I. Myth as a category in religious studies
A. The Greeks distinguished between mythos (narrative
presentation of "the sacred") vs. logos (discursive argument). Greek
philosophers' skepticism about the literal factuality of myth is the basis
for modern Westerners' idea that myth is fantastic and untrue (except for
Biblical narrative which is contrasted with myth). The Greeks introduced
three forms of interpretation that continue to be used:
1. Allegory: gods poetically stand for concepts
(e.g., good and evil), ideals, natural phenomena, which are personified
and anthropomorphized to dramatize the explanation of social or cosmic
facts. Theagenes of Rhegium (6th c. BCE) and Plato (4th
c. BCE) were prominent exponents of it.
2. Rationalization: myths should be seen
as projections of mundane experience into an imaginary superhuman sphere
(Xenophanes, 6th c., and Cicero, 1st c. BCE).
3. Euhemerism: gods represent ancient kings
and heroes whom posterity has remembered as deities (an idea derived from
a story written by Euhemeros (ca. 300 BCE). Later Christian interpreters
used this approach to present pagan ("false") deities as evil beings deriving
from wicked men; the Greek word daimon ('spirit being') at the same
time acquires an exclusively negative value (hence, "demon").
B. Enlightenment writers, e.g., Fontenelle (1657-1757) and de Brosses (1709-1777), noticed the similarity of ancient Greek and contemporary tribal cultures' myths, and argued for a rationalist comparative study of pagan religions as the products of "savage" or "primitive" races at an elementary stage of human culture (a now mostly discredited way of explaining ancient culture).
C. The Romantics: late-18th- and 19th-c. thinkers took up comparative cultural studies, seeing myth as a distinctive form of mystical or visionary expression capable of communicating eternal truths.
D. Symbolist theories:
1. Max Müller (school of comparative
mythology): mythmaking is a "disease of language" arising at an early level
of linguistic "evolution": words denoting important ideas take on a life
and will of their own in people's imaginations (sky => Father Sky [Zeus]).
2. Van der Leeuw: such thinking is present
in all people; myth is "symbolic" thought that complements "conceptual" thought, and
has its own logic.
3. Freud's psychoanalytic perspective: myths
are a social manifestation of the subconscious (e.g., the Oedipus story).
4. Mircea Eliade: a myth is a story of how things (the world, natural patterns,
ritual or social institutions) began, using symbolic language.
- myths tell of superhuman figures who set divine
precedents "in the beginning"
- myths present a scale of values that living traditions
use to assess the world and its ways, teaching us how to behave.
- myth-tellers consider them "true stories" because
they "tell how real things have come to be"; that is, they provide the
aitia
(first cause), and thus
offer a sort of etiology.
- rituals recreate mythic scenarios; myth is "a
knowledge that one 'lives' ritually."
E. Structuralist theories. Developed especially by field anthropologists: living and talking with non-Western peoples,
they began to see that myths are not primitive thought; they are a sophisticated
and complex form of metaphysical speculation.
1. Mauss: myths fall into a small number
of types; each myth is a variant of such a type; myths have a distinctive
logic of their own; myths are "social institutions" that govern how people
experience the world and behave in it; myths are "obligatory" (society
stands by them, so the individual is pressured to live by them).
2. Durkheim: emphasized that people in societies
with a living tradition of myth are as unconscious of its structure and
logic as they are of the rules of the language they speak; myths shape
thought and experience automatically.
3. Lévi-Strauss: mythology not spontaneous,
dreamlike thinking, by highly structured expression functioning like a
second-order language, a "meta-language" of concepts ("mythemes," basic
units of meaning in a myth) obeying its own "grammar" (patterns of relating
one mytheme to others in a way that makes sense); this is the most audacious
version of the view that mythic stories are carefully structured and governed
by a sophisticate logic. His method also tried out by Leach.
II. The Major Sanskrit Sources for Myths (all dates very approximate)
A. The Vedas (focus on the ritual of fire sacrifice [yajna])
1. Rig Veda (1200 BCE): a collection of hymns (cf.
psalms)
- Shaunaka's Brhaddevata
(450 BCE)
- Sayana's Rig Veda commentary
(1350 CE)
2. Atharva Veda (900 BCE) (devoted to verses used
in sorcery, religious healing, mystical speculation)
3. Brahmanas (900-700 BCE) (explanations of the
meaning and power of yajna)
4. Upanishads (700 BCE) (Brahmana texts relevant
to gaining insight into the soul and its divine nature)
B. The Epics (compendia of heroic legend and myths of the god [or God]
in the world)
1. Mahabharata (300 BCE-300 CE)
2. Ramayana (200 BCE-200 CE)
C. The Puranas (300-1500 CE) (collections of myths; also discussing temple worship [puja] and iconography; often Puranas are devoteed to Shiva or Visnu exclusively)
III. Hindu Creation Myths
A. How did things come to be as they are?
B. Problems in procreating:
Prajapati's dilemma: how to create more beings from himself?
Asexually: TAPAS => Fire (#5), Wind, Sun, Moon (#4);
SPLITTING (#6)
Sexually: DESIRE => INCEST => spilled seed (#1,3,4,5[=ghee])
Sexual reproduction problematic:
expresses anxiety over DESIRE
Agni must ignite the seed
(eat the ghee) to make it fruitful (#3,5)
Rudra < from anger at
the incest (#3); from the seed itself (#1,4)
compare: Yama virtuously
resists his twin sister's advances
C. Creation gets out of hand:
Earth becomes overburdened with beings (#8) =>
Prajapati's anger is manifested
as a blast of destructive fire
Withdrawal of fiery energy
creates a black goddess of DEATH
whose falling tears spread disease
DESIRE and ANGER marks beings as ignorant (bewildered) and mortal
DEATH is in accord with DHARMA
D. The paradoxes of TAPAS (the fervor of chastity & mental/physical
discipline)
TAPAS endows one with extraordinary powers, esp.
procreative potency
Yet this power is preserved
only by not using it for sexual procreation
TAPAS is acquired through piety, self-control, and
discipline, which elevate one to quasi-divine status
Yet the powers it confers
may be abused and lead to pride, greed, unjust violence, and pleasure-seeking
Prajapati/Brahma, the creator, remains in the background once creation has been accomplished, encountered only as “the Grandfather” of all beings, to whom gods and demons go with complaints and requests, or for consultation.
IV. The Sun, His Wife, and the First Man
A. Vivasvat (sun) and Saranyu beget the twins Yama and Yami
B. Saranyu cannot bear Vivasvat's heat;
leaves in her place Samjna ("Image"), who bears
Manu, father of the human race
C. Vivasvat, as horse, begets the Avins on Saranyu as mare
V. Indra and his Rivals: the great hero-god of the Rig Veda looks weaker and weaker in later sources
A. Trishiras ("Three-Heads"), son of Tvashtr
- a fiery ascetic adhering to DHARMA (as pious yogi,
i.e., adept in spiritual discipline)
- for the same reason, dangerously powerful and
potentially belligerent
This ambiguity symbolized
by his three heads:
1. reciting Veda, 2.drinking liquor, 3. looking to swallow the whole world
Indra punished by Rudra's armies of ghosts (= howling
winds) for his crime
B. Vrtra ("Obstacle") (in the Epic version)
- plainly demonic figure who, in Rig Veda, hid all
the life-giving waters for himself (#24)
- in the Epic, Tvashtr's creature, to replace Trishiras
and punish Indra (#25)
Indra can defeat him only
with Vishnu's assistance; Indra acknowledges Vishnu's supremacy
Indra again charged with
brahminicide (personified as a fury, p. 87), ashamed, "writhes like a serpent"
Vishnu dispels his sin into the world, whence it can spread to the impious
or careless
C. Trishiras and Vrtra both ascetics (on p. 82, Vrtra blazes "as if
he would swallow up the 3 worlds")
- the ascetic becomes "demonized" when he lacks
or abandons DHARMA
(Vrtra, created for vengeance,
lacks Trishiras's head no. 1, so to speak)
D. The degradation of Indra
- he mutilates Diti's embryo deviously (#27)
- he is castrated when he is caught seducing Gautama's
wife (#28)
VI. Agni, the divine priest in the yajna, and humanity's messenger to the gods
A. Rg Veda (#29): Agni flees (into waters and plants) to hide from the
sacrificer (Manu, hotr)
for fear of being harnessed to carry offerings to
the gods for men
- discovered by Yama
- consents when he is granted
a share of the offerings and the quality of not ageing
made immortal, in place of Yama who becomes lord of the dead (#31)
- the plants, sap, sand,
minerals, etc., in which Agni hid WERE HIS BODIES,
which he shook off when he accepted his ritual role (#30)
- in #31, he is revealed
by a fish, who is cursed to be caught and killed forever
- in #32, frogs cursed to
be tongueless
- reward from gods: ability
to hibernate, make many other sounds, and be active at night.
- elephant and parrot cursed
to have backward tongues, inarticulate speech
Why TONGUES? because of Agni's tongues; fire = speech
B. Shami tree's special status as the material for fire-churning sticks
- Agni's subterranean residence
also explains hot springs, etc.
VII. Shiva/Rudra
A. The "outsider" assimilated into the Brahmanical religion
- as a fierce deity associated with hostile or harmful
forces, he is not a recipient of yajna offerings
- as ascendent "Great God" (Mahadeva) (p.130), he
asserts a claim to a share (at his wife's urging):
Destroys Daksha's sacrifice
(hunts it down in the form of a deer)
His sweat ignites an inferno, in which the personified Fever appears
When the gods capitulate, Shiva divides Fever up into all forms of illness
and moulting. (#35)
The day preceding each new and full moon (the 14th lunar day)
is dedicated to Shiva. (#36)
B. Shiva attains supreme status by destroying the Triple City of the
demons for the gods (#37):
- the demons attained their powers through TAPAS,
but were OVERCOME BY GREED
- Indra incapable of defeating them (indicating
his loss of prestige in Hindu thought)
- the gods collectively add half of their own power
to Shiva's, making him the "Great God"
- he rides to battle in a cosmic chariot (made of
all the world, pp. 131-5), with Brahma as driver
- Shiva's battle-fury frightens even the gods; his
arrow BURNS up the triple city
at last, he must "recall"
the FIRE of his ANGER lest it run amok
C. Shiva as ascetic / Shiva as husband
- as divine yogi, he is absorbed in meditation,
having renounced civilized society and social values
- dressed in frightful garb, with snakes and skulls,
smeared with ashes from the cremation ground
- maintaining celibacy and holding his senses and
mind in control
When Kama ("Desire," = Eros)
shoot him with his arrow, Shiva BURNS him up in ANGER
At Parvati's insistance, he revives the now bodiless Kama; he weds Parvati
- a very odd couple
D. Linga worship: a legacy of pre-Brahmanical India (e.g., Indus Valley
Civilization)?
- perhaps part of an old fertility cult
- erect phallus a symbol of virile power (compare:
Shiva's mount is a bull, a virile beast)
especially as the mark of
a chaste yogi, who retains all his potency (= semen) and redirects it
- linga usually combined with a yoni (vulva), representing
male and female divine principles in unity
(This is represented also
in androgynous representations of Shiva in human form)
- many modern Shaivas do not recognize (or deny)
that the linga is (originally) a phallic form
rather it is regarded as
an abstract (aniconic) image of the god
- myths (#39, 40) present different perspectives
on the reasons for linga-worship
Overview of Shiva's Forms:
Shiva (Hara), the god of extremes: yogi (celibate ascetic deep in
meditation) and erotic lover of Parvati, daughter of the mountain; he emerges
from the flaming linga to show his superiority to Vishnu and Brahma, and
is worshiped in the linga (the order of Lingayats actually carry a small
linga with them to worship, rather than patronizing temples, with their
priests); also:
- as Rudra, leader of the armies of ghosts
(or Maruts, the howling winds) who punishes Brahma for incest;
- as Bhairava (Frightful), the god of the
cremation ground, who goes about with a skull in his hand (as a mark of
his having once cut off one of Brahma’s heads, making him guilt of
brahminicide;
human ascetics sometimes imitate him in this form [Blurton, p. 91 and
fig. 49]);
- as Virabhadra, who destroyed Daksha’s sacrifice;
- as Nataraja (Lord of the Dance), he dances
the destruction and recreation of the world between cosmic cycles (fig.
137);
- as Ardha-Narishvara (Lord who is Half Woman),
symbolic of his uniting the male and female divine principles of soul and
energy (Shakti), being and becoming, consciousness and matter (fig. 57).
VIII. Vishnu and His Avatars
Vishnu (Narayana, Hari), the merciful god who “descends” (as an avatar)
into the world periodically to restore dharma (the divine order of truth
and good conduct, which governs both the natural and social worlds).
His best-known avatars are:
1. Matsya: the Fish, who save Manu from the
great flood;
2. Kurma: the tortoise who served as the basis
of the world when the gods churned to milk-ocean to produce solid land
(= the butter), ambrosia for the gods, and the poison which Shiva swallowed
(turning his throat blue);
3. Varaha: the boar who raised the Earth out
of the waters with his tusks, and made love to her;
4. Nara-Sinha: the man-lion who destroyed
the demon Hiranyakashipu by attacking him neither as man nor beast, at
dusk, on a threshold (circumventing his protective boon);
5. Vamana: the “dwarf” who in three steps
paced out the whole universe for the gods;
6. Parashu-Rama: the ax-wielding brahmin who
killed the whole race of kshatriyas (the warrior caste) in punishment for
their hubris;
7. Rama: model of the just king, who defeats
the demon Ravana of Lanka and rescues his abducted wife Sita, who is the
model of the devoted wife (though still be doubts her); his monkey-general
Hanuman is the model of unflinching bravery and devotion; Lakshmana is
Rama’s loyal younger brother; at last, Rama ascends his rightful throne
in Ayodhya, and dharma is restored;
8. Krishna: Vasudeva’s son, destined to overthrow
wicked king Kansa, grows up incognito with his adoptive parents Yashoda
and Nanda among the cowherds of Braj (Brindavan); adorable infant who amazes
all by slaying the witch Putana, banishing the serpent (naga) Kaliya, protecting
the community from the wrath of Indra by lifting Mt. Govardhana; as a youth,
he is the lover of all the milkmaids (gopi), especially Radha, his favorite;
he steals their clothes to make them present themselves before him naked;
he dances the circle-dance (rasa lila) with each gopi individually; eventually,
he leaves Braj to defeat Kansa and rule in Dvarka; all his activity in
the world is “play” (lila), and he his know by the sound of his flute,
Murali; in the Mahabharata, he plays a behind-the-scenes role in the cataclysmic
war of dharma between the 5 Pandavas and the 100 Kauravas (and their allies);
he is Arjuna trusted friend and advisor, at on the eve of battle, preaches
the “Bhagavad Gita” (Song of the Lord), with his self-revelation and teaching
of dispassion and detachment even in a life of action as the best offering
to God;
9. The Buddha: in this form, he leads the
wicked into rejecting the Vedas and delusion;
10. Kalkin: the future avatar of the end of
this Kali Age.
et al.: Besides these, many other divine persons
are called avatars of Vishnu, including Vithoba of Pandharpur, Jagannath
of Puri, and Venkateshvara of Tirupati, and many sadhus (holy people),
such as Swami Narayana (fig. 68 in Blurton).
BROAD REFLECTIONS:
The aim of this segment of the course has been to read some of the stories
that Hindus have told about their gods, in order to gradually build up
an understanding of:
1. what a “god” (deva, devata) IS, based on an examination of what
gods DO.
2. how to read a mythic narrative.
3. what relevance myths have for Hindus who hear and retell them.