A Game of Dice

A recent research on Shakuni made me focus on the game of dice. Why is the game of dice so important and integral to some of the myths in our mythology? Also are there any other references of the game of dice other than that of Mahabharata? Let’s see.

The significance of the game of dice has been read by one and all. The visual depiction of the game too has been viewed by many. The game of dice and the vice of gambling associated with it is evident in the way Yudhishtira loses all his assets and family, including his wife even after repeated efforts to stop the game. The way he loses it all is one aspect, just as the fact that there was also some amount of trickery in the game, but that is another subject. For the present, we will stick to the game of dice.

The game of dice, or chaupar or paasa, as it were better known was similar to a board game with dice. Except that these dice were not cubical as they are in  the modern times. These were rectangular, six sided dice with two sides being the smaller sides with no numbers. That left four longer sides which carried numbers 1 to 4. Dice were made of different objects, like terracotta, Vibhitaka nuts (the fruits of the Vibhitaka tree, which were sometimes the size of a hazelnut), ivory, bones, wood and even metals. The method of the game varied from location to location, but the basic motive generally remained gambling, besides recreation. This we see as the common theme in all the myths associated with the game.

The first myth is associated with Lord Shiva and Parvati. According to the Puranas, Lord Shiva and Parvati used to play the game of dice regularly. Once the game got so interesting that they started betting during the game. Parvati pledged her jewels, Shiva pledged his trident, and Shiva lost.  To get his trident back, Shiva pledged his serpent, which too he lost and this way, Shiva was left with just his begging bowl. Humiliated, Shiva left for the forest. Lord Vishnu intervened and asked him play again and win back all that he had lost. Shiva went on to play again, and this time he won everything back. Parvati smelt a rat and called Shiva a cheat and this led to an argument, till Lord Vishnu came and revealed that the dice moved as per his commands and that is how Shiva had won. He also went on to say that a game of dice was as unpredictable as life and was always beyond control, sounding the players to be careful before wagering during the game. The story moves on, but we will discuss the rest of the story some other time as the rest does not have anything to do with a game of dice.

The next story is associated with Lord Krishna and Rukmini. According to this tale, the King of Vidarbha had promised her daughter’s hand to Shishupala. His daughter, Rukmini was in love with Lord Krishna and both run away (Krishna was supposed to have ‘kidnapped’ Rukmini). Rukmin, the brother of Rukmini felt insulted and vowed never to return to his region till he had not avenged the insult by killing Krishna. A battle followed, but Rukmin lost, and was granted a lease of life by Krishna. However, Rukmin never returned to his region to honour his vow. Krishna and Rukmini get married in Dwarka. As the story moves on and during one such family wedding, all the relatives instigate Rukmin to invite Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother to a game of dice as he had a weakness for gambling. During the game, Rukmin and his group win by cheating which infuriates Balarama and he ends up killing Rukmin for cheating. The game of dice was organized at a grand scale and the trickery was acknowledged by an aakashvani (voice from the skies).

There are quite a few stories in our mythology which gives importance to the game of dice. At the core of the game, is gambling and at times cheating. This very clearly shows that the game was associated with a lot of merry-making, drinking and wagering just about anything, land, kingdoms, humans and even wives! Though this was played in full public view, there were many instances of misdemeanor and breaking of rules for an ulterior motive. But as Lord Vishnu said in the myth of Shiva and Parvati, a game of dice is an unpredictable and an uncontrollable game. Players should be careful, and as any vice, know when to say no and must have the ability to withdraw.

Hanuman Jayanti

Today is Chaitra Purnima, which is also celebrated as the birth date of Lord Hanuman. Though it is well known that Hanuman was the son of Anjani and Kesari, the chain of events leading to his birth is very interesting.

It started when Lord Shiva was very impressed with the celestial dance performed by Mohini, the female form of Lord Vishnu. So enchanted was he by the performance of the enchantress, that he offered her a gift. Mohini asked for the essence of what Lord Shiva stood for. Shiva then gave Mohini the seed of his tapas in the form of a blazing seed. Mohini took the seed and gave it to the sapta-rishis, the seven sages asking them to guard it well as this would take the form of a mighty being who would one day be a great support to Vishnu during one of his avatars on earth. The being would be legendary in more ways than one.

Later at an auspicious hour, the sapta-rishis gave the seed to the wind god, Vayu and advised him to give it to her who was worthy of Shiva’s seed. Vayu was secretly in love with Anjani, the wife of the monkey Kesari. Anjani was also a devout worshipper of Shiva. Once when Anjani was sitting atop a hill worshipping Lord Shiva, Vayu dropped the seed through her ears into her womb.

Before we proceed further, it is important to know Anjani a little better. Anjani was no simple monkey. Anjani was actually an apsara who was an attendant to Goddess Parvati in Mount Kailash. Once during a thunderstorm, she rushed into the arms of Shiva in sheer fear. This upset Parvati so much that she banished Anjani form Kailash and ordered her to live in the jungles with the monkeys! When Shiva realized Paravti’s folly, he blessed Anjani that she would bear a child who would be an embodiment of Lord Shiva.

The seed dropped in Anjani’s womb was soon born as the monkey child, Hanuman who was an embodiment of Shiva both in strength and wisdom. As destined, he went on to be a big support to Lord Ram, an avatar of Lord Vishnu and needless to say that he was legendary in more ways than one.

Lord Hanuman is thus known as Anajani Suta and Kesari Nandan after his parents Anajani and Kesari. He also known by all the names of the wind-god, i.e. Vayu, Pavan and Marut, viz. Vayu-putra, Pavan-putra and Maruti, respectively. Hanuman is also referred to as Raudreya after the Rudra form of Lord Shiva!

Lord Shiva’s Wedding Procession

It is said that when Shiva’s marriage with Parvati was finalised, like all grooms he too was invited with his relatives to the brides place on the day of the wedding.

Since Shiva had no relatives as such, he is supposed to have asked all his friends and acquaintances to accompany him. Since his friends were not from the ‘mainstream civilisation’ of the times, the wedding procession was quite a site. It also reflected on Shiva’s far from homely lifestyle, which to everybody’s horror was definitely horrifying, to say the least.

His wedding attire was tiger-skin for dress and a snake for a necklace. He had ashes smeared over him, and his unkempt hair in matted locks! He was sat atop his vahana, the Nandi bull and the whole sight was a far cry from what any bride’s family would have preferred to see. The members of the wedding procession too were worth a sight. Shiva was accompanied by ghosts, goblins, gnomes and all sorts of weird creatures from the crematorium, where Shiva spent most of his time. Many of them were bedecked with skulls and bones and some of them were smoking hemp!

When the procession reached the doors of Parvati, all the women-folk who had gathered to greet the procession ran away in fear. Parvati’s mother, Menaka, refused to greet such a hideous crowd and a semi-drunk groom! It took a lot of cajoling from Parvati for Shiva to look more worldly and pleasing at least on the wedding day. So to conform to the societal norms, Vishnu and Brahma who were part of the procession, and other gods got together, bathed him with perfumed water, and adorned him with gold, silver and gems! With proper dresses and combed hair, he is supposed to have looked more handsome than Kamdev himself, thus making him more acceptable to his would-be-mother-in-law, Menaka, who was too happy to wed her daughter to the erstwhile mendicant!

 (A 1955 Hindi film, Munimji, has a song ‘Shivji bihane chale palki sajaaike………’ which describes the entire episode very beautifully.)

Shiva’s marriage to Parvati was his second marriage. Earlier Shiva had married Sati, in which Sati had followed Shiva to Mount Kailash and after getting his reluctant consent, had married him. This was more of Shiva giving in to Sati’s worship. This did not make him any more husband than what he already was. He more or less remained the same ascetic and yogic that he was prior to Sati coming to Kailash. He remained far from the society and the worldly ways of life and Sati was content being his wife, nothing more.

But in the second instance, Parvati insisted that he come and wed her in the most proper manner. Shiva and Parvati were to be a worldly couple and the two get married by the Vedic rites, performed by none other than Lord Brahma himself. This was Parvati’s way of educating Shiva, the acceptable norms of a worldly society of which she was a part of and this time; unlike in her past form of Sati, she did not want an ascetic and a yogi for a husband. She wanted a worldly man with all the emotions and longings for a woman. She wanted children, a family and a loving husband. This can also be seen as taming of Shiva in worldly ways. She was going to be his Shakti (power) and the two together would signify the male and female principle of the cosmos.

Hereafter, the saying शक्ति के बिना शिव भी शव के समान हैं meaning ‘Without his Shakti, Shiva is nothing but Shava (corpse)’, would have its true meaning.

Sharabha Deva – A form of Lord Shiva

All of us are quite well aware of different forms of Shiva, be it in the form of Pashupati from the Harappan times, or Rudra from the Vedic times or other forms like Mrityunjaya, Sadashiva, Maheswara, or Nataraja form. The ascetic form and the family form of Shiva or the Linga form of Shiva are all well known.

However, let me introduce a relatively unknown or lesser-known form of Shiva and probably a form whose motivation was more ‘political’, which I will come to later. It is the Sharabha form of Lord Shiva.

Sharabha Deva killing Narasimha

According to Shiva Purana, Sharabha was a fierce looking creature. It had the wings and beak of a bird, body of a lion, sharp teeth, many legs and huge arms. It had sharp claws and was blazing fire. Its voice was like thousands of thunders striking together and the three eyes were like raging fire.

The myth has its origins in the Narasimha avatar of Vishnu. Having achieved its purpose of killing the demon Hiranyakashipu, Lord Vishnu was supposed to go back to his original form. But Narasimha having tasted blood was in no hurry to return to his original form. There was a growing belief that Vishnu might not go back to his form, and so to tame it, Lord Shiva had to take a more dangerous form to subdue it. A battle ensued, where Narasimha tried to strike at Sharabha only to realise that Sharabha was invincible. On striking Sarabha, it was Vishnu who groaned in pain only to realise that it was none other than Lord Shiva, and thus was Narasimha subdued, who later sang praises of the Sharabha Deva!

This rationale of such a form of Shiva can be found in the conflict between the Shaivites and Vaishnavites. The Bhagvata Purana mentions Hiranyakashipu as a terror to mankind and to eliminate him, Lord Vishnu had to come to earth in the form of Narasimha. The Skanda Purana however, mentions Hiranyakashipu, as just an irritant on earth and not at all a terror. One must not forget here, that Hiranyakashipu was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, though the boon given to him was by Lord Brahma! The Shaivites believe in this form of Lord Shiva and find its rationale of taming a form of Vishnu, quite palatable, however, the Vaishnavites do not believe in Narasimha being defeated by Sharabha. Rather, they believe that Narasimha manifested itself into Sharabha after killing the demon and Sharabha even finds place in the 1000 names of Vishnu (Vishnu Sahasranama)!

Believing in Sharabha Deva is left to ones individual inclination. Sharabha Deva in due course stands for the Lord who destroys those who cross moral and ethical boundaries.  

The Myth of Sati

As per the Shiva Purana, Daksha’s youngest daughter left her father’s house to follow Shiva, the mendicant as she had given her heart to him. She became Shiva’s obedient consort and became known as Sati, the perfect wife, much to the dislike of her father Daksha. 

Daksha’s dislike of Shiva goes back to a previous episode mentioned again in the Shiva Purana. According to this reference, one day Daksha was invited to a gathering of the gods, and as he entered the hall, all the gods rose in reverence, all but Shiva. Shiva’s intention was not to insult as he was oblivious to the prominence of Daksha who was considered to be the patriarch. Though Shiva’s intention was not to be disrespectful, his action of indifference did not amuse Daksha. He swore never to invite Shiva to any yagna or occasion as he did not find him worthy of such respect.

Once, Sati found that all the gods and goddesses were invited to a yagna organised by her father Daksha. She reached her father’s house only to find that there was no place reserved for her husband, who obviously was not invited, and this was a deliberate act. When she asked her father the reason for this, she was told by Daksha, that her husband’s ways did not warrant an invitation to such get-togethers. This was so insulting to Sati, that she decided to avenge her husband’s insult and even before anybody could understand, she jumped into the yagna fire and self-immolated herself, thereby causing a vighna – an obstacle to the yagna.

When Shiva came to know about the death of Sati, he was filled with both  grief and uncontrolled anger. In his fury, he took the charred remains of Sati and wandered around the cosmos in a destructive spree. The world would be engulfed in this fury and he had to be stopped.

At that moment, Lord Vishnu decided to hurl his ‘sudarshan chakra’, the heavenly discuss, to dismember Sati’s body into different pieces. These pieces fell in ‘Jambudwipa’, i.e. the present day Indian sub-continent.

It is said that there were 108 pieces made of Sati and each place where a piece of the body fell became a ‘Shaktipeeth’, a place of reverence. However, man in due course of time has lost out on majority of these places, and today we have 51 Shaktipeeths known to mankind. All these are well known places of religious significance.

Shaktipeeths in the Indian Sub-continent

Shaktipeeths are holy places of cosmic power; they are places of worship consecrated to the goddess ‘Shakti’. Throughout the Indian Sub-continent, there are many Shaktipeeths. A few prominent Shaktipeeths are:

v      Kalighat in Kolkata

v      Kamakhya in Assam

v      Katyayini in Vrindavan

v      Manibandh near Ajmer, Rajasthan

v      Naina Devi Temple in Himachal Pradesh

v      Bahucharaji in Mehsana district of Gujarat

A few Shaktipeeths exist in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

All these places have been said to have received some body part of Goddess Sati and the place is revered as a Shaktipeeth.

Ganapati - Birth Part 2

The Myth of Gajasura

A very interesting myth exists about Ganesha’s elephant head – the myth of the demon Gajasura.

As the myth goes, Gajasura – elephant headed demon was doing a very strict penance to seek blessing from Lord Shiva. Shiva granted him a boon as his satisfaction from the penance. Gajasura, asked that he be able to emanate fire from his body, so that nobody could dare come near him. Shiva granted the wish.

Gajasura continued his penance and Shiva would occasionally come and grant him his wishes. Finally Gajasura asked that Shiva inhabit his stomach and quite obviously Shiva granted the wish without thinking of the consequences. Soon Shiva was missing from his abode and Parvati was getting restless with the absence. Parvati then approached Lord Vishnu for help.

Lord Vishnu figured out soon regarding the whereabouts of Lord Shiva. He then devised a plan and took the form of a flautist and got Shiva’s Nandi bull to become a dancing bull. Together they performed in front of Gajasura who was so impressed by the performance that he granted a wish to the flautist – “anything you desire”. Lord Vishnu immediately asked for the release of Shiva.

Gajasura immediately saw thru the charade, but released Lord Shiva as promised. However, he asked for one last wish from Shiva. He said that he would want people to love him and his head should be remembered for ever after his death. Lord Shiva then got his son Ganesha there and substituted his head with that of Gajasura. This was one last gift by Shiva to Gajasura.