Hindu Mythology
The two major epics of Hindu Mythology are the Ramayan and the
Mahabharat. Each is made up of many stories teaching many different morals. In
a nutshell...
The Ramayan is said to have been written by the Sage Valmiki. It is the
story of Lord Rama from his birth until his defeat of the demon King Ravan and
his final return to Ayodhya. According to Hindu mythology, Ram is one of the 10
incarnations of Vishnu which he specifically took to rid the world of Rawan.
Rawan was the king of Shri Lanka- and he had abducted Ram’s wife Sita
(reincarnation of Laxmi – Vishnu’s consort). Ram went to war with Ravan to save
his wife and to defeat this treachorous demon. Two other important characters
on this epic are Laxman and Hanuman. Laxman was Ram’s faithful
brother (incarnation of Sheshanag, Vishnu’s 100 headed snake) who helps
Ram in the war. Hanuman was a devotee of Ram and helps Ram in his quest to find
Sita and defeat Ravan. The overall moral of the story is the winning of good
over evil, and loyalty to one’s wife and between brothers. Each individual
story that makes up the fullepic has more lessons to be learned. Some Hindu
holidays that originate from this epic are Navaratra (the nine days of the
battle between Ram and Ravan), Dasara (the tenth day when Ram kills Rawan), and
Diwali (celebrated on the day that Ram returns to Ayodhya).
The Mahabharat is an epic written by the Rushi Vyas about the story of
the complex events leading up to and including the war between the Kauravas and
the Pandavas. This is another story of the struggle between good and evil
fought between the good Pandava brothers and their unjust cousins the Kauravas
over the kingdom of Hastinapur. Here Lord Vishnu comes to earth as Krishna
siding with the Pandavas during this war. The Pandavas had tried all other
peaceful alternatives to war, but war could not be avoided. Arjun, one of the
Pandava brothers, struggled with the concept of killing his own kin. One
pivotal part of the story led to the reciting of the holiest of Hindu
scripture- the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhaghavad Gita is the compilation of
Krishna’s counseling of Arjun to do the right thing towards his duty to the
kingdom. Arjun and his brothers with the help of Krishna do go on to win the
war, and prove to be just rulers of the kingdom of Hastinapur. The story of
Ganesh Parvati having been interrupted by Shankar (aka Shiva) a number of times
while taking a bath decided that she would create her own sentry. So she molded
the body of a little boy and breathes life into him and has him stand guard at
her door. When Shankar returns, the boy does not let him in. Shankar in a fit
of anger cuts the boy’s head off. Parvati upon finding the lifeless body of her
“son” is very upset. Shankar promises to bring the boy back to life, but the
head is missing. Shankar sends his people to find another head to put on the
boy. There are different versions of this story, but the servants bring back
the head of a baby elephant. Shankar attaches the baby elephant head onto the
lifeless body, and breathes life back into the boy. And to further appease
Parvati, Shankar declares that before any undertaking is started, people should
pray to her child Ganapati (aka Ganesh). Ganapati is known as the remover of
obstacles. Ganesh’s vehicle is a rat and in idols of Ganesh you will see His
rat at His feet.
The 10 Incarnations of Lord Vishnu The trinity of Hindu mythology:
•Brahma – the creator
•Vishnu – the preserver
•Mahesh (Shankar or Shiva) – the destroyer Though
the lines between these three roles are not clearly drawn.
According to Hindu mythology there were times that on earth there were
evils too powerful where Vishnu had to take form on earth to take action. There
are 10 such incarnations or avatars of Vishnu.
Vishnu comes to earth in the form of a giant fish
who saves the first man on earth, manu, from a massive flood. He also kills the
demon that stole the vedas from Brahma while he was sleeping.
2.Kurma avatar
The elixer of immortality (amRut) that the Gods
drink was lost in the ocean of milk. The Gods decide to use an inverted
mountain to churn the ocean in order to get the amRut back. The mountain would
not stay afloat, so Vishnu takes the form of a tortoise whose shell is used at
the pivot on which the mountain is balanced.
3.Varaha avatar
The demon Hiranyaksha was granted a boon through
his pennance to the Gods and asked that he may not be killed by any man or
animal. But after obtaining this power he abuses it and tries to drown the
entire planet earth. Vishnu takes the form of a giant boar, the only animal
that the demon forgot to ask for power against. Varaha is then able to slay the
demon and then uses his mighty tusk to rescue the earth.
4.Narasimha
The demon Hiranyakashyapu was granted a boon
through his pennance to the Gods and asked that he could be killed at neither
day nor night, inside nor outside, by man nor beast, neither on the ground nor
in the air, nor by any weapon. Hiranyakashyapu also abuses his power. His son
Pralhad, a devotee of Vishnu, warns father to give up his evil ways and to
believe in Vishnu who is everywhere. Hiranyakashyapu gets angry and asks if Vishnu
is inside a stone pillar and kicks the pillar open to prove that He is not.
Vishnu emerges out of the pillar in the form of Narasimha who is half man half
lion. Narasimha takes Hiranyakashyapu and sits in the threashold of the doorway
(neither inside nor outside), at twilight neither day nor night), puts him over
His lap (neither on the ground nor in the air) and kills Hiranyakashyapu with
His sharp
claws (with no weapon).
5.Vamana
King Bali was a generous king and became so powerful
that he attained control of both heaven and earth. The Gods wanted to regain
the control of heaven so Visnhu disguised himself in the form of a Brahmin
dwarf, Vamana. He begs Bali to give Him three paces of land on which to
meditate. Bali said sure. Then Vamana grew huge in size, put one foot on earth,
one foot on heaven, so he won earth and heaven back. Then he asked Bali where should
place his third step, and Bali generously offered his head. Bali was pushed
down into the underworld and was allowed to rule the underworld. Bali is
remembered for his generosity on the holiday balipratibadha.
6.Parshuram
Vishnu takes
the form of Parshuram, the brahmin axe warrior, to rid the earth of vain and
oppressive kings.
7.Ram
This incarnation of Vishnu is the hero of the epic Ramayan.
(See story above.)
8.Krishna
Krishna helps the Pandavas in the story of the Mahabharat
(see story above) and also slays Kansa who had become a tyrant king. The
stories of Krishna are vast and varied and are numerable to detail here.
9.Buddha
Buddha is the founder of the buddhist religion. His
role on earth was to teach people how to attain nirvana through enlightenment.
10.Kalki
Kalki is the
incarnation of Vishnu that is yet to come. It is said that He will arrive
during the apocalypse with a sword to save the good souls from annihilation. Note
that much of Hindu mythology tell stories involving Gods granting boons if one
worshipped them faithfully. The Gods got into trouble when demons who once were
loyal devotees, started to abuse their power. Since absolute power corrupts
absolutely thus corrupting those demons, the Gods would have to
step in, come to earth and straighten things out. A demon in marathi is
called rakshas .
The morals here are generally that just praying isn’t enough; you have
to also perform good actions with the means you have. In many of these stories,
evendemons were granted powers through devotion, but since they didn’t use
their powers for good actions, they end up getting hunted down.
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