Myth creation. Ancient India - myths Ancient Indian myths

11.06.2022

The ancient myths of India are in no way inferior to the legends of Greece, Egypt and Rome. They were just as carefully accumulated and systematized in order to save for the next generation. This process did not stop for a very long time, due to which the myths were firmly woven into the religion, culture and daily life of the country.

And only thanks to the careful attitude to our history of the Hindus today we can enjoy their traditions.

Indian mythology

If we consider the legends of different peoples about gods, natural phenomena and the creation of the world, one can easily draw a parallel between them in order to understand how similar they are. Only names and minor facts have been replaced for easier perception.

Mythology is strongly connected with the teachings about the civilization on which the philosophy of the inhabitants of this country was nurtured. In ancient times, this information was transmitted only by word of mouth, and it was considered unacceptable to omit any element or remake it in your own way. Everything had to retain its original meaning.

Indian mythology often acts as a basis for spiritual practices and even the ethical side of life. It is rooted in the teachings of Hinduism, which were created based on treatises on the Vedic religion. Surprisingly, some of them cited mechanisms that describe the scientific theories of modernity regarding the origin of human life.

Nevertheless, the ancient myths of India tell of many different variations of the origin of a particular phenomenon, which will be discussed below.

Briefly about the creation of the world

According to the most common version, life originated from the Golden Egg. Its halves became heaven and earth, and from the inside, Brahma, the Progenitor, was born. He initiated the flow of time, created countries and other gods, so as not to experience loneliness anymore.

Those, in turn, contributed to the creation of the universe: they populated the earth with creatures of various nature, became the progenitors of human sages, and even allowed asuras to be born.

Rudra and the sacrifice of Daksha

Shiva is one of the oldest offspring of Brahma. He carries within himself the flame of anger and cruelty, but helps those who regularly offer prayers to him.

Previously, this god had a different name - Rudra - and was in the guise of a hunter, to whom all animals obeyed. He did not bypass any of the human wars, sending various misfortunes to the human race. His son-in-law was Dakshi, the lord and parent of all creatures on earth.

However, this union did not bind the gods with friendly ties, so Rudra refused to honor the father of his wife. This led to events that describe the ancient myths of India in different ways.

But the most popular version is as follows: Daksha, at the behest of the gods, first created a cleansing sacrifice, to which he called everyone except Rudra, harboring a grudge against him. The wife of the angry Shiva, having learned about such a blatant disrespect for her husband, threw herself into the fire in despair. Rudra, on the other hand, was beside himself with rage and came to the place of the ceremony to take revenge.

The formidable hunter pierced the ritual victim with an arrow, and it soared into the sky, forever imprinted with a constellation in the form of an antelope. Several gods also fell under the hot hand of Rudra and were seriously mutilated. Only after the persuasion of the wise priest, Shiva agreed to let go of his anger and heal the wounded.

However, since then, at the behest of Brahma, all gods and asuras must honor Rudra and offer sacrifices to him.

Aditi children's enemies

Initially, the asuras - the elder brothers of the gods - were pure and virtuous. They knew the secrets of the world, were famous for their wisdom and power, and knew how to change their appearance. In those days, the asuras were submissive to the will of Brahma and carefully performed all the rituals, and therefore did not know troubles and grief.

But powerful beings became proud and decided to compete with the gods - the sons of Aditi. Because of this, they not only lost a happy life, but also lost their home. Now the word "asura" is something akin to the concept of "demon" and means a bloodthirsty insane creature that can only kill.

Immortal life

Previously, no one in the world knew that life could end. People were immortal, lived without sin, so peace and order reigned on earth. But the flow of births did not decrease, and there were fewer and fewer places.

When people flooded every corner of the world, the Earth, as the ancient myths of India say, turned to Brahma with a request to help her and remove such a heavy burden from her. But the Great Progenitor did not know how to help. He blazed with anger, and feelings escaped from him with annihilating fire, fell upon all living things. There would have been no peace if Rudra had not suggested a solution. And it was like this...

End of immortality

Rudra admonished Brahma, asked not to destroy the world that was created with such difficulty, and not to blame his creatures for the way they are arranged. Shiva offered to make people mortal, and the Progenitor obeyed his words. He took the anger back into his heart so that Death would be born from it.

She incarnated as a young girl with black eyes and a wreath of lotuses on her head, dressed in a dark red dress. As the legend about the origin of Death says, this woman was neither cruel nor heartless. She did not take over the anger from which she was created, and she did not like such a burden.

Death in tears begged Brahma not to put this burden on her, but he remained adamant. And only as a reward for her experiences did he allow him not to kill people with his own hands, but to take the lives of those who were overtaken by an incurable disease, destructive vices and obscuring passions.

So Death remained beyond the bounds of human hatred, which at least slightly brightens up its heavy burden.

First "harvest"

All people are descendants of Vivasvat. Since he himself was mortal from birth, his older children were born as ordinary people. Two of them are twins of opposite sexes, they were given almost the same names: Yami and Yama.

They were the first people, so their mission was to populate the earth. However, according to one version, Yama refused the sinful incestuous marriage with his sister. To avoid this fate, the young man went on a journey, where, after some time, Death overtook him.

So he became the first "harvest" that the offspring of Brahma managed to collect. However, his story did not end there. Since Yama's father had by then become the god of the Sun, his son also received a place in the Indian pantheon.

However, his fate turned out to be unenviable - he was destined to become an analogue of the Greek Hades, that is, to command the world of the dead. Since then, Yama has been considered the one who collects souls and judges by earthly deeds, deciding where a person will go. Later, Yami joined him - she embodies the dark energy of the world and manages that part of the underworld where women serve their punishment.

Where did the night come from

"The legend of the creation of the night" is a very short myth in Russian presentation. He tells how the sister of the first person who was taken by Death could not cope with her grief.

Since there was no time of day, the day dragged on endlessly. To all persuasions and attempts to alleviate her grief, the girl always answered in the same way that Yama died only today and it was not worth it to forget about him so early.

And then, in order to finally end the day, the gods created the night. The next day, the girl's grief subsided, and Yami was able to let her brother go. Since then, an expression has appeared, the meaning of which is identical to the usual for us "time heals".

If we put together all the ancient chronological systems and look at the creation of the world, we will find two general patterns.

First. According to most ancient traditions or legends, the creation of the world occurred after the supreme deity sacrificed some other creature, stabbing it, setting it on fire or cutting it into pieces. At the same time, a world was formed from the body parts of this victim.

Second. For many nations, the creation of the world begins approximately 5500 years before the birth of Christ:

the Byzantine system of chronology begins on September 1, 5509 BC,
Old Russian - from March 1, 5508 BC,
Alexandrian - from August 29, 5493 BC,
Antiochian era from the creation of the world - September 1, 5969 BC,
Jewish, or reckoning from Adam - from October 7, 3761 BC.

In total, there are more than a hundred different dates for the creation of the world and the time interval from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ is from 3483 to 6984 years.
A distinctive feature of traditional Indian culture is that it does not know chronology. It is dominated by the cyclicity of everything that exists, the "circle of eternal return." In Indian mythology, this "timelessness" manifested itself in the fact that it lacks a single myth about the creation of the world.

Vedas about the creation of the world

Already in the Vedas there are several equal versions of the cosmogonic myth, and the Brahmans, Upanishads and Puranas add to them their own versions, no less equal. Upon careful study and comparison of these versions, they reveal a common feature - the idea of the initial chaos, from which, as a result of the actions of various divine "agents", an ordered world arose.

Therefore, according to the "temporal hierarchy", the first are the versions of the cosmogonic myth found in the Vedas, then the versions of the Brahmanas, Upanishads and Puranas, and then the versions "canonized" by the Vishnuites and Shaivites.

In the Rigveda, as in other ancient texts, myths are extremely rare, set forth in their entirety. Most often, we come across fragments of myths and even isolated mythological motifs, as a result of which myths have to be restored and reconstructed. The reconstructed Vedic myths include:

the myth of Indra killing the demonic serpent Vritra;
about the eagle stealing from the sky the wonderful drink of soma,
about the flight of the god Agni; who did not want to be a priest;
about three mortal Ribhu artisan brothers who received immortality;
about the sage Agastya, who reconciled Indra and the Marut gods, as well as cosmogonic myths involving Indra and Vishnu.

At the beginning there was nothing. No moon, no sun, no stars. Only the waters stretched immeasurably, from the complete darkness of the primordial chaos, which rested without movement, like a deep sleep, the waters arose before other creations. The waters were able to create fire. Because of the great power of heat, the Golden Egg was born in them. At that time there was not yet a year, since there was no one to measure time, but as long as a year lasted, the Golden Egg floated in the waters, in the bottomless and boundless ocean. A year later, the Progenitor Brahma appeared from the Golden Embryo. He split the egg into two parts, the upper half of the egg became the Sky, and the lower half became the Earth, and between them, in order to somehow separate them, Brahma placed the air space. In turn, he established the earth among the waters, initiated time and created the countries of the world. That is how the universe was created.

At that moment, the creator was frightened, because there was no one around him, and he became afraid. But he thought: “After all, there is no one here but me. Whom should I be afraid of? and his fear is gone, for the fear may be of someone else. Also he knew no joy because he was all alone. The Creator thought: “How can I create offspring?” and only by a single power of thought he gave birth to 6 sons - the great Lords of creation. From the soul of the creator was born the eldest son - Marichi. Born from his eyes Atri, second son. From the mouth of Brahma, the third son was born - Angiras. Fourth from the right ear - Nulastya. Fifth from the left ear - Pulakha. And the sixth of the nostrils of the Progenitor - Kratu.

Marichi had a wise son Kashyapa, gods, people and demons, snakes and birds, monsters and giants, cows and priests and many other creatures of a demonic or divine nature originated from him, they inhabited the earth, heaven and underworlds. Atri gave birth to Dharma, who became the god of justice. Angiras laid the foundation for the lineage of the holy sages Angiras, the eldest was Brihaspati, Samvarta and Utathya.

The seventh of the Lords of creation - Daksha. He appeared from the thumb on the right foot of the creator, and from the toe on the left foot of the Ancestor a daughter was born - Virini, which means Night, she was the wife of Daksha. In total, she had 50 daughters, 13 she gave as wife to Kashyapa, 20 to Soma, 10 of her daughters became wives of Dharma. And Daksha also had daughters who were to become the wives of great sages and gods.

The eldest of Daksha's daughters, Diti, was the mother of formidable demons - Daityas. The second daughter, Dana, gave birth to mighty giants - danavas. And the third daughter, Aditi, gave birth to 12 bright sons-Adityas, great gods.

For a long time the sons of Danu and Diti (asuras) were enemies of the gods, the sons of Aditi. And their struggle for power over the universe lasted for many centuries, which had no end.

At first there was nothing. There was no sun, no moon, no stars. Only the waters stretched indefinitely; from the darkness of the primordial chaos, resting without movement, as if in a deep sleep, the waters arose before other creations. The waters gave birth to fire. The Golden Egg was born in them by the great power of warmth. There was no year then, for there was no one to measure the time; but as long as the year lasts, the Golden Egg floated in the boundless and bottomless ocean.

A year later, the Progenitor Brahma arose from the golden Embryo. He cracked the egg and it split in two. The upper half of it became the sky, the lower half the earth, and between them, to separate them, Brahma placed the air space. And he established the earth among the waters, and created the countries of the world, and laid the foundation for time. This is how the universe was created.

Myths of Ancient Greece Night, moon, dawn and sun

Slowly rides across the sky in her chariot drawn by black horses, the goddess Night-Nyukta. She covered the earth with her dark veil. Darkness enveloped everything around. Around the chariot of the goddess of the Night, the stars crowd and pour their unfaithful, flickering light on the earth - these are the young sons of the goddess of the Dawn - Eos and Astrea. Many of them, they dotted the entire night sky. That's how a light glow seemed in the east. It gets hotter and hotter. It is the goddess Luna-Selena who ascends to heaven. Big-horned bulls slowly drive her chariot across the sky. Calmly, majestically, the moon goddess rides in her long white dress, with a crescent of the moon on her headdress. She peacefully shines on the sleeping earth, flooding everything with a silvery glow. Having traveled around the vault of heaven, the goddess Moon will descend into the deep grotto of Mount Latma in Kariya...

Morning is getting closer. The Goddess Moon has long since descended from the sky. The east has brightened a little... The east is getting brighter and brighter. Here the rose-colored goddess Zarya-Eos opened the gate, from which the radiant god Sun-Helios will soon leave. In bright saffron clothes, on pink wings, the goddess Dawn flies up to the brightened sky, flooded with pink light. The goddess pours dew on the ground from a golden vessel, and the dew showers the grass and flowers with sparkling drops like diamonds. Everything on earth is fragrant, aromas are smoking everywhere. The awakened earth joyfully welcomes the rising god Sun-Helios.

On four winged horses in a golden chariot, which was forged by the god Hephaestus, the radiant god rides to heaven from the shores of the Ocean. The tops of the mountains are illuminated by the rays of the rising sun, one after another they hide in the bosom of the dark night. The chariot of Helios rises higher and higher. In a radiant crown and in long sparkling clothes, he rides through the sky and pours his life-giving rays on the earth, giving her light, warmth and life.

Having completed his daily journey, the sun god descends to the sacred waters of the Ocean. There awaits his golden boat, in which he will sail back to the east, to the land of the sun, where his wonderful palace is located. The sun-god rests there at night to rise in his former splendor the next day.

Temkin E. N., Erman V. G. Myths of Ancient India. M., 1982. S. 15.

Kun N. A, Legends and myths of Ancient Greece. M., 1957, S. 68-69.

L. G. Morgan Maple Thanksgiving

The Iroquois cult was a kind of system. It consisted of periodically recurring festivities that took place at certain times of the year. These festivities were determined by the change of seasons, the ripening of fruits and the harvest. They were performed annually with the same established rites, which were passed down from century to century ...

The Iroquois observed six regular feasts or thanksgiving services. The first time was the maple festival. It was an expression of gratitude to the maple itself, which gave people its sweet juice. The next was the sowing festival, the purpose of which was mainly to appeal to the Great Spirit with a request to bless the seeds. The third was the strawberry festival, established in gratitude for the first fruits of the earth. The fourth was the Green Corn Festival, meant to show appreciation for the ripening of corn, beans, and pumpkins. Next was the Feast of the Harvest, which was set up for a general thanksgiving to "Our Nurses" after the harvest. Last on the list was New Year's Day, a grand Iroquois festival at which a white dog was sacrificed...

At the appointed time, people gathered from the surrounding districts, some offered religious instructions, others prepared for the dance, others for the games, and others came for the pleasure of being at the feast. It was one of the eagerly anticipated holidays. In the morning, elderly women, fulfilling their duty, began to prepare a traditional meal in the abundance that was allowed by the time of year and the conditions of hunting life. Around noon, the usual entertainments and games in the open air on such occasions were suspended, and the people gathered in council. Then one of the guardians of the faith made an opening speech. The following speech, delivered at the opening of one of these councils... is a typical example of such speeches and illustrates their main features:

Friends and relatives! The sun, the ruler of the day, is high in his path, and we must hasten our duty. We have come here to keep our old custom. This order was passed down to us by our fathers. It was given to them by the Great Spirit. The great spirit has always demanded from his people that he

thanked him for all the good deeds rendered. We have always tried to live by this wise behavior.

Friends and relatives, listen further. We are here today to fulfill this duty. The season has come again when the maple tree gives its sweet juice. Everyone is grateful to him for this, and therefore we expect you all to unite in our common gratitude to the maple. We also expect you to join us in giving thanks to the Great Spirit who wisely created this tree for the benefit of man. We hope and expect that order and harmony will continue into the future.

Often this was followed by other speeches, which were in the nature of exhortations, prompting the people to do their duty.

When these speeches and exhortations ended, the beginning of the dance was announced, which was an important feature of their religious festivities.

Morgan L. G. League of Walked Saune, or Iroquois. M., 1983. S. 101-102.