, and the noted Parthenon built in 438 , and in the works of the Grecian poets we find many references to the group.

Allen tells us that the Hindus pictured these stars as a flame typical of Agni, the god of fire, and regent of the asterism. The more usual representation of the group among the Hindus was a razor; possibly the arrangement of the stars in the group suggested this title. It is thought that there may be a connection between the Hindu title "Flame," and the great Feast of Lamps of the western Hindus held in the Pleiad season, October and November, a great festival of the dead which gave rise to the present Feast of Lanterns of Japan.

This closely associated star group has from time immemorial impressed mankind with a sense of mystery. A great cataclysm, possibly the Biblical Deluge, is in some way connected with the Pleiades, and some reference to such an event can be traced in many of the legends and myths surrounding these stars that have come down to us from nations far removed from each other.

Memorial services to the dead at the season of the year when the Pleiades occupied a conspicuous position in the heavens are found to have taken place, and to have been a feature in the history of almost every nation of the earth, from remote antiquity to the present day. The universality of this custom may well be considered one of the most remarkable facts that astronomical history records, and it serves to make the study of this group the most interesting chapter in all stellar history. This little group of stars, twinkling so timidly in the nights of autumn in the eastern heavens, links the races of mankind in closer relationship than any bonds save nature's. No wonder that they have inspired universal awe and admiration, that within this group of suns man has sought to find the very centre of the universe.

Among the Aztecs of South America we find the Pleiades the cynosure of all eyes, a nation trembling at their feet.