The fact remains that Hindu mythological stories are so effective in the contemporary times that they manage to convey the crux of the stories to the listener and thus guide him/her towards a better life, writes Shubira Prasad
Mythology is all pervasive. The myth of yesterday is the reality of today, in a new attire, new thoughts, new circumstances and new approaches. We probably do not understand or have not been able to define this new identity, which is there in our blood from time immemorial and will probably will always be. Thomas Mann, the German Nobel Prize novelist, declared, “Life is a steady mythical identification, a procession in the footsteps of others, a sacred repetition.”
The Indian sub-continent amply portrays and follows this thought. We can witness this by the plethora of books and movies that are based on mythology in the present scenario. Hindu religion is supposed to be the oldest in the world. The Hindu mythological stories are thought to have taken place around 5,000 years to 10,000 years back. There has been a natural evolution of the happenings or the stories, initially vocal, later in writing, from generation to generation through centuries. The beauty of the whole thing is that though there may be geographical or other differences, stories which have been taken from the Veda or Puranas or other such highly revered books, the original intent remains the same. The differences could be in the imagery or the languages. The feelings and thoughts of men and women, that is thoughts of love, hate, jealousy, greed, power, corruption, intrigue, insecurity etc. remain the same.
The fact remains that these mythological stories are so effective in the contemporary times that they manage to convey the crux of the stories to the listener and thus guide him/her towards a better life. Many Hindu mythological stories point out in the direction that maybe our ancestors (or Gods) were from a different place other than Earth and were more advanced than us in all aspects of life, specially science. Some of these points are:
l Take the case of the Pushpak Viman. It was with the devtas, then with Kuber from whom Ravan wrestled it. Then after Bhagwan Ram defeated Ravan, he took the Pushpak Viman to Ayodhya and finally left for Vaikunth in the Pushpak Viman.
l Arjun too travelled to visit Devlok in a Pushpak Viman. There are many more examples of the Pushpak Viman scattered throughout the ancient Hindu texts.
l There is a great possibility of nuclear weapons being used in the Mahabharat and in other ancient times. In Mahabharat, there was approximately a destruction of 1.5 billion people in eighteen days. This is not possible unless weapons of mass destruction like the nuclear bombs were used.
l Cloning too was practiced during the Mahabharat. According B.G. Matapurkar, the renowned medical researcher and multilingual poet, the Kauravas were products of technology which was not heard of or developed yet. He claims that the Kauravas were created by splitting the single embryo into hundred parts and growing each part in a separate container. It can be said the doctors and scientists at that time not only knew about test tube babies but also had the technology to grow human fetuses outside human body. Similarly, Mahadev and Parvati’s son Kartikeya too was born outside the body.
l Abhimanyu was the son of Arjun and Subhadra. When Subhadra was carrying Abhimanyu in her womb, Arjun once explained the intricacies of the formation of the Chakravyuh to her. Even as a fetus, Abhimanyu could listen and understand the entrance procedure of the Chakravyuh, but he could not hear the exit procedure, because his mother had fallen asleep. This was ridiculed and taken as a mythical story, but now it is accepted by scientists that this is very much a possibility. According to Dr. Makoto Shichida, in his book, “Right Brain Education in Infancy,” the right brain is active during gestation.
l The Ram Setu which was built by Bhagwan Ram is an engineering feat. It was made by two architects Nal and Neel. The bridge of floating rocks was made between India and Lanka. Popular belief says that it was faith in Bhagwan Ram that the floating bridge was made in such a short time. But it was very superior civil engineering methods through which the bridge was constructed.
l Plastic surgery and organ transplant: Probably Bhagwan Ganesh’s head transplant was the first known transplant on this Earth. Folklore says that Mahadev cut off child Ganesha’s head when Ganesha did not let him enter his mother’s chamber. When Parvati saw this, she began wailing. After getting to know the story, Mahadev was repentant. He sent his people to procure the head of the first living being that they could find. The result was an elephant’s head which Mahadev attached to Ganesha’s body.
l Our ancient texts are full of such instances where it is proved that our ancient times were much more advanced than our present times, like Sanjay’s Divya Drishti.
Since there is no written record, only word of mouth stories through the generations, people call them just stories or even mythology. Many of them could be just figments of imaginations too as word of mouth does get exaggerated especially when it is verbally passed through the generations. But the fact that the messages of these stories have survived for so long, goes on to prove that the messages are pretty strong and will continue to guide in the future too.
Apart from the above points, there are many other moot and interesting happenings in the so-called mythological periods. Some of these are:
l According to the Hindu scriptures, the civilisation is divided time wise into four Yugas. The Vedas state that the first Yuga, the Satya, was the purest and the holiest of the Yugas. Slowly and steadily, degeneration began creeping in the other Yugas. Kalyug is said to be the last and the most degenerate of the four Yugas. It has been predicted, that in the end of the Kalyug, the world will be destroyed, and the previous cycle of the Yugas will be repeated.
l Hindu mythology states that the first Yuga or the Satya Yug, spanned a period of 1,72,8000 years. It was the age of truth enlightenment, virtue, and reason. It was the golden age. Because of the ideal state of mind and body, the normal height of a person was approximately 31 feet and people lived for hundreds and thousands of years.
l Next comes the Treta Yug, second of the Yugas. By the end of the Satya Yug and the beginning of the Treta Yug, the purity of the Satya Yug had begun diminishing somewhat. According to the ancient scripts the Treta Yug was of 1,296,000 human years. Tamas and Rajas Gunas had now begun mixing with the purity of thoughts and deeds. A human being’s physiology and life span too had become shorter.
l The third Yug was the Dwapar Yug. It is said that in the Dwapar Yug, the good and the evil had become equal to each other. Thirst for power had reared its ugly head as amply personified in the Mahabharat. Dwapar Yug is said to have lasted 864,000 years and the average life span shortened to about 1,000 years.
l The last age of the Yug cycle is the Kali Yug. It is the shortest Yug and will last for 432,000 human years. Approximately 5,000 years have passed of the Kali Yug. Corruptions of all kinds will be prevalent in this Yug. There will be little, or no conscience left. Human beings will be at the lowest both in terms of physicality and intellect. The average life span will be from 100 to 120 years and the average height will be between 5 to 6 feet. It has also been predicted that in the last stages of the Kalyug, man’s life span will be around 20 years.
All our great epics are broadly categorised as Mythology. It is belief and faith and critical scientific thinking too, that mythology is taken seriously by the non-believers also. Though the level of depravity has and will go up to the highest level, it has also been claimed that it is in the Kalyug that spirituality will be at its highest level. I believe this will be due to the extensive reading of our great epics. Thus, the belief and guidance in the so-called mythological epics will greatly help the emancipation of mankind in the present.
Two of the greatest and the most popular epics are the Ramayan and the Mahabharat. Apart from these there are other equally great and influential epics which leave a great impact on humankind. Some of these epics are the Raghuvamsa, the Budhacharita, Shishupalvadha, the Kirtarjuniya, the Manimekalai, the Silapadikaram, the Kumarsambhava and Shri Ramcharitmanas. All these epics teach us how to live a peaceful and moralistic life.
We do not think much about it, but it is the so-called mythology, from which we follow our ubiquitous traditions like the Holi, Diwali and Dussehra. These traditions have been set from the times of the Ramayan and the Mahabharat and even before that. They still teach us about right and wrong, why wrong should not be tolerated and why victories over evil should be celebrated. Unfortunately, this line has blurred so much in the present context, that we fail to differentiate between good and evil.
The social evils have crept in our society so surreptitiously that we invariably fail to recognise good and evil. In this Kalyug, we have stopped working for the good of mankind and become apathetic, lethargic, and work only towards the smallest gains, which are nihilisticand fallible in the long run. In other words, we have forsaken our vision. It is here that the role of mythology comes in. Reading of the great epics teach us bravery and self-confidence. They teach us how to face tragedies, hatred, betrayal, and major losses. Where is the motivation in our present lives? The only motivation is to procure wealth any which way, even killing and looting.
I am clubbing mythology and epics together here. Many scientists now agree that many modern-day weapons can be traced back to the ancient times when celestial weapons were used by Bhagwan Ram or by the characters of Mahabharat. I have described some of these divine weapons in my trilogy of the war between demons and human beings too. One such instance was when the protagonist of the book ‘The Demons of Jaitraya,’ used the Narayan astra to destroy the demons. The Narayan astra can be likened to the invention of missiles, which locks on to a target, finds it and finishes it. I have used several other celestial weapons in my second book of the trilogy, ‘The Angels of Kailash,’ too. The mode of transportation, either the Pushpak Viman or any other viman can be comparable to the helicopters and the other aircrafts that we have today.
To sum up we can say that the role of mythology in the present context is to enhance and make us aware of our cultural identity, integrity, and our very existence.
The author is an educationist, writer, and an astrologer. Her latest book, The Angels of Kailash, has been published by Vitasta
