Beyond Myth Discovering the Religious History of India 3

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CREATION OF MUNI,RISHIS,PRAJAPATI,DEVTAS,NAAGAS,GARUDA,DAITYAS,REPTILES,QUADRUPEDS AND HUMAN RACE.
But fi rst lets answer the question i asked in the previous part. There is no one answer to the reason behind BRAHMA s four heads. Hindu philosophy is not limited to just one book. Different cultures explain this phenomenon differently .I am going to put forward just few reasons that i found most amusing. According to few Lord Brahma’s four faces or heads are thought to represent the Hindu religion’s four Vedas. Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda are the Vedas dedicated to each head. the four faces, according to another tale, represent the four primary directions of the universe: north, south, east, and west
The most famous and controversial reason behind is as follows.
Lord Brahma was pleased by Manmatha [kamdeva] and Rati devi’s penance and granted them three arrows, which had the potential to spark romance in even the most strong-willed of people. Lord Brahma himself was put to the test by Manmatha, the Romance God .God Brahma was forming ten men and a woman named Satarupa at the time. He was drawn to Satarupa after being awoken by the arrow. She moved to God Brahma’s left, irritated by his fascinated look, and a new head appeared to stare at her. When she raced in all four directions, she was greeted by four amorous heads. Suddenly, she sprang above his head, and the fi fth head appeared above the other four. She requested Lord Shiva’s assistance in
order to escape from his starring. Lord Brahma is the one who produced Satarupa, hence she is considered his daughter. As a result of the creator of the world’s unethical behaviour, Lord Shiva got enraged and severed the 5th head and cursed Brahma that he would never be worshipped. So have you noticed that there are no festivals associated with him and rarely any temples are designated to Lord Brahma in India . But a quite famous one exists in Pushkar ,Rajasthan.
Coming to the main part, THE CREATION.As said earlier , Lord Brahma is born from the nabhi (navel) of Lord Vishnu and thus is completely divine body and not at all similar to material body like ours. All the living being are the result of his energies or mind therefore are called as MANASPUTRAS. Once Bhishma asked Rishi (Sage) Pulastya about the four prominent varna system and Lord Sri Brahma Deva’s manasaputras.Thus on being asked by Bhishma about the origin of the four prominent varna, Maharishi (Sage) Pulastya said:Sri Brahma Deva created different varna people as follows:Brahmins were born from the mouth of Lord Sri Brahma Deva. Kshatriyas were born from the Chest of Lord Sri Brahma Deva. Vaishyas were born from the Thigh of Lord Sri Brahma Deva. Shudras were born from the Feet of Lord Sri Brahma Deva. Though opposed during modern times ..this system of classifi cation was much accepted by the Vedic society.
First came the four Kumaras :Sanaka (Very ancient), Sanatana (Eternal), Sanandana (Ever Joyful) and Sanatakumara (Ever Young) from head of Brahmadeva .Devarishi Narada was born from the lap of Lord Sri Brahma Deva. Do you that Devarishi Narada is the only god who has the freedom to travel in all the 14 lokas anytime. According to Valmiki Ramayana when Brahma yawned he created JAMBAVAN ..the king of bears; a prominent character in Ramayana.Then Brahma created the Saptarishis (the seven sages) and ten Prajapatis [some accounts place it at 21]
Maharishi Bhrigu came into existence from the skin of Brahma Deva. Maharishi Pulaha made his entrance via the navel. Maharishi Kratu emerged from the hand. Maharisi Angira took the vocal route, being born from the mouth, while Marichi originated from the head. Maharishi Atri was born from the eye, and Maharishi Vashishtha breezed into existence from the breath. Maharishi Pulastya tuned into life from the ear. Maharishi Kardama was born from the shadow of Brahma Deva while some say he was the son of rishi Pulaha .Kardama had nine daughters who were highly educated in Vedic Texts and went ahead to marry divine sages mentioned in ancient Indian history. Kala married Marichi [according to some texts ;they gave birth to the great Rishi Kashyapa], Anusuya married Atri, Arundhati married Vashishtha, Havirbhu married Pulastya, Shanti married Atharvan. The sapta rishis—ATRI, KASHYAPA, VASHISHTHA, VISHWAMITRA, GAUTAMA, JAMADAGNI, and BHARADWAJA—have varied tales. Some say they emerged from Lord Brahma’s mind, others claim they emerged from a yajna, but in a way are related to Brahma. As i said Hindu mythology is not limited to just a book or script ;everyone has there own versions. So complicated yet so intertwined like a beautiful woven quilt. Now comes the quite famous PRAJAPATI DAKSH.Well we will talk in detail about him next time .But for now let us know that he had thousands of sons and around 60 daughters who became the source of every part of this world. Ten of these were married to God Dharma who
later gave birth to the VASUS,VISHAYAS,KUMARA,SADHYADEVAS,VISHVADEVAS and the diven architect of heaven VISHVAKARMA. Twenty seven daughter of Daksh were married to Soma and came to be known as Nakshatras [stars].You must have heard this word frequently in astrology .Thirteen daughters were married Rishi Kashyapa and gave birth to the most important characters of the Hindu Universe. I ll keep that story a surprise for now. Sati was married off to Mahadeva.
But all of these creations were free from wordly desires and extremely virtuous. Someone had to created to populate the Mrutyuloka[the earth]..factually speaking someone who had the best of both worlds ,who was virtuous at an instant and deceitful on the other ..THE HUMAN. Isnt it ?So to actually succeed in his mission Brahma with the help of Mahadeva created the fi rst human pair MANU and SHATRUPA.So the fi ne ladies I mentioned earlier were in fact daughters of Manu and Shatrupa and humanity fl ourished. Fun fact: Manu and Shatrupa did extreme penance to summon Lord Vishnu and asked for a single boon ..for him to be born as their son in next life .Well true to his word ,they reincarnated in TRETA YUGA as Dashratha and Kaushalya the parents none other than..MARYADAPURUSHOTTAM SHRI RAM.
Such a long and complicated story …can t blame, the divine process of creation takes time .In my opinion the process that takes the most time has the most beautiful outcome just like handicrafts .But this is not the end .I haven’t completed the title yet nor did i talk about Maharishi Kashyapa ,his wives and who their children were .Stay tuned because i will be waiting for you.