Hanukkah

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival of lamps, celebrated for eight days and nights. It commemorates the miracle of oil, which is part of the Jewish lore.

The incident is supposed to have taken place around 165 BCE, a place near Jerusalem, which was taken over by the Syrians, under Alexander the Great. Accordingly all places of worship were converted to Greek temples. During once such incident, a Jewish temple was converted to a temple of Zeus, and to hurt the Jewish sentiments, pigs were sacrificed at the temple, which was a sacrilege for the Jews.

This continued till one day, a Jewish High Priest, by the name of Mattathias, and his five sons decided to revolt against the Greeks. They did not rest till they managed to get back the control and drive out the Syrian-Greeks. As a part of the ritual cleansing of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, they decided to burn the ritual oil at the Temple for eight days. But they found that they had stock of oil for only one day. They nevertheless went ahead and started the ritual only to find that the small quantity of the oil, miraculously burnt for eight days. Since then Hanukkah is being celebrated to mark this miracle and the regaining of the Jewish temple.

During this festival, the traditional Hanukkiyah which is a candelabrum with eight candleholders in a row, with the ninth one being slightly elevated, is lit. The Hanukkiyah is lit for eight days, one on the first day, two on the second, till all eight are lit on the eighth day. As a part of the celebration, the children play the dreidel, which is a four-sided spinning top with Hebrew letters on each side. Children usually play the dreidel for chocolates, candies or just about anything.

Hanukkah is an important festival of the Jews and coming close to Christmas holidays, its importance is all the more great. However, there is no significance of the fact that Hanukkah is so close to Christmas, and it is purely coincidental. Hanukkah in Hebrew means ‘dedication’, which is a reminder to people that the festival is for the re-dedication of the Jewish temple after taking it back from the Syrian-Greeks.

Gods of Love

Greek mythology has Eros and sometimes better known as Cupid as god of Love. Eros is a handsome man (the word "erotic", meaning sexual love, comes from his name), who is the son of Aphrodite, who had fallen in love with Psyche. However, it is as Cupid that he is better known. Cupid is a small winged child, who is both very good looking and extremely mischievous, with a penchant for shooting love arrows blindly (thus giving the phrase – love is blind). The ‘victim’ of his arrows is supposed to fall in love with the very person they see after being hit by the arrows. Cupid is sometimes shown riding a dolphin.

Hindu mythology has Kamdev as the god of love, and he too is handsome, moves around with bow made of sugarcane, strung with a line of bees and his arrows are flower-tipped with desire. His wife is Rati (passion) and together they create love, desire and passion. Kamdev’s is shown riding a parrot. Kamdev is supposed to have been born from Lord Brahma’s heart and his main supporter is Vasanta (Lord of Springs).

According to a myth, Lord Shiva was engrossed in deep meditation after the death of Sati and a mighty asura needed to be killed by Shiva’s offspring. Shiva needed to be disturbed from his meditation to even look at Parvati. All the gods requested Kamdev to wake him up by shooting his desire-filled darts. Kamdev knew the risk on hand, but complied with the request. When Shiva was disturbed, he was angry and when he found out the god responsible for this, he opened his third eye, and reduced Kamdev to ashes. But by then Shiva was very agitated and was being overcome with desire and love for Parvati, whom he had seen on opening his eyes. Later, on seeing the sad state of Rati who could not come to terms with the outcome of such a noble act by her husband, Shiva agreed to restore Kamdev, but only in spirit, which implied that Kamdev did not represent only physical love, but also true love and affection. Thus Kamdev is also known as Ananga, the bodiless! His other names are Madan (one who intoxicates with love) and Manmatha (one who agitates the mind with love)

We can see that both Cupid/Eros and Kamdev have similarities. Besides being handsome and evoking love by shooting arrows, they too have their own love stories. Eros with Psyche and Kamdev with Rati. Overtime, the love they evoke has gone through a metamorphosis in its implications, but the original response of their arrows continue to be carnal love, as we see in the case of Eros himself and Lord Shiva and Parvati. Mythology has never looked down on carnal love; rather there are numerous instances of such love in all mythologies. However, with the rise of man establishing moral standards, such examples were given a coating of philosophical interpretation.

The Gift of Fire

According to a Greek Myth, Zeus, the King of all gods got bored with all the creation, and so decided to create living beings to inhabit the earth. So he gave the task of creating living beings to two brothers by the name of Prometheus and Epimetheus. Prometheus meant foresight and Epimetheus meant hindsight.

On earth, both started their creations. Prometheus made man, in the shape of the gods and Epimetheus made animals. On creation, Epinetheus expended all the gifts to be given, on the animals, without much left for man. Thus the animals were endowed with swiftness, cunningness, physical strength and protective fur. This left Prometheus literally nothing to be given to man as endowment. So Prometheus decided to teach man, the art of fire, which was known only to the gods in Mount Olympus. This angered Zeus to no end.

To show his gratitude for creation, Zeus sent a beautiful maiden by the name of Pandora, along with a box, with an instruction that the box should not be opened. Prometheus knew that Zeus was up to something and so he declined the gift, but Epimetheus not only accepted Pandora, but even got married to her not heeding to Prometheus’s warning.

Zeus was further offended by Prometheus’s refusal of the gift from the gods, and so he decided to punish him by chaining him to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains where every day and eagle would come and eat his liver, leaving only at night, when the liver would begin to grow again, only to be eaten again the next day. (Modern science tells us, that amongst all the body parts, liver is the only organ which has regenerative powers, seems as if the ancient Greeks knew about this aspect!)

On the other hand, Pandora got very curious to know what was in the box that she was not supposed to open. One day, the curiosity got the better of her and no sooner she opened the box, out came all the miseries – vice, labour, old age, insanity, illness and death. Pandora however, managed to shut the box, just before ‘hope’ could escape, and thus today amidst all the miseries, it is hope that sees man through. (It is from this act, that we get the phrase ‘opening a Pandora’s box’).

So just as Pandora weakened man with all the miseries she let loose, fire managed to see mankind through civilisations! In Greek Mythology, Prometheus is regarded as a hero for rebelling against Zeus and giving mankind the gift of Fire at the cost of risking his life.

Euthanasia

Thanatos is the Greek god of death and is the son of Nyx (night) and Erebos (darkness) and is the twin brother of Hypnos (sleep). As god of death, Thanatos’s siblings are Geras (old age), Oizys (suffering), Moros (doom), Apate (deception) and Nemesis (revenge). The association of Thanatos is with all things grim and negative. After all what else is death to a mortal? But, then Thanatos also has lent its name to Euthanasia – where ‘eu’ stands for ‘good’ and Thanatos for death – thus implying ‘good death’. Sometimes Thanatos was associated with peaceful death, as Keres stood for violent deaths!

A recent Hindi movie has fuelled an ongoing debate on Euthanasia, or ‘mercy-killing’ in common parlance. Let us see how the subject is seen in our myths.

Hinduism is aware of Prayopavesa, which stands for starving to death, in Sanskrit, or death by giving up food and water. However, Prayopavesa can be performed only by someone who has no desire to live or no responsibilities left towards the family or society at large and at times in cases of terminal disease. The phrase ‘desire to live’ is quite dubious as a reason, but we will leave this for the time being. According to the scriptures, the Bhagvata Purana was narrated when King Parikshit was observing Prayopavesa. A similar practice is found amongst the Jains, which is known as Santhara.

Another reference to such an act is Mahaprasthana, i.e. great departure, which leads to death. This was undertaken by those who did not believe in taking lives (even if it was their own), and so one proceeded on Mahaprasthana, which would eventually lead to death, due to reasons, not known or not found out ever.

History is witness to such acts by the likes of Veer Savarkar and Vinobha Bhave. Veer Savarkar is supposed to have written in an article, titled - 'Atma-hatya or Deh-tyaag', saying that Suicide was taking one’s own life, but renouncing life when it was not capable of functioning properly was a different matter altogether. Buddha and Mahavira are also supposed to have ended their lives on their own.

Are there any specific references of embracing death (if we simplify the term Euthanasia) in our Mythology? According to Ramayana, Mother Earth parted under Sita’s feet and she merged in the ground. Could this fantastic idea be an euphemism for embracing death? It further states, that Kush tried to save his mother, but failed. Again Valmiki’s Ramayan mentions that Ram took ‘jal samadhi’ by simply walking into the river Sarayu, but when Hanuman decided to join him, Ram stopped him from doing so. This shows that somewhere, embracing death was limited to few people and not people at large.

Another obvious reference to embracing death is that of Bhishmapitamah in Mahabharat. Though he had the power to choose when to die, he chose it after much suffering. A bed of arrows could imply severe bodily trouble, and embracing death, when he could take it no more.

Some compare Euthanasia with Suicide, calling it Legal Suicide. However, it is here that I beg to differ. Suicide is a matter of impulse, which is never a well-thought out decision, by a loser (be it loss of faith, trust, or material). But Euthanasia is a well-thought out decision and at times gives a chance to make a mid-course correction (if it is going the Prayopavesa way for example). But Suicide does not give you such options. Also Euthanasia is taken only under cases of severe or terminal illness. It is important to mention that Euthanasia is carried out by a medical practitioner, which again is a key differentiator from Suicide. Euthanasia is not a stand-alone concept; there are other issues like Voluntary vs. Involuntary Euthanasia, Active vs. Passive Euthanasia, which is beyond the scope of this article.

The subject has moral and ethical connotations and the debate needs to continue. I am not making a case for Euthanasia, but was only trying to see if there are any references available, which is not a justification for the act though. I insist that I am not posturing here, but only putting some facts on the table, or should I say, on your screens!

Earthquakes

In earlier articles, we discussed mountains (26/08/10), volcanoes (31/08/10), eclipses (22/10/10), etc. Another important aspect of nature’s fury has been Earthquakes. Something as horrendous and destructive could not be outside the realm of people’s imagination or should I say creative justification? So how did our early civilisations see or understand Earthquakes? Let’s go through some of them –

According to the Greek Mythology, Poseidon was the Greek god of earthquakes and it was believed that whenever he was in a foul mood, he would strike the ground with his trident, which was his signature weapon, causing the earth to shake and lead to destruction.

The Greeks also had another myth, which said that wild winds would get trapped in cavers under the ground. When they struggled to come out, the struggle would lead to earthquakes. The Mexicans have a similar myth which says that the earthquakes occur when the devil and his friends rip apart the earth and try to come to earth through the cracks to create trouble on earth.

According to a Nordic Myth, earthquakes were the result of the suffering Loki, has to go through for the murder of his brother. When Loki, the god of trouble, killed Balder, who was the god of beauty, he was punished by being tied down in an underground cave where a poisonous serpent was placed above his head dripping poison. Loki’s wife stood by him with a bowl to catch the poison, but every time she would go to empty the bowl, the poison would fall on Loki’s head. Earthquakes occurred when Loki would try to jerk his head to avoid the poison from falling on his head.

The Japanese believe that earthquakes are caused by a giant catfish called Namazu, who lives in the mud beneath the earth and is restrained with a stone by the god Kashima. As and when the god lets his guard fall, Namazu thrashes itself, causing earthquakes.

According to a Hindu myth, the earth is held by four elephants who in turn stand on the back of a turtle. This turtle is further balanced on the head of a cobra. During the entire balancing act, if any one of the animals, move, understandably the earth would shake, leading to earthquakes! This myth has different versions, with the number of elephants varying, and sometimes the order of animals varying, but the logic is the same, and i.e. dis-balance.

Siberia has an interesting myth. They believe that the earth rests on a sled which is driven by a god by the name of Tuli. When the dogs that pull the sled stop to scratch themselves, as they have fleas, the earth shakes, leading to earthquakes.

People from Mozambique have a very simplistic view. They believe that the earth is a living creature and like all living beings, sometimes it too feels sick and has fever. It is during such fevers, when the earth catches the chill, it shivers, and we experience earthquakes!

Finally a myth which says earthquakes happen as fallout of love! According to a West African Myth, the earth is flat, and is held on one side by a mountain and on the other side by a giant. The giant’s wife holds the sky. The earth shakes, when the giant stops to hug his wife!

Every culture had its own way of understanding an earthquake. Its devastating effects on an unscientific mind have left its imprint in the form of such creative and lovely myths. However, a common thread amongst the majority of the myths across the world has also been that earthquakes occurred due to Gods anger and as a punishment for mankind. This was always the safest and for a god fearing community, this was never questioned. It is not surprising to find people saying even today, that god uses earthquakes and such disasters to reduce evil on earth. Again a relatively simplistic view of an otherwise mammoth problem.