Note 218.3 — Chapter VII · DEATH AND BIRTH AS TRANSFORMATION.

These passages, though related of more than common men, point to a belief shared by the ancient Irish with the ancient Californians, that the son is in some sense identical with his father—a new birth, a new manifestation of the same person. This curious belief finds categorical expression in the great Brahman compilation known as the Laws of Manu. There we are told: “The husband, after conception by his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of her; for that is the wifehood of a wife, that he is born again by her.”218.3 Corresponding with this declaration, the ritual prescribes, among other ceremonies when a boy is born, that the husband should address the babe thus: “From limb by limb thou art produced; and of the heart thou art born. Thou indeed art the self (atman) called son; so live a hundred autumns.” In the same words he addresses the boy every time he himself returns from a journey, embracing his head and kissing him thrice.219.1