ABSTRACT 059NF TR GREAVES, ed.
[email protected] Mayan Genesis: south Asian myths, migrations and iconography in Mesoamerica, Graeme R. Kearsley, 2001; London, Yelsraek Publishing. 1098pp, indexed, illustrated.
Kearsley?s book here reviewed is the first of three, all sharing the same theme, namely, the transference, in pre-Columbian times, of elements of Old World culture to the New. This reviewer shares the opinion of some of his colleagues that the book is long on quantity but short on quality. Its 1098 pages (!) are jammed with correspondences amongst the several cultures examined, and unfortunately many seem superficial, trivial, or better explained by independent development. On the other hand, a dragnet as wide as the one Kearsley throws is bound to bring up some big fish among the small fry. The author?s training is in architecture, but he is clearly heavily invested in the Diffusion vs Isolation controversy. Two-thirds of the examples mustered could have and should have been redacted. A less cumbersome, more significant book would have been the result. And then there is the matter of the writing itself. Mr Kearsley?s style suffers from occasional severe grammatical, syntactical, and orthographical lapses. His prose ranges from good, to poor, to unintelligible, as here: ?The very early depictions of Buddhist shrines show them to be simple trees enclosed by timber posts and railed fences, from which the stupas developed and is found similarly in Mesoamerica.? There?s a factual error here as well: stupas or topes are reliquary tombs, the word tope being a relative of the Greek tophos, ?tomb.? These were mound tombs, and stupas are architectural mounds, not trees. Kearsley would have benefited from the services of a knowledgeable copy-editor, clearly; the text abounds in these minor irritations. On the plus side, this reviewer, a published iconologist, has never seen such a wealth of fascinating illustrations in one source. There are 238 plates with an average of 6 figures each! Moreover, more than half of these are from exceedingly rare sources. The author is a reliable relayer of data and his ?book report? treatment of many of his subjects is adequate. His tome will not have a broad appeal; no one will look upon its three-and-a-half pounds of text and pictures as ?light? reading. But for professionals and ?lonely specialists? it will be a useful addition to their libraries.
KEYWORDS
Cultural diffusion/ iconography/ symbolism/ mythology/ religion/ Maya/ Aztec/ Colas/ China/ Dongson/ Indonesia/ Hinduism/ Buddhism/ Central America/ human sacrifice/ Dyaks/ legends/ Assam/ Ganges/ megaliths/ Middle East/ Toltecs/ Teotihuacan
