By the Gods!
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The Churning of the Ocean
In Indian mythology, the demons were older than their half-brothers, the Gods.
The Gods and the Demons knew that they could gain the Amrit, the Water of Life, if they churned up one of the seven oceans that, ring beyond ring, encircles the worlds. They came down to the Ocean of Milk. They took the Mountain Mandara for a churning-pole and the hundred-headed serpent Vasuki for a churning-rope.
For a thousand years the Gods and the demons churned the Ocean of Milk. All the time Vasuki, the serpent, from his hundred heads spat venom. The venom bit into the rocks and broke them up; it flowed down, destroying the worlds of Gods and men. Then all creation would have been destroyed in that flood of venom if it had not been for the act of Shiva
Shiva took up the venom in a cup and drank it. His throat became blue with that draught of bitterness.
Still they churned.
And then there appeared the sage Dhanvantri, and in his hands was the cup that held the Amrit, the Water of Life. The demons strove to seize it. They almost overpowered the Gods in their efforts to seize the Amrit. Then Vishnu changed himself into a ravishing form; he seemed to be the loveliest of the nymphs of Heaven. The demons went towards where the seeming nymph postured for them. Even as they fought amongst each other for the maiden, the Gods took the cup, and, sharing it, they drank the Amrit.
And now they were filled with such vigour that the demons could not overpower them. Many they drove down into hell. That was the beginning of the wars between the Gods and the Demons…wars that went on for ages.
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Prajapati
In Hindu mythology, Prajapati is the master of created beings. Now: let me stop right here, and say that Hindu mythology is a complex thing, with several layers of religious texts written in different periods and locations, often conflicting (not that this is any different than most religions). I don’t personally have the confident grip on it that I do with other cultural mythologies, but hey: I’m workin’ on it.
Back to ol’ Prajapati. In the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, he is the protector of the sexual organ (not the worst job).
He produces a number of children including a daughter, Ushas (“dawn”) who he then attempts to do a lil’ incest on/with. Now, when Ushas sees Prajapati coming at her in a lustful rage, she transforms herself into a deer and hauls ass out of there. Prajapati, to match her speed, turns himself into a stag, and catches up to do the deed. The offspring they have, predictably, is a baby deer. This cycle repeated itself not once, not twice, but 200-bajillion times; every time Prajapati got the urge, Ushas would pick a different female form and run, and Praj’ would pick the corresponding male form, catch her, and make a baby in said form. In this fashion, Prajapati and Ushas gave rise to all living creatures, including man.
Another myth tells how Prajapati rose, weeping, from the primordial waters. His tears that fell to the water became the earth, whereas those that the god wiped away became the sky and air. Prajapati then created the night and day, the seasons, death, and people to relieve his loneliness. This story conflicts with other Hindu stories, such as the creation by Brahma. The name Prajapati, however, sometimes refers to a variety of gods, including Indra, Shiva, Garuda, Vishnu, Krishna, and Brahma. Brahma, specifically, is often attributed with myths that later became associated with Prajapati. Whether or not it’s viewed as a title for the master of sex organs/the creator or a specific deity’s name depends on which text you’re looking at.
Alright, we don’t normally do stuff like this here at By the Gods!, but this video was brought to my attention, and it’s worth sharing (partly for lolz, partly for a slew of images and basic deity information). For more substantial Ganesh content, go here.
Please enjoy the song “Ganesh is Fresh.”
“If you think Ganesh is super-fresh, when I say ‘Jai’ you say ‘Ganesh.’”
Jainism and Tirthankaras
Jainism is an Indian religion and philosophy which offers an austere path to enlightenment. Much of its mythology was inherited from Hinduism, including huge numbers of gods, and ideas on the structure of the universe, but Jains differ from Hindus in that they do not believe in the idea of creation, considering that time is cyclical. Jain ascetics attempt to conduct their lives following five vows: to injure no living thing (because everything has a soul), to speak the truth, to take only what is given, to be chaste, and to achieve detachment from places, people and things. Sounds easy.
Their examples in following this discipline are 24 Tirthankaras, or “spiritual teachers,” who have appeared in the present cycle of time. A tirtha is a ford or crossing-place, or a sacred place, person or path which enables believers to cross over into liberation from an endless round of rebirth: for Jains, the Tirthankaras were the builders of the ford. Boom. Metaphors.
The swastika is one of the main symbols of Jainism, and is the symbol of the seventh Tirthankara, Suparsva. It existed as this symbol long before those guys adapted it to their cause. An easy analogy for the Tirthankaras is like they’re the Saints of Jainism. That’s an over-simplification, of course, but the comparison is helpful.
Kali Ma, called the “Dark Mother,” is the Hindu goddess of creation, preservation, and destruction. She is especially known in her Destroyer aspect, squatting over her dead consort, Shiva, devouring his entrails while her yoni sexually devours his lingam, penis. Kali, in this aspect is said to be “The hungry earth, which devours its own children and fattens on their corpses…” In India the experience of the Terrible Mother has been given its most grandiose form of Kali, which just is not simple imagery; it is the image of the Feminine, particularly the Maternal, for in a profound way life and birth are integrally connected to death and destruction.
In Hinduism Kali’s three functions are assigned to the gods: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer. It is noted that Vishnu, who is thought to have brought the world out of the primal abyss, wrote the following about Kali: “Maternal cause of all change, manifestation, and destruction…the whole Universe rests upon Her, rises out of Her and melts into Her. From Her crystallized the original elements and qualities which construct the apparent world. She is both mother and grave… The gods themselves are merely constructs out of Her maternal substance, which is both consciousness and potential joy.”
Blood sacrifice was important in the worship of Kali. Kali was the Ocean of Blood at the beginning of the world; she might be said to be the primordial mass from which all life arose; her ultimate destruction of the universe is prefigured by the destruction of each individual, though her karmic wheel always brought reincarnation. After death came nothing-at-all, which Tantric sages called the third of three states of being; to experience it was like the experience of Dreamless Sleep. This state was also called “the Generative Womb of All, the Beginning and End of Beings.” Kali devoured Time, she resumed her “dark formlessness,” which appeared in all myths of before-creation and after-doomsday as elemental Chaos.
CAGE-MATCH #3: ARES VS. INDRA
That’s right, we’re rollin’ out another cage match. Battle of the war gods, this time ‘round! Indra, the Hindu god of war, storms, and all-around ass-kickery goes up against the one, the only, Ares, the Grecian god of war and the berserker frenzy that made the warriors of Sparta some of the most feared on earth.
Both gods have had some major accomplishments, almost always through intense, world-altering violence. Feed the beast within and pick the winner!
TWO GODS ENTER, ONE GOD LEAVES. Don’t forget, your votes decide the winner!
Ares or Indra: Who’s it gonna be!?
Indra
One of the chief deities of Indian mythology was Indra. God of war, storms, and rainfall, he was also known as the king of the gods in the Rig Veda, the ancient hymns forming part of the sacred knowledge of hinduism. His role as king of the gods would diminish, however, as Hinduism matured, and the role of the Trimurti (the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) came to the fore.
Indra is usually depicted as red or gold-skinned, and is usually an intimidating deity to look upon. He’s big, he’s fierce, he’s warlike; he wants to eff you up. He carries a thunderbolt in his right hand, which he uses to either slay his enemies or revive those killed in battle, depending on his mood. He was said to ride through the heavens in a chariot, (often said to be the sun itself) but in later depictions he was often shown riding the elephant, Airavata.
Indra was born from heaven and earth, which he then separated forever. He challenged the old order of gods and became king of the new, and led the gods against hordes of demons and the Asuras. He was credited with bringing light and rain, worshipped in some ways as a fertility god and god of creation. His importance declined in time, however, and though he remained a terrifying god of thunder and war, he came to be regarded as a divine earthly monarch, rather than divinely conceived god.
CAGE-MATCH #2: HERACLES VS. RAAMA
That’s right, mythaholics. It’s cage-match time again. I figured that if Yahweh got to rest on Sunday, I could too. But that doesn’t mean you’re not gonna be entertained!
Last time it was god vs god. This time, we’ve got two mortals steppin’ into the cage, each of them the ultimate hero of their mythology. Raama, though the avatar of Vishnu, was a mortal man, and he kicked demon ass all over the place. Heracles was half-god, being the son of Zeus, but he was still a mortal dude that beat the tzatziki out of everything in Greek myth.
So: Raama and Heracles step into the ring with victory on their minds. Who comes out of the struggle as the champ of mortal heroes? You can check out any of our posts of Heracles’ Labours as well as the post on Raama’s battle with Ravana to supplement your decision-making.
YOUR VOTES DECIDE THE WINNER! WHO’S IT GONNA BE!?
Vishnu
Vishnu is one of the most important gods of Hinduism, and the most widely worshipped. Together with Shiva and Brahma, he belongs to the triad of great gods known as the Trimurti. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Vishnu is a powerful god whose wrath can be terrible, but on the whole he is a benevolent deity, and far less frightening than Shiva. Many regard Vishnu as the highest god, dubbing him the Brahman, the Hindu concept of “absolute” or supreme reality. He’s just the best.
Vishnu is usually depicted as a beautiful young man, blue in colour and with four arms. He usually holds a club, attributed with the power of knowledge, a conch shell, associated with the origins of existence, a wheel, representing creation and destruction, and the lotus, associated with the sun. His mount is the mythical bird Garuda, and his consort is Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune. In the intervals between Brahma’s successive creations and Shiva’s destruction, Vishnu is believed to lie asleep on the cosmic waters, atop the many-headed world snake Ananta. During the sleep, he slowly develops into another avatar, who will appear in the impending cycle of creation to help us humans out.
His main function is to ensure the triumph of good over evil. Simple enough. He may have originated as a solar deity in ancient hymns, but was later credited with measuring out the universe to make it inhabitable. His most well-known deeds are done in the forms of his avatars. The Hindu Flood Myth has features Matsya, Vishnu’s fish avatar saving humanity, and the most important avatar of Vishnu was the warrior Raama, who defeated the Demon King, Ravana.
Hindu Flood Myth
The Deluge Myth is a common theme in mythologies all over the Mediterranean, the Near East, and Pacific Asia, and India is no exception. Manu, the progenitor of the human race, was washing his hands in a river when a fish approached him and swam into his hands. Its name was Matsya, and though Manu didn’t realize this, it was an avatar of Vishnu.
The fish asks Manu to protect him from the larger fish that want to eat him, and promises to save his protector from a predicted flood. Manu puts the lil’ guy in a jar, and once it’s large enough to survive on its own, he releases back into the ocean. The fish has warned Manu (now a Noah-like figure) to build a boat, and once he’s done so, the fish allows Manu to tie the boat to its horn for protection against the rising waters and waves. The fish took Manu to a mountaintop, where he chilled out until the flood ended, when he strolled back down to earth to begin the dreadful task of repopulating humanity.
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