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| Wengenn in Wonderland by Queenie Liao from boredpanda |
And when Narayan had first come into being, he briefly looked around, and then he slept.
Like all brand new children, unused to their new environment, planet Earth, he began his wake/sleep cycles as any infant would: short bursts of awake time with somewhat longer stretches of sleeping time. Awake, sleep, awake, sleep, with no regard for regularity.
Unlike other child deities, however, when Narayan slept, he was the god Narayan and the whole world ceased to be in existence when his eyes were closed. When he awoke, he was the god Vishnu, and the whole world started the cycle of life, and of being, anew again. So it was, that the whole world and the birth/rebirth cycle was dependent on the sleeping patterns of Narayan/Vishnu.
This was troublesome, for as young gods grow, their sleeping patterns change, as all young children's sleeping patterns do. For the first few thousand years of Narayan's life, most of the world was left in darkness and the lifespans of all other living creatures was frequently cut short. (It is why today we have barely any recollection of the dinosaurs and those prehistoric men that roamed with the woolly beasts.) But soon, Narayan entered the phase of his Terrible Two-Thousand's -- that great, dreadful time when deity children refuse naps, refuse to go to bed, and refuse to sleep.
This upset the normal rhythm of the world, and her inhabitants, and Kings and other living creatures soon began to live for hundreds, sometimes even a thousand years, before Narayan would finally sleep and reset the world again. During these awake phases, the Kings were able to build great cities, pyramids, and monuments, one that is even remembered to this day: Babylon. It was through the long period of time where human beings could erect for themselves something of greatness to honor their abilities and show off their intellect. The other gods watched on lazily and without worry, as these humans attempted to reach the heavens with their greatness, for they knew that soon, Narayan would enter into his teenage years, and a great long sleep would come, shutting the world into darkness for a time.
As sure as even today the night sky comes faithfully to give us rest, Narayan entered into his Teenage years and slumbered. He slept long, he slept heavy, and for seemingly impossible lengths of time Narayan continued to snooze on as his body grew and he adjusted into his adult form. The world, today, briefly remembers this time period as the Dark Ages, that time which was lost to us and collective knowledge slipped away.
It was during one of these Teenage years' awake periods that Vishnu, in his awake form, became somewhat self aware, and thus, aware that the world's birth/rebirth cycles seemed to be in sync with his own sleep patterns. He sought ought his best friend, who was ever by his side, Brahma, to seek confirmation in the observation. "Yeah, man, like, everything on the Earth ceases to exist when you sleep, Man... It's a little weird. You're just now realizing this?" Brahma confirmed to his friend, incredulously.
Vishnu, armed with this new information, began to regulate his sleeping and wake cycles, for he was close enough to adulthood that he was able to control these things. He cut out caffeine, worked out regularly, got massages at night to help him sleep (thanks to his beautiful masseuse, Lakshmi) and created for himself a routine of waking Vishnu and sleeping Narayan.
And so, in this modern day, we have regularly spaced lifespans, a general understanding of the flow and rhythm of time and the length of days allotted to each of us, and a limit to the time we are allotted to grow, and expand, and share our wealth of knowledge with each other.
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| Vishnu and Lakshmi on Shesha Naga, from Wikimedia Commons |
Author's Note: I learned about this fact of Narayan while he was sleeping/ Vishnu while he was awake from 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik via Video Book form on YouTube. (Which is a great series, by the way! The Video Book format really makes it more digestable.)This chapter and episode was called "Narayan's Secret."
In it, it spoke of the world ceasing to exist while Narayan slept, in which he was Narayan, and the world coming to life again when he awoke, in his Vishnu form. I simply overlayed this story to the story of the world, attempting to link up historical markers with wake/sleep cycles as patterns of sleep of a boy who is growing to his adult form. In the traditional image of Narayan, goddess Lakshmi, his consort, is usually rubbing a foot, he rests on a Shesha Naga, and attached to his navel like an umbilical chord is the god Brahma, who sits on a lotus tree. I incorporated these characters into my version of the story as well.
