Wanted: Demon slayers

A couple of weeks ago, a young industrialist known for his outspoken support of a fledgling political party quipped that corruption was like a thousand-headed monster. The striking imagery apart, his simile released a new monster in our midst - quite like what a popular song from the Hindi film Peepli Live did a few years ago. The song which likened inflation to a dayan hit an instant chord with many, apart from notching up the number of sorceresses and witches of which we need to steer clear.

Hercules slaying the Hydra.Wikimedia Commons

Corruption and inflation took centre stage this election. Standing beside the triumvirate of proposed leaders, they played spoiler to the best made plans of those standing in the pulpit just as demons and dayans are wont to do. But, more interestingly, the two new additions to the family of subversive beings have helped reveal what Indian society fears most today.

Monsters, dragons, asuras, rakshasas, dayans, yakshis and such beings have walked the earth since the beginning of time. Demons manifest themselves in myriad forms and are repositories of immeasurable power. And some are even invisible like the 'Oni' in Japanese myth; they are spirits who attend on the gods of the underworld, can take on grotesque forms but are hidden to the human eye (World Mythology, Illustrated Guide; Edited by Roy Willis). As old as the gods, demons are universal and are seen as humanity's projection of its deepest fears.

Demons follow no rules and wilfully overturn regular life as we know it. Consider the Greek monster Hydra with nine heads, which is the inspiration for the thousand-headed monster of corruption. The Hydra lived in the swamp of Lernae. She would raid flocks and ruin the land. Her heads were regenerative; each time one was cut off, another grew in its place. She was considered immortal until Herakles's sword swept off her heads and his half-brother branded the stumps to prevent further growth. Perhaps, the Hydra grew out of mankind's fear of water and swampy marshlands. Geography and nature have played a vital role in the evolution of demons in our cultures.

Raktabija in the Vedic family of demons too had regenerative powers. He could produce clones of himself from every drop of his blood that fell to the ground. Durga slew Raktabija with help from Kali (her destructive form) who swallowed the blood before it fell to the ground. He was, perhaps, shaped by man's fear of blood and what its loss could mean for life. The body and its functions too have served as inspiration for demonic characters in myths.

Dayans, sorceresses and witches are lesser beings in the demon world. But they too reveal the fears of a society that was fast becoming patriarchal. Always a woman, they are treacherous, demanding and are known to demolish men who dare cross their path. Men feared the strong, sexually aware woman and imbued her with supernatural and fearful powers and hounded her out of the society that he created for himself. Demons were also born out of gender anxieties.

In the past, demons controlled the waters, the power of the sun, the might of the sky and the volatility of the earth. Most mythologies speak about how they used their powers to deny people access to these vital forces of life. Vritra, an asura who controlled the waters of universe, grew too powerful and decided to hold back the water from the people. He swallowed all the moisture in the atmosphere, all the water from the ocean and the rivers and from the earth. He also spread his large frame across the sky and hid the sun. Distraught the gods approached Indra who, with his thunderbolt (vajra), slew Vritra, released the waters and rejuvenated life on earth.

Universally, demons are subversive spirits overthrowing 'all civilised order, reason, rules and expectations'. (A Field Guide to Demons: Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits; Carol K Mack and Dinah Mack) They embody chaos and the untamed forces of nature and the psyche, which were the anxieties and concerns that ancient civilisations grappled with. But fortunately, demons were not unstoppable. They could be conquered because they lacked the human capacity to love, be compassionate and to reason and also because they were also prone to arrogant and aggressive behaviour. The modern demons of corruption and inflation may not have the same character traits. But what they do have in common with the rest of the demon family is that they hold a magnifying mirror to our darkest fears and passions.

(This article appeared in the Business Standard Weekend on 17-05-2014, http://goo.gl/6SpTzp)