Legends of human fish and archaeological findings
By Amal Hewavissenti
The most primeval reference to a human figure with fish's tail dates
far back into 5000 BC. Latest archaeological findings reveal that there
was a freaky god with fish's tail among the range of gods workshipped by
Babylonians. This god called "Owannesse" was characterised by a strange
body with an upper part of man and a lower part that carried perfect
resemblance to a fish's tail.
This eerie mermaid god is seen illustrated on the inscribed tablets
of stone and is considered on extremely sacred symbol of divine power.
Several references to "Owannesse" occur in Arabian folklore which make
allusions to people who were constantly worshipping the mermaid god in
the far distant past.
The Louvre Museum of Paris still lays out the evidence which prove
that the worship of "Owannesse" was widespread in the ancient world.
The biblical reference to the god of "Daagon" with fish's tail
unveils the fact that high level of divine power had been ascribed to
mermaids centuries after the antediluvian period.
Mermaids
The Jathaka tales describe mermaids living both in water and jungles.
They lived, according to such tales, in jungles in pairs and were in the
habit of couple dancing which is well illustrated by Chanda Kinnara
Jathaka. These creatures were clearly distinguishable from their ocean
counterparts because they were land inhabitants who had something
something like bird's claws instead of fish's tail to stand. This
clearly shows that there were many kinds of mermaids illustrated and
were typically defined by the place they lived in.
The origin and the presumed existence of these mysterious creatures
fall beyond the boundaries of human understanding and reasoning. As most
of the sightings of mermaids have remained unexplained in spite of
thorough investigations, some others say that they might be some form of
aliens or products of paranormal.
In the earliest stages of development as anthropologists say, some
humans might have migrated to coastal regions in quest of new types of
food and plants which grew lushly in the shallow sea.
For considerably a long time, humans had been diving underwater for
edible sea weeds. This might have given birth to the possibility that
these human creatures", through millions of years, grew accustomed to
life in the water and gradually developed physical changes needed for
life in the sea. Anthropological studied show that, in comparison to the
highly perplexing changes that have come about in creatures in the
course of biological evolution, it is sensible to conclude that mermaids
have evolved from earliest humans who had moulded their life to the life
underwater. And scientists too offer a powerful justification to this
conclusion.
It is sometimes chronic of us to reject the earliest legends
involving mythical creatures such as dinosaurs, but scientific and
archaeological explorations reveal that they really existed on earth
based on fossil discoveries. Therefore, the mythical animals who gave
birth to the legends and depictions on the prehistoric caves must have
existed in any other form even though they have gone into extinction
through the activities of humans and natural disasters.
Oceanographers think that these ocean creatures might be snuggling
covertly somewhere in the deep waters.
They might appear on the water surface unexpectedly, baffle people
with sights they have never seen, show momentary swimming movements and
disappear in to the deep. Oceanographers are not prepared to accept the
common belief that even the single sign of mermaids has been wiped out
from the surface of the earth.
Challenged
The oceanographers are positive about the possibility of mermaids
existing in the deep recesses of the sea even if the belief in the
existence of some form of mermaids has been adamantly challenged.
Although much scientific research has been carried out the final
conclusion has made it clear that the presence of mermaids in any form
is beyond the scope of general scientific understanding.
However, oceanographic studies show that the potential for the
existence of mermaids is far greater than that of non existence of these
sea creatures. Scientists have rejected the general tendency to regard
strange sightings of mermaids as stark myth because there are many more
regions, varieties of strange animals and plants hitherto unexplored by
man in different parts of the world.
According as oceanographers affirm, much less of the great sea has
been grasped by the human research and many varieties of unidentified or
unknown fish still live in the great depths of the sea.
A spectacular find was made by some fisherman in Saudi Arabia
somewhere in 1981.
They saw an eccentrically unfamiliar fish with human legs which had
been washed ashore following a fatal accident that had seriously damaged
its legs. Oceanographers in Saudi Arabia focused their highest attention
to this sea creature because it had the upper part of a fish and a lower
part with human legs. Japanese and Saudi Arabian newspapers gave a
resounding publicity to this strange find.
The newspapers carried absorbingly interesting reports with headlines
which claimed that the mermaid fish had died in efforts by naval
officers to capture the creature by using a fishing hook in the deep
sea.
The Saudi Arabian media denounced that Saudi officials were too slow
to make arrangements to preserve the mermaids's body for further
investigations.
By the time the valuable news of the priceless captive reached the
world through media, the corpse of the amazing human fish had long been
lying rotten on the shore.
Thus the biological researchers missed a valuable thing which could
have unravelled mysteries and much more about the inner mechanism and
evolution of mermaids. |