Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

granted, Vishnu became a giant and covered the earth, heaven and the middle air in three strides. But respecting the virtues of Bali he stopped leaving the infernal regions to Bali. 6) Parasurama (Rama with an axe, parasu): He was a Brahmin and the fifth son of Jamadagni and Renuka. Kartavirya, a kshatriya and a king, paid a visit to the hermitage of Jamadagni in the absence of the sage but was hospitably entertained by his wife. When he left he carried off a sacrificial calf belonging to Jamadagni. This so enraged Parasurama that he pursued the king and killed him. In retaliation the sons of Kartavirya killed Jamadagni. In revenge Parasurama killed all the kshatriyas 37 times in succession. Tradition ascribes the origin of Kerala in South India to Parasurama. According to one account he received it as a gift of Varuna. According to another he cut fissures in the Ghats with blows of his axe. He is said to have brought Brahmins into Kerala from the north and bestowed the land upon them in expiation of the slaughter of the kshatriyas. 7) Rama : Prince of Ayodhya and hero of the Ramayana. 8) Krishna : The most important of the incarnations of Vishnu and the most popular of Hindu deities. Krishna means the "black or dark one". He was bom in Mathura. He belonged to the Yadava tribe. His father was Vasudeva, his mother was Devaki, the cousin of the ruling king Kamsa. Following a prophecy that Kamsa would be killed by Devaki's eighth son, he set out to destroy all her children. But Krishna and his elder brother I Balarama were saved and were brought up as the sons of the cowherd Nanda and his wife Yashoda: There are many legends connected with his boyhood which speak of his extraordinary powers. In his youth he had many love affairs with the wives and daughters of the cowherds (gopis). His favourite was the beautiful Radha. In the Mahabharata epic he appears as the friend and counsel- lor of the five Pandavas. He preached the sermon of the Bhagvad Gita which forms the centrepiece of the epic. After the Pandavas are victorious in the Kurukshetra battle, / Krishna settles down in Dwaraka in Gujarat. Here he is killed by an arrow from a hunter which pierces his heel, his vulnerable spot. Dwaraka was then submerged by the sea. 9) Buddha: The last incarnation of Vishnu who is said to have appeared as Buddha to encourage demons and wicked men to despise the Vedas, reject caste and deny the existence of the gods and thus achieve their own destruction. 10) Kalki or Kalkin, the white horse: In this incarnation Vishnu is to appear at the end of the Kali age, seated on a white horse, with a drawn sword blazing like a comet for the final destruction of the wicked, the renovation of the world and the restoration of purity. Shiva is the third deity of the Hindu trinity, the Destroyer, the god who destroys the world when it becomes evil-ridden. Shiva evolved from the Vedic god, Rudra. But destruction in Hindu belief implies re- production. So in this aspect he is worshipped in the form of the reproductive organ, the phallus or lingam. This form is sometimes combined with the yoni or female organ, the representative of his shakti or female energy. A third aspect of Shiva is the great ascetic and the patron deity of ascetics. He is depicted on the slopes of the Himalayan Mount Kailas, sitting on the tiger skin, deep in meditation. In the middle

of his forehead is his third eye, emblem of his superior wisdom and insight. Snakes of which he is the lord encircle his neck and arms. Beside him is his weapon, the trident, his wife Parvathi and his mount, the bull Nandi. Shiva is also the Lord of the Dance. The Tartdava is the most famous of his many dances. It is the dance which destroys the world at the end of the cosmic cycle. In the Ramayana Shiva acknowledges the divinity of Rama and holds a less exalted position than Vishnu. The Mahabharata also gives Vishnu or Krishna the highest honour. In the Puranas devoted to Shiva's praise it is affirmed that Brahma and Vishnu are inferior to him. Most Hindus are either Vaishnavites or Shaivites. The Vaishnav- ite does not deny the existence of Shiva but believes that he is one among numerous gods, the creation of Vishnu or Brahma. The Shaivite looks on Vishnu as an emanation of Shiva. LESSER GODS Ganesha or Ganapathi is the eldest son of Shiva and Parvathi. He has an elephant’s head - an emblem of sagacity and is represented as riding a rat. He has generally four hands. He is corpulent. Ganesha is said to have written the Mahabharata at Vyasa's dictation. All works of importance are begun by Hindus with a pious invocation to Ganesha. He is also known as Vighneswara (Lord of Obstacles) and is wor- shipped at the beginning of all undertakings to remove hurdles and hindrances. Hanuman, the monkey god, the friend and servant of Rama who assisted Rama in his war against Ravana, is regarded as divine and worshipped in some parts of India. Living monkeys are regarded as his representatives. In the Puranas, Yama is called the judge of men. He is depicted as riding on a buffalo and is armed with a ponderous mace and a noose with which to secure his victims. All that die appear before him. The virtuous are conveyed to swarga (Indra's heaven) while the wicked are driven to the different regions of naraka (hell). In the Vishnu Purana the names of the different hells are given and it is-stated that "there are many other fearful hells which are the awful provinces of Yama, terrible with instruments of torture and fire." THE GODDESSES The importance given to goddess worship is one of the most striking characteristics of Hinduism. Goddesses were known and probably widely worshipped in the protohistoric Indus Valley (Harap- pan) civilisation of C.2500 B.C. Scholars have come to this conclusion on the basis of the great number of female images, mostly of terra-cotta, and the scenes depicted on small clay seals discovered during excava- tions. The nature of the goddesses worshipped has not been ascer- tained. The early gods of the Aryans are predominantly male. Although many goddesses are mentioned in the Rig Veda none can be equated with such gods as Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma and Surya, who are central to the Rig Vedic religion. Only Ushas, the goddess of the dawn, to whom a number of hymns are addressed, could be considered to be on a par with the less important male gods. Ushas was considered an auspicious goddess associated with light and wealth. As the recurring dawn she is worshipped for bringing light from darkness.