There was a time, not recorded in historical annals or journals or gazettes, when the mountains had wings. They could fly anywhere they wished but when they did, they crashed continents, threw civilisations into tumultuous frenzy and created an environment of uncertainty and fear.
Naturally the people panicked. They rushed to Indra, god of all gods, for help. Indra mulled over their plight and although the solution occurred to him a flash, he mulled it over some more. For what he was about to do would change the mountains’ lives forever.
Indra sent down his vajra, the thunderbolt to clip the wings of the mountains. Their wings cut, the mountains could move no more and that is how in Sanskrit, they got their name achala (or those that can not walk). The wings floated up and Indra made them the clouds. Even today, there are some days, in some places, when the wings come down to meet their old masters.
Very similar to this myth is a myth cum folk tale from Orissa which I think I have put down on this blog earlier titled Elephants and wings.
The story goes that there was a time that elephants had wings. They flew the skies with free abandon and often, oblivious to the bulk they carried, perched themselves on trees, huts and mountain tops. While the mountains bore their weight with ease, trees and houses were not as fortunate. They came crashing down with a frequency that angered the men and the gods. And finally there came a day when man decided that enough was enough and appealed to the gods. The gods lent a sympathetic ear and a plan was hatched.
Now it is public knowledge that elephants like their food and drink. So the people got together and invited all the elephants to a feast that lasted several days and nights until all the elephants lay down in a drunken stupor. Man who had been waiting for this moment went around chopping off their wings. Naturally when sleep wore off, the elephants were outraged and went to the gods to seek revenge against man. But it was too late and they realised that they had been tricked by both man and god.
The myths, as they are wont to, lead us into uncharted territory and raise a load of questions:
Are these recordings of ancient events that survived in the collective memory of the people of the region?
Could it be that the mountains with wings are about earthquakes that changed the shape of the world as people knew it?
Were there creatures that were elephantine in their appearance and could fly?
We don't know but the myths will always force us to wonder and ask; what if...?
