a game of dice

All the world’s a stage…or if we go by Indian mythology, a game board.

According to Indian mythology time can be parcelled into kalpas or eons that stand for one complete cycle of creation and destruction. At the end of each kalpa, the universe is destroyed by fire or flood only to spring back to life in the next kalpa. Each kalpa is further divided into four yugas: Kruta, Treta, Dwapara and Kali.

Kruta was the age of morality when gods and mortals lived in close proximity. The next is Treta or the age of the Ramayana where the hero occupies a high moral ground while the rest of the world struggles with good and evil. The third is Dwapara or the age of Mahabharat when heroes too have feet of clay. The final is kali – the one we are in right now – and it stands for strife and discord. At the end of kaliyug, the universe will either sink into the deep waters or burn to ashes and from its remains will rise a new world in a new kalpa.

Now the name of each yuga is also used to denote the different throws of dice in a traditional gambling game that was played in ancient India. The game is played with a dice that has four faces (like the one used in Mah Jong) and the best throw is the Kreta where the number is perfectly divisible by four. The Treta throw has a remainder of three, Dwapara two and Kali one -- when the number is divided by four. Interesting!

Marutta's challenge

Thousands of years ago, there lived a king called Marutta. There is not much that we know about his kingdom or his period of reign except that it marked a particularly prosperous time for his subjects. Marutta ruled with compassion and fair play and his people conferred upon him a greatness far beyond his mortal status.

Indra, king of the gods, was envious of Marutta’s growing popularity. And when he found out that Marutta was planning a yagna fit for the gods, he blew a trumpet. Marutta’s kula guru and the priest of the gods, Brihaspati, was to perform the yagna. But Indra warned Brihaspati that if he did take on the task, he would lose his priestly privileges with the gods.

Brihaspati valued his heavenly status far more than his kula guru duties and he informed Marutta accordingly. A distraught Marutta knew of none other who could do the yagna. He despaired at the thought of failing as a king as the yagna was meant to bring rain and a good harvest for his people.

In desperation, he sought to end his life. But Narada stepped in, just in time.

There was someone who could stand in for Brihaspati, he said. His brother, Samvarta. Plotted against by Brihaspati who was jealous of his brother’s abilities, Samvarta had left his home and had become a Naga Sadhu (naked sadhu). Narada advised Marutta to travel to Varanasi and wait outside the cremation grounds with a corpse. The naked sadhu who walked away from the body would be Samvarta, he said.

Marutta did that and as soon as he saw a thin wiry old sadhu make his way hastily away from the corpse, he knew he had his man. He followed Samvarta who was rude, abrasive and told Marutta that he wished to have nothing to do with man or god any more. Marutta persisted and finally Samvarta agreed. The condition was that Marutta would not go back on his word. Terrible times would be inflicted on the king for his decision to go against the word of Indra but, if he abandoned his venture, there would be a curse worse than hell coming his way.

Preparations for the yagna began. Marutta invoked Shiva with his tapasya and when he appeared, sought his support and blessings. With Shiva on his side, Marutta grew in confidence. Still he was ill prepared for what Indra would unleash. The weather turned against him, his people suffered, and every attempt was made to draw him away from his yagna.

The people grew weary and the gods, wary. For Indra was a mean foe and with Brihaspati on his side, there was havoc to be wrought.

As the day drew close, Marutta sent out his invitations. All gods were on the list; even Indra. The king’s advisors asked him to keep Indra away from the yagna but that would have rendered the yagna incomplete said Marutta.

The day of the yagna, all the gods arrived. Even Indra, but Brihaspati stayed away. With their wives, their vahanas and in all their heavenly splendour, the gods took their places around the fire. As Samvarta recited his mantras, the gods found themselves drawn into their spell. The yagna was a success as the offering made by the king was accepted and the gods participated in the great sacrifice.

Samvarta found his place in the world and Indra and Marutta, it is believed lived in peace thereafter.

rain and thunder

It’s the season for rain here and Mumbai is under water once again. I am resigned to a rain drenched day indoors, hoping for the sun and some cheer tomorrow. However there was another time and another place when the rain and thunder was cause for much joy as the devas vanquished the asuras amidst torrential downpour…

A long long time ago, in the kingdom of the gods, the Asuras had struck terror. They wrecked homes, burnt down the palaces and defeated the gods in every battle. They set every living thing, every home and every forest in heaven and on earth on fire.The gods were forced to turn to Brahma, their creator and saviour. Brahma asked Indra, the king of all gods to take action.

Indra agreed to battle the Asuras but he could not do that without help from Bramha and for that he sat in tapasya. Brahma, as is his nature, was pleased by his prayers and blessed him with a boon. “Dear Indra”, he said, “victory will be yours”. However it would not be a battle easily won because the weapon that would win him the battle had to be shaped out of the sage Dadich’s bones. In short, Indra would have to convince Dadich to self destruct and lend him his bones that would be shaped into the war-winning weapon.

Dadich, despite his thunderous name (or perhaps because of it, Da-Di-Da-Di is supposed to be the sound of thunder), turned out to be an easy ally. His bones were made available and Twashtri, the artisan of the gods shaped the vajra for Indra.

The vajra cleaved the skies in a flash of lightning. The sky opened up, unleashing its fury in the form of rain. The Asuras were no match for the devas who used thunder, lightning and rain to drive fear into the hearts of their enemies.

Vajra in Sanskrit is thunderstorm. It is also close in pronounciation to Vadha or Vadhar which used to mean fierce wind and now (in Marathi) means breeze. In German, the word Wetar, Anglo Saxon, Weter and English Weather -- originally all meant the same. They meant a change in atmosphere due to thunderstorm. Today weather has come to mean all states of air or climate. The vajra has come a long way...

Indra's pride

Indra was consumed by a desire to build the grandest palace of all. His recent victories against the Asuras had brought him glory and pride. It was time now to reinforce his supremacy at home and a palace built with the finest of craftsmen and the most expensive materials was the way to go. Or so he thought.
Vishwakarma, the architect of the gods was summoned and set to the task. Indra was a tough client. Not only was he a stickler for detail but he was fickle and nothing seemed to please him. Vishwakarma’s men were tired of building a new structure every day and having to pull it down by night just because Indra changed his mind. Vishwakarma realised that he would need the higher divinities to intervene on his behalf or else he would lose all his workmen and his peace of mind.
Vishnu was approached and he came visiting in the form of a rishi. An eager Indra led him to his palace where he showed off the glitter and the gloss with much pomp and fanfare. The rishi stood there distracted and an irritated Indra ticked him off for his insubordination. The rishi meekly mumbled that he had been taken up with an army of ants crossing the floor. He pointed them out to Indra.
Indra angrily asked him why he preferred the ants to his palace. To that the rishi said that he was only paying his respects to the many Indras who had ruled the devas before him. They were all ants now. One day, he said, the present Indra too would join the ants in their journey across the floor of another Indra’s palace.
The folly of his vanity was immediately clear to Indra who fell at the rishi’s feet and sought his forgiveness.

Narada's gift

The gods were unhappy. The world they had created for all living creatureswas being torn apart by strife. Men and women were always at battle and friends were turning into foes.
The gods knew that the biggest troublemaker of all lived among them. But who was to tell him anything. With Bramha for a father and Saraswati for a mother, there was no god willing to gather up the gumption to speak to him. So the gods kept their counsel. Their silence spawned more fights, more quarrels and more noise. Until the shrill noise of earthly squabbles pierced the heavenly sheath that protected the triumvarate.
Bramha sought advice from Vishnu and Shiv. But he knew even before they had answered, what he had to do.
“Narada!” “Narada”
Bramha’s voice rushed like a gush of wind and dragged Narada by his matted locks to his feet.
The perpetrator of all troubles. The master of all fights had been caught. His father’s anger had him crouching like a cornered tiger cub. He looked for his mother but Saraswati had been sent off by Bramha to keep her sister company.
“Narayana Narayana”, Narada muttered weakly
Narayana’s twinkling eyes offered him no help either.
In a flash Narada knew what he had to do. Bramha read his thoughts before they turned into speech and nodded his sagely nod. His son had got away lightly once again. But who was to deny that he had found the best solution?
Narada decided to gift the earthly beings with something to help them forget their troubles, their differences and their petty fights. Something that would let the human soul rise above the dull drab of daily existence. Something that would lift them into a personal heaven that no one else could penetrate. And the only thing he kenw that could do that was sangeet or music.
Sangeet was the perfect way to keep them from fighting each other. Sangeet was the best gift the gods could give the humans. And who better to spread the harmony than the first musician of the universe, Narada.
And that is how, myth has it, music came to this world.