Category: Mythology

We have heard a lot about the “necessity” being the mother of “invention” but is every invention a form of bliss? or can it be a curse in disguise too?

Such is the mythological story of Deadalus and his son Icarus.

Deadalus was a dextrous craftsman and a renowned artist who lived in the city of Athens. He was known for his unique and innovative creations and for being a pioneer in the quest of making human life easier and extravagant. He challenged the limitations of everyday life of a normal craftsman and invented the various tools for carpentry like hammer, saw etc. He built the first wide dancing floor, the first bath house and the toys that had the ability to move and mechanically animate for the king’s children. He sculptured such real looking statues in the king’s palace that even the king himself was deceived to think of them as being real humans.

However, envy spares no man and Deadalus too was jealous of his only competitor, his nephew.

It is believed that the credit for his invention of saw went to his nephew instead of Deadalus and driven by the intense feelings of vengeance, rage and professional jealousy, Deadalus ended up killing his nephew.

In order to escape the consequences and charges of murder, Deadalus absconded from Athens and came to the island of Crete. He went to the royal court of king Minos to pay his respects and was heartily welcomed by the king who was charmed by his wonderful inventions.

The king asked Deadalus to serve in his court as the palace’s technical advisor and the homeless Deadalus gleefully accepted the offer.

King Minos was an ungrateful man and was known for his several acts of ingratitude which made him a subject of wrath of gods.

As a punishment for keeping the gifted white bull with himself, instead of serving it as a sacrifice, Poseidon cursed King Minos .He put a spell on Minos’ wife and made her fall in love with that prized bull lustfully.

Blinded and oblivion to the curse, king’s wife asked Deadalus to help her in attracting the bull. Deadalus who was an egoistic man and who couldn’t say no to any challenge, invented a hollow structure of cow to lure the white bull.

King’s wife hid in that hollow structure and seduced the bull to mate with her hence giving birth to a monsterous half-man and half-bull baby.

The baby was named as Minotaur.

Enraged by Deadalus’ audacity, king forced him to construct an inescapable labyrinth to trap Minotaur.

After the construction, as a part of punishment and in an attempt to safeguard the secret of labyrinth, Minos imprisoned Deadalus and his innocent son Icarus on the roof of a huge tower in the palace.

But Deadalus was not a man to be kept tied by any number of shackles or to be bounded by any prison walls. He observed the birds who were flying freely over his tower and was instantly motivated to construct two giant pairs of wings, one for himself and another for his son.

The inspiration from the birds lend him a way to escape and fly away from the prison.

While strapping the wings to his son, he warned him not to fly too close to the sea as it would dampen and soak the wings, making them too heavy to fly with. He also apprised him not to fly too high in the sky as the sun’s heat would melt the wax which was the only force binding the feathers to the framework.

After giving these instructions, father and son ascended to their flight, leaving the Crete behind them.

Overwhelmed by the ecstacy of an unbelievable flight, Icarus wanted to soar up as high as possible. He forgot his father’s words and ascended higher and higher. As a result the sun’s heat soon began to melt the wax and his feathers disintegrated.

Icarus, who was feeling majestic like gods a few seconds before , started falling downwards and finally drowned in the sea.

Powerless Deadalus could only watch his son fall and could only lament on his unthoughtful invention which resulted in the death of his beloved son.

Ever since, Icarus’ fall became a remarkable symbol of human’s desire and fondness to defy the nature’s laws to become the supreme power and reach the unattainable heights and their incapability to realize the importance of humbleness.

Indian Cinema has been known among the masses for portraying obsessed lovers; the classic example being Prince Salim in Mughal -e-Azam. Some of them even possess an extraordinary verbal communication style (K-K-K-K-Kiran). Others possess supposedly cool hairstyles. And some have a story where they leave the world for somebody and then that ‘somebody’ leaves them. When you go back in time, you see the same happening in Mahabharata too and the victims of such tragedies are mostly the kings. Anyways would you be really that interested if it were to happen to a commoner anyway?!

Pururava was a young and handsome king. When I say young and handsome, it means that practicing warrior-skills, hunting and partying were his major hobbies. Administration of kingdom and welfare of the people for such kings was usually the second priority. There are very few kings who were young and handsome and capable at the same time. Unfortunately, Pururava was not. And before he could make his transition from young and handsome to capable, something happened!

Once when he was out hunting in a forest, he came across the Apsara (river-nymph) Urvashi. The sight of the scantily dressed apsara, who was a favorite even among the Devas, was definitely the most enthralling sight of Pururava’s youth.

With the confidence and attitude that is characteristic of self-proclaimed handsome men, Pururava went to Urvashi and asked her out.

Pururava: The Almighty must have exhausted all his creativity in carving a beauty like you. What should I do to make you mine? I want you to marry me and be my queen.

Urvashi: No ordinary man can ask me out in this fashion. Your confidence and your flashy attire indicate that you are from a royal lineage. But are you worthy enough for the beautiful creation of the Almighty like you just said?

Pururava: There is no feat in this world impossible for me to perform as long as I possess my bow and arrows. You should never distrust my capabilities.

Urvashi: I would rather marry a lover than a warrior. I don’t seek the power of your weapons, I only seek the power of your words. You will have to promise me that you will take care of my pet goats. They are very dear to me. Also, promise me that except for me you will never appear naked in front of anybody. If you are willing to make these two promises, I will marry you.

Pururava: I am a Kshatriya, to protect the helpless is my Dharma. Will I not protect your goats? I promise I will. And I will protect your second promise too. My Kshatriya instincts are not limited to people alone!

These promises were perhaps Urvashi’s ways of ensuring that her husband remains loyal to her concerns and never brings in a second wife that decreases her importance. Pururava didn’t think much before making the promises either. The Kshatriya factor often deluded the decision making powers of the kings. Anyway, they both got married and lived happily for some time, increasing the prospective candidates for the royal inheritance and inspiring stories that would be carved out later in Indian temples meant for selective visitors.

Indra, the original ‘beneficiary’ of apsaras, could not bear this unusually long separation from the apple of his eyes, Urvashi. He wanted her back at any cost, so he ordered the Gandharvas to bring Urvashi back. The Gandharvas stole the pet goats of Urvashi one day when Pururava was busy making love to her. Urvashi, on realizing that her goats had been stolen, requested Pururava to rescue them. He hurried out without bothering to cover himself keen to keep the first promise he made to his wife while forgetting the second one! At that moment, Indra launched a thunder in the sky causing a public display of the king’s private properties.

In spite of his best efforts, Pururava could not keep both his promises. Urvashi decided to leave Pururava the way he was, not continuing her stay with King since the promises that were the basis of their marriage were broken.

The separation left Pururava devastated and he lost all sense. He isolated himself from his kingdom and became mad, not being able to rule the kingdom anymore. Had India had access to Italian Marble in those days, a Taj Mahal would have come into existence much before in Indian History than when it actually did!

Thus, another lover had to face the cliché consequence of falling in love as depicted in Bollywood Movies – DEPRESSION DUE TO SEPARATION!

Image Source – wikipedia.org

This story is a myth on how different languages came in to the world.

 

At first when the world was created, all men spoke the same language.  They all lived together under the stars. But to protect themselves against nature they wanted to build a house. They started building the house; one storey after another. The building grew higher and higher. It surpassed tallest of the tall trees like, the bean plant Jack had planted and reached up to the clouds. During this whole time God was watching them. He liked their team spirit and will to make themselves better. As they spoke the same language there was no miss communication between them. They all spoke their hearts out and the best ideas were accepted. God appreciated their intellect and intension of living together peacefully, securely. The unity he saw pleased his eyes calmed his soul.

But even after the tower reached the clouds the humans were not satisfied. They build the building higher and higher. The tower grew far from its roots. No matter how high it grew it did not satisfy the humans. This evoked the wrath of God. He saw that these creatures were never happy. They wanted more and more. They were perfectionists but did not know where to stop. There greed was beyond any measuring unit. God was startled to see his created men acting so irrationally, men who were supposed to be the epitome of perfection. God’s heart raged and pained to see his creations.

God with his one swift blow thrashed down the building. The epitome of human civilization, human excellence broke down to bits. All the men scattered here and there. Many families were torn apart. Many people died. The people then came together but failed to understand what other people spoke. There was a collision due to misinterpretation. The situation was utter chaos. People could hardly communicate with each other. The only way of communication was symbols. They moved their hands, legs and made expressions but the whole message could not be conveyed. People’s mind filled with distrust and disgust as they were neither able to understand another person nor could they convey their message clearly. Even members of a family did not speak the same language.

Therefore, there unity was broken. The peace vanished. All that people had in their hearts was anger as he always felt that the person in hand was not trying hard enough to understand and execute the orders.

God had bestowed them with different languages. He had divided them due to their over ambition and greed. Now their communication was restricted. Their actions limited. This division of language was a challenge, one of the first odds God had thrown on humans. Though men were in utter chaos and they had evoked the wrath of God, God was counting on the excellence of His excellent creation.

 

This is the popular myth of Helen’s birth that indirectly contributed to the cause of the battle of Troy.

 

Helen is the most important figure of Greek mythology. The abduction of Helen by Paris contributed directly to the beginning of the battle of Troy. Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda. Her putative father was Tyndareus. She was married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The birth of Helen is a very popular mythological story and it sowed the seed for the Battle of Troy.

Zeus, the King of Gods once, took the form of a magnificent, beautiful swan. He was flying in the sky camouflaged when an eagle started chasing him. Leda spotted the swan and gave it refuge. Leda was the daughter of Thestios, the king of Pleuron. Leda was a beautiful woman. Her splendour attracted Zeus and he spied on her from Mount Olympus. Zeus tricked her, portraying himself as helpless and impregnated her. On the same day Leda also slept with her husband, Tyndareus. Leda as a result of these unions gave birth to two eggs. From one of the eggs hatched Helen and Pollux and from the other hatched Clytemenestra and Castor. It is believed that Helen and Pollux are Zeus’ children and Clytemenestra and Castor are the children of Tyndareus.

In another version, Zeus seduced Nemesis and both of them turned into majestic geese. The two eggs were laid by Nemesis and Leda was the one who took care of the eggs until they hatched and nurtured them as her own after they were born.

The eggs travelled to Leda by the hands of a shepherd, who supposedly found it in a grove in Attica. There are many popular versions of this story, another version says, Hermes dropped the eggs into her lap.

Helen had grown up to be the most beautiful woman on earth. She was married to Menelaus. Paris was mesmerized by her beauty and abducted her. This led to the Battle of Troy. Helen had been abducted for her beauty, before once by Theseus that led to the conflict between Athens and Sparta.

Clytemenestra was married to the great warrior Agamemnon of Mycenae. She is both a wronged woman and a murderous wife. Castor and Pollux were inseparable twin warriors. Pollux was immortal whereas, Castor was mortal. After Castor was killed, Pollux gave up his immortality to be united with him in Heaven. Together they formed the beautiful constellation of Gemini.

Zeus was married to the immortal goddess Hera. Hera had severely punished many of the women engaged with Zeus and their children but Leda and her Children did not seen to arouse her wrath initially.

MAHABHARATA IS NOT ONLY ITIHASA BUT ITIHASA PURANA AND SO THE POSSIBILITY OF METAPHORS NEVER ENDS.

 

Draupadi is the most important female character of the epic Mahabharata. She was the daughter of King Drupad, the king of Panchala. She was married to all the five Pandava brothers, Yudhistira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. She also gave birth to five sons: Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Srutakarma, Satanika and Srutasena.

King Drupada and Acharya Drona were daggers drawn as king Drupada had refused to acknowledge his childhood friend Drona after he became king as Drona was poor. Then a war between King Drupada and Arjuna on behalf of Acharya Drona happened. King Drupada lost the war and as a result he had to give away half of his kingdom to the Pandavas. Drupada plot revenge against them. He performed the Putrekameshti yajna for a son who would defeat Drona and kill him.

The Putrekameshti sacrifice is usually done for a son. Dhitarashtra, in Ramayana, performed this sacrifice under the guidance of Rishi Shringa Muni, an expert in Yajur Veda at the end of which Agni dev arrived and gave payesam to the three queens of Dhitarashtra.

From the fire of the sacrifice or yajna, a beautiful coffee skinned, doe eyed girl came up after Drishtadyumna her warrior brother.

Her beauty could be equated with no mortal being. She was named Draupadi after her father Drupada. She was also called Panchali after her birthplace, her kingdom. Both Draupadi and her brother were born adults. As she emerged from the fire, there was akashvani that is the divine voices announced from the sky that this woman would bring the end of Kuru lineage.

But the languages of the epics are metaphorical. They are kavyas. They do not always appeal to our common senses. There is a huge involvement of the supernatural; the willing suspension of our disbelief is evident for us to read the kavyas. The Mahabharata is not just itihasa but itihasa purana kavya, giving us freedom to interpret it. Thus we see the rishis or the saints living for hundreds of years and meditating alone for at least a hundred years.

No human can be born out of fire. It has to be a biological process. Plus, the birth of Draupadi and her brother not as children but as adults were equally abrupt.

The Bhagavat Purana says, king Drupada of Pnchala had a daughter named Draupadi and many sons aswell. Among his sons the eldest was Dhristadyumna. Dhristadyumna gave birth to a son named Dhrshtaketu who carried on the royal dynasty of Panchala. Therefore, a ration story is also present among our myths. Mahabharata itself has pieces were Draupadi sits on her father Drupada’s lap. It is not possible for a grown up daughter who has just sprung from fire to do this but only a child.

Monier Williams says in ancient India, the vedi was often compared to a woman’s waist. Hence, there is a possibility that Vyasa is metaphorically referring to the womb of a woman. Agni meaning fire may refer to sexual energy implying her birth not to be unnatural.

The myth of Sisyphus is a very famous Greek myth. In this myth Sisyphus was punished for his cunningness and betrayal by God King Zeus. King Sisyphus did not like to do anything that would not bear him result. So, Zeus gave him a duty for eternity. He had to push a big rock up the hill and on reaching the top the rock would slide down and he would again have to push it up. He was punished with this futile action for eternity.

 

The myth of Sisyphus is a greek myth. Sisyphus founded the kingdom of Corinth. He was the son of Aeolus of Thessaly. He was the brother of Salmoneus and the father of Glaucus, Ornytion, Almus and Thersander. Sisyphus promoted trade and commerce but his means were full of deceit and greed. He killed several guests and travellers as a symbol of his supremacy and decree. With this act he violated Xenia that brought him the wrath of Zeus.

Sisyphus and his brother Salmoneus were daggers drawn. Sisyphua was a very witty person. He consulted with the oracle of Delphi and cold bloodedly planned the murder of his brother Salmoneus. His plan had two motives; firstly, to kill Salmoneus and secondly, to kill him in such a way that no one would hold him responsible for Salmoneus murder.

Sisyphus seduced Tyro, Salmoneus daughter but when she found out that she and her children were only a pawn for Sisyphus to kill Salmoneus she slay the children she bore him.

Sisyphus also betrayed Zeus by revealing the secrets of the location of Aegina to her father, Asopus, the river God in exchange of letting spring flow in Corinthian Acropolis. This enraged Zeus. Zeus ordered Thanos, the God of Death to chain Sisyphus to Tarturus. Sisyphus wandered why Hermis had not come. On this occasion, Sisyphus shrewdly asked Thanos to show him the mechanism of the chain. While Thanos was granting Sisyphus his last wish Sisyphus grabbed the opportunity to cease Thanos and tie him up instead. As long as Thanos was tied up no one on earth could die. This infuriated Ares as if in the battle no one died, the battle would lose its meaning. Furious Ares intervened and let Thanos loose. He handed Sisyphus over to Thanos as well.

Another version says, Hades was sent to chain Sisyphus but he himself got chained. So, nobody could die, not even the old and suffering. Even the sacrifices could not be made to Gods.seeing the tyranny of Sisyphus the Gods warned him to let Hades go or else they would make Sisyphus’s life so pathetic that he would wish for death day and night. This threat worked and Sisyphus let Hades free.

Sisyphus told his wife before his death to throw his naked body in a public square as a test of her love. As a result of this his soul could not find peace and ended up on the backs of river Styx. There he complained to Persephone that his wife was trying to insult him and so he wanted to come back.

The trick worked on Persephone and Sisyphus was allowed to come up and instruct his wife to give him a proper burial.

But Sisyphus refused to return to the underworld so, Hermes came and dragged him down.

As a punishment for his trickery Sisyphus was punished. For eternity he had to push up a huge rock to the top of a vertically sharp hill and on reaching the top it would roll down. This exasperating punishment was given to Sisyphus for he believed his wit could deceive all mighty Zeus as well. Thus, submerging him into a perpetuity of useless efforts.

So, since then anything laborious yet futile is referred to as Sisyphean.

It was the darkest moment with nothingness spread around when the universe had not been born.

While meditating on creation before its process was begun, Sattavaguna – sublime nature, emerged in Brahma’s mind. I wish to create something, Brahma thought and from there was born a lustrous being, Saraswati, known as Brahmani, consort of the creator.

She was pure and gorgeous radiating Sattva – goodness. She became the first creation of the creator. Her glow purer than anything, she spread her wisdom in all directions.

It was only when the charm of this goddess was revealed that Brahma realized how extraordinary his creation was. Brahma wanted to captivate this ocean of knowledge but the more he pursued, the farther she went.

The goddess changed its form from one being to another to hide from the lustful glances of Brahma. She became Shatarupa, the one taking many forms.

In one of the forms she transformed into a river. On the soil of the earth the milky waters of the river goddess flowed with pride. Civilizations flourished on her banks. Rig-Veda sang in her praise in the hymn of praise of rivers along with the great rivers Sindhu and Sarayu, calling it the best mother, best river, best goddess.

“Saraswati may we drain that breast of your, which is exhaustless, source of pleasure, by which you feed all choicest things, which is wealth giver, treasure finder and free bestower” reads the ancient scripture.

She is consciousness, wisdom and knowledge. She does not possess any material weapon but she is the controller of minds.

Ragas are her offspring, with her music flowing like river in the veins of the universe.

Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Indra, devas possessed an enchanting potion, Somras; the elixir of life. They wanted it to be hidden from Asuras; the demons. Hence they entrusted this duty to the clan of Gandharvas. They were the celestial beings, demigods born from the fragrance of flowers.

Vishvavasu was guarding this precious potion. But as greed corrupted his mind he could not control the desire to consume it and hence took it away. Two Gandharvas were appointed to keep it hidden from devas. On realization of the same Indra pleaded before Saraswati to bring Soma back.

The goddess then appeared in the garden of Gandharvas in her divine attire. Her serene eyes were blissfully closed as she started playing veena.

With the first sound of the string the instrument produced a divine raga. One raga after the other and the skies mesmerized in the holy music. Sound was flowing like saras in the cosmos.

Gandharvas saw the goddess in white creating magic with her veena. They listened to the holy ragas and looked at the goddess in awe.

Time passed but for the Gandharvas listening to the goddess the moment stopped.

But soon her gentle hands took off from the string and the magic stopped. Gandharvas wanted to experience the blissful state again, hence Vishvavasu pleaded Saraswati to grant the knowledge of this divine music to his clan.

Saraswati agreed to do so under one condition. She demanded that Soma, the elixir of life has to be given back to devas and it is only then that she would teach them the art of creating ragas.

Gandharvas could give away anything for such an experience. Hence Somaras came back to devas while Gandharvas became the master musicians by the wisdom of the goddess.

She as Jyotiswarupa, is the illuminating light and as saras the flow and svara the sound becoming Saraswati.

The Vedas call her Pavaka, for she stretches her arms and carves her path as river, eliminating drought.

She is the goddess of purity, she as a river sustained civilizations, but she as a symbol holds a greater cosmic truth. Appearing first as Vak, speech, she gave form to the formless, an expression to imagination. Universe is formless without speech. She became the beginning.

She flowed as language on earth and travelled as wisdom in space.

As the quest for more continued through ages, the river dried up on the surface and the hymns became an ancient myth. She now flows beneath the sands as wisdom flows in our minds, unnoticed.