Page 73 - BBC Knowledge - October 2017 IN

history
Indian Mythology
Indra is within us, writes mythology expert

DEVDUTT PATTANAIK, as he traces the changing perceptions

of the god, in the first of a series on Indian mythologies

HE Rig Veda is the oldest literary work that we have
in India, nearly 3,500 years old. It is a set of about 1,000
poems composed in an old form of Sanskrit, known as
Vedic Sanskrit. The poems are divided into 10 chapters
known as Mandalas. These are not books as we know
them today, for writing became popular in India less
Ÿ Myth is a belief, Tthan 2,500 years ago. The Vedic hymns were
an article of faith, transmitted orally, chanted carefully over generations, by men known
which cannot be as Brahmins. In these poems, we encounter Indian mythology for the
verified scientifically.
Believers think it is first time.
true; non-believers Those who composed the Vedic chants believed in celestial beings
feel it is false. known as devas, who rode fabulous horse-driven chariots and travelled
While science
restricts itself to ‘how’ through the skies among stars, planets and comets. These gods were
questions (how did invoked in rituals known as yagnas, offered food and praise, before
the world come into being petitioned for health and wealth and victory in battle against
being, how are we
born), myth answers demons like Vritra.
‘why’ questions Indra was the most powerful of these devas. He was their leader,
(why does the world their king. He fought demons and defeated them in battle.
exist, why do we live, And so he was much admired by kings who went to war.
or die). Fiction is
nobody’s truth. Fact Indra was connected with another god, Varuna, who was associated
is everybody’s truth. with goodness, morality and ethics. And Varuna, in turn, was
Mythology is connected with Mitra, the god of friendships and contract.
somebody’s truth.
Ÿ Mythology is Even today, Hindus value the Vedas. However, Indra is a minor god.
the vehicle of myth; Varuna is an even more minor god. And Mitra is forgotten.
it is a set of stories, As societies change, myths change, gods change, for society
symbols and rituals approaches life differently.
that communicates
the myth that binds The Rig Veda was composed roughly in the region where now flows
a community. the Indus and its tributaries. About 3,000 years ago, the centre of the
The community Vedic civilisation had shifted to the Ganga in the east. In the rich fertile
transmits these
stories, symbols Gangetic plains, the yagna rituals became more elaborate. Fewer people
and rituals over focussed on health and wealth and war and more and more people
generations. started focussing on the meaning, purpose and value of life as well
Religious
mythologies speak as death. In other words, the focus was on less material and more
of god, demons, spiritual, less physical and more psychological.
heaven, hell, soul, The material side of the Vedas, based on rituals, led to the
and rebirth. Secular composition of ritual manuals known as Brahmanas (hence the word
mythologies speak
of rights, justice, Brahmin for those who memorised and transmitted the rituals and its
equality, and rules). The spiritual, or psychological, side of the Vedas, based on ideas,
diversity. led to the composition of dialogues known as Aranyakas and Upanishads.
Ÿ Mythologies from
India are the major By this time, Indra had come to be linked with the rain. He now rode
mythologies that an elephant called Airavata, with seven trunks, and six pairs of tusks.
originated in India: He had a thunderbolt as weapon, made from the bones of a sage called
Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Dadichi. His abode was Amravati, located in Swarga, which was
Jainism. Belief in paradise, filled with treasures of every kind: the wish-fulfilling tree
rebirth, hence Kalpataru, the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu, and the wish-fulfilling
karma, is common to gem Chintamani.
all three of them.
Varuna was the god of the sea, who held a rope in his hand and rode
a dolphin. Indra ruled the east, the direction of the rising sun.
Varuna ruled the west, the land of the setting sun. Lakshmi,
the goddess of wealth, was Varuna’s daughter and Indra’s consort.
Indra was still the eldest of the devas, and their king, most powerful,
who constantly did battle with asuras. In the Rig Veda, ‘asura’ is a title