Ancient myths of India. Tales about the creation of the night, about the origin of Death

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

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 thrifty 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 to understand how similar they are. Only names and minor facts have been replaced for better readability.

The mythology of Ancient India is strongly connected with the Vedic religion and the teachings of 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. Everythingshould have retained 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 describing modern scientific theories regarding the origin of human life.

Nevertheless, the ancient myths of India tell of many different variations of the origin of this or that 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 started the flow of time, created countries and other gods, so that he would no longer experience loneliness.

They, 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 the flame of anger and cruelty, but helps those who regularly offer prayers to him.

Earlier, 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 passed Daksha - the lord andparent of all creatures on earth.

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

But the most popular version is this: Daksha, at the behest of the gods, first created a cleansing sacrifice, to which he called everyone except Rudra, hiding 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 sacrifice 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 worship Rudra and make sacrifices to him.

Enemies of Aditi's children

Initially, 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 were able to change their appearances. 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 the 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 tothe concept of "demon" and denotes a bloodthirsty insane creature that can only kill.

Eternal life

Earlier in the world, no one 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 places became less and less.

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 an 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…

The end of immortality

Exhorted Rudra Brahma, asked not to destroy the world that was created with such difficulty, and not to blame your 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 was 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 takethe lives of those who have been overtaken by an incurable disease, destructive vices and obscuring passions.

So Death remained beyond human hatred, which at least slightly brightens 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 opposite-sex twins, they were given almost identical 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 god of Death, 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 are serving their sentences.

Where did the night come from

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

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

And then, 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".