Article#20: Mythology
India is known for its own traditions, culture and wide variety of religions. The beauty of this country lies in the coexistence of people with different customs. Whatever we follow today is inherited from our previous generations and there comes our mythologies that pave a path for what we do. Here's Giridhar coming back after a while with this beautiful concept. This article is all about the Hindu mythology, some of the rare unknown facts from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha that has a lot to teach.
Most of us believe in the statement that everything happens for a reason. Yes, that is true, it happened even in our epic, "Ramayana". Before the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Rama, his devotee Naarad falls for the beauty of a princess called Srimati, the daughter of King Sheel Nidhi. He gets to know about her from his friend Parvato. He even wants to attend her Swayamvar wherein the princess can choose one among the kings of various kingdoms. However, he goes in a daze whether she would accept him the way he was. Then, he seeks help from Lord Vishnu in transforming him from a sage to a handsome prince who cannot be rejected by anyone. But Lord Vishnu gives him a monkey avatar because Naarad is supposed to remain in the state of celibacy and his birth is meant for promoting Narayan's prayer and rituals related to it. Without noticing his change, Naarad attends the Swayamvar function and gets insulted there before everyone due to his appearance. After identifying himself in water, Naarad gets shocked and rushes towards Lord Vishnu. He confronts Vishnu and says that Vishnu would have convinced him in any other way without causing discomfort to his self-respect. He feels so bad in thinking that his lord treats him as a weak sage and as part of his revenge, curses that Vishnu would also cry in the pain of a woman's departure in his next incarnation, the way he felt for the princess. Adding to it, the way he was given a monkey avatar, even Vishnu would also have to take help from the monkeys in his next incarnation and without their help, he would remain in the pain, losing all the peace and happiness. That's the reason, Lord Ram loses Sita for a while and takes help from Sugriv, Hanuman and monkey army in his battle with Raavan.
One more event from the epic, "Ramayana" was the fight between brothers Vali and Sugriv. We rarely hear the reason behind how it all started. Initially the brothers were very close and Vali used to be in a protective mode for Sugriv as he is more powerful than Sugriv. In fact, Vali has a boon that his enemy whoever comes infront of him would lose half of his power. There's also a time when Raavan who wanted to conquer the world gets defeated by Vali, the king of Kishkindha. Raavan wants to take revenge for his defeat and sends his brother-in-law, demon Dundubhi against Vali. But Vali kills him brutally in Matang Maharishi ashram and gets cursed from the sage that his head would cut into pieces if he enters the ashram again as he spoiled the purity of the ashram with a murder. This helps Sugriv at a later point when both of them become enemies. Sugriv gets a place to stay safe away from Vali in Matang Maharishi ashram without any fear. On the other hand, Raavan sends another demon named Maayavi, the brother of Dundubhi to go against Vali. This time, the battle lasts for days. Vali fights with the demon inside a cave. After some days, Sugriv and his army who were eagerly waiting outside the cave hears a loud voice of Vali and blood coming out of the cave. Unfortunately, they assume that it was Vali who died inside the cave. They go back to the kingdom and Sugriv gets announced as the king of Kishkindha since the throne cannot be left vacant for a long time and Vali's son Angad was too young to rule the kingdom. However, Vali kills Mayavi inside the cave and comes out. Upon seeing the sudden developments, Vali gets angry and misunderstands that Sugriv was plotting for the throne. He feels deceived and tries to kill Sugriv. Hanuman comes in rescue of Sugriv before Lord Ram visits Kishkinda and kills Vali. With this story, it is evident that trust and understanding are very important for any relationship to survive without which even brothers can become foes. If Sugriv had trust on Vali's power, he would have still waited for some more time to see the truth or if Vali had trust on Sugriv that his younger brother would never cheat him, he wouldn't have waged a war against Sugriv and ended his life.
We even know that truth is something that cannot be hidden and it gets revealed in its own way when the time comes. Here lies the story of Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapur from the great epic, "MahaBharata". Dhritarashtra is not bad by nature, but his love for his sons especially his elder son, Duryodhana makes him do anything irrespective of whether its good or bad. He always used to remain quite although he was aware of the fact that there's injustice happening to his brother's sons because of his own sons and brother-in-law, Shakuni. After the Mahabharat war and the death of Kauravas, Dhritarashtra gets upset and wanted to kill the pandavas especially Bheem who was responsible for Duryodhana's death. He invites Bheem for a hug whereas his intenion was to crush him as he is powerful enough to do so. However, Lord Krishna notices the same and sends a statue of Bheem instead of the real Bheem. Everyone gets shocked on seeing the statue crushed into pieces by Dhritarashtra and thus, the truth gets revealed.
To conclude, Mythology has a lot in its store to offer for us. Some facts would inspire us and we can even identify a change within. Although we cannot guarantee the reality of these facts, I question what's wrong in believing something that teaches us good. Give a thought !!!
Most of us believe in the statement that everything happens for a reason. Yes, that is true, it happened even in our epic, "Ramayana". Before the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Rama, his devotee Naarad falls for the beauty of a princess called Srimati, the daughter of King Sheel Nidhi. He gets to know about her from his friend Parvato. He even wants to attend her Swayamvar wherein the princess can choose one among the kings of various kingdoms. However, he goes in a daze whether she would accept him the way he was. Then, he seeks help from Lord Vishnu in transforming him from a sage to a handsome prince who cannot be rejected by anyone. But Lord Vishnu gives him a monkey avatar because Naarad is supposed to remain in the state of celibacy and his birth is meant for promoting Narayan's prayer and rituals related to it. Without noticing his change, Naarad attends the Swayamvar function and gets insulted there before everyone due to his appearance. After identifying himself in water, Naarad gets shocked and rushes towards Lord Vishnu. He confronts Vishnu and says that Vishnu would have convinced him in any other way without causing discomfort to his self-respect. He feels so bad in thinking that his lord treats him as a weak sage and as part of his revenge, curses that Vishnu would also cry in the pain of a woman's departure in his next incarnation, the way he felt for the princess. Adding to it, the way he was given a monkey avatar, even Vishnu would also have to take help from the monkeys in his next incarnation and without their help, he would remain in the pain, losing all the peace and happiness. That's the reason, Lord Ram loses Sita for a while and takes help from Sugriv, Hanuman and monkey army in his battle with Raavan.
One more event from the epic, "Ramayana" was the fight between brothers Vali and Sugriv. We rarely hear the reason behind how it all started. Initially the brothers were very close and Vali used to be in a protective mode for Sugriv as he is more powerful than Sugriv. In fact, Vali has a boon that his enemy whoever comes infront of him would lose half of his power. There's also a time when Raavan who wanted to conquer the world gets defeated by Vali, the king of Kishkindha. Raavan wants to take revenge for his defeat and sends his brother-in-law, demon Dundubhi against Vali. But Vali kills him brutally in Matang Maharishi ashram and gets cursed from the sage that his head would cut into pieces if he enters the ashram again as he spoiled the purity of the ashram with a murder. This helps Sugriv at a later point when both of them become enemies. Sugriv gets a place to stay safe away from Vali in Matang Maharishi ashram without any fear. On the other hand, Raavan sends another demon named Maayavi, the brother of Dundubhi to go against Vali. This time, the battle lasts for days. Vali fights with the demon inside a cave. After some days, Sugriv and his army who were eagerly waiting outside the cave hears a loud voice of Vali and blood coming out of the cave. Unfortunately, they assume that it was Vali who died inside the cave. They go back to the kingdom and Sugriv gets announced as the king of Kishkindha since the throne cannot be left vacant for a long time and Vali's son Angad was too young to rule the kingdom. However, Vali kills Mayavi inside the cave and comes out. Upon seeing the sudden developments, Vali gets angry and misunderstands that Sugriv was plotting for the throne. He feels deceived and tries to kill Sugriv. Hanuman comes in rescue of Sugriv before Lord Ram visits Kishkinda and kills Vali. With this story, it is evident that trust and understanding are very important for any relationship to survive without which even brothers can become foes. If Sugriv had trust on Vali's power, he would have still waited for some more time to see the truth or if Vali had trust on Sugriv that his younger brother would never cheat him, he wouldn't have waged a war against Sugriv and ended his life.
We even know that truth is something that cannot be hidden and it gets revealed in its own way when the time comes. Here lies the story of Dhritarashtra, the king of Hastinapur from the great epic, "MahaBharata". Dhritarashtra is not bad by nature, but his love for his sons especially his elder son, Duryodhana makes him do anything irrespective of whether its good or bad. He always used to remain quite although he was aware of the fact that there's injustice happening to his brother's sons because of his own sons and brother-in-law, Shakuni. After the Mahabharat war and the death of Kauravas, Dhritarashtra gets upset and wanted to kill the pandavas especially Bheem who was responsible for Duryodhana's death. He invites Bheem for a hug whereas his intenion was to crush him as he is powerful enough to do so. However, Lord Krishna notices the same and sends a statue of Bheem instead of the real Bheem. Everyone gets shocked on seeing the statue crushed into pieces by Dhritarashtra and thus, the truth gets revealed.
To conclude, Mythology has a lot in its store to offer for us. Some facts would inspire us and we can even identify a change within. Although we cannot guarantee the reality of these facts, I question what's wrong in believing something that teaches us good. Give a thought !!!
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