Indian Myths

By J.K. Jackson

India, one of the great, ancient civilizations spawned a fascinating canon of myths and legends. With multiple gods, and a riot of colour and character this fantastic new book, Indian Myths, explores the themes and landscapes that created the tales, and reveals the boundless energy that has brought us the Ramayana,The Mahabharata, and retells the stories of Krishna, Buddha and Shiva, and some of the many different versions of creation.

FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flame Tree Publishing
• Release date: Dec 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787556300

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Contents

Series Foreword

Introduction to Indian Myths

The Importance of Indian Mythology

Classical Indian Literature

The Creation Myths

The True Gods, Shiva and Vishnu

The Emergence of New Ideas

The Development of Hinduism

Regional Indian Mythologies

Tales of the Ramayana

The Birth of Rama

Rama and Vishvamitra

Rama and the Bow of Janaka

Kaikeyi and the Heir Apparent

Rama’s Exile

Bharata is King

The Golden Deer

Rama and Sita

Rama’s Bridge

Sita’s Second Trial

The Sons of Rama

The Saga of the Mahabharata

Dushyanta and Shakuntala

Shakuntala’s Appeal

King Shantanu and the Goddess Bride

The Story of Satyavati

Marriage by Capture

Origin of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura

The Birth of Karna

King Pandu’s Doom

The Rival Princes

The Princes Learn to Shoot

The Princes’ Trial

Drona’s War

First Exile of the Pandavas

Bhima and the Fair Demon

The King of the Asuras

Drupada’s Children

The Bride of the Pandavas

Return to Hastinapur

Arjuna’s Exile

The Triumph of the Pandavas

The Great Gambling Match

The Pandavas’ Sorrow

Arjuna’s Celestial Gifts

Second Exile of the Pandavas

The Voice of the Waters

An End to the Exile

Duryodhana’s Defiance

The Epic Battle of Eighteen Days

The Aftermath of War

The Atonement

A Night of Wonder

The Ascent to Heaven

More Tales of the Mahabharata

Samvarana and Tapati

Nala and Damayanti

Wanderings in the Forest

Nala’s Exile

The Homecoming of the King

Legends of Indra & Yama

Tales of Indra, King of the Gods

The Call of Yama, King of the Dead

Yama and Savitri

Tales of Heaven

Legends of Krishna

Krishna’s Birth

The Young Krishna

Krishna and Kaliya

Krishna and the Mountain

Krishna and Radha

Legends of Shiva

Shiva

Shiva and Sati

Shiva’s Dance

Legends of Buddha

The Life of Buddha

Sumedha

The Six-Tusked Elephant

Parinirvana

Tales of the Hitopadesha

The Vulture, the Cat, and the Birds

The Dead Game and the Jackal

The Old Jackal and the Elephant

The Monkey and the Wedge

The Washerman’s Jackass

The Cat who Served the Lion

The Terrible Bell

The Prince and the Procuress

The Lion and the Old Hare

The Wagtail and the Sea

Miscellaneous Myths

The Birth of Ganga

The Elephant and the Crocodile

The King, the Pigeon and the Hawk

The Ashvin Twins

Series Foreword

Stretching back to the oral traditions of thousands of years ago, tales of heroes and disaster, creation and conquest have been told by many different civilizations in many different ways. Their impact sits deep within our culture even though the detail in the tales themselves are a loose mix of historical record, transformed narrative and the distortions of hundreds of storytellers.

Today the language of mythology lives with us: our mood is jovial, our countenance is saturnine, we are narcissistic and our modern life is hermetically sealed from others. The nuances of myths and legends form part of our daily routines and help us navigate the world around us, with its half truths and biased reported facts.

The nature of a myth is that its story is already known by most of those who hear it, or read it. Every generation brings a new emphasis, but the fundamentals remain the same: a desire to understand and describe the events and relationships of the world. Many of the great stories are archetypes that help us find our own place, equipping us with tools for self-understanding, both individually and as part of a broader culture.

For Western societies it is Greek mythology that speaks to us most clearly. It greatly influenced the mythological heritage of the ancient Roman civilization and is the lens through which we still see the Celts, the Norse and many of the other great peoples and religions. The Greeks themselves learned much from their neighbours, the Egyptians, an older culture that became weak with age and incestuous leadership.

It is important to understand that what we perceive now as mythology had its own origins in perceptions of the divine and the rituals of the sacred. The earliest civilizations, in the crucible of the Middle East, in the Sumer of the third millennium

bc

, are the source to which many of the mythic archetypes can be traced. As humankind collected together in cities for the first time, developed writing and industrial scale agriculture, started to irrigate the rivers and attempted to control rather than be at the mercy of its environment, humanity began to write down its tentative explanations of natural events, of floods and plagues, of disease.

Early stories tell of Gods (or god-like animals in the case of tribal societies such as African, Native American or Aboriginal cultures) who are crafty and use their wits to survive, and it is reasonable to suggest that these were the first rulers of the gathering peoples of the earth, later elevated to god-like status with the distance of time. Such tales became more political as cities vied with each other for supremacy, creating new Gods, new hierarchies for their pantheons. The older Gods took on primordial roles and became the preserve of creation and destruction, leaving the new gods to deal with more current, everyday affairs. Empires rose and fell, with Babylon assuming the mantle from Sumeria in the 1800s

bc

, then in turn to be swept away by the Assyrians of the 1200s

bc

; then the Assyrians and the Egyptians were subjugated by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans and so on, leading to the spread and assimilation of common themes, ideas and stories throughout the world.

The survival of history is dependent on the telling of good tales, but each one must have the ‘feeling’ of truth, otherwise it will be ignored. Around the firesides, or embedded in a book or a computer, the myths and legends of the past are still the living materials of retold myth, not restricted to an exploration of origins. Now we have devices and global communications that give us unparalleled access to a diversity of traditions. We can find out about Native American, Indian, Chinese and tribal African mythology in a way that was denied to our ancestors, we can find connections, match the archaeology, religion and the mythologies of the world to build a comprehensive image of the human experience that is endlessly fascinating.

The stories in this book provide an introduction to the themes and concerns of the myths and legends of their respective cultures, with a short introduction to provide a linguistic, geographic and political context. This is where the myths have arrived today, but undoubtedly over the next millennia, they will transform again whilst retaining their essential truths and signs.

Jake Jackson

General Editor

Introduction to Indian Myths

The mythology of India is as vast and varied as her myriad cultures, languages and beliefs, as diverse as her philosophy and religion. Indeed, more than almost any other nation, India has intertwined her religion, literature and philosophy in a comprehensive mythology that encompasses most of her history in its breadth and vision. In India there are many languages spoken, and many religions observed. The largest of these religions is Hindu, and it is the Hindu myths that comprise the greatest proportion of the stories that appear in this book.

The Importance of Indian Mythology

The study of myths has grown to gigantic proportions over the last century, and it has become clear in every aspect of cultural study that myth is intrinsic to an understanding of people, for it represents their beliefs, explains their behaviour, and provides a portrait of their customs and morality. A myth can no longer be dismissed as an entertaining bit of nonsense – time has proved that it is the crucial elements of a people’s ideology which are fixed in their mythology, and its study is therefore essential to learning. For many cultures, myths touch on religion; in Indian mythology, gods play by far the most important role, presenting an explanation for religious beliefs which can be at the same time profound and difficult to comprehend.

In Hinduism, W. O’Flaherty wrote: ‘If myths are stories about the gods, it is difficult to find a Hindu story that is not mythical. Here there are more gods than men, a puzzled European remarked on India centuries ago, and the line between gods and men in Hinduism is as vague and ephemeral as the cloudy trail of a sky-writer.… Gods in India are no better than men, merely more powerful. Indeed, their extraordinary powers allow them to indulge in vices on an extraordinary scale: divine power corrupts divinely.’

Indian gods are given their identities by their heritage, and their history. They form an extensive pantheon which has included and occasionally dropped names across the centuries, as the religious beliefs are expounded and transformed.

Classical Indian Literature

The pantheon of Indian gods has been recorded in many forms and in many languages, but most importantly in the great Sanskrit epic of Mahabharata, a poem which is the longest in any language, at 200,000 lines, and written between 400

bc

and

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200. It consists of a huge mass of legendary material which has developed around one key heroic narrative – the struggle for power between two related families, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. At the centre of this work is the Bhagavadgita, which has become the national gospel of India, and the most significant religious text of Hinduism. The Bhagavadgita was written in the first or second century

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and comprises eighteen chapters. There is a philosophical discussion of the nature of God, and a compelling explanation of how he can be seen, and known.

The Mahabharata is a fascinating and extraordinarily vivid work, singing with a characterization that is so rare in old testaments. There is an exquisite blend of characters which create a drama that has enveloped thousands of tales, each of which relates a unique perception, lesson or belief. Most importantly, however, the Mahabharata is entertaining, serving to teach and to work the imagination in order to put forth the fundamental beliefs of the Hindu religion.

Other great works include the Ramayana, written about 300

bc

. This details the story of Rama and his wife Sita – the perfect king and his wife, directly descended from the gods and the earth. This is a romantic work and less important in the development of the Indian mythology than its counterpart the Mahabharata, but it has nonetheless become one of the most popular scriptures of Hinduism, and acts as a gospel of purity and despair.

The Harivamsa (

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400) was another important work in the combined religious and mythological structure of the Indian literature, and it was swiftly followed by the Puranas (

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400 to 1000). The Harivamsa works as an afterword to the Mahabharata, explaining the ancestry and the exploits of Krishna, together with other Hindu legend. The Puranas, of which eighteen survive, are extensive works examining the mythology of Hinduism, the sagas of heroes, and the legends of saints. The most significant of them, the Bhagavata-Purana, celebrates the god Vishnu in his many incarnations, particularly as Krishna. The Bhagavata-Purana has had a profound influence on almost every aspect of Indian culture – her religion, art, music and literature, and many scholars consider it the greatest poem ever written.

The Sanskrit interpretation and record of Hindu and subsequent mythology is one of the most imaginative and luxuriant of any culture; indeed, there was a belief for many years that the folktale tradition originated in India. One of the greatest collections is the Panchatantra, a collection of animal fables which are some of the most famous in Europe.

The central part of classical Sanskrit literature is, however, the Vedas, which are sacred Hindu writings from about 1400 to 1200

bc

. There are also commentaries on the Vedas in the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads (1000 to 500

bc

), and the epic and wisdom literature (400

bc

to

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1000).

The oldest document is the Rig-Veda, which is a collection of more than a thousand hymns, composed about 1400

bc

. This is the most important part of early Hinduism and later became known as the Brahmanas. These texts did not originally take a written form; they were carried across centuries of oral communication and have been preserved with all the embellishments presented by the many translations. Hindu literature both fed and fed from the Rig-Veda, and much of early mythology has become synonymous with it.

The Creation Myths

Most of the myths contained within the Rig-Veda deal with creation – heaven and earth and what intervenes. The hymns were addressed to the Vedic gods, who included: Agni (fire), Indra (thunder), Surya (sun), Vayu (wind), Aditi (firmament), Varuna (rain and sea), Ushas (dawn), Prithivi (earth), The Ashvins (Castor and Pollux), Dyaus-piter (the father of light), Yama (death), Vritra (drought), Rudra (storm) and Maruts (whirlwinds).

The Vedas describe a number of creation myths. One typical concept is that of the universe coming into existence as a result of divine incest in which an unnamed father begets a daughter – perhaps symbolic of the sky and the earth – and then proceeds to join with her and produce other gods and the various features of the natural world. Often the major gods, headed by Prajapati, are considered to be primordially existent. Thus, a variant of the previous myth attributes creation to an incestuous act between Prajapati and his daughter. After his seed flowed forth and formed a lake, the other gods blew upon it and formed the domesticated animals of the world. In an alternative version, Prajapati creates the god of fire, Agni, when he desires to create some offspring. Prajapati then made sacrificial offerings to Agni, a key feature of classical Indian religion, and as a result Prajapati successfully generated his own progeny. A similar combination of sacrificial offerings and incest is found in accounts of creation involving Brahma, who split himself into a male and female being, who proceeded to generate living beings from their union. Brahma then made offerings, using parts of his own body in the ritual, and produced fire, water and food.

Other forms of creation are mentioned in early Indian sacred texts, such as the primeval sacrifice of Purusha (man) who is dismembered and his parts distributed to form the gods, the universe and all the living creatures it contains. Equally well known is the myth of the Golden Egg (hiranya-garbha) which floated upon the waters of chaos at the beginning of time. From this egg were born the other gods and then the rest of creation. Still another version is recounted in connection with the god Indra who slays the demon of chaos and releases the wholesome elements of creation.

The True Gods, Shiva and Vishnu

The gods of the Vedic pantheon remained a part of Hindu mythology for centuries to come, although their importance was diminished by the entrance of a new and more complicated order of gods. O’Flaherty writes: ‘They become literary and metaphorical fixtures rather than numinous deities. Indra is mocked for its Gargantuan sexual and alcoholic appetites, depicted as womanizer, a coward and a liar. Yama remains king of the dead, though he now functions, like Indra, as a mere pawn of the true gods, Shiva and Vishnu. The myths about these two great gods and other minor divinities of the post-Vedic period are found in Sanskrit texts composed from about 500

bc

until well into the medieval period…and frequently retold…to the present day.’

The two major divinities that are still worshipped today are Shiva and Vishnu. Many scholars argue that Vishnu and Shiva are essentially identical, and are indistinguishable from Prhama, or the creator. Shiva, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘auspicious one’, is a more remote god than Vishnu. Shiva is regarded as both destroyer and restorer, and he is more difficult to understand than Vishnu. Views about Shiva may have become convoluted, merging roles that were once assigned to various earlier gods. But the differences between Vishnu and Shiva lie in their presentation, for as Jan Knappert points out, ‘The difference between the gods is not in their function, but in their character, their qualities. Each god, by his special nature, teaches us something about the universe that we had not seen before, because each god highlights a unique aspect of creation and with that, of our own world of dreams, our own deepest souls.’

Though only mentioned occasionally in the Rig-Veda, Vishnu soon became one of the most important deities in the Indian pantheon. As the sustainer of the universe, Vishnu is generally portrayed in mythology as a benevolent, bountiful and all-pervading deity who intervenes on occasion to restore cosmic harmony when negative forces threaten the stability of the established order. Often when he does this, at the request of the other gods, he assumes a different form appropriate to the task. By early medieval times, ten of these manifestations were recognized, with groups of interconnected myths associated with each of them.

A vast range of popular myths are associated with one of Vishnu’s manifestations in the world as Krishna. He is mentioned in the great epic, the Mahabharata, where he seems largely to be merely a human hero, although he does reveal himself as a god in the famous dialogue with his friend Arjuna on a day of the great battle included in the epic. Nevertheless, Krishna really comes into his own as a god in the early medieval Bhagavata-Purana, which recounts many episodes of his childhood, his love affair with Radha and his occasional battles with demons. As a form of Vishnu with many endearing human traits, Krishna has become one of the most revered gods in India.

Shiva is not mentioned by name in the Vedas, although a fierce deity known as Rudra is often identified with him. Indeed, it is very possible that Shiva’s origins lie far back in the mists of time in the ancient Indus Valley culture, which produced seals depicting a deity with attributes reminiscent of Shiva in his role of Pasupati, the lord of the beasts. In his myths, Shiva is depicted as the archetypal ascetic sage, sometimes generous and merciful, but often harsh and irascible, living alone in the mountains; he also reveals a highly charged, erotic side to his personality on occasion. A very large body of myths has developed that describe the many facets of this dark outsider god and in which he is also depicted quelling demons.

At an early stage in Shiva’s life, he was married to Sati, the daughter of Daksha, a son of Brahma and devotee of Vishnu. Because he considered the outsider’s presence to be inauspicious, Daksha did not invite Shiva to an important sacrifice he was to hold. Angered, Shiva disrupts the sacrifice and beheads Daksha – though later Daksha is restored to life, albeit with the head of a goat, and the sacrifice is completed. In the meantime, Sati burns herself to death in her anger at this quarrel between Shiva and her father.

Sati was reborn as Parvati and desired to marry Shiva against the wishes of her parents; Shiva was living in splendid isolation, intensely engaged in ascetic austerities. In order to arouse Shiva, the god Indra sent Kama, the god of love, to tempt him, but angered at the disturbance, Shiva sent a shaft of fire forth from his third eye which reduced Kama to ashes. After many setbacks, Parvati eventually succeeds in her aim and marries Shiva and, at the wedding, asks Shiva to restore Kama to life. A detailed examination of the Shiva myths reveals an ambivalence in the identity of Shiva and Kama – it seems that Kama is actually Shiva’s erotic alter ego whom he does not wish to acknowledge. Other myths deal with Shiva’s adultery, his estrangement from Parvati and their eventual reconciliation.

A number of divine offspring were born from the union of Shiva and Parvati, including the much-loved, elephant-headed god Ganesha, who acts as a kind of male counterpart to Lakshmi since he is considered to be the god of wisdom and plenty. He acquired his elephant-head from Brahma when Parvati boastfully showed off her son to the god of the planets whose terrible gaze turned Ganesha’s original head to ashes.

In addition to the two major divinities, Shiva and Vishnu, there are others who are still worshipped today. Many animals and plants are also regarded as holy. Most notable is the cow. All cattle are protected and monkeys, tree squirrels, and some snakes are also considered hallowed. All rivers are considered sacred, but the Ganges in the north of India is the holiest of rivers because it supposedly flows from the head of Shiva.

The Emergence of New Ideas

The Vedic writers believed in a concept of heaven and hell to which the dead pass, depending on the quality of their earthly lives – something slightly akin to current-day Western beliefs. Sometime after the sixth century

bc

, however, the belief in reincarnation was developed. Although at first confined to small groups of holy men, it soon became widely believed across the Indian continent, and explained in the Upanishads, a document prepared for the sole purpose of teaching a knowledge which would encourage the student to absorb a mystical knowledge that allows him to escape the rebirth cycle. The Upanishads are the last stage of interpretation of the Vedas, expounding the concept of a single supreme being, Brahman, and investigating the nature of all reality.

By the time the Buddha appeared the belief in reincarnation had been accepted and propounded into a cultural doctrine. From that time, Hinduism’s main concern became release from the cycle of birth and death instead of making offerings to please or pacify the gods. Sacrifice became infrequent because of an unwillingness to destroy living things. Then the primary older gods of the Vedas were slowly displaced by newer deities discussed above and to this day they are still the focus of much devotional prayer and dogma in India.

O’Flaherty points out that the Hindu teaching on divine incarnation (gods becoming flesh) made it possible for the older gods to be accepted as incarnate in the newer ones. The religious development of this period is reflected in both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. This form of Hinduism took on the title asceticism, which was largely unknown to the religion of the Vedas. However, more and more young men became ascetic and gave up the trappings of modern life to become hermits and as a result asceticism took on a key part of the Hindu faith.

In the period immediately preceding the sixth century

bc

, Buddhism and Jainism emerged, religions centred on the monastic life. A strong emphasis on the holy life in these religions had a profound influence on Hinduism.

Buddhist teachings spread throughout their mythology, mainly through the Pali canon, which are the texts of early Buddhism, but also the Jatakas, which comprise more than 500 episodes which are said to have occurred during incarnations of Buddha, and in this fascinating collection are fairy tales, animal stories and ballads.

Among the heresies of the Kali Age, which was said to have begun when Krishna died, O’Flaherty says that: ‘Buddhism was regarded by Hindus of the ancient period as the prime thread, and it was as the Buddha that Vishnu became incarnate after the death of Krishna. Later Hindus have seen in this avatar an attempt at rapprochement with Buddhism, but the avatar was originally designed to damn the Buddhists in Hindu eyes; for Vishnu was said to assume the form of Buddha to mislead, corrupt and ultimately destroy dangerous demons, who were indestructible as long as they remained steadfast in the practice of orthodox Buddhism.’

A basic understanding of these two religions helps to unravel the complicated philosophy behind the myths and legends outlined in this book. Although Buddhism makes up only about four per cent of all Indians, its place in history and in literature is undoubted, and its traditions continue to flourish today.

The Development of Hinduism

Details of the prehistoric and early historic period of Indian civilization are open to speculation. As no records survive, very little is known of India’s ancient history. What is known is that an urban civilization, which had far-flung links with Mesopotamia, flourished in north-western India in the Indus Valley region. And it is believed that Hinduism, which makes up more than eighty per cent of current Indian religious practice, may have spawned in this developed civilization, about 2300

bc

. This civilization certainly had its own religion, which was transformed when they were invaded by the Aryans about 1500

bc

. A new social order began at this time. Whether it was a further development of the Indus Valley culture or was founded by the incoming Aryans who brought with them iron-working, war chariots and cattle-herding is open to debate, but the combined religious dogma was the basis for what we now consider to be ancient Hinduism.

Though many elements of Indian mythology must have their roots among the various other ethnic groups who lived in India, a large portion of the mainstream pantheon and its associated