The Goddess of Atvatabar
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE THRONE OF THE GODS, CALNOGOR.
The throne of the gods was the most famous institution in Atvatabar.It was the cynosure of every eye, the object of all adoration, thetabernacle of all that was splendid in art, science and spiritualperfection. The great institutions of Egyplosis, the college of tenthousand soul-worshippers, the palace of Gnaphisthasia, with its fivethousand poets, artists, musicians, dancers, architects, and weaversof glorious cloths, and the establishments for training the youth ofthe country in mechanical skill, were but the outlying powers thatlent glory to the throne itself. It was the standard of virtue, ofsoul, of genius, skill and art. It was the triune symbol of body, mindand spirit. It was the undying voice of Atvatabar proclaiming thegrandeur of soul development; that pleasure, rightly guarded, may bevirtue. The religion of Harikar in a word was this, that the Nirvana,or blessedness promised the followers of the supernatural creeds ofthe outer world, after death was to be enjoyed in the body in earthlylife without the trouble of dying to gain it. This was a comfortablestate of things, if only possible of accomplishment, and such a creedof necessity included the doctrine that the physical death of the bodywas the end of all individuality, the soul thereafter losing allpersonality in the great ocean of existence.
The throne of the gods was a cone of solid gold one hundred feet inheight, divided into three parts for the various castes of gods, orsymbols of science, art and spirituality. The structure was a circularsolid cone of gold, shaped somewhat in the form of a heart. It wasindeed the golden heart of Atvatabar, proclaiming that sentiment andscience should go hand in hand; that in all affairs of life the heartshould be an important factor. The lower section, or scientificpantheon, possessed bas-reliefs of models or symbols of the moreimportant inventions. This section was forty feet in height andseventy-two feet in diameter.
The images of the gods themselves surmounting the lowest part of thethrone were in reality composite man-gods, that is to say, each figurewas a statue, life size, of the resultant of the statues of all theimportant developers of each invention and was thus obtained:
As soon as any prominent inventor or developer of an invention died,the government secured a plaster cast of his body, if such had notbeen made prior to death, and this was preserved for years in aspecial museum. When twenty or more casts of various developers of anyone invention had been accumulated these were placed on a horizontalwheel, which revolved in front of a photographic camera, and thus thecomposite outline of the future god was obtained. As many outlineswere procured as there were eighths of inches in the circumference ofthe largest cast, and from the collective pictures the ideal cast wasmade by the sculptor. The cast once perfected, and afterward draped,was reproduced in solid gold and placed with appropriate ceremonies ona pedestal on the throne itself. In like manner the gods of the arts,poetry, painting, etc., were created, as also the priests of Harikar,the Holy Soul.
The reliefs, or symbols of mechanical art, were originally cast on thethrone itself. These included the electric engine and locomotive,electric healer, telephone, telegraph, the electric ship, elevator,printing press, cotton gin, weaving loom, typesetting machine,well-boring apparatus, telescope, flying machines (individual andcollective), bockhockid, sewing machine, photographic camera, reapingmachine, paper-making and wall-paper printing machine, phonograph,etc., etc.
This department of the throne being the largest, was significant ofthe material supremacy of the mechanical arts in the nation. Scienceitself was a god named Triporus, fashioned like a winged snake, socalled because it was said he could worm his way through the pores ofmatter so as to discover the secrets therein. This god seemed acompound of our ancient Sphinx, or science, and Daedalus, or mechanicalskill, but with an entirely new meaning added to both.
THE THRONE OF THE GODS WAS INDEED THE GOLDEN HEART OFATVATABAR, THE TRIUNE SYMBOL OF BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT.]
The second or intermediate section of the throne was devoted to thegods of art and their attributes. It was sixty feet in its largestdiameter, and twenty-four feet in height. It possessed also twosections, the upper containing the statues of Aidblis, or Poetry;Dimborne, or Painting; Brecdil, or Sculpture; Swenge, or Music;Tilono, or Drama; Timpango, or Dancing; Olshodesdil, or Architecture,etc., etc. In the lower section there were tableaux cast in highrelief illustrating the qualities of the soul developed by art, viz.:Omodrilon, or Imagination; Diandarn, or Emotion; Samadoan, orConscience; Voedli, or Faith; Lentilmid, or Tenderness; Delidoa, orTruth, etc.
The final section or tapering apex of the throne was thirty feet ingreatest width and thirty-six feet in height. It contained a throneand three divisions. The lowest division contained the gods Hielano,or Magic; Bishano, or Sorcery; Nidialano, or Astrology; Padomano, orSoothsaying, etc.
The intermediate division contained the gods Niano, or Witchcraft;Redohano, or Wizardry; Oxemano, or Diablerie; Biccano, or the Oracle;Amano, or Seership; Kielano, or Augury; Tocderano, or Prophecy;Jiracano, or Geomancy; Jocdilano, or Necromancy, etc.
The third division contained the gods Orphitano, or Conjuration;Orielano, or Divination; Pridano, or Clairvoyance; Cideshano, orElectro-biology; Omdohlopano, or Theosophy; Bischanamano, orSpiritualism, etc.
The climax of all was the throne of the goddess. It was a seat ofaloe-green velvet that, revolving slowly in the centre of thesupporting throne, presented the goddess to every section of the vastaudience. Thus seated, the goddess radiated an Orient splendor,herself a blaze of beauty and the focus of every eye. The music of anintroductory opera warbled its soft strains with breathless execution.It seemed the carolling of a thousand nightingales, mingling with themusical crying of silver trumpets and the clear electric chiming ofgolden bells.