Course Announcement on Comparative Mythology

Only for people in Mumbai, India.
 
Admissions close on July 15, 2013

Classes start from July 20, 2013

Right to Snoop

The recent revelations by Edward Snowden that Big

Brother (read USA) has been snooping into mails, etc. of people across the world has sparked off a debate and outrage across the world. Do we as individuals and as a nation have the Right to Privacy? Can anybody, irrespective of the power they wield, snoop in on anybody? Should this be deplored as a breach of privacy or for the larger cause of flushing out terrorism, be endured?

Not negating an individual’s Right to Privacy, the basic debate leads to the question – can anyone be snooping into your life and learn your secrets, even if they do not threaten the nation or breach any law, both personal and national?

I draw my inspiration from mythology and seek answers in them. Let us analyse some of the characters and incidents that have raised the question of Privacy.

Kunti from the epic Mahabharata was amongst the most private of all the characters of Mb. Her life was shrouded with private moments that she could never share with anybody. Her secret of having a son, prior to her marriage weighs heavy on her throughout the epic and right till the end, when she has to reveal the secret only to benefit those from who she had hidden it all her life. Many scholars feel that had Kunti revealed the secret much before she actually did, the course of the Epic would have been different. None of us could vouch for the positive outcome of it, but then, Kunti had simply exercised her right to privacy, till she felt the need to reveal, and that too herself.

In Greek Mythology, Zeus was full of secrets; however, his secrets were all of an amorous nature and all to be kept away from his wife, Hera. Zeus, despite the fact that Hera was jealous of his extra-marital affairs, never gave up his habit of courting goddesses, nymphs and mortals, and keeping all of them secrets. But unfortunately, in many a case it was the partner, who had to bear the brunt of Hera’s anger or jealousy, if she ever found out, which wasn’t too often. Zeus guarded his privacy very well, very often by foul means, but manage he did!

Revelation of secrets has always led to action, and sometimes drastic actions. At times, they change the course of destiny and at times they lead to the fall of high and mighty. Let us look at an example where the revealing of a secret leads to the fall of the mighty. During the final war in Ramayan, Ravan was invincible and no amount of Ram’s right intentions could kill Ravan. Only Vibhishan knew that Ravan could be killed only by shooting an arrow at his navel. Had this secret been not revealed to Ram at the right time, the outcome of the epic Ramayana could just have been different. In case of Ravan, he had not guarded his secret well and had to pay the price with his life.

Sometimes, the revelation of secrets has led to funny incidents too. According to a Greek Myth, Midas (of the golden touch fame) was once asked to judge a musical competition amongst a group of gods. Though, Midas was honest in his judgement, he judged wrong, and as a punishment, Apollo, gave him the ears of an ass, which also stood for his stupid musical sense. Midas was quite ashamed of this and would usually hide the long ears under a cap. Though he managed to hide them from all, he could not do so from his barber. He had sworn his barber on oath, not to reveal this to anybody ever. But it was too much of a secret for him to withhold. So the barber dug a hole in the ground and whispered in it Midas’s secret and covered it back. During spring, reeds grew up there and during a light breeze, when it stirred the reeds, the reeds whispered the hidden truth to one and all. Along with the secret, it also sent a message to all that never arbitrate between gods and if one still has to, then side with the powerful one!

Going back to the basic question, should snooping, however harmless, be allowed by anybody, unless the person being snooped on has dubious credentials? Should a nation at large have rights superseding an individual’s right, even where there is no threat perception from the alleged target?

There is never the right answer to questions like these. There will be ifs and buts and exceptions to any rule. Modern times are more complicated than mythical times. The gods and goddesses didn’t have WikiLeaks and Phone tapping or Snowden in their times. In mythical times, a whistleblower could be killed, but today, you would have the Human Rights team after your life, for taking the life of a whistle-blower! And in more recent times, an enemy nation could offer asylum to the fugitive whistle-blower!

The mythical times didn’t have processes which were either democratic, theocratic or autocratic – they simply did what they thought was right, as they knew that the modern day mythologist would find some symbolism in it and justify their acts! But the mortals of today, take care – don’t speak and don’t do anything in private that you can’t do in public – but I can sense some exceptions here too!

Nature’s Fury

The recent nature’s fury in Uttarakhand and the destruction in its aftermath are of mythical proportions. It is aptly called ‘nature’s fury’, as it does seem to be anger of nature or the gods.

Mythology has mention of nature’s fury in terms of floods which had decimated mankind, save a few chosen ones. All the mythologies, be it Hindu, Christian, Greek, Babylonian, Mayan, or even tribal myths, are replete with myths which mention the end of the world brought due to massive flow of waters from the skies. It is said there are close to 500 variants of the same myth, which has a common thread running through them, collectively referred to as Flood Myths or Myths of Destruction.

God created the universe and its inhabitants, humans, animals, plants, etc. But humans had started to disregard God and His importance, and had also become wicked and greedy. Man had also stopped following the laws framed by God for them. This angered God and He decided to destroy all that He so painstakingly had created. However, God chose one person, who was good and noble. Different mythologies have different names for him, be it Noah, or Manu, or Utnapishtim or Deucalion. God asked him to create an ark which should be big enough to house all of what God wanted him to take along with him. Once done, there was a huge downpour, which took along with it, everything that was there on earth.

The ark created by God’s chosen one, is saved by God, which floats for sometime till it drops anchor on a mountain. After the waters recede, the chosen one, comes out of the ark, offers sacrifice to the gods and starts afresh, as directed by the gods.

The above is more or less the common thread in all the myths related to the fatal flood inflicted on humanity by God. The reason? Gods unhappiness with mankind.

The chosen one’s promise was that man would never waver from the ways of God and would never do anything to anger Him again, having witnessed the wrath of God. Accepting man’s promise, God too is supposed to have promised that He would never unleash such destruction again. As a seal of His promise, God created the rainbow, which according to the Biblical traditions, is also referred to as the Arc of Covenant, or the arc depicting Gods promise.

Seeing the scale of destruction in Uttarakhand, it seems like God has decided to break his promise. Why else would he unleash such fury, which has decimated towns and villages and wreak havoc of mythical proportions? Not only were humans killed, but even plants and animals, which probably didn’t even get a chance to complain. Ironically, even people who had gone for pilgrimage were not spared. Was anger on pilgrims fair? Should God have wreaked such havoc on people who had come to Him and seek His blessings? Should God have done this to children who were probably just born or those who had not even been initiated to the ways of the world forget about crimes.

Just why was God so cruel and what was He avenging?

I don’t have the answers and nor am I the chosen one, unless I see myself as the one who decided not to go on a pilgrimage to the land of the Gods. Unless I see myself as someone who has been spared due to the inability to visit such places for reasons of modernity. Unless I see myself as someone who has been spared to write this piece and hope like hell, that people see some sense in such madness. I claim ignorance.

But if I am to apply my limited sense, I can see numerous reasons for God to be angry with mankind. God must be upset, for destroying the forest cover that he so carefully had created. He must be upset for eliminating all the animals and the foliage that he had created ages back to reside in the same. God must be angry for illegal mining of his land, or illegal construction over his land. He must be angry at the exploitation of his beautiful land for all the wrong reasons by all the wrong people, who are in charge of administrating His laws. Modernity has made changes in such laws, and with changing times, changes have to be brought in, but they still can’t be overruling the laws of nature and if man thought that he can get over by such overruling, then this act should bring man back to the ground.

However chilling and disturbing this act of nature’s fury be, if we don’t wake up and mend out developmental ways, we can expect some more.

God forbid, if authorities cannot.

Pics courtesy - Internet

Course Announcement on Comparative Mythology

Only for people in Mumbai, India.

Admissions started...... 

Niobe

Last time we read about the crimes and punishment of Tantalus. Tantalus had three children, Pelops, Broteas and Niobe. Pelops was resurrected by the gods, but the other children had to face the wrath of the gods. Before we move on to Niobe, an important mythical figure, let us briefly refer to Broteas.

Broteas had once insulted the goddess Artemis (a folly repeated by her sister as we will see later) by refusing to honour her and so he was punished by turning him insane. In his insanity, he thought he was indestructible to the flames of fire and to prove it, he jumped into the fire. However, he was consumed by fire and that’s the end of it. His arrogance to the gods was his nemesis, a fate that was similar to that of his father.

Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus. She got married to Amphion, the ruler of Thebes. Amphion incidentally played the lyre so well that his music could sway the trees and move stones. It is said that the walls of Thebes were rebuild by this magical music of his. Niobe had seven handsome sons and seven beautiful daughters (the number of children differs from text to text), collectively referred to as Niobids. It is said that Niobe too had the genetic fault of hubris that she had inherited from her father.

In Thebes, during annual festival of honouring Leto and her offspring’s, Apollo and Artemis (aka Diana), Niobe is supposed to have ridiculed Leto. Dressed in her royal finery, she chastised people for worshipping Leto and her children. She felt that it made no sense in worshipping those who could not be seen. She belonged to the house of Tantalus, the one who dined with the gods. She was the queen of the Thebes, and the wife of Amphion who had built the city. Most importantly, she was the mother of seven sons and seven daughters, whereas Leto had only one son and a daughter.

 

           A 1772 painting by Jacques Louis David depicting Niobe attempting  to shield her children from Artemis and Apollo.

This brazen display of arrogance hurt Leto so much that she complained to her children, Apollo and Artemis. Apollo shot at Niobe’s sons and Artemis killed all her daughters, leaving her without any children, her objects of pride. Amphion killed himself when he saw the sight of his fourteen dead children. It is said that the dead bodies lay in a pool of blood for nine days and later the gods buried them.

It is said that a violent whirlwind later took Niobe from Thebes and dropped her at Mount Siphylus where she is supposed to be shedding tears till date. The Weeping Rock in Mount Siphylus is supposed to be Niobe which resembles a mourning woman. The rock is always wet, which is why it is called the weeping rock. Geographers and mythologist have found many features on the rock which resemble a face of a sad woman. From a distance, one can see resemblance to long hair, eyes, and nose, etc. This spot today is a major tourist attraction, a stone which is always wet.

 

The Weeping Rock

This is an interesting myth, where a very loud message is being given. First, that the follies of parents can have repercussions right down to their children and so it is advisable to follow the path of righteousness, not just for one’s own self, but also for their children. Second, pride and arrogance is always the cause of downfall. Niobe was extremely proud of her background, her husband and her children, needless to say, that none of which came to her aid. Her pride was reduced to a pile of dead bodies and her, a stone. Finally, it is good to learn from the lessons that have been laid down before you. Niobe had seen her father’s predicament and ought to have known the outcome of going against the gods, but she too had the streak of hubris in her which led her to a worse state than her father and brother, Broteas.

Modern day scholars might see this as an act of vengeance by the gods, but the Functionalist school of mythology sees this as setting a norm of behaviour in the ancient times. Such tales set an expectation from people towards their gods. The fact that gods were for reverence and not ridicule gets reiterated in the tragedy of Niobe, who doesn’t learn from her father’s tragic end. Except for Pelops, who gets resurrected by the gods, the entire family of Tantalus had tragic end and the successive generations didn't do any better, which were all tragedies of epic proportions.

To conclude, the element Niobium was named after Niobe and in the Periodic Table finds a place right under the element Tantalum, named after Tantalus, Niobe’s father! In the early days, a number of elements were named after Tantalus’s children, like Pelopium, Dianium, Ilmenium, however by the time the Periodic Table was finalised in 1950, only Niobium survived, while the others might have been re-christened.

Is this a case of another tragedy inflicted on Tantalus’s children by the scientists of today?!?

 


Pics courtesy - Wikipedia