Who Enjoys More?

If you have not given this question a thought, then let me tell you, that mythology has. And if you have thought about it, well, then you sure are obsessed with questions!

In the course of sex, who enjoys more, a man or a woman? Both Greek mythology and Mahabharata (Mb) seems to have tried to seek answers to this question.

According to Greek Mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet well known for his ability to predict the future. According to one version Tiresias once came across a pair of copulating snakes and he hit one of them with his stick. Hera, the Queen of the gods was not happy with this and she cursed him to become a woman for seven years. After seven years, Tiresias came across the same sight again, but this time he left them undisturbed. This act allowed him to regain his masculinity. Once Zeus and Hera were having an argument, as to who enjoyed more during sex. According to Zeus, it was women and according to Hera, it was men. Tiresias was called to arbitrate, since he had experienced sex both as man and woman. Tiresias answered – Of ten parts, man enjoys only one! This upset Hera so much, that she cursed him to become blind. Zeus could not do much, so he gave Tiresias the gift of foresight.

According to Mb, after the war of Kurukshetra, before Bhishma decided to die, there was a discourse between Yudhishtir and Bhishma while he was on the bed of arrows. Among many questions asked by Yudhishtir, one of the questions asked was similar to what Zeus and Hera had. To this Bhishma is supposed to have related the story of Bhangashvana. Bhangashvana was an ancient king who was cursed to turn into a woman, by Lord Indra. He was the only creature on earth, to have experienced sex both as a man as well as a woman, and he also had the rare fortune to have some children call him father, while some called him mother. It is said that later when Lord Indra asked him if he would like to regain his masculine form, he is supposed to have declined the offer, on the grounds that he would prefer to live as a woman, mainly for the ability to enjoy sexual pleasure more. Many later scholars have also added (lest this be seen in bad light!) that Bhangashvana enjoyed being a woman, also because as a woman she could love her children more than what she could as a man!

While Greek mythology answers the question in an indirect manner, Mahabharata answers it more directly. Unfortunately Tiresias had to bear the brunt of the ire of Hera, Bhangashvana goes on to enjoy the life of a woman.

Greeks punished the person who gave the answer, while in Mb the person gets a boon of his choice, but in both the cases, the answer was woman.

Statutory Disclaimer - The opinions expressed above were that of Tiresias and Bhangashvana, mythical characters, the Blogger (i.e. me) takes no responsibility for their words and opinions!
 

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!

The Crime and Punishment of Tantalus

The myth of Tantalus is an interesting Greek myth.

Tantalus was a mortal son of Zeus but unlike other mortals, was a favourite with both the gods and Zeus. He was probably the only mortal, who was allowed to dine with the gods, especially the dinner-for-gods-only kind!

However, such love was not quite reciprocated by Tantalus. He had the habit of listening to the divine secrets of the gods and pass it down to the humans, more as a boast to prove his divine proximity. A few times he even tried to steal the ambrosia, divine drink of the gods, to share it with the mortals. Once, one of the gods stole Zeus’s golden pet dog and gave it to Tantalus to hide it. Later when the god came to ask for it, Tantalus claimed ignorance and said he never was given such a dog. It took Zeus’s intervention, who sent his messenger to find the dog. Such acts of misconduct were occasionally pardoned, as he was the favourite and thus Tantalus never took the gods seriously.

Once to prove the gullibility and the foolishness of the gods, he invited them for dinner to his castle. He then cut his son Pelops to pieces and made a stew out of it and served to the gods. None of the gods had quite had the stew except for Demeter, who unmindfully chewed into what turned out to be the shoulder of Pelops. She was not in a proper frame of mind as she was mourning for her daughter Persephone (Read more about it in This is Utkarsh Speaking: Demeter & Persephone). When she realised what had happened she alerted all the gods, who were now furious.

Zeus decided to punish him severely for this act of trying to make cannibals out of the gods. As a punishment he was sent to the Tartarus, the lowest region of the Underworld. There he was chained in a lake and made to stand under a tree full of ripe and juicy fruits. However, whenever he tried to pluck a fruit, the fruit would move away from him and whenever he tried to drink water from the lake, it would recede, thus depriving him of all nourishment. This gives us the word, tantalise, meaning ‘to tease someone with the sight or promise of something that they cannot have’ (Oxford Dictionary). To tease him further, sometimes the waters of the lake would rise up to his chin, but the moment he tried to drink, the waters would recede and all he would find was mud all over him. If he tried to take the waters in his hands to drink, it would flow off his hands by the time it reached his mouth. This left Tantalus eternally frustrated.

 

Tantalus by Gioacchino Assereto (1640)

Some authors have also said that Zeus punished him further by hanging a stone over him which was always threatening to fall on him and he was eternally trying to dodge the same. The gods were so disappointed with him, that the entire family and the descendants of Tantalus were cursed to end in tragedy. (next time we will read about his daughter Niobe). However, the gods managed to resurrect his son Pelops, with an ivory shoulder, since Demeter had taken a bite of the shoulder. Pelops goes on to live a long life (To read more about Pelops, read This is Utkarsh Speaking: Olympic Games – Mythical Origins), and was probably the only one who escaped the wrath of the gods.

Many scholars were of the opinion that Tantalus was a historical figure possibly the ruler of a city called Tantalis or of a city by the name of Siphylus. Near the present day Mount Siphylus, many archaeological remains have associations with the House of Tantalus and his children.

What is of importance is the crime and punishment. Tantalus’s crime seems to be less of killing his son, than of making the gods cannibals! In the ancient times, killing ones blood-related was a grave crime, but the focus in this myth has been more of god’s deception. The gods were angry because they were misled with an ulterior motive of trying to prove that the gods were not all that intelligent as they seemed to be. Many have opined that the god’s reaction was less due to killing of the son by a father, but more due to sharing of the divine secrets with the mortals. This could have some bearing, as we have seen Zeus’s reaction to a similar incident that happens with Prometheus, a god, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man (Read This is Utkarsh Speaking: The Gift of Fire ).

Another way to look at it is that message was being given to people that gods did not like human sacrifice and the society at large should not resort to cannibalism. This theory has a significant bearing, especially since there have been records of human sacrifices to certain deities in the Greek pantheon. This myth could be seen as a case of changing perceptions towards the same, especially since some of the versions state that Tantalus offered Pelops as a sacrifice to the gods. The punishment of depriving Tantalus of all food and drink eternally brings out the severity of the punishment by the gods and that too to the favourite of the gods.

According to the theory of functionalism of mythology, every myth serves a purpose. It has to have a cause or a reason for its existence. The above myth definitely sends a loud message, that no matter how close one is to the gods, there is no messing around with them. One cannot take them for granted and above all, they seek reverence and not ridicule. If one transgresses the lines drawn, one can face severe punishment and not just the concerned person, but his sons and other family members. The entire family and descendants have faced tragic deaths and this by itself is a very important lesson in this myth.

Next we will read about Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus.

Goddesses with a difference

In mythology, we have seen gods, goddesses and negative elements with many limbs. We have seen them with many hands or legs or faces or even eyes. However, I recently came around a few goddesses with more than two breasts. By itself it seemed odd, but when you read about them and understand the depiction, it doesn’t seem all that odd.

The first goddess is a Greek goddess by the name of Artemis. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto. When Zeus’s wife came to know about the alliance, she forbade everyone to help Leto deliver her babies. Leto was in labour and in that situation she roamed all around and finally delivered in Delos. She delivered a set of twins, Artemis and her twin brother Apollo. In due course Artemis was associated with hunting and moon, and Apollo became the god of Sun. The Temple of Artemis was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, located in Ephesus, near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey.

Statue of Artemis

 

 

Artemis is depicted with a bow and arrow, to confirm with her status of goddess of hunts, but more important than that, is that as a fertility goddess, she is depicted with multiple breasts. She is considered to be the goddess of child-birth and cures women of labour pains or leads them to an easy death in case of the delivery gone wrong, by striking them with her arrows. This according to some scholars is because she was aware of the pains her mother had to go through during giving birth to her and Apollo. Artemis is a virgin goddess, probably because she herself did not want to go through what her mother had to undergo. However, ironic this sounds, she continues to be viewed as a goddess of fertility and all major depictions show her with multiple breasts. She is also sometimes referred to as Diana.

The Inca’s too are supposed to have a similar goddess, by the name of Mama Allpa. She too was seen with multiple breasts and was considered to be the goddess of fertility and a provider of abundance to the earthlings.

Multiple breasts in goddesses, from the above examples seem to have a direct association with fertility and all aspects of it. The multiple breasts are to be seen as a symbol of the female nourishing power and fertility and may even extend to the goddess standing for Mother Earth and Nature itself. The breast in this case is depicted as a source of life and is a recurring theme in many a myth. The multiple attributes is an indication of the abundance that they lead to with reference to fertility, be it in the form of harvests or offspring of humans and animals.

There is a difference here when we read about a similar goddess from South India, next time. Keep reading………

Pic Courtesy -

Statue of Artemis from - Ephesus Museum, Selcuk, Turkey 

courtesy Travelsignposts.com (Internet)