Maharaja Agrasen

During one of my recent visit to the Northern India, (Faridabad to be precise), I saw a temple which was called “Maharaja Agrasen ka Mandir”, the temple of Maharaja Agrasen. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to visit the temple. It wasn’t a very typical temple and there weren’t too many people, besides the fact the temple was closed at that time. I saw some people and enquired about Maharaja Agrasen and also asked some people from the nearby area. From the bits and pieces and a few fragments here and there, this is what I got to know about this ‘god’ who has a temple to himself.

Maharaja Agrasen was a Suryavanshi King (of the solar lineage), who ruled during the Dwapar Yuga, which according to the current times would be approximately more than 5000 years ago. He was the first born of King Ballabha of Pratapnagar. He was supposed to have been married to Princess Madhavi who was a Nagvanshi (the Naaga clan), which brought two very powerful clans of the times together. Madhavi had selected Agrasen in a swayamvar.

Here, there is a myth associated with this aspect of Agarsen. It is said that in the swayamvar, Lord Indra too was present and was infatuated by Madhavi’s beauty. But Madhavi’s selection of Agrasen, angered Indra and he was so jealous about it that he decided to not to send any rains to Pratapnagar which soon had a famine like situation. King Agrasen then waged a war against Lord Indra and since he was on the right side of Dharma, Indra and his mighty forces were soon vanquished. Indra then sought the help of Narada to mediate and settle the matter amicably. This proclaimed Agrasen as a righteous and a religious ruler who would wage a war against even gods for the welfare of his subjects.

After this, Agrasen decided to propitiate Lord Shiva who was soon pleased by his penance. Lord Shiva then advised him to propitiate Mahalakshmi, who too was pleased with the penance. She appeared and blessed Agrasen and suggested that he give up the role of a King and change his caste to Vaishya, the business community and found a new kingdom and she would bless all his people. King Agrasen, then gave up his Kshatriya-hood and became a Vaishya.

Agrasen was a very compassionate person and the happiness of his subjects was his prime concern. He conducted many yagna’s for the well-being of his people and once during the well-known 18 maha-yagna’s, during an Ashwamedha Yagna, he saw a horse being pulled to the sacrificial altar and the horse resisting it. He felt very sad seeing the pathetic plight of the animal and decreed that there would be no more animal sacrifices. He became a champion of Ahmisa and was of the opinion that prosperity could not be brought at the cost of death of animals.

He later divided his kingdom amongst his 18 children, and named the 18 gotra’s after the gurus of each of his sons. Some of these are Mittal, Bansal, Goyal, Jindal, Tayal, Bindal, amongst others.

Finally the most important aspect of this legendary king, is that the present day Agarwal community trace their origins from Agrasen. N modern day Delhi, one can see Agrasen ki Baoli, which is supposed to have been built during the Mahabharat epic times and later rebuilt by the Agrawal community in memory of their ancestor, Maharaja Agrasen.

This is a classic case of deification of a human being. Here is a person who has a historic reference and modern day people can trace their lineage to him. To lend credence to his importance in the process of deification, there is the classic reference to Lord Indra, which gives him an edge in being worshipped as a god. It is also quite logical to involve Lord Indra, who is a much maligned Puranic deity, but to be on the right side of the dharmic-diplomacy, is also a worshipper of Lord Shiva and Goddess Lakshmi. Also change of the caste is shown as God’s desire; otherwise changing of caste is a relatively unknown phenomenon in any of the texts.

All in all an interesting piece of mythology – just goes on to prove the theory that every mythical hero probably was a part of history, once the finery of fantasy is removed from the bare facts of the reality of times.

Shastra Puja on Vijaya Dashami

Thanks to a political party and its usual eye-balls grabbing efforts, “shastra-puja” or weapons-worship on Vijaya Dashami day is being discussed. So what is “shastra-puja” and its relevance if any?

The origins of this can be seen in the epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, when the Pandavas lost in the game of dice with the Kauravas, their cousins, they were supposed to spend twelve years in exile and the thirteenth year was supposed to be in agyantvas – to be spent in total anonymity without being recognized. When the Pandavas entered into the thirteenth year, they hid their weapons in a Shami tree, before disguising and entering kingdom of King Virata. On the day of Vijaya Dashami, and also the end of their agyantvas, they retrieved their weapons from the Shami tree and performed a ritual worship of the weapons. They then, identified themselves as Pandavas and defeated the Kauravas who had attacked King Virata. Since then, it has been a practice for Kings to perform shastra-puja on the day of Vijaya Dashami – which is also the symbol of victory of good over evil.

CRPF Personnel performing
Sharstra-Puja

Over a period of time, this shastra-puja is undertaken by many who deal in weapons and also implements. People in Security agencies, army and other forces and even business men who have heavy plants and machineries perform the puja as a ritual.

How a political party benefits from “shastra-puja” can be anybody’s guess, except for a political gain. But thanks to some elements I get my topics to write!

Here’s wishing all my readers a very happy Dasshera & Vijaya Dashami!

Navratri - Forms of Goddess - Part 2

In the earlier article we read about three important forms of the Mother Goddess during Navratri - here are the other two important forms of the Goddess -

The eighth day of Navratri is associated with Goddess Bagala – Bagala or Bagalamukhi, or ‘crane-faced’ is a form of the Mother goddess. Some also interpret the name with bridal face, implying the face which has the power to attract attention, like all brides. The worship of the goddess is generally in the tantric form when opposite behavior is warranted. The worship enables opposite reaction of what is normal, implying that she has the power to turn speech into silence, movement into motionless, power into impotence, etc. It is this reason why she also referred to as “stambha-shakti” the power to stun. Her worship is very ritualistic and a lot of care is undertaken in the rituals, as any error could earn the wrath of the goddess. There are quite a few temples of the goddess and the greatest boon that one can receive on worshipping at the temple of Bagala devi is to have worshipped all the 330 million gods in the Hindu pantheon just by worshipping at her temple. One of the myths associated with the goddess is that once a huge storm waged on the earth threatening to swallow the whole earth. All the gods assembled and prayed to Bagala Ma, who appeared and calmed the storm. Another legend says that the goddess defeated an asura to protect Dharma. She is supposed to have pulled out the tongue of the asura who begged for forgiveness – implying that unwanted speech or discussion is a threat to religion and the goddess does not forgive such people. In the ancient times animals were sacrificed during the ritual worshipping and some say that the practice is followed even now.

The ninth day is associated with Goddess Matangi – Matangi is again a ferocious aspect of the goddess and again a form worshipped in the tantric form. Matangi is the tantric goddess of speech and the knowledge of arts like music, etc. and is thus as the ‘Tantric Saraswati’. She is generally worshipped to gain supernatural powers and a victory over enemies. The myths associated with Matangi are very similar to the ones of Sati or Kali, but the details of the myths are not very elaborate. However, different tantric texts also relate many other myths which are replete with sexual undertones (which are not being mentioned here as the same have not been verified by me). Some texts have also compared her to an outcaste, a ‘chandala’, and thus sometimes she is also referred to as Chandalini. Some say, that she was the daughter of Sage Matanga, who was an outcaste but became a rishi with his penance and thus Goddess Saraswati was born as his daughter, which was goddess Matangi. Different texts have said different things about Matangi, but what is common to all is her ferocious aspect.

This brings us to the end of the Navratri. Tomorrow is Vijaya Dashami – a time to celebrate the victory of good over evil. For more on this, please check my earlier article –

http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010/10/vijaya-dashami.html

Navratri - Forms of Goddess

The Navratri is the celebration of the Mother Goddess cult in India. It involves the worship of the primordial female energy, the energy which gives birth to new life and generative power. The worship of mother goddess cult can be seen all across the world in different forms.

Egyptians worshipped Mut, Isis and a few others, the Babylonians worshipped Tiamat, and the Sumerians worshipped Innana. The Greeks had the cult of Cybele, besides the worshipping of Gaia and Rhea. Similarly, the Irish, the Nordic and all the major cultures of the world had the concept of a mother goddess cult. So what is behind the cult of Mother Goddess that is so prevalent across the world which has some cultures still following the rituals associated with it?

In all major cultures, creation was either by a single unidentified (or not so distinctly clarified) principle or a male principle with the help of a female principle, but the initiation was by a single dominant force which ‘seemed’ to be male. But the successive generations came with the help of a female principle for both human beings and other living organism. Even if science had not proven that this union was necessary, this had been assimilated well by the primordial man, and thus emerged the significance of the cult of a goddess who soon took the form of a Mother Goddess. The concept of mother goddess was also similar to the concept of Earth goddess in many cultures, which takes one back to the principle of fertility and the concept of fertility goddesses and rituals associated with it.

Here, this Navratri, let us understand the different forms of the goddess –

The fourth day of the Navratri is associated with Godess Bhuvaneshwari – Bhuvaneshwari is one of the important forms of the Mother Goddess, who is responsible for giving a form and shape to the universe. She gets her name from the words ‘bhuvan’ meaning universe and ‘eswari’ meaning the ruler. She is invoked by uttering “Hreem” which is considered to be as powerful as the “Om”. She is always depicted as smiling and two of her four hands are always in the blessing form. She is bedecked in gold jewelry and is supposed to be residing in “manidwipam”, a land of gold, silver and jewels, which is guarded by powerful gods like Agni, Vayu amongst others. She is a giver of boon, which not only includes material forms, but also knowledge, health and happiness. She thus seems to be the embodiment of later goddesses like Saraswati, Lakshami and even Parvati.

The fifth day of the Navratri is associated with Chinnamastaa – Chinnamastaa or Chinnamastika is a ferocious aspect of the Mother goddess cult. The depiction of Chinnamastaa is often quite gory and repulsive as it is shown as a self-decapitated goddess holding her severed head in one hand and a small sword in the other hand with jets of blood flowing from her neck, which again is being drunk by two of her attendants (Dakini and Varnini) and herself! She is often depicted as standing on a copulating couple. Chinnamastaa is associated with the Tantrik form of worshipping and is seldom associated with individual worship, and temples of her are found in the Northern parts of India and Nepal. The ferocious and the gory form are associated with self-sacrifice and self-control – self-control of sexual energy at the same time as the epitome of sexual energy, depending on the interpretation. There are different versions to this form of the goddess. According to one, Parvati was once having a bath in the river Mandakini and while bathing she gets so aroused sexually that she turns black. Around the same time her attendants feel very hungry. Parvati tells then that she would give them food when they reached home, but later relents to their hunger, by severing her head and feeding the attendants with her own blood. The myth brings out the element of motherhood curtailing the sexual hunger of her own self. There are different versions to this myth, but this seems to be the most apt, if we go with what the goddess stands for. The significance of the copulating couple can be seen as the concept of sexual energy giving birth to life, along with the urge to suspend the energy for the call of motherhood which needs to be able to sustain even if it meant to satiate that urge with one’s own blood! (There may be many more esoteric and philosophic explanations besides this, but let’s keep the matter sweet and simple)

The sixth day of the Navratri is associated with Bhairavi – Bhairavi is another terrifying form of the goddess which sometimes gets confused with the Kali form of the goddess. Bhairavi is also referred to as Baala or Tripurabhairavi and as part of the nine day battle waged by Goddess Durga, when she entered the battle field, the asuras ran away in fear. She however, killed the two fearsome asuras Chanda and Munda and thus is also referred to as Chamundeshwari. Besides the two, she is also supposed to have killed two of the most important asuras - Shumbha and Nishumbha. Bhairavi, is shown on a donkey when angry.

At the end of the day, these are different form of the same Mother Goddess, i.e. Goddess Durga.

Navratri

Navratri

A Short Story

One of my short stories (non-mythological!) has been published in Litizen (again not my Blog)! Do read and send in your comments!! Happy reading!

To read - click

The Lipstick-Stained Cup

 

http://www.litizen.com/StoryReading.aspx?StoryId=63

http://litizen.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/the-lipstick-stained-cup-by-utkarsh-patel/

Mahalaya Amavasya

Today is Mahalaya Amavasya, also known as Mahalaya, the last day of the Pitru Paksha (the fortnight for the ancestors) and also the final day to offer oblations to ones ancestors.  According to Hindu religion, the souls of the three preceding generations reside in ‘pitru-loka’ a realm between the earth and the heavens and governed by the Lord of Death, Yama. However, during the pitru-paksha, the souls come down to earth and hover around the homes of their descendants and it becomes imperative for the descendants to feed their hungry souls. One of the ways to feed them is to feed the poor, though feeding the crows (also considered to be harbingers of death) or cows is a ritual many follow during the fortnight.

Details and significance of the day can be read in my article “Mahalaya” dated 7/10/2010 in the link - http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010/10/mahalaya.html

However, I would like to delve into another aspect of Mahalaya which is very important. This day is also marked as an important day for daan or charity which is considered to be a virtue. Many offer food, grains, clothes, etc. however, the most important of charities is donating food to the poor. This aspect of donation has its significance in an episode from the epic Mahabharata.

Karna, in Mahabharata was a well-known philanthropist and was also referred to as ‘daanveer’ – the hero of charities. All his life he had donated great wealth in the form of gold and jewels and at a crucial moment, he even donated his kavach, armour and kundal, gold earrings, (both of which he was born with and made him invincible) to Lord Indra who asks for it as alms in the guise of a Brahmin. Though Karna was well aware that he would need then during the forthcoming war and could be the only saviour, and the fact that the Brahmin was none other than Lord Indra, he gave them up as they were asked for in the form of alms and he could never deny anybody, not in the least a Brahmin, alms as long as he could.

After his death when his wounded and tired soul reaches the heavens, the way to heavens is strewn all around with the riches of the world. When in heaven, there was no food for him, just gold and silver. When he asks Yama, as to why was he not given any food, he was told that all he ever donated was gold and silver and never offered any food and water, especially to his ancestors. Karna went on to say that he did not offer anything to his ancestors, because he didn’t know who his ancestors were. He then requested Yama to grant him permission to go back to earth and feed his ancestors, so that their souls could seek salvation. Since his sons had all died during the war and there was none to do the same for him, the least he could do was seek salvation for his ancestors. Yama agreed to his request and Karna is supposed to have visited the earth for a fortnight where he fed the poor and offered water to his ancestors. It is this fortnight which is now known as ‘pitru-paksha’ and Lord Yama is supposed to have decreed that anybody who offered charities during this period would be rewarded hundred-fold in his afterlife!

The day ends with heralding of autumn and the Devi-paksha, from when the nine days of Durga Puja or Navratri starts. The inauspicious period is over and from tomorrow starts the celebrations!

Sati Savitri Naari (Woman)

Indian or Hindu Mythology is replete with examples of virtuous and devotional wives. Wives whose devotion was wholly and completely towards their husbands and their families and their entire existence was centered around the lives of their husbands. Wives who did not cater to their husband’s wishes or who expressed their individuality were generally depicted as negative characters. Let us begin with the good and virtuous.

Savitri

The first example that comes to my mind is the myth of Savitri-Satyavan, which also gave us the phrase ‘Sati-Savitri. In the entire myth, Satyavan is a dead-body, but his name still finds a mention in the myth. I won’t discuss the myth in details, but what is important here is the character of Savitri. The entire myth is seen as a woman’s devotion towards her husband and how she pursues the god of Death, Yama, to get her husband back from death. The fact that Savitri was an extremely intelligent woman and gets the better of the powerful, unmovable god of Death through sheer determination and the gift of gab, has been totally missed by one and all.

Sita's Agnipariksha

The second character that comes to my mind is that of Sita. Here too, she is seen as a devoted wife, who does not question any act of her husband or in-laws. She does not even protest the charges leveled against her of probable infidelity and that too in public and finally leaves the comfort of the palace to raise two children in the forest all by herself, without even a word of complaint. In spite of such virtuosity, the modern man does not forget to comment on her naari-hath (womanly-tantrum), a reference to her insistence on Ram fetching the golden deer for her! Nor does one forget to mention her using her own mind of crossing the Laxman-rekha, which is what supposedly led to the entire battle! Wasn’t the battle between Ram and Ravan pre-destined?

This takes us the third character, that of Sati Ahalya (the entire myth and its symbolism can be found in the link http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html ). Sati Ahalya was cursed by her husband for having sex with Lord Indra, who had come in the disguise of her husband. The accusation was that a woman who did not distinguish between the touch of her husband and another man (irrespective of the guise) is no better than a stone! Modern-day feminists have written tons on this male-chauvinistic act, but that is it.

Besides the above, there are many women who have stood by their husbands, irrespective of their stand, be it Mandodari (Ravan’s wife) or Kaushalya (Dasharatha’s wife) or Urmila (Lakshman’s wife), all from Ramayana, like many other such women.

So what is behind these symbols of devotion and sacrifice? Was it a male conspiracy to send subtle (though some of them were hardly subtle!) messages to the women folk? Was this setting of social expectations from the women in terms of their roles and duties? Or was this again a statement that woman was just an aspect of man’s existence and everything around a woman was related to the man in her life, depending on the stage of her life, which was either a father, brother, husband or a son? A woman was what the man in her life expected her to be.

In spite of such qualities being ingrained in the modern woman, through rituals and katha’s, how much has such devotional aspects being imbibed?

The modern woman is no Savitri. Not that she would allow her husband to die, but if dead she would pick up the threads and move on in life, which is a sign of modern-day practicality. She is no Sita – in that she would not take a banishment lying down and nor would she stand wrong charges of infidelity and definitely not leave the husband and fend for herself. She would do all this, only after extracting a heavy price in the form of a legal suit, a probable out-of-court settlement and a fat alimony of course! Finally she is not an Ahalya too as she would not fall short of expressing herself sexually and would definitely press charges of impersonation and rape on Lord Indra and mental and marital torture on her husband. To take the myth of Ahalya further, she would even press charges of trespassing and ill-treatment on Lord Ram.

So which one is better, the archaic image of a devotional, suffering-in-silence woman or the woman with a mind of her own expressing every aspect of her individual self?

Your call!

A Poem

I have never taken contributions from anybody in my Blog till date.....
But this one I couldn't say no to....

Given below is a poem written by Mallica Patel, my 13 year old daughter; this has been written from the perspective of a man who is talking about his love......Read on........

I love thee do thy?

No, came the answer.
She left me alone standing under the sun
I ran and ran, but for miles my eyes could not savour her
My heart still throbbing with pain
I wanted to feel her presence one last time

But she had gone leaving me broken
My hands reached my coats pocket
Out came a ring, waiting to be worn.
But alas! The bearer had gone and so was my love

A tear trickled through my face which brightened up each time I saw her
My eyes were red, and heart full of sorrow
My ears craved to hear that giggle.
My hands for that Midas touch
My eyes for her lovely smile, which

was never going to come back
I wept for hours in my room, wondering  what went wrong?
Why did I lose her?

The next day, I saw, her  marriage procession from the doorway
She looked like the moon on the earth
Her glimpse was not cheerful  like before

I lay there the whole day,
But never opened my eyes again
I wanted not to see a world without my love

Homosexuality and Mythology - Concluding Part

In our entire series, we have discussed the references of same-sex relationships in other mythologies. We will now see the treatment of the same in Hindu mythology.

Though there are no direct references of same-sex relationships, but change of sex or taking new forms to facilitate a union is not uncommon. This has heavenly sanction but has also been looked down upon at times. One of the most cited myths here is Shiva’s infatuation with Vishnu’s woman form, Mohini. The subject is under discussion, especially since Shiva is supposed to have known the fact that Mohini was none other than Vishnu himself and the Brahmanda Purana, has a reference to Parvati being ashamed of her husband’s act of pursuing Mohini. The sexual union leads to Mohini (rather Vishnu) getting pregnant and how ‘she’ gives birth to Ayyappa who is also known as Harihar-putra (son of Vishnu and Shiva). There is also a mention of Vishnu abandoning the child Ayappa in shame; this could imply that same-sex relationships were looked down upon, but the act cannot be denied.

One very important reference of same-sex relationship is mentioned in the Bengali version of Ramayana, better known as Krittibash Ramayan. According to this version when a well-known king of the Solar dynasty dies without leaving an heir, then Lord Shiva is supposed to have appeared to the two widows of the king and asks the two to make love, the union of which would bear a son who would then be the heir to the famous Solar dynasty. The widows do as told and one of the queens bear a son, who was boneless (according to some religious texts, in a child, the father’s contribution is bones and mother’s contribution is flesh and blood). Later with the blessing of the sage Ashtavakra (one who was bent from eight sides), the child was normalized and he goes on to name the child Bhagiratha, the one who was born from two bhaga (vulva). This is the same Bhagiratha who later on was responsible for bringing the river Ganga from the heavens after convincing Lord Shiva to bear the force of the river! There are many versions to this myth, but whichever version one refers to the basic crux of the myth remains same – a child by two women.  This can be seen as one of the many rare occurrences of same-sex relationship between two women.

An interesting variation of such relationships can be seen in the form of devotion in a certain sect of Vaishnavism. According to this, there is only one male, and that is god himself and all others are females. Love for god was the ultimate truth and thus many male devotees would profess their love and devotion to god in the form of Radha, the romantic consort of Krishna (or Vishnu). Many a suggestive couplet or bhajans have been written by men, professing their love to god in the form of Radha. Many modern day scholars see this as a form of homo-erotic expression of love, seeking religious sanction.

Examples of same-sex relationships are relatively rare in the Hindu mythology, because there are references of changing sex for the need of the moment and later regaining the original form. This could be to avoid depiction of same-sex relationships to ensure a single thought process to percolate down to the masses. This however, does not mean that such concept did not exist. This could be a subsequent interpretation by the later thinkers – which is a matter of debate. Temple architecture has detailed depiction of same-sex love and so does Vatsayana’s Kama Sutra. Was it looked down upon? Probably yes, but was it because it was same-sex? One can’t be too sure – and the reason could be, that sex according to Hindu texts, was only for procreation which was a duty, and any sex for enjoyment and pleasure was looked down upon. Looking down upon same-sex relationship could just be so, as it didn’t lead to any progeny and was more of giving vent to carnal pleasures. This is a major difference of opinion with the Greek mythology – there is no reference of a progeny in the Greek relationships and many of them existed out of pure physical attraction or pleasure, but the in the case of both the examples of same-sex relationship shown above in Hindu mythology, there is a child-birth.

To conclude, many have seen the series as being supportive of  homosexuality (the numerous comments written to me directly more than hinted at this). My support or opposition to the subject is immaterial and probably has no relevance either. The objective of the series was definitely not to be judgmental or be opinionated. My endeavour on the subject was only to highlight the various references in the mythologies of world, of a much (supposedly) ‘modern’ and at times a taboo subject. Mythology is seen by many as a ‘belief system’ of a culture. We understand any culture by studying their mythology which gives us an insight into their faith, believes and motivations of life. All I have tried to do is unearth references of such relationships, the way they were and the way they were seen, then. As my readers would have realized it, there is no explicit comment on the subject and no aspect of the same-sex relationship has been judged or brought under the scanner with any specific perspective.

With this I conclude the series.

Homosexuality and Mythology - Part 4

Till now we have seen the references of same-sex relationships in different mythologies like the Greek and other mythologies, besides the Biblical overtones of the same. Closer home, many of the Asian communities had references to homosexual relationships.

The Chinese mythology is replete with references to same-sex relationships among many gods and characters. It was also common to find dragons have sex with males in the myths. Chinese folklores too have many stories which openly discuss same-sex relationships and their history too has mention of such relationships, till the concept suffered in the hands of Western moralistic influence to the extent that today such relationships are looked down upon and is actually seen as a Western import!

According to the Japanese mythology, same-sex relationships were introduced by two gods, Shinu and Ama, who were the servants of Amaterasu, the Sun goddess. According to the myth, when one died, the other committed suicide and the two were buried in the same grave. The myth goes on that the Sun did not shine the next day, till the bodies of the lovers were exhumed and buried separately. However, there is no explicit material to prove that the homosexual overtones were the reason of the offence, if at all. Besides this, there are a number of references of same-sex relationships or changing of sex for any reason, like having relationship with certain characters or animals, is mentioned in the Japanese mythology.

This brings us to Hindu Mythology. Next time we will discuss references of same-sex relationships from Hindu Mythology. Keep reading …….

Homosexuality and Mythology - Part 3

In the earlier part of the series, we have read about some well-known myths from the Greek Mythology. Let us see the treatment of such relationships from other mythologies –

Norse mythology does not have any specific references of homosexuality, as men were never expected to be a passive partner, which was looked down upon. However, one of the main gods by the name of Loki, the trickster, had the ability to change form or gender. According to one such myth, Loki changes into a mare and gives birth to a foal after a sexual encounter with a stallion. Though this might not be seen as a direct reference to homosexuality, but does hint at a lot more than just that!

A number of lesbian relationships exist in Hawaiian mythology. Mayan god Chin was associated with same-sex love, to the extent that the god was an inspiration for many a noble family to buy young men as lovers for their sons, thus lending a sense of legitimacy to such same-sex relationships through parental approval. Similarly, the Aztecs had Xochipilli as the patron god of homosexuals, which gives an indication of the existence of such alternate lifestyles and also had societal approval.

In the famous Sumerian epic, Epic of Gilgamesh, the two main characters, Gilgamesh and Enkidu are supposed to have a homosexual relationship. However, it is pertinent to mention that this view is purely of the modern scholars, since the remnants of the Epic do not indicate any such intimate moments or conversation, except for the fact that they were very close companions. This could have been due to the fact that two characters were quite similar in age and class and shared an open relationship – and modern outlook does not see things in its pure form.

Jonathan & David

The Bible too has oblique references to homosexual relationships between some characters, especially that of David and Jonathan.  Both David and Jonathan had wives, but they are supposed to have shared a ‘close friendship’. Jonathan’s father, King Saul, had serious reservations of Jonathan’s relationship with David, though, he did not object to giving one of his daughters in marriage to David. Some scholars have supposed that this dislike of David by Jonathan’s father could be due to the potential threat to his monarchy and offering a daughter in marriage could be more political, than anything else. At the same time many scholars have seen the relationship between David and Jonathan at a more Platonic level. Modernism has been more regressive than evolving in our thought-process and that is why what was earlier platonic, has now become gay-relationship. No explicit material is available, but some references have made modern scholars to ‘see things’ in a manner which is implicit!

St. Sebastian

This brings us the subject of St. Sebastian which is a very significant character under the present discussion. St. Sebastian is one of the oldest gay icons, in whom the modern artists saw a depiction of the pathos of a gay individual. His strong and muscular bare torso, with arrows pierced and blood dripping has been a near-true depiction of what the gay individual goes through in the modern society. His alternative preferences and his erotic desires are well portrayed by his tragic but homoerotic frame, as depicted by the artists while representing St. Sebastian, thus making him a modern-day gay icon.

Next time we will discuss some references of same-sex relationships from some Asian mythologies. Keep reading …….

Homosexuality and Mythology - Part 2

Greek mythology is replete with references of relationships of same-sex. There are a number of references that can be given, like the relationships between Achilles and Patroclus,  Apollo and Hyacinthus, or some of the escapades of Zeus himself.

Zeus (as eagle) and Ganymede

Let’s take the case of one such relationship of Zeus. Ganymede was a handsome mortal and the son of Tros, the Lord of the Trojans. Tros loved his son so much that he ensured that he was brought up well under special tutors who taught him wrestling, riding and swimming amongst many of the sports. Once Zeus saw Ganymede from the heavens resting with his friends at Mount Ida and instantly fell in love with him and in the guise of an eagle, swooped down to the earth. He created a storm and turned the day into darkness and tenderly caught hold of Ganymede and flew away with him. Soon they reached the heavens, where Zeus took his original form and took him to bed. Soon all the gods were delighted with the looks of Ganymede and his presence and he was thus appointed the cup-bearer where he would serve wine to all the gods, not before pressing his lips to the cups before handing the cup over to the gods. Back on the earth, Tros was sad and sunk in sorrow, so much so that even Zeus felt sad for him. To make up for the loss of Ganymede, Zeus presented him with a pair of white mares who could walk on water, which filled Tros with the joy as he rode the mares! In the meanwhile, Hera, Zeus’s wife was jealous of this new found love of Zeus and she decided to destroy the Trojans (this is a different myth). Zeus who was enamoured by Ganymede decided to make place for him in the heavens and thus was put among the stars as Aquarius – the water bearer, who till date stands tall and handsome, pouring nectar!

Apollo and Hyacinthus

Another very important myth is that of Apollo and his mortal lover Hyacinthus, the son of the King of Sparta. Apollo was in love with Hyacinthus and the god would come down to the earth to spend time with his mortal lover, listening to music and indulging in boyish pastimes and learning gymnastics from Hyacinthus, an art form supposed to have been developed from the Spartans. During one such visit to earth, both of them applied oil to their glistening bodies and started to try out throwing the discus, where each tried to outdo the other, in throwing it higher and higher. Once Apollo threw the discus very high and the when the same came hurling down to earth, Hyacinthus was hurt in the head, trying to catch it. His head started bleeding. Apollo tried in vain but could not stop the bleeding and soon Hyacinth was dead. Apollo mourned and soon a red flower rose at the spot where Hyacinthus’s blood dropped and the flower was henceforth called the Hyacinth. Painters and scholars have depicted this story of love and death in full pathos, but the fact that this was same-sex relationship has never been denied like many others in the Greek Mythology.

Amongst many of the same-sex relationships there are mentions of a few like the relationships that Aphrodite has with other goddesses and there are references of her being identified as the patron goddess of lesbians. It would be pertinent to mention here that there are more references of gay relationships than that of lesbians. This however, could be explained by the fact that such myths were written/related/orated by men and from the angle of man in general. I wouldn’t ascribe this to anything beyond this.

There are many pictures of paintings and sculptures which have made the above and many other relationships artistically immortal, but due to the moral facade that modern human beings maintain, I am not uploading them. However, those interested and ask for them directly.

Next time we will discuss some references of same-sex relationships from other mythologies. Keep reading …….

Homosexuality and Mythology - Part 1

The theme of homosexuality in mythology is quite common. Many mythologies depict this as a sexual act in terms of same-sex relationships or myths which deal with the subject as it is. No mythologies deal with the subject as a taboo or unnatural, though the modern interpretation does say so. Mythologies of the world treat the subject as just another manifestation of erotic expression and don’t see it as a heterosexual or homosexual act.  Many scholars feel that it is the modern (or rather the Anglo-Saxon education and an influence of Victorian upbringing) outlook that views homosexuality in a ‘different’ manner. Mythology has dealt with the aspects of homosexuality (both gay and lesbian relationship), transgender and transvestites, etc. as just another aspect of a sexual expression – no value judgment was ever made. It is much later that people started interpreting them in their ways and influencing their thought-process on such myths.

Different mythologies have treated the subject in different ways. Some have dealt with the subject of homosexuality, transgenderism and homoeroticism without distinguishing them. Some have references to relationships of same-sex and bisexuality (and even bestiality!) while some have characters with both reproductive organs, and some see it as androgynous. The whole idea is that in some myths the subject might not have been discussed with such clarity of concepts that modern and evolved (?) man has made it out to be. The terms that we use now are modern expressions and it is we who now try to compartmentalize the terms and use it accordingly. Some have subtle references, while some have clear message – without being judgmental (at the cost of repetition).  

Majority of the creation myths have similar themes where the world and its first inhabitants have been created by genderless or hermaphrodite beings, a union between same or opposite genders. (I would avoid giving examples here as this would be a deviation from the theme under discussion).

Let us see how different mythologies have treated the subject and some of the common myths around the said theme.

Many mythologies see the aspects of homosexuality or gender-changes in human beings as acts (or rather errors) of gods. According to the Greek mythology, Prometheus (the god who made man out of clay and later was punished for giving man the gift of fire) was responsible for such gender variance. According to Aesop (of Aesop Fables fame) – Prometheus was making man and woman out of clay and was separately shaping the private parts to attach them later on to the appropriate bodies. Just as he was about to do so, he was invited for dinner. He came late from dinner and under the influence of divine wine, he is supposed to have stuck the female parts on men and vice versa! This is how Aesop explains why some men are effeminate while some females are more-manly and how ‘unnatural’ desires arise leading to ‘perverted-pleasures’!

Tomorrow we will discuss some references of same-sex relationships from Greek Mythology. Keep reading …….

Rechristening of West Bengal

West Bengal just got rechristened to a brand new vernacular name – Pashcimbanga (to be pronounced as ‘Poshchim-bongo’ with all the ‘o’s to be pronounced in different ways!). Just because the Bard of Avon once said “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet", one doesn’t have to take it so seriously! Ask any non-Bong and he would tell you which one is a rose and which one isn’t! This is just first one of the many stages of “poriborton” – or change, that Mamata-di had promised prior to the polls.

This change of name will ‘elevate’ the alphabetical position of the state to seven steps higher – from W to P!! Bravo……never read a reason for a name change more naïve than that. With that logic wouldn’t just a simple Bengal have elevated it to many more steps higher? But then since when did we start crediting our politicians with a sense of logic? Apologies for the error of judgment!

If this is the first step to poriborton, then this is a disaster and the fact that we have not learnt from such errors in the past. Mother Teresa Sarani is still known as Park Street in Calcutta…..oops Kolkata and the famous Netaji Subhash International Airport is still fondly remembered as Dum Dum Airport! Is that kinda dumb? So what, many more things are dumb that our elected politicians do. How many residents of Kolkata can tell me the new names of Camac Street, Canning Street, Amherst Street, Princep Street, and I can go on? By changing the names, have we erased the colonial past? During the 200 years of Imperial rule, the Brits have done many a good and can we respect some for those things? The Railway network, the underground sewage system, the Howrah Bridge, the numerous buildings which have stood the test of time (Victoria Memorial, the Writers Building and so on), the Mint, etc. What is the big deal in renaming all the streets, lanes and bye lanes if people are not going to call them by the new names? What an insult to the memories of all the local personalities!

I would think that it would be more important to focus on tangible change rather than such useless cosmetic changes, which will bring no relief to the Calcuttan (or is it Kolkatan?) The change that all of us are looking for is in the form of development and the image that the now-erstwhile West Bengal carries. I am told that some railway stations are now being painted in shades of green as part of the change-process to the present ruling-party colour from the previous red!

With due apologies to the Bard of Bengal, I can’t help but remember a very famous song written by him – here is the slightly changed version of the same – Aami chini-go chini tomare, ogo didi-moni, tomra neta hole akajer, tomra neta hole akajer, ogo didi-moni, ogo didi-moni !!

Recreated image of Writer's Building

Finally my sincere request to the powers-that-be – Please do not paint the Writer’s  Building, green. Leave it red, it was built that way!!

Visarjan

Last week was Ganapati Puja which marked the beginning of the ten day festival in Maharshtra. Last year during the ten-day Ganapati festival I had covered different facets of Lord Ganapati in details and all the articles are available in the Archives, or you can go through them through the following link – http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

Like every year, the festival ends with various days of Visarjan, or immersion of the idols. After all the fanfare and the festivities, the idols are taken out in a procession and immersed in the sea. This is a ritual that is followed all over the country with all the idols that have been venerated, worshipped, and people go for such immersions with much joy and celebrations. In some parts of Bengal however, many women are seen shedding tears during the immersion of the Goddess Durga after the ten day festival of Durga Puja in Bengal. But this is because Goddess Durga arrives in Bengal as a daughter and the leaving of the daughter is always sad.

This leads to the basic question, why are idols immersed in water (river or sea)?

The arrival of any deity on such festivals is like the arrival of a new being. The entire process of the ceremony from the prana-prathishta to bhog to visarjan is akin to the human circle of life – birth, maturity and death. In Hinduism, death is not the end of the being, but is the beginning of another journey. Also, since gods don’t die, they just depart, immersion processions of idols become a cause for celebrations.  Also for mortals, after death, the ashes are immersed in the water, depicting the return to the basic elements. A visarjan is going back to where one came from. If we leave the modern ingredients (like plaster of paris, plastics, synthetics, etc.), the traditionally idols were made of clay. After visarjan, the clay idols are returned back to where they came from, thus maintaining an ecological balance. (Our forefathers, did not need lessons on ecology, and understood it just too well!)

To take the discussion of Ganapati’s visarjan further, as per the Puranas, Goddess Gauri (aka Parvati) made Ganapati out of clay, infused life in the clay model to make a son out of the same. During visarjan, the clay is just returned back to the mother earth, the universal symbol of Motherhood.

During the Vedic times, idols were made of clay and the immersion took place within one’s own wells and water-bodies. Since Ganapati is a harvest deity, immersing the idols in one’s own water-bodies ensured that the deity remained in one’s own land to ensure prosperity. But modern times do not provide for such rituals to sustain and thus people immerse in rivers and seas.

Many would here ask, then what happens to the idols which are made of metal and installed in the temples. The entire process of installations and the objective of such idols is different from that of the clay idols that are for temporary worship. Also, the deities need regular rituals if they are to be retained which is not possible at households and mandals. Temples can ensure the regularity of rituals and are thus made of materials with a greater permanency like metals, stones, marbles, etc.

Finally, on a lighter note, guests are welcome only when they stay for a limited period of time…..and so it is with gods and goddesses also! As a child, once I asked my mother – what is the big deal of offering prasad, i.e. offerings, to gods when they don’t eat? The answer I got was – if gods started eating all that people offered them, then people would stop offering to gods too! I guess the same is with the arrival and sending off of gods too!

The Third Sex - In other Mythologies

Reference to gods or goddesses like that of Bahucharaji is not very common to find in the other mythologies. But there are two different aspects to be observed in this case. One aspect is that of Bahucharaji as the universal mother goddess and the other is the aspect of Bahucharaji as the goddess of the third sex/trasvestites.

Similarity with Mother Goddess in other mythologies abounds and is not new to students of mythologies. One can compare Bahucharaji with any prime Goddesses of other mythologies.

What is of interest is parallels with Bahucharaji as the goddess of the transvestites. What does not exist is an exact replica or in the likeness of the goddess herself. However, there does exist references of gods or goddesses who are themselves of transgendered nature. References to ‘sex-less’, hermaphrodite, or castrated gods does exist in different mythologies, and some myths can get as gory as gory can be!

We will not get into details of all of them, but will refer to some of them by name and a brief description of them.

Issue of Male and Female – Hermaphrodite

In the earlier cultures some sort of a reproductive deformity or abnormality was seen as a state of blessedness. In the hunter-gatherer societies of the Neolithic era, such deformities were respected and were allowed to choose the sex that they wanted to play roles in and were considered to be a good omen. They were considered to be advocates of the gods and thus believed that such people were good.

In Babylonian culture such abnormalities were seen as gods way of reducing the population on earth, the basic reason of the flood, i.e the Flood of the Atrahasis, and thus were respected and never despised or looked down upon.

The Egyptians used the gods to symbolize the various combinations of gender and sex. According to their creation story, the first god, that was both male and female was Atum, which means asexual reproduction is divided in two, Shu and Tefnut, who in turn gave rise to Geb and Nut, Earth & Sky.

The Phoenicians worshiped the goddess Atargatis, who was hermaphrodite, whose priestesses, the kelabim, men were born, but had assumed a feminine role. The goddess, also known as Astarte, was transformed by Christianity in the devil Astaroth.

In classical mythology transsexual influence is evident in the description of the goddess Venus Castina as the goddess who attends and meets the aspirations of women's souls are in male bodies.

Some native American tribes had (and still do) the concept of the “two-spirited” person. These were considered both male and female. The female side was from the earth and the male side was of the spiritual world. Either way, both the male and female sides of a person are honoured and seen as both necessary for a person to be whole. In many cultures the “two-spirited person” is often valued as a shaman, a person who can walk in both the earthly world and the spiritual world. They are the “gatekeepers” to help people cross over to the spiritual world and back again to earthly, practical living.

Besides the above, there exist some very direct references of such Gods who we will describe in brief:

Hermaphroditos

In Greek Mythology, Hermaphroditos was the god of hermaphrodites and of effeminate men. He was numbered amongst the winged love-gods known as Erotes. Hermaphroditos was a son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the gods of male and female sexuality.

Some say he was once a handsome youth who attracted the love of a Naiad nymph named Salmakis. She prayed to be united with him forever and a god, in answer to her prayer, merged their two forms into one. At the same time her spring acquired the property of making men who bathed in its waters soft and effeminate.

In Greek vase painting Hermaphroditos was depicted as a winged youth with male and female attributes: usually female thighs, breasts, and style of hair, and male genitalia.

This brings us the next step in this subject, the homosexuals. Is there a reference of homosexual relationship in mythology? Keep reading to find answers to this question.

The Third Sex - 3

A number of myths abound in the region of Becharaji, which is associated with the eunuchs; prominent among them are that of the myths of Arjuna and Sikhandi of Mahabharata. Let us go through them briefly.

                                          

The Myth of Arjuna

After the 12 years of exile, as per the rule, the Pandavas and their wife, Draupadi had to spend an additional year in exile but incognito without detection. At this time, a long pending curse on Arjuna came of help. Arjuna in an earlier episode in Mahabharata was cursed for refusing the amorous advances of by Urvashi. She had cursed him to become a ‘kliba’, one of the third sex. For the thirteenth year, this was the best disguise for Arjuna.

It is said that before the Pandavas proceeded towards the kingdom of Virata, Arjuna is supposed to have visited Bahurcharaji. It is here that he hides his weapons and becomes what is known as a ‘Brihannala’, a professional dancer and musician trained by “gandharvas” or celestial beings. He transforms himself into a ‘kliba’ at Bahucharaji, before proceeding for the Kingdom of Virata. Before he left for Virata’s kingdom, Arujuna is supposed to have hidden his weapons in a thorny tree called the Sami tree in nearby Dedana village. As a part of the ritual, on every Dasherra day this tree is worshipped, and the ritual is known as ‘Sami-pujan’. It is said that this tree remains green all-round the year and does not either increase or decrease in its size.

Virata was a kingdom ruled by the Matsya king by the name Virata. Its capital was Virata Nagari, modern Bairat in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan.

The Myth of Sikhandi

An artist's impression of Sikhandi

The story of Sikhandi is well known and we will not delve in the myth which binds together some of the main characters of Mahabharata, viz. Bhishmapitamah, Princess Amba, King Salya, etc. What is of significance here is that Shikhandi was the son of King Drupad and was Princess Amba in his previous birth.

As per the local lore, Sikhandi was not a man in the sense of having masculinity. So Sikhandi is supposed to be moving around in despair to attain masculinity to take part in the famous war of Kurukshetra, as he had to fulfil his wow of killing Bhishma. When after all the efforts failed, he was dejected and came to Bahucharaji. The lore goes on to say that in this region stayed a Yaksha by the name of Mangal. When the Yaksha saw Sikhandi, who was miserable and crying and pitiful, he asked her what was wrong. Sikhandi told him his story and how it was a desire to be a man and avenge the insult heaped onto him from his previous birth.

Hearing all this, the Yaksha took pity on Sikhandi and decided to trade genders with Sikhandi, till he achieves his imminent objective. The lore goes on with more twists and turns and adding to the already complicated issue, which we will omit here.

It is said that from that day onwards, this place gets its importance of a place where lost masculinity can be gained.

Though there is no empirical evidence to prove the veracity of either of the above mentioned episodes, but the popular local belief and the presence of the eunuchs in the region is enough to strengthen the belief system. Also the proximity of Virata and Panchala from Gujarat lends some credence to the association in some form or the other.

The fact that Lord Krishna had such an influence in the region and a follower of his in Arjun makes the myth highly believable for the local populace. It also gains currency in the fact that Mahabharata is an epic of India and the locale had a share of prominence in the great epic!