The Birth of Lord Buddha

On Buddha Purnima, let us understand the myth of the Birth of Lord Buddha.

King Suddhodana was the ruler of a Himalayan kingdom. One day his wife, Queen Maya, had a strange dream. As per her dream, some angels carried her high into the snow-capped mountains and draped her in flowers. Then a magnificent white elephant carrying a white lotus approached her and walked around her thrice. The elephant then struck her on her right side with its trunk and entered into her from her right side.

The Queen woke up very perplexed and when she related the dream to her husband, the King summoned Brahmins to interpret the dream. The Brahmins then told the King that the Queen would give birth to a son, who would grow up to be a great ‘conqueror’.

When the time for delivery came closer, she took leave of her husband to travel to her own town. On her way to her town, she came across the Lumbini grove which was in full bloom. The Queen decided to take some rest in the grove and with the help of her attendants went in the centre of the grove. When she reached the spot, she developed labour. She held the branches of a Sal tree and delivered the child in a standing position. Later the Queen returned to her kingdom, but died within seven days and Gautama was raised by her mother’s sister, who in due course of time got married to the King.

This is an interesting myth associated with a historical person. There is historical evidence of the birth of Gautama, but has mythical connotations to his birth. The white elephant is a symbol of fertility and the white lotus is a symbol of enlightenment in Buddhist art and mythology. In mythology, the birth of a hero always has magical circumstances or unnatural events preceding or succeeding the birth, needless to say at times the birth itself.

Scholars have found parallels of the birth with the birth of Vedic Indra, who too was considered to be a mortal hero, who got deified later. Indra too was born from the side of his mother and there were earthquakes during his birth. The association of a white elephant is also found in myths of Indra, as his vahana was the mighty Airavata, a powerful elephant. Many scholars feel that the birth of Gautama could have been drawn from the Vedic references of the birth of Indra, except that there have been no major battles associated with Buddha, as is found in the case of Indra. However, Buddha ‘fought’ a lot of personal battles like vices and temptation to achieve Nirvana. If we are to compare this aspect too, then Indra fought his battles outside himself, whereas Buddha fought his battles inside to achieve Enlightenment.

David and Goliath - A Modern Interpretation

Today I am reminded of a Biblical story, the story of David and the Goliath. Let me summarize the story –

As per the story, the armies of Philistine and Israel had met for war. From the Philistine side a giant who was close to nine feet and massive, wearing a warrior’s armour, had terrified the Israelites, who were no match in size and the havoc that Goliath had unleashed on them. The Philistine army was simply basking in the glory of Goliath’s terror, while the Israel army was being annihilated.

One day, a teenager, reached the battlefield to get news of his brothers who were representing Israel army and was surprised to see the state of affairs. He met the King of Israel and convinced him to allow him to go to war. Much against the Kings wishes, he allowed the small and tiny David to go to the battle ground. David went to the battle ground in his ordinary shepherd skin and his slingshot, as the armours available were not of his size! On seeing him, Goliath was enraged and charged at him. Seeing a suitable hole in Goliath’s armour, David shot a stone from his slingshot at his head. The stone with its full impact hit Goliath in the centre of his forehead and Goliath fell on his face. Seeing the mighty giant sprawled on the ground, the army of Philistine ran helter-skelter and the battle was won by Israel.

I couldn’t but think of this story on this day when another David has vanquished a mighty Goliath! The victory of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal polls, who is a David in every respect, is similar to that of the victory of David over Goliath. Just as David was no match for Goliath, Mamata too was a miniscule personality in front of the established Communist regime. Just as David did not wear any armour to battle, Mamata still does not wear the Politician’s attire – she is still seen donning a simple cotton saree and rubber slippers! The communists were no different from Goliath, in that they were overbearing, overconfident and striking terror in the hearts of one and all. The thirty-four years of misrule, mismanagement and lack of development, had made them a giant who could not turn around to see the changing direction of the wind, till it was too late. The mighty ruling party was surrounded by numerous cadres, like the army around Goliath, who were simply having a field time running small terror-outfits of their own all over the state, more so in the rural areas of Bengal.

The only difference, if any, is that it took David only one stone to flatten Goliath, but it too Mamata many years of dogged perseverance to remove the last remnants of a defunct ideology.

As a champion of Capitalism and Liberalism, I can’t help but celebrate the fall of the Red Goliath! I sincerely hope that the Karat’s and the Yechury’s of the world will do some introspection or better still, announce political retirement!

This is not an eulogy on Mamata Banerjee. It is praise to the act of pursuing a single objective doggedly over the last one and a half decades or so, with results for all of us to see. Will this poriborton change the face and reputation of West Bengal? Let’s wait and watch.

But till then - Mamta-pishi tomay janai shobuj shelaam! (A green salute to Mamata-aunty!)

Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day. But why only today, isn’t everyday some mother’s day, if not every mother’s day? Everyday someone (or ‘somemany’) becomes a mother and the ones already mothers, continue to be one. So why celebrate only today? Well without going too much into it, this is the day the Greeting Cards and Gift shop companies, besides the childcare product manufacturers and many others formed a cartel to fleece all children! Now, now let’s not be such a cynic! What are a few thousand rupees for the woman who gave you more than her life, besides the blood sweat and copious tears for you? Apologies to the entire mother-dom!!

World over people celebrate this one day and make it a point to call their mothers or send them flowers and chocolates, if not some token gift. We do have Father’s day too, but the heavy emotion is missing in that. Have you wondered why? Do fathers contribute any less in the child’s well-being? Before some women hurls a stiletto at me let me clarify that this is not a mothers vs. father’s debate! It was one innocent question which came to my child-like mind. Mommy!!

Nargis in Mother India

Our culture is extremely sympathetic towards mothers and is considered to be an act of sacrilege if one faults a mother. That is exactly how we still remember the depiction of yesteryear actress Nargis in Mother India, one who toils, strives and sacrifices, all for the sake of her children. We remember the stoic Nirupa Roy and the homelySulochana of the celluloid world. That image might have undergone a sea change now, but the imagery is nothing short of legendary.

The situation was no different in our Mythology too. Mothers in our mythology too were the sacrificing sufferers who lived first for their husbands and then for their children and nothing beyond. Except for an occasional brush with fame, their roles were always tragic. Kunti from the epic Mahabaharata is one such mother who epitomizes this image. First she was given a boon of having children whenever she wanted, which itself was out of place. Why would someone give such a boon to an unmarried underage girl? Even if we allow it to pass for poetic justice, she gets married to a person who could not procreate. She ‘gives birth’ to three sons and is soon a widow, with five sons! She goes through the ordeal that her sons go through along with a secret of begetting a son out of a wedlock, which hits her when she least wants it. A mute spectator and a sufferer in all the wrongs heaped by section of the society against who she could not say a word, but suffer in silence. Her moment of glory was never to come. A life of nothing but tragedy.

Similar characters abound in the same epic. Be it Satyavati, Gandhari or Uttara, Abhimanyu’s wife whose only role was to deliver her dead husbands son, the only heir after the war of Kurukshetra. Elsewhere, also we find mothers who have only to shed copious tears for their sons or husbands.

Ramayana too has similar characters. Sita is a symbol of a woman wronged by one and all. Sita is a shadow of her husband who won her as a trophy in a contest, victim of palace intrigue, gets kidnapped for the actions of her husband and brother-in-law and then becomes the cause of a war. Later her chastity is questioned by first her husband and then the subjects of Ayodhya and again banished to give birth and take care of her children all alone. When the children are old enough, the father takes them away and her contribution over. At the end, Sita is left with no choice, but self-burial!

Why has there been so much of stereotyping of mothers in our culture? The celluloid image of mothers has been inherited from our mythology and perpetuated by poems and songs over the years, in all the regions and languages of our country. Does this reflect the inherent second citizenship of the women folk in our milieu? Is referring to all goddesses as Mother just an act of lip-service or an act of minority-appeasement, (to use a contemporary jargon)? The trials and tribulations of mother is raised to an altar of ‘motherhood’ and then sung praises of this singular honour bestowed by nature on women. The women of today need not be the Mother Earth of yesterday. She does not have to go thru the rigours of the earth to beget new life. Let motherhood truly be a cherished moment for each woman in our country in the truest sense of the word, and not just as a single act of fulfillment in her life

On this Mother’s day, besides doing our little bit (calls, visits, gifts, whatever) let us resolve and spread the word, to allow all would-be mothers to retain their would-be child, whatever it be. Let the mother decide! This might be the best gift to all the Mothers of our country, and probably the only solution to female-infanticide!

Twins – A case of peaceful co-existence.

The last few articles have been focusing on twins in mythology. It must be mentioned at the onset, that the theory of twins in mythology is a subject by itself. But we will avoid the intricacies of the theory and discuss the concept from a mythical perspective.

Twin birth was an intriguing subject for the mythologists of yore. Explanations for the normal itself were a task, and over that something out of the line taxed ones capabilities to the hilt. However daunting the task be, they did try to explain the phenomenon.

Nearly all the mythologies of the world have instances of twins. The Greeks had Artemis and Appolo, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome,Castor and Pollux who went on to represent the Gemini twins, to name a few. The Bible hasEsau and Jacob, Cain and Abel. The Sumerians had Utu and Innana, while the Egyptians had the twin brothers Danus and Aegyptus. The Hindu myths have a host of twins, in the form of the Ashwins the twin gods of healing; Yama and Yami, Lakshaman and Shatrughan, and Luv Kush from Ramayan are just a few of them.

The concept of twin births was complicated and not understood well. This brought up the confusion of either double paternity or divine paternity. Divine paternity led to an element of mystery and magic, but at the same time it also gave a sort of sanction or rather a divine sanction.

In the earlier series, we have seen instances of conflict and rivalry; let us now examine a few cases of harmony and peaceful co-existence.

Castor and Pollux

A good example of the above is seen in the Greek myth of the twin birth of Castor and Pollux who go on to become the Gemini twins. Castor and Pollux were the result of two impregnations, one by Zeus who fell in love with the mortal and the married Leda. Leda on the same night got impregnated by her husband and thus the offspring were twins, one being divine and the other being a mortal. This reiterated the belief of the times of dual paternity and thus the offspring bearing the traits of the father. However, this myth is not quite of conflict as they two brothers were quite devoted to each other, to the extent that when the mortal brother was wounded the divine one asked for immortality for the other. The request was granted in a manner that when one brother was in Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods, the other brother would in Hades, the underworld, and thereafter they would exchange their positions.

Some Greek mythologists have explained the myth of Narcissus in the theory of twinship (refer to the article The Romance of Echo and Narcissus dated December 15, 2010, in this Blog). According to this interpretation, Narcissus had a twin sister who he lost and he would keep looking for her everywhere. After she died Narcissus would keep consoling himself by looking at his own reflection in the water, to keep her memory alive; it was not his love for himself as is better known! The myth of the more famous twins of Greek Mythology, Apollo and Artemis is also that of love and harmony and not that of hatred and jealousy

Ashwins

Horse-faced Ashwins

A similar situation is found in the Hindu myths too. Amongst the most famous of the twins are the Ashwins – the twin gods of healing. Ashwins were Vedic gods, portrayed as divine horsemen and there are more than 400 references of the god in Reg Veda. They were supposed to be the children of Sun god and an there is an interesting myth of their birth. It is said that the Sanjana the wife of Sun god could not bear the luminosity of her husband and to avoid the heat and the glare, she took the form of a mare and ran away to a shaded area. Sun god decided to change himself to a horse and followed her to the shaded area. The offspring of this mare and horse were the divine horsemen, the Aswins. This is also seen as an act of accommodation and benevolence on the part of the Sun god towards his wife. The Ashwins are thus also depicted as horse-faced gods. The Ashwins are thus seen as benevolent gods who are known for their medical feats and the ability to cure and give life to anyone who needs it, much to the chagrin of the other gods of the pantheon. (Here we can compare the acts of the Ashwins with the Greek Prometheus who goes against the gods to give the art of fire to mankind). The Ashwins are also considered to be the fathers of the twins Nakul and Sahadev in the epic Mahabharata, where Nakul was the most handsome of all and Sahadev was the most knowledgeable of all. Again we see that the offspring have the traits of the father as we have seen in the earlier myth of Castor and Pollux.

 

Besides the Ashwins the other twins in the Hindu myths, i.e. Lakshaman and Shatrughan, and Luv Kush from Ramayan amongst the few of them are too not at loggerheads. There is no rivalry in such myths but seem to share a harmonious relationship.

Thus we can conclude that the issue of twins was not just of confusion, but also divine in some case. The divinity in some of them avoided the evil aspect as we have seen in some of the cases above and this is critical. This could be both cultural as well as a sense of accepting the unacceptable, inherent in the cultural milieu. What cannot be understood, need not necessarily have an evil connotation. So an amicable and an acceptable solution was arrived at, as we see in the above myths. In some of the Hindu myths, either one of the twin brother does not have a significant role (like in the case of Shatrughan) or the twins have an equal role to play (like that of Luv and Kush in Ramayan), but the conflict is not there.

Though this is a contradiction to some of the myths of conflict and rivalry as we have seen before, the issue of divine intervention runs as a common aspect in all of the myths.

Cannanite Myth of Seasons

Biblical Cannan refers to the present day Syria and Palestine and the neighbouring areas. The mythology of this region in due course came to be known as Cannanite Mythology. The trade routes led to a cross-cultural integration with two of the major cultures of its time, Egypt and Mesopotamia, which have left their impact on the Cannanite Mythology.

Baal

The myth involves two main deities, the twins, Baal and Mot. It is important to understand the nature of the two deities. Baal is a deity of fertility, vegetation and a life giver. He is the protagonist of the myth. His twin, Mot is the antagonist and the opposite of all that Baal stands for. Mot is death personified and a sign of infertility and drought. This is also a classic myth of a set of twins who are both opposites of each other, but we will discuss this aspect a little later.

The myth starts with a long-standing conflict between the two. At one point of time, Baal accepts Mot’s supremacy, but declines to honour him in any form, even when all the other deities do so. This angers Mot to no end and sends a giant lion to devour him. When Baal realizes that it is no use to resist and he has to give up, he sends message through the minor deities that he is willing to submit. But before he goes to meet Mot, he copulates with a cow, leaving his seed in the cow’s womb.

Mot personified as drought

When Baal reaches Mot, he is killed by Mot and there is no life on earth. Anath, was Baal’s sister and lover. When she came to know about the death of Baal and his burial in the underworld, she goes in search for him and brings back his body and gives it a proper burial. After mourning his death, she goes to the underworld and defeats Mot in a bloody battle. Mot pleads for his life and claims that Baal’s death was a natural need! She cuts Mot into pieces and the pieces are thrown all over the land.

It is at this stage that the principal deity El gets a dream that Baal could still be alive. He recalls Anath and together the resurrect Baal and appoint him the King. But Mot, who has not been completely done with, now wants to eliminate Baal completely and vows revenge. El, who is the father of both, resolves the feud by arbitrating on behalf of both. Having resurrected Baal and the whole atmosphere having changed, it was decided that one half of the year would see Baal ruling and the other half would see Mot’s rule.

Let us put the above myth is perspective. The above is the Canaanite myth of seasons. Baal represents vegetation and all life giving activities and Mot represents drought and lack of vegetation. When Baal decides to submit into Mot’s rule, we are approaching Winter. The death of Baal is the setting of winter, when no vegetation is seen and the ground is barren. The cutting to pieces of Mot is the cutting of dry wheat into chaff and spread all over the dry ground. The resurrection of Baal brings in the rains and the dry chaff is buried deep into the ground and soon bears life. By the time Baal is appointed King, it is the advent of Spring and Mot has to retire to the underworld. El’s resolution of both getting to rule is nothing but an acceptance of the cylical nature of seasons. Thus during the rule of Baal we see a different season with life all around us and during the reign of Mot we see barren and dry land and cold all over. The act of Baal’s copulation with a cow could be seen as an act of leaving some aspect of his fertility alive elsewhere. To explain further, there is some vegetation even during winter. (However we do not have more on this later due to missing aspects of the myth). Anat’s catalytic role is to be seen as different forces of nature which contribute to the advent of spring and the rains which come as an elixir on the dry parched land.

Here is a classic case of twins in rivalry, one being a protagonist and the other being an antagonist. If we see closely, both are needed in the cycle of life. Without sunset, there is no significance of the sunrise just as without winter, there is no advent of Spring leading to summer.

Our early thinkers have given us a beautiful myth to explain the cyclical nature of seasons and the relevance of both. It is this relevance and the necessity of two integral aspects in life that has been portrayed in the form of twins; similar, but at the same time different in their nature. There is no hero here and no villain, because both are needed for a balance in nature. With a focus on the seasonal explanation, a good literary conflict has also been built into the myth with the theory of rivalry thrown in.

Please note that the myth is a voluminous one with lots of conversation and dialogue at the same time a lot of it has been missing from the original. The above is an extremely concise form of the myth with a lot of aspects of the myth eliminated to allow a fictional flow.