Gods of War

It is the season for festivals. A week ago, the festival of nine nights or Navaratri wound down to a close and the festival of lights, Diwali, will soon be upon us. Within these larger circles of celebration, numerous small ones too will make their place as different communities welcome different gods and goddesses. In a country with proverbially 13 festivals in 12 months, the September-December period is more crowded than usual. And, interestingly, most of these festivals are in honour of great warriors.

Durga slays the powerful Asura king, Mahisha, who had begun to wreak destruction on the three worlds. Backed by a formidable army and a power to change form at will, he remained unvanquished. Helpless, the gods turned to the divine trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Durga, according to common lore, was born out of their collective anger. She sprang into being, fully clad in armour and battle-ready, like Athene of the Greek pantheon.

(Image: Rajrishi Singhal)

Durga was created to kill Mahishasura and hence her name, Mahishasurmardini. Although her male counterparts assist her with weapons and protective gear, she was a one-woman army and led the battle into the Asura kingdom. Many scholars believe that she was worshipped as a powerful and mighty warrior in a timeless time. But with the emergence of a paternalistic social structure, the Durga-Mahishasur myth had to be incorporated within the Vedic framework where the divine trinity was supreme and goddesses were defined by their relationship to the three gods. According to E W Hopkins (Epic Mythology), "Durga is a late adoption of Visnuism; originally a goddess worshipped by savages (Savaras, Barbaras, Pulindas)." Whatever the story of her origin and her position in the pantheon, there is no dispute that Durga is a fierce goddess and was feared by her male counterparts. "Durga is a warrior goddess, unapproachable by suitors and invincible in battle." (World Mythology, edited by Roy Willis, Simon & Schuster, UK) And just as Athene became daughter of Zeus when the male gods became dominant in all societies, Durga became Shiva's wife.

Sekhmet and Anat are similar warrior goddesses in Egyptian mythology. Anat - imported into the Egyptian pantheon from Syria and Palestine - is shown carrying a shield, a spear and an axe. Sekhmet is a terrifying lioness goddess and is often depicted with a lion's head in sculptures. She was deputed by sun god Ra to quell his rebellious human subjects. The lion is Durga's vahana too. Another Egyptian war goddess, Qudshu, is depicted in paintings and sculptures as a naked woman standing on a lion's back. The lion is a common symbol among war deities and is believed to stand in for the sun. (The Dictionary of Symbols, J E Cirlot, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London)

Warrior goddesses were common to many ancient civilisations and their worship perhaps predates that of male warriors. These goddesses were ferocious, a far cry from the fecund profile of a mother goddess, also a powerful mythical-religious figure. According to scholar Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, these goddesses are not compassionate; "they are generally a pretty bloodthirsty lot." (http://goo.gl/DEMMBY). When goddesses took to battle, the lines between good and bad were blurred and often had to be reined in (Kali, Sekhmet are examples) to save humanity from complete annihilation.

The narrative changes when it comes to the male warrior gods. Indra, for instance, fights Vritra the demon for the good of man. Vritra assumed control over water and refused to release it for the gods and humans; Indra slays him with his thunderbolt and cuts a channel for the rivers to flow.

Another thing about recent male warrior gods - they are presaged to deliver mankind from evil. Rama, who will be worshipped during the upcoming Diwali celebrations, fights a moral battle and is worshipped as an ideal man rather than an inspiring warrior. He goes into battle, not because he seeks the blood of his enemy but because his hand is forced when Ravana kidnaps his wife. Ravana's death has been destined at Rama's hands. When the gods had approached Brahma for deliverance from Ravana, he tells them that Rama will be born to vanquish Ravana.

The era of male warrior gods is far from over. The last of Vishnu's ten incarnations is Kalki, the horse-warrior who is yet to grace this world with his presence and is preordained to restore order to a chaotic modern world. 

(This was published in Business Standard Weekend, 25 October 2013)

Tricked out of immortality

Garuda and Gilgamesh are two heroes as unlike one another that one could find. One is a bird and the other human; Garuda belongs to the vast pantheon of Indian theriomorphs (deities represented in animal form) while Gilgamesh is the Sumer-Babylonian hero-king. Gilgamesh grapples with a series of adventures that take him closer to the divine principles of valour, love and compassion while Garuda’s heroic journey takes him close to Vishnu, the preserver god in the Indian trinity.

However both share a divine lineage. Garuda is the son of Kasyapa (sometimes referred to as Prajapati) and Vinata (daughter of Daksha Prajapati) while Gilgamesh is said to be the son of Lugalbanda, a god. And they are both heroes, albeit from two different species.

The two also have another, more interesting, aspect in common: both play a part in denying mankind and other species of this planet the right to immortality. But for them, we could have lived forever!

Garuda's story: Garuda is tasked with fetching the nectar of immortality or Amrita from the heavens for the snakes. In return, he is promised freedom for his mother who has been enslaved by the snake clan for centuries. While there is a long tale in how Garuda manages to get the nectar out of Indra’s clutches, we shall go into that later.

As Garuda is flying away with the jar of Amrita, Indra shoots at him but the arrow barely manages to graze his plumage. When weapons fail, even the gods resort to persuasion. So Indra appeals to Garuda. He tells him that the consequences of giving immortality to the snake clan will be disastrous. Garuda, a sworn enemy of the snake clan, is easily convinced. And the two cook up a plot to trick the snakes out of their end of the deal.

As promised, Garuda flies in with the jar of nectar for the snakes. But, he tells them, he will place the jar down only after his mother has been freed. The snakes release his mother and Garuda sets the jar of Amrita down on the patch of kusa grass, as planned.

However, before the snakes can get a taste of nectar, Garuda asks them to bathe and cleanse themselves in the holy river. The snakes scurry off and Garuda flies away with his mother leaving Indra to play out his part of the plot.

Indra swoops in, takes the jar away and thereby denies the snakes their promised jar of nectar. The snakes are furious but all they can do is lick the grass for a few drops of the Amrita. But so sharp is the grass that they get a forked tongue.

Gilgamesh's story: Gilgamesh on the other hand finds his way to Utnapishtim, the man-god who is the only survivor of the great flood. He has been granted the boon of immortality by the gods.

Shattered by the death of his friend and soul mate, Enkidu, Gilgamesh wants to defeat death. He goes through a series of adventures till he finds Utnapishtim and asks for the flower of immortality.

Utnapishtim is not willing to part with the flower but Gilgamesh persists. And he is finally granted his desire but there is a condition: the flower must be carried on his person at all times. He cannot put it down at any point in time.

As is the case with such stories -- in myth and in folklore -- the condition is not met. Gilgamesh fails the test as he leaves the flower on a river bank for a quick dip. When he comes back up, he is distraught to see the flower being carried away by a snake. And thus, immortality that was within the human grasp was lost. However in this story, the snakes emerge victorious and that is why it is said, they manage to live forever by sloughing off their skins!

Two tricks, two heroes but one result. In the Garuda story, the gods trick the snakes and, in a way, all living beings. In the Gilgamesh story, the gods trick men but the snakes, unwittingly though, emerge as victors.

In both cases, those who desire immortality are denied its fruits. Garuda, incidentally is granted immortality because he did not want it for himself. But all other beings on the planet are not granted the keys to the kingdom of eternal life. In retrospect, this may well be a blessing in disguise!