Mahashivratri

Today is Mahashivratri, the day of Lord Shiva, one of the key members of the Holy Trinity from the Hindu pantheon. There are a number of myths associated with Shiva, but the common thread in all of them is his anger and the easy appeasement of Lord Shiva. Compared to the other gods, the worshipping of Lord Shiva is not very ritualistic and the focus is on devotion. Be it the singular minded focus of Sati or continuous meditation of Parvati or dogged perseverance of Ravana, Shiva is appeased only by devotion and by anybody. There are a number of myths associated with this aspect of Shiva, but I will take up some of the uncommon myths associated with this aspect of Lord Shiva.

The first among them is the story from the Periyar Purana, that of Kannappa Nayanar, , who is considered to the epitome of devotion in South India. Kannappa was born in a tribal family and was not well versed with the rituals of worshipping Lord Shiva, but that did not deter him from worshipping a shiva-linga regularly. Since he was a hunter by profession, his hands were always soiled by the blood of his kill, so he carried the water from a nearby river in his mouth and the flowers on his own head to offer to the shiva-linga. Thereafter he would offer the best part of the animal that he would have killed to the shiva-linga. His ignorance of the rituals and the method of the choice of the offerings would upset a local Brahmin who was ritualistic to no end. This went on for some time till the Brahmin sought divine intervention.   

So one day Lord Shiva asked the Brahmin to hide behind a tree and observe whatever happened the next day. Next day when Kannappa reached the temple, he found blood oozing out of one of the eyes drawn on the shiva-linga. He was very upset and started rubbing herbs that he thought would heal the wound, but this did not help. Kannappa immediately took out a knife and cut out his one eye and stuck it on the shiva-linga, and the blood stopped. Kannappa was thrilled and started dancing with joy. But then he noticed that the other eye had now started bleeding. Immediately Kannappa decided to give up his other eye too. But if he did so, he would turn blind and would not know where to stick the other eye. To avoid this, he put his toe on the spot of the bleeding eye on the shiva-linga and cut his other eye too. Seeing this Lord Shiva appeared and blessed him with gave him his eye-sight back and the Brahmin hung his head in shame.

This aspect of devotion can be seen as de-ritualizing the worship of Lord Shiva and making the deity more accessible to the common man and in some cases to the outcastes of the society. The people who were not educated, lived in the fringes of the society due to the caste-structure could also worship Lord Shiva, irrespective of the fact that they were meat-eaters or drank alcoholic drinks. Shiva was like one of them. The myth actually makes the Brahmin redundant. The genesis of this myth could lie in the fact that the hegemony of the Brahmin class could have made the gods virtually inaccessible to the common man. The notion that the way to god was through the doors of the Brahmin class only was causing concern to a set of worshippers who did not want to go through the mumbo-jumbo and such feelings could have given rise to such myths. The myth espouses pure devotion, devoid of any rituals.

This myth also introduces to a different form of iconography. In many parts of India, faces are drawn on the shiva-linga and the face usually denotes a virile face. Sometimes there is a face carved on the linga too. This shows that the worshippers were not content with the phallic look of the linga but wanted to associate a more virile and strong appearance on the symbol or rather a form to the formless.

Next time we will take another example of extreme devotion…..keep reading.

For more articles on Lord Shiva -

"Lord Shiva's Wedding Procession" 
http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2011/03/lord-shivas-wedding-procession.html

"Sharabha deva"
http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2010/12/sharabha-deva-form-of-lord-shiva.html

Tomorrow is the Municipal Elections in Mumbai

Tomorrow is the Municipal Elections in Mumbai

When you go to vote, remember the following –

1.   All the potholes on the roads which have given you inflated fuel bills and medical bills

2.   The waterlogging during the last couple of monsoons

3.   Choked drainage systems

4.   Garbage dumps on the streets and outside large complexes

5.   All the unchecked encroachments on the footpaths meant for us to walk

6.   All the violence unleashed on the migrants by the communal parties

7.   All the talk of ‘sons of the soil’ for fomenting tension and ill-will among the residents of Mumbai

8.   All the promises made by the political parties during the last elections

9.   All the extortions that you have read during the last tenure

10.                All the power being given to the Students wings of certain political parties to unleash more terror in the name of “student activism”

11.                The corruption and crimes that have been perpetrated by the powers-that-be

12.                All the infightings that we have witnessed

13.                All the mudslinging (and microphone-slinging) that we have witnessed

14.                All the defections that have happened after you had voted for a candidate

15.                Party members wasting our hard-earned money by

a.    Not attending to the designated work, &/or

b.    Wasting their time in the positions by resorting to illegal activities

16.                Who all lent support to the likes of Anna Hazare, and more importantly, WHY

17.                All who did not support the Lokpal Bill and all who were smartly double-faced

18.                More than Rs. 20,000 crores lying idle in the coffers of the Municipal Corporation, leading a pathetic infrstructure

Keep all this and more in mind when you decide on the candidate to vote for.

Go out and exercise your prime duty – go and vote. If you want to have your say and if you think you have a right to complain and demand, then first go and vote.

According to Times of India, in the year 2007, only 46% of Mumbaikars came out to vote and the result is visible to each one of us. If you do not vote, do not demand – anything………………..anything at all.

Vote for the right candidate

Vote for the clean candidate

More important – VOTE.

Valentine Day Love Story

It’s that day of the year when love is in the air – who cares if the day has been made famous by the consumerist economy and is despised by a few who see this as a western import. Love is the most beautiful emotion and let’s not allow a few silly idiots spoil the day, and so, on a day like this, let’s celebrate the concept of love which is in existence from time immemorial and stories of love, can be heard from the time man understood himself (and her!).

There are numerous stories of love and the ones that would have caught our fancy is the unfulfilled love and here’s one from the Greek Mythology which is considered to be one of the most well-known love stories. It is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. There are different versions of this myth, but we will go through the most common of them.

Orpheus was a young man who was extremely talented in music. He possessed a divine gift of a lovely voice and had mastered the art of playing the lyre at a very young age. It is said that his mother was one of muse, Muse Calliope. When he sang and played the music, all would stand still to listen to him, be it man or beasts; trees would uproot themselves to come closer to listen to the music, the rivers would change course and the breeze would blow through the music, taking the lovely strains of his music far and wide. Apart from his musical talent Orpheus had an adventurous side to him, but why sour the romantic moments at this moment, so we will skip his adventurous pursuits for the moment!

During one such musical rendition, Orpheus noticed a shy wood-nymph, Eurydice and couldn’t help but fall in love with her. It was love at first sight for both of them and nothing could stop them. Soon they were married and after the day long celebrations, it was time to leave the two newly-weds alone. But such are not the ways of love, right? In the shadows was Aristaeus, a shepherd, who secretly loved Eurydice and could not bear the sight of Orpheus and Eurydice holding hands and happily married. He hid in the bushes intending to kill Orpheus when they were passing by. As soon as they came close, he pounced on Orpheus, but Orpheus sensing danger, caught the hand of Eurydice and ran from there. This resulted in a chase, both Orpheus and Eurydice running away from danger that they knew not and Aristaeus pursuing the death of Orpheus.

In the wild chase, both Orpheus and Eurydice stumbled on something and before anyone could realize what had happened, Orpheus saw Eurydice being separated from him. In her flight, Eurydice had stepped on a deadly snake that bit her and soon the poison enveloped her and she was dead. Seeing this, Aristaeus fled from there, leaving the inconsolable Orpheus alone with the dead Eurydice.

Orpheus could not come to terms with the separation and soon the lovely music had turned soulful. But Orpheus was not giving up. He decided to follow his love to the Underworld. The gates of the Underworld were opened for Orpheus where he sang and played such soulful music that the Hades, the god of the Underworld and Persephone, his queen were moved to tears (Read “Demeter and Persephone” http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2011/03/demeter-persephone.html). So moved was Hades with the sad music of Orpheus that he promised Orpheus to allow him to take Eurydice back with him to the Upper-world. However, while he would take the soul of Eurydice, he should not look back; he should see her only when the soul had crossed the darkness of the Underworld and emerged in the light of the Upper-world. If he did try to see her in the darkness the soul would leave him forever and no power could unite them ever.

Orpheus leading eurydice out
of the Underworld

Orpheus was thrilled, and soon he could feel the presence of Eurydice and he started his journey from the Underworld. He could hear her footsteps and his joy knew no bounds and he wanted to look back and hug her, but was reminded of Hade’s condition. As soon as he reached the gates of the Underworld and could see the rays of the Sun, he could not hold back and turned around. Alas, Eurydice had not emerged out of the dark shadows of the Underworld and all Orpheus caught was a glimpse of her sad face and soon she was gone. The gates closed on Orpheus and this time, he could not cross the gates of the Underworld.

The lovers were separated for ever. Orpheus never managed to sing songs of joy and soon started staying away from people and became a recluse. He started staying away from all women as every woman reminded him of his love. The Maenads were the attendants of Dionysus, the god of wine and passion, and they longed for Orpheus. Soon the scorn and neglect got the worse of them and once in a fit of rage, they pounced on him and killed him in rage (some versions say, that he played such sad music calling for death, that all the animals who heard him, killed him weeping all through the act of killing him!). The Maenads threw his body in the river, and it is said that his head and his lyre floated down to the island of Lesvos, where the Muse gave him a decent burial. People in the island believed that music could be heard from his grave, where after death; Orpheus and Eurydice were united in the Underworld, thus ending the saga of love, separation and torment.  

On this sad note, here’s wishing all a Happy Valentine’s Day.

For more on Love, read the earlier articles –

“Gods of Love” http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2010/12/gods-of-love.html

“A Greek Love Story” http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2010/07/greek-love-story-we-all-know-so-well.html

“A Divine Romance” http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2011/02/radha-krishna-divine-romance.html

Nazca Lines

During one of my recent readings, I came across something which is better known as the Nazca Lines. The subject was so intriguing and interesting that I couldn’t help but go behind it deeper, as it had something to do with mythology too. The details below are just the tip of an iceberg of information, but the idea is to introduce the concept to many who might not have heard about it. If this generates any interest and you decide to know more about it, do share with me on this Blog, as any information is worth a lot and could also help see things in a different perspective.

The Nazca Geoglyphs

Before I begin, I would like define a term, ‘geoglyphs’. Geoglyphs are works of art that are made from moving or arranging stores or earth or any other matter in a given landscape.

Nazca Lines are massive lines created on the surface of the earth to form different designs and motifs, in the Nazca Desert, Southern Peru. Scholars believe that the lines were created by the people belonging to the Nazca culture between 400 and 650AD. There are hundreds of figures on the ground, ranging from simple to complex designs which resemble monkeys, humming birds, spiders, whales, etc., besides figures which might not mean much to modern man. By itself this is not a big deal, but what makes this worth noticing is the enormity of it. Some of these figures are so huge that from the ground they mean nothing, but an ariel view can make sense and decipher the designs. Some of the figures are over 1000 feet wide. It is this aspect of the figures which make it impressive, especially in the absence of any air-bound travel arrangement then.

So who conceived such figures and how were they drawn, besides why were they drawn at all? The figures are an enigma to say the least and the theories that have been propounded around it are even more so.



Killer Whale



Amongst the numerous theories being given, one of them says that the people of the Nazca culture made these figures for their gods to see them from the heavens. It further said that the people worshipped mountains and other water sources and these lines probably were drawn based on the availability of water, which had its relevance to the agriculture, which was the mainstay of the Nazca people. These figures could have been symbols for invoking the blessings of the god for getting water. Yet another theory goes on to say that the animals and figures are of those, who must have perished in the Great Flood which must have lashed the region and the same was made to make a sort of a permanent ‘memorial’ for people not to forget the Great Flood. This Great Flood is found in every culture (from Christians to Sumerians to the Aztecs and Mayans to Indian).



Spider



A major theory ascribes these figures to Astronomy. According to the theory, the lines depict important stars and constellations and events like the solstices. This is based more on the figures of spider and the monkey, which depict the star constellations like Orion and Ursa Mayor. However, the biggest challenge in proving this theory is the fact that the direction of the stars change in centuries due to the concept of ‘precession’, which is a subject by itself. (In astronomy, "precession" refers to any of several slow changes in an astronomical body's rotational or orbital parameters – Wikipedia). However, many of the theories have more or less touched this aspect.

Finally, the most interesting theory – according to the Swiss author Erich von Daniken, these complex structures could have something to do with the extra-terrestrial influence on the then human culture. According to him, some of the structures could just be ‘run-ways’ of an ancient airfield, which was used by the ET’s, mistaken by the Nazca people as their gods! However, ludicrous this sounds; one thing that has to be accepted is that the then people had access to some higher technological knowhow when these figures were created. On the surface, without an ariel view, it is near impossible to create such structures. So who did them and how? Is this proof of a more evolved and technologically competent civilization? Is this an evidence of the fact that the ET’s did have contact with the civilization in those days?

As always, any discussion on Nazca Lines raises more questions than answers and I too would have done exactly the same. We pride ourselves as being the most evolved and intelligent living beings and at times even credit ourselves with ‘creating’ divinity – but this begs to differ. There are no answers and theories range from rational ones to speculative ones to absolutely absurd ones – all trying to guess what is not recorded or mentioned, except that they hint to the existence of an intelligent civilization.

Finally, after I have concluded the article (!), I want to touch on one more theory, which is not propounded by the scholars, but forwarded by the locals, who stay around the area. According to these locals, these figures are not the work of men of the times; it is the work of Viracocha, the creator-god of the pre-Inca inhabitants of the Peru.

Next time we will learn more about Viracocha which is an interesting study!

Firday the 13th

Its Friday the 13th once again......nothing much has changed or happened since I wrote about it last time, so I am just giving you the link of the last article...just to refresh your minds and the ideas behind the dreadful day... if it is one!!

http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010/08/friday-13th.html