Utkarsh Patel
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, December 29, 2014
Lachhaman’s Story
Lachhaman’s Story
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| Ramkatha painting by Gond tribals. Courtesy: www.ignca.nic.in |
Celibate Hero, Brother of Ram
Both published in Talking Myths Project
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The Insecure Theist
The
kind of intolerance that is prevalent in the society today, makes me wonder the
direction that we are heading towards, progressive or regressive? There is a
growing intolerance to views which do not confirm with a certain segment of the
society. The intolerance takes to violent recourse to ensure that the dissident
voice is stifled, at times quite harshly, ensuring that the voice is done for
ever and an example is set for a long time to come.
Were
we an intolerant society since time immemorial or is this regressive
intolerance a recent phenomenon? Are we emulating what we have inherited or are
we creating new means to enforce and ensure a particular way of thought? Is
anti-religious views anathema to a society which has a long and a diverse
religious tradition?
Sometimes
it’s worth looking at our past for many of our present day problems. Many might
say that atheism and such thoughts are a recent phenomenon, as the ancient man
was always god-fearing and had faith in god. There is as much truth in that as there
is in the statement that the month of January has 38 days!
History
is witness to the philosophies like Charvaka of the Nastikavada, i.e. the
philosophy of atheism. Charvaka philosophy believed in the theory of
materialism being prime and preached religious indifference. The philosophy
challenged the existing notions, “There is no heaven, no ultimate salvation. No
soul exists in the next world, nor are the actions of the four varnas fructuous in any way. .......If
the animal sacrificed in the jyotishtom
yagna goes to the heavens, why does one not sacrifice his own father?...”
(as mentioned in Sarva Dharma Sangraha by
the 14th century philosopher Madhava Acharya). It denied all the
doctrines of the major religions of the day and believed in indulgence of
sensory pleasures, as the sole objective of any life.
While
the objective here is not to subscribe to the said theory and elevate it to a
higher level; this is just to prove, that there were proponents of such theories
who believed that the Vedas were tainted with untruth and self-contradictions.
However, none stoned the proponents and nor were their works burnt and banned. This
brings me to an excellent example of tolerance of divergence or even
anti-religious views as seen in the epic Ramayana.
Jabali
was a sage in the court of Dasharath, the King of Ayodhya. Jabali was an
atheist and did not believe in any of the religious texts or rituals. His
anti-religious views often made him ridicule the established rituals prevalent
in the society then. On one of the occasions, he was supposed to have made fun
of the post-death rituals by saying, that offering food to the dead, during the
period of shradha was a sheer waste
of food; whoever had heard that dead people could eat! He even went on to say,
that the scriptures that contained the rituals for worshipping gods and the yagnas and other such rituals were
prescribed by wise men only to keep people subjugated in the name of religion.
It
is interesting to note as to what someone with such allegedly ‘devious’ thought
process, was doing in the court of the great King Dasharath. Dasharath was of
the opinion, that there were all sorts of people in his kingdom and if there
was anything to do with such people, then Jabali would be the right person to
understand them and help mete out justice to such people, since there was every
possibility of the others condemning them even before their trial, due to their
initial disposition towards religion. Truly, a broad-minded outlook given the
times.
This
further gets reinforced, during an episode in the epic Ramayana. When all who
had gone with Bharat to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya had failed, Jabali
was supposed to have tried to convince Rama in his own inimitable way. He is
supposed to have told Rama, that he was taking his father’s wishes a bit too
far and as a designated King of Ayodhya he had every right to ascend the throne
and enjoy the fruits of royalty. Man was born alone and died alone, and clinging
to such parental emotions was man’s undoing. Just to honour some wish of his
dying father, his leaving the comforts of a palace for forests, was nothing
short of foolishness and it would be sensible to return to Ayodhya. Jabali felt
rather strange that a man of Ram’s stature should leave a concrete objective
like ruling the kingdom of Ayodhya, for some obscure religious norm that he
wanted to honour.
Needless
to say, that Ram was angry and wondered how his father had kept such a person
as his advisor. What follows is a dialogue where Ram justifies his actions, and
during the course of what seems to be a reprimand of sorts, calls him an
atheist. Jabali is said to have withdrawn and ended the entreaty to return,
with the words that based on the circumstances, he changed his belief system to
suit the occasion. When needed he became a believer and when required he became
a non-believer. While these words were seen as the words of an opportunist, we
will debate this a little later. Having said what he did, Jabali was supposed
to have withdrawn and went back to Ayodhya like the others, except that after
the death of Dasharath, and during the exile of Rama, he was seen as an
outcast, and he was supposed to have left Ayodhya.
Many
like Dr. Pradip Bhattacharya have referred to Jabali as a ‘Freethinker par
excellence’, while many have seen him as a rank atheist and taken Ram’s
reproach and reprimand as the final word against atheism. Many have gone to
suggest that Jabali made those radical statements only to coax Ram to return to
Ayodhya and he didn’t quite mean the words he used, and the final words were an
indication to that. However, the final words that he changed his views based on
circumstances, had more to do with the typical dilemma, a lot of us have in
mind. Did god really exist? Some aspects denote the presence of a Supreme
power, but some incidents make us question the very presence of such power,
which seems benign at certain times. The statement was a case of dilemma which
is what majority of the people suffer, when they are not so stubborn or dogged
in their views about matters of God, and have an iota of grey matter to ask
questions and not give in to blind belief system. The statement is apt when a
simpleton does not get answers to his questions, and gives in to moments of
weakness or frustration.
Jabali
went on to write the Jabali Upanishad
and the modern city of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, India, is supposed to have
been named after him. The origins of Jabali too make interesting reading.
According
to Samaveda-Chandogyopanishad, once
a sage came across a boy who had an intense desire to learn, but none were
willing to accept him as a disciple. The sage asked the boy his name and he
said, Satyakama. After this the sage asked the obvious question, about his
father, to understand his caste and if he deserved education. To this Satyakama
is supposed to have said, that he didn’t know the name of his father, but his
mother had asked him to say, if asked, that he was the son of Jabala, which was
her name. Not knowing the name of one’s father, meant questionable paternity
and also put his mother’s reputation in question. But the sage could not
overlook Satyakama’s intense desire to learn, and much to the displeasure of
the others, the sage accepted Satyakama as his disciple who was since then also
referred to as Jabali, the son of Jabala.
To
conclude, I would urge the upholders of religion, that any religion stands by
its own strength and does not need pillars to uphold it. Religion should be
able to protect its followers and not the other way round. A fragile religion
is a sign of weakness and any efforts to ‘save’ it would only prove
counter-productive. Divergent views give way to debate and debates are a must
for the thoughts to flower and find new meanings. Don’t thwart this growth and
when the vision is faint, look back. Even Rama was sympathetic to the likes of
Jabali, just who are you guys, if I may ask?
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The myth of Adonis and Aphrodite
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Front panel of sarcophagus with a myth of Aphrodite and Adonis. Parian marble. Late 2nd century A.D., Mantua, Ducal Palace. |
The Greek myth of Aphrodite and Adonis is
an interesting myth of love, lust and rejection, peppered with revenge and
jealousy. It’s a classic love saga with layers of symbolism. Let us first understand
the birth of the main characters in the myth.
Aphrodite was born from the place where the
genitals of Cronos were thrown after he was castrated by his son, Zeus. In art,
Aphrodite is generally shown as a beautiful young woman standing on a scallop
shell. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of beauty, love and carnal pleasures.
Though she was married to Hephaestus, she was known to be having affairs with
many other gods, Ares, the god of war being one of them (Read “Aphrodite’s Infidelity” http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2013/05/aphrodites-infidelity.html
) and mortals like Adonis amongst others.
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| Aphrodite |
The birth of Adonis is a bit scandalous and
different. It has many variations, but let’s refer to the most common version
here. Adonis’s mother was the beautiful Myrrha, the daughter of King Cinyras.
Myrrha’s mother would boast that Myrrha was the most beautiful of all and that
her beauty surpassed that of even Aphrodite. This angered Aphrodite and she cursed
Myrrha to fall in love with her own father, King Cinyras. Accordingly, Myrrha
fell in love with her father, and without knowing what was at play, one night
in the cover of darkness, Myrrha managed to seduce her father to sleep with her,
after getting him drunk.
When the father discovered that he was
tricked by his own daughter and that she was expecting his child, he chased her
with a sword to kill her. The
gods however took pity on the girl and changed
her into a tree, better known as the myrrh tree, a tree which produces resin.
Later, the goddess of birth enabled her to deliver a baby and Adonis, the baby
was found near the myrrh tree. Aphrodite took pity on the baby and gave it to
Persephone, the wife of Hades, the god of the underworld, managing to hide the
baby from others, as it was a sinful birth out of incestuous relationship. Adonis
was a child whose mother was also his sister and whose father was also his
grandfather!
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| Myrrh Tree |
Baby Adonis grew up to be a very handsome
man,
%2C%2Bmarble%2Bfigure.jpg) |
| Venus and Adonis, 1794, Antonio Canova (1757-1822), * |
Soon Adonis started spending more time with
Aphrodite, however, popular versions say, that he wasn't quite in love with
Aphrodite. Adonis loved hunting instead. Aphrodite had a premonition of hunting
leading Adonis to some trouble. She kept warning him against hunting. She had an
uncanny fear that some animal would want to take revenge on her by harming
Adonis, especially lions, as she had cursed two lovers to become lions since
she was upset with them over something (which is another story). To further
dissuade him, she had warned not to challenge animals which charged back or
came back at him, or were not scared of him.
Once, when Aphrodite left for some place,
Adonis
charged into the forest for hunting. Soon he came across a wild boar,
which had long tusks and started to chase it. The boar surprisingly could not
be scared away and the hunt changed sides. The boar ended up chasing Adonis,
and before long the boar plunged its tusks deep into his groin and killed him.
Later it was found that the boar was no ordinary boar, but Ares, one of the
lovers of Aphrodite, who was jealous of Adonis for taking so much of Aphrodite’s,
attention and affection. Some versions say that it was Persephone, who had told
Ares about the relationship, as she was jealous of Aphrodite! In a severely
wounded state Adonis called out for Aphrodite, who turned back to the forest to
find Adonis breathing his last.
2.jpg) |
| The Death of Adonis, by Giuseppe Mazzuoli, 1709 (Hermitage Museum) |
The place where the drops of Adonis’s blood
fell,
Adonis, after his death went to the
underworld, where he was greeted by Persephone. The very idea of Adonis being
in the company of Persephone forever, made Aphrodite uneasy and she landed at
the doors of the underworld, leading to another confrontation. Once again Zeus,
had to intervene, and it was resolved that Adonis would now spend half year
with each of them.
As mentioned earlier, the myth has layers
of meaning. The story symbolises many things.
Adonis’s six month term can be seen in two
ways. The first one is symbolic of man’s spending half his life with his mother
and the other with his wife, the former being symbolised by Adonis being
brought up by Persephone and the latter by Adonis spending his youth with
Aphrodite. The other symbolism is the change in seasons. When Adonis spent time
with Persephone, it was winter and when he came back to Aphrodite, he brought
with him spring and summer, a time for love and romance, his relationship with
Aphrodite. The struggle for Adonis was the perennial struggle for love (as
life) and death. An important aspect of the myth was the death and resurrection
of Adonis, which represented the perishing and the revival of the plants
annually.
Adonis was the symbol of masculinity and
good looks. Adonis, though born out of an incestuous relationship, which was out
of jealousy of Aphrodite, ensured that Aphrodite, who brought disgrace to his
mother, did not find love herself. Aphrodite was known for having many lovers, but
never loved her own husband. Though she loved Adonis, Adonis loved hunting. The
anemone flowers are a reminder to Aphrodite’s frustrated love. It is said, that
the flowers, have a short span of life. No sooner they bloom, the wind pulls them
down, as the flowers have weak and slender stems and cannot withstand slightest
of the breeze!
The theme of incest, though provoked by
Aphrodite out of sheer jealousy, gets the disdain that the society understands
or should. The incestuous relationship between the father and daughter, receives
poetic justice, by Adonis avenging the trauma and pain that her mother
underwent, in causing similar grief in Aphrodite, after his own death.
All in all an interesting Greek myth of
tragic and unfulfilled love and lust.
* Aphrodite was referred to as Venus in Roman Mythology
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
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