Page 269 - E-Magazine 2016-17
P. 269
I THE LINKS BETWEEN MYTHS
curse, and took off leaving the eighth son in
t is very striking when I come to think
of it, of how religions and myths have
Santanu’s care. The infant later went on to
a subtle link between them. If we
become one of the greatest warriors, Bhish-
study different mythologies, we might
be able to find certain connections which can ma, fabled for his archery skills. In the
Greek mythology, Thetis attempted to make
broaden and enliven our mind. her children immortal by putting them in
fire after anointing them with Ambrosia, but
In Hindu
mythology, failed each time and they died of their
we come burns. She had also made Peleus bound to
across the the promise of not interfering with any of
story where her actions. However, Peleus couldn’t help
Lord Krishna stopping her as she was about to repeat the
defeats the same rituals with the last child who lived
multi-headed and grew up to be Achilles, the famous
serpent, Ka- Greek warrior.
liya. The The people of ancient civilizations were mys-
Greeks also tified by the possible existence of the magi-
claim that Hercules, or more appropriately cal beasts and wary of the danger they
Heracles, had slained Hydra. Both of these posed. The myths had common strands
stories dealt with snakes possessing gigantic across distance and time. Garuda (in Hindu
proportions, deadly venom, numerous heads mythology) bears a strange resemblance to
and other lethal powers. But there are great the Griffin (Greek) and the falcon-headed
differences too! Krishna was able to perform god Horus (Egyptian). The people all across
this feat as a mere child when Kaliya and believed in the power of saints who could
his troops had poisoned the river Yamuna ward off evil spirits. Stories of oracles pre-
close to his village, but he vanquished Kali- dicting the future of human beings were
ya without killing him. Heracles had to burn quite common. Mythologies abound with de-
the heads of Hydra, as it was the only meth- piction of different gods, having power to
od to counter Hydra’s regenerative power by control specific elements of nature and their
which two head used to grow back when one weapons being a reflection of the same. The
was cut off. He also required the help of his Hindu god, Indra, and the Norse god, Thor,
nephew to kill Hydra by entering the mon- could both control lightning. Trident is a
ster’s lair in order to accomplish his twelve weapon of choice for Lord Shiva (Hindu) and
labours. is also wielded by Poseidon (Greek).
In the epic Mahabharata, Ganga married The mythical beliefs, complicated and dis-
the king Santanu only on the condition that parate as they may seem, have those uncan-
he would not question any of Ganga’s ac- ny similarities, presumably originating from
tions. She then proceeded to drown their the same line of thought. Curiously though,
seven children, one by one, immediately af- these myths with identical themes were con-
jured up by people residing in different land
ter each was born. After being a mute wit- masses in the days of yore, without any
ness thus far, the king couldn’t take it any- means of communication. One cannot help
more and interfered as Ganga planned to feeling struck with wonder when introspect-
drown the eighth one as well. Ganga then ing about it in some depth. Maybe one day
explained to Santanu the reasons behind we’ll have a convincing answer.
such apparently atrocious act, intended to
release the eight celestial beings from their
