Note 280 — DESCRIPTION OF THE EAST INDIES AND COUNTRIES ON THE SEABORD OF THE INDIAN OCEAN IN 1514. [3] (continued 4)
Henry Edward John Stanley Stanley translation
This story is evidently of Hindu origin, since the peacock is respected by the Hindus. It also in some measure confirms the antiquity of the establishment of Christianity in India, which from this story must have been established before the arrival in India of any of the Nestorian priests: since they came from a country where the peacock is associated with the devil, especially amongst the devil-worshiping Yezidys, who have got a peacock for an idol, which was seen and described by Mr. Layard. Many of their superstitions come down from the Manichees of the second century. Besides this, I have seen an Arabic description of animals written in Syria, in which the peacock is described as the first creature expelled out of Paradise, on account of its pride. This idea and the Yezidy love for it, probably have a common origin.