Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik
Image from Reading Guides post MLLL4993
This week I am starting Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik. It is a mostly illustrated book detailing the animal tales from Hindu Mythology. I should mention that last week, I FINISHED (!!!!) 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik (via videobook format on YouTube!). He is a really great author, and while 7 Secrets was very informative, Pashu is lighthearted and fun! It's a perfect fit for right now, because all the small little stories seem like quick review of the more in depth stories I have been learning all semester (especially from the 7 Secrets book). I really recommend giving 7 Secrets a chance, especially if you're looking for a comprehensive overview of Hinduism. The Reading Notes I made on the whole 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art book-videos can be found here.
"Within infinite myths lies an eternal truth,
Who Knows it all?
Varuna has but a thousand eyes,
Indra, a hundred
You and I, only two."
Pashu: Pashu means animals in Sanskrit. Without animals in Hindu mythologies, the stories of gods, demons, humans and sages are incomplete.
- All animals had a common father, Kashyapa (prajapati, father of all creatures), son of Brahma, but different mothers
- Timi gave birth to animals who swim
- Vinata........... garudas, to animals who fly
- Kadru .......... nagas, to animals who creep and crawl
- Surabhi........ to gentle animals with hooves
- Sarama ........ to wild animals with paws
- Surasa......... to animals who are different (monsters) :)
- Aditi.... gave birth to the devas
- Diti..... gave birth to the asuras -- demons who live under the earth
Origination Story of Humanity:
- "The first man, Brahma, saw the first woman, Shatarupa, and fell in love with her. He tried to touch her, but she laughed, and to avoid getting caught, she turned into a doe. Brahma turned into a stag, so she turned into mare, he became a stallion, she turned into a cow, he into a bull. She became a goose and flew up in the air, he followed her and took the form of a gander. Every time she took a female form, he took the male form.
- This went on for millions of years, thus, over time, all kinds of beasts came into being...
Yogi Lore... Yogasanas
- "Shiva, the great yogi, was at peace with himself. In his joy, he assumed many poses, known as asanas. Many of these poses resembled animals. For example, ustra-asana resembled a camel. When Shiva took this pose, camels came into being. And so it was, Shiva stood in millions of poses, giving rise to millions of different kinds of animals."
Avatars
- Vishnu, who lives in the Ocean of Milk, sometime descends to walk the earth in the form of an animal avatar. "So the next time you see a fish, remember that it was once Vishnu." In memory of the many forms he took, various animals came into being.
Rashi
- constellation/zodiacs are called Rashi. Who came first? The stars or the animals, since the constellations resemble the animals? Did the design of the stars inspire the gods to create the animals?
Yoni
- Some Hindus believe that a being gets a human life after passing through 8,40,000 animal wombs. Astrologers say that one can find out which was the last animal's womb or yoni based on the time of one's birth. Your Yoni determines your personality, examples: elephant, cow, mare, snake, cat, dog, rat, monkey, tiger, goat, buffalo, and deer.
- This is a really interesting concept, and makes me think of the Chinese zodiacs and astrology with the year of the snake, or the year of the rooster. I would be really interested to know what Yoni I was born into. It's a shame that an old professor of mine was a Hindu temple priest and offered to read students' astrology's at the end of the semester. He read mine, but I had no framework for which to understand it, so sadly it was lost on me. I wish I could hear my Indian astrology again now that I have a better understanding about it.
Timi's Children, Who Swim
Manu
- 1st Human Being, Flood Story with Manu bringing all that is important to humanity on a boat. The giant fish he had saved (later revealed to be Vishnu) sprouted a horn and he tied the boat to the horn, and the fish took the boat to the highest place on Earth, Mount Meru.
- Needs to be a balance between generosity and restraint (created civilization by saving the fish, but his generosity had destroyed the earth)
Parikshit's Wife
- Parikshit was the grandson of Arjuna, the famous archer. He was seduced by a frog princess (!!! sounds like a Disney story to me!), in her human form, and she made her husband promise that he would never let her see a body of water. Well, she saw a pond one day, and jumped right in, returning to her frog form. The husband ordered all the frogs to be murdered, and in order to make the murder stop, he promised to return his frog princess daughter to him as his husband in human form. She returned and followed him back to his house, but the love between them was never the same again. HA!
The Churning Of The Ocean
- I really like this story, and think it's really cute, but I've come across it a few times before already. Basically, the whole Ocean gets churned by a pair of enemies with a snake wrapped around a mount to stir the ocean, with a turtle as the base. Poison first comes up from the Ocean and threatens to kill everyone, but Shiva had compassion on them and swallowed all the poison. Next comes really magnificent beasts up from the Ocean.
Adrika
- A fish cursed to live as a fish until she gives birth to human children! She went up to a man (a King called Uparichara) and drank his sweat, and became pregnant with twin human children. Someone found her and cut her open and that is how she gave birth to humans, but her twin children smelled dreadfully fishy! This is a story from the Mahabharata, and I think it is a darling little story to tell about how to become pregnant (instead of the tired old "Oh, the Stork delivered you" tale.) I could definitely see myself writing a story expanding on this cute little narrative.
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