The Mythical explanation of an Eclipse - World

The Chinese believed that an eclipse happened when a mythical dragon tried to eat up the sun in the sky. The Chinese for solar eclipse is 日食 (re shi), meaning “sun eat”. When the eclipse occurred, the Chinese would make a lot of noise, by banging pots and drums, bursting crackers, hoping that the noise created by them would drive away the dragon and spare the sun, and sure enough, the sun was soon spared and it would come out in full visibility – most probably by the noise created!

The idea of monsters, etc. eating up the sun or the moon during eclipses is quite common. The Incas believed that the sun or the moon was being eaten up a cat by the name of K’owa, and like the Chinese they too tried to scare away the cat by making a noise.

The Egyptians had a similar belief where the sun god Ra was being eaten up the goddess of darkness, Apep who was in the form of a serpent. However, some myths also referred to this phenomenon, due to a hawk trying to eat the sun.

Similar myths are found in Siberia with a vampire, a three legged toad in Vietnam and a jaguar in Paraguay. In Scandinavia, two wolves are supposed to be responsible for this, one devoured the sun and the other the moon.

According to Japanese mythology, an eclipse occured due to a spat between two siblings! Amaterasu is the Sun goddess (rare portrayal of Sun as a goddess) who has a brother, Susano-o, a Storm deity. Once Susano-o misbehaved with Amaterasu, and she got so upset that she went into a cave. But this led to a world sans light and warmth. The other gods then pleaded to Amaterasu who would just not agree, till the gods tricked her to come out and that’s how, there was light again. Since then it is said that an eclipse happens when Amaterasu gets upset with her bother Susano-o, and goes inside a cave, and the goddess shows up only on the request of the other gods!

A common theme across all myths is of one eating the other, violence, etc. But a Tahitian myth talks of love and is very different from the others. According to the Tahitian myth, Laa, the Sun god and Marama, the Moon goddess were in love. But whenever the two came together, the Sun would get very hot (I am not sure if there is a pun here!). So Laa and Marama decided to separate, but also decided to meet once a year. According to the myth, an eclipse occurs whenever the two meet!

Thus we see that nearly every civilization had its own version of an eclipse. Its sinister connotations and the suddenness of it all were the reason, why majority of the myths had eating, biting and devouring as the theme behind the phenomenon, till of course Science stepped in.

The Mythical explanation of an Eclipse - Indian

The Hindu myth has its origins in the famous episode of samudra manthan. As per the myth, the gods and asuras got together to churn the ocean to get the wealth from the bottom of the sea. Amongst this wealth, the most coveted and awaited of all was the amrita (nectar of life) consuming of which would grant immortality. Both the gods and the asuras were after it, but both knew that they needed each others might to churn it out of the sea.

When they finally got the nectar, Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini, the enchantress and asked all of them to stand in a queue and she would serve it to one and all, with the idea of not serving it to the asuras at all. All the asuras were too enchanted to see thru the deception, except for one of them, by the name of Swarbhanu. Swarbhanu could sense something amiss and so he disguised himself like the gods and managed to get a sip.

Sun and the Moon came to know about it and informed this to Lord Vishnu, who immediately cut Swarbhanu with his Chakra into two. However, since Swarbhanu had already consumed it, nothing much could be done. So the top half of Swarbhanu came to be known as Rahu and the tail became Ketu, with no body in between.

Rahu and Ketu came to dislike Sun and Moon, and so once in a while they try to swallow them. Since there is no body, every time the mouth (Rahu) swallows the Sun or the Moon, it slips out of the tail (Ketu). During the time that the Sun and the Moon pass thru Rahu and Ketu, there is darkness all around. This is the mythical reason of a Solar eclipse and a Lunar eclipse!

Rahu and Ketu have a lot of astrological significance (negative impact) on the mortals, which is a different subject altogether.

The picture shows Rahu swallowing the Sun and causing an eclipse. This Rahu Temple (Named Wat Srisathong) is in Nakhon Chaisi 65 kms from Bangkok.

The Waxing and Waning of the Moon.

As per a Vedic myth, Daksha Prajapati had given 27 of his daughters in marriage to Chandra (the moon god). Chandra was known for his good looks and virility. But Chandra amongst all the wives preferred Rohini, which angered the other sisters, who complained to their father about this partiality.

Daksha Prajapati cursed Chandra with a degenerative disease, which led him to lose his lustre and thus Chandra started to wane. Chandra was worried and on the advice of Lord Brahma, prayed to Shiva, who allowed him to take refuge in his locks and gain his potency back.

Later, the curse was reduced to a temporary state, and from that day onwards, Chandra, the moon, waxes when it approaches Rohini and wanes when it moves away from her. On the full moon day, Chandra attains his full potency, and then onwards, it loses its potency to the new moon night, when he has no wife by his side and on the previous day, when he is just a crescent, he takes refuge on Shiva’s locks. The day Chandra, takes refuge on Shiva’s locks, Lord Shiva is known as Chedrashekhar!

Another myth has its origin in the ravenous appetite of Lord Ganesha. It so happened that once Ganesha had an overdose of his favourite sweet, modaks (sweet rice balls), till the point of feeling extremely uncomfortable. He then decided to out in the open air. While was in the jungle, a snake crossed his path, which scared his vahana, the mouse, who backed out a bit, toppling Ganesha. On falling, Ganesha’s big tummy burst open and all the modaks rolled out. Ganesha ran after them, collected all of them and stuffed them back, and tied his tummy with the help of the snake Vasuki.

All this was being witnessed by Moon and his wives, and they all burst out laughing! Ganesha felt very insulted and cursed the Moon god, to disappear forever. Shiva realised that the disappearance of Moon could cause cosmic dis-balance, so he intervened. He made Moon god apologise to Ganesha and in turn asked Ganesha to reduce this curse. Ganesha then reduced the curse to slowly diminishing and then disappearing for a day, and then come back to his original size back, and then start the diminishing act again. This cycle would continue forever, so that people are reminded of the curse and also not to make fun of the Lord! 

Vijaya Dashami

Yesterday Ravan was burnt in full public view and with a lot of enthusiasm and joy. Quite ironic to see celebrations over a public execution. Some would say, why not after all this is celebration of the victory of good over evil, some prefer to keep quiet and overlook the other salient points of the eternal conflict.

What is good and what is evil? Who decided such standards in the absence of central governance or a common human understanding?

Was it incorrect to questions people who donned the outfit of ‘harmless ascetics’ but carried arms and displayed the physique of warriors? A man should not kidnap another’s wife. But then should people allow their sisters to be insulted?

In which culture did one severe nose in response to what one might call an ‘indecent proposal’? Which is a bigger crime – insulting someone’s sister or kidnapping someone’s wife, in return? Is an individual taken by force the property of the one who has strength and power at his behest? For an individual enmity, is it correct to render the whole nation (read kingdom) vulnerable?

On one had we tell people to feel proud about ones achievements, but the moment we change the adjective (Proud) in to a noun (Pride) we start looking down on the same achievement, why is it like that?

Were there ulterior motives behind the whole apparent plot? Was it destined such? Were the characters just playing small roles in the overall big drama conducted by someone else?

Someone once asked me why do you ask so many questions and my answer was – Why not? He said, there that’s another question, but I thought that was an answer!

Durga – A Feminist Icon?

Goddess Durga is one of the most important and impressive goddess in the entire Hindu pantheon. She is both a warrior goddess as well as epitome of motherhood. Unlike many of the goddess who are seen along with their male consorts, she stands by herself. Her very existence was for something that the male gods could not achieve, both individually and collectively.

Does this not make her a formidable entity? How is she different, if at all? After all she was created by the male gods and given a task to accomplish, so is she not abiding by the dictates of the male gods? So what makes her so different?

If we analyse closely Durga goes against all that a Hindu woman represents (please take note that here we are not talking of the woman of the 21^st century, English speaking, blog-reading, urban educated woman, we are referring to the woman of the yester-ages – phew…..that was on time!). In majority of our mythologies, a woman is generally with a consort, derives succor from her male partner and is at the whims and mercy of the males around her (I will not be dragged into controversy by naming a few of the mythical female characters who personify such a state). A general impression of the females has been that of subjugation, surrender and those who live in the shadows of the male deity/partner.

But Durga is different. She is a woman in the male domain of activities. She is a warrior who fights a mighty demon who could not be vanquished by all the gods together. She is adept in the use of all arms and has the energy to wage a battle for nine days.  Another aspect is the dwelling grounds of the goddess. She is the one who stays in mountains, a space which is generally kept outside the boundaries of the society or civilisation. The hard terrain, unlivable conditions of the mountains does not deter her. Sometimes she is the daughter of Himalaya and sometimes she is the resident of Vindhyas (as Vidhyavasini), or as Ma Sherawali, all are mountainous abodes. She rides a lion or a tiger, both ferocious animals, on whom she has total control, again a shade far from feminine.

References of worshiping Durga is found in both Ramayana (Ram worshiping before his battle with Ravana) and in Mahabharata (first by Yudhishtira in Virata-parva and then by Arjuna in Bhisma-parva). In all the instances, it is to achieve victory in the impending war. This led to the practice of Kings later worshiping Durga as a goddess who aids achieving military success and is followed even today in some parts of the country where arms and weapons are worshiped as a part of the festival. There are references of Shivaji worshiping Ma Bhavani (a form of Durga) in History.

Some would say that a Mother is she who takes care of her children and saves them from all dangers (whatever they be), and that the role Durga has played is still within the larger domain of the feminine sphere of activities – as defined by the patriarchy!

Do you agree?