At the Earth’s Core · Chapter
The Mahar Temple explained
David Innes escapes from the Mahar temple after falling into a tank, discovers a hidden exit, and later meets Ja, a Mezop fisherman.
What happens
David Innes escapes from the Mahar temple after falling into a tank, discovers a hidden exit, and later meets Ja, a Mezop fisherman. Ja explains the Mezops' truce with the Mahars and shows David the temple's interior, where they witness a Mahar religious ceremony involving hypnotic control over human slaves.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Adaptation
David escapes the temple and adapts to the dangers of Pellucidar; the Mezops survive by negotiating a truce with the Mahars.
Slavery and Oppression
The Mahars keep human slaves for food and religious ceremonies, highlighting the oppressive system.
Science vs. Superstition
David's outer-world knowledge clashes with Ja's inability to grasp the concept of another world; the Mahars' hypnotic powers blur the line between natural and supernatural.
Characters to notice
- David Innes
Narrator; escapes the Mahar temple and meets Ja.
- Ja
Mezop fisherman; saves David and explains Mezop-Mahar relations.
- The Mahars
Repulsive reptiles; conduct a ceremony with hypnotic powers over human slaves.
- The Sagoths
Mentioned as former captors of Mezops; now in truce.
Key passages
“I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried through the air”
David reasoned that there had to be a ground-level entrance because it was impractical for all the slaves to be flown in through the roof.
David's logical deduction leads him to find the hidden exit.
“They are a noble-looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and little else.”
David observes that the cave men appear noble and suggests that outer-world humans have declined in quality, having only opportunity instead of inherent nobility.
David reflects on the contrast between Pellucidar's humans and those of the outer world.