Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik Reading Notes Part B

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik
Image from MLLL 4993 Reading Notes Guide

The Churning of the Milk Ocean!

 Probably one of my very favorite ideas from Hinduism

Image from Wikipedia

Vinata's Children Who Fly:

• Vinata/Vinita, who cares?
• Impatient with her eggs to hatch, she broke one early, and from it came Aruni, the shapeless god of dawn (charioteer of Surya, the Sun god). He was shapeless and angry with his mother for hatching him early.
• Her 2nd child was Garuda, the king of the birds
• He was once the slave of the nagas, the serpents, but he tricked them, and Indra granted him the power to eat the nagas as his natural food. From that day forward, he is always depicted with a snake in his talons
• Once their slave, now their predator

Jaimini Mahabharata

• I didn't know that another version of the Mahabharata existed, but apparently it does, and it's called the Jaimini Mahabharata. It's also apparently quite different than the Mahabharata that Vyasa wrote down. It's from 4 parrots who hatched under a bell in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and heard things in the hearts and minds of the warriors. The sages who came to clean the field when it was all over discovered them, and realized that they had heard things that no one else could have heard. They granted them the power to have human speech, and they told the stories, and their stories were written down by the sage Jaimini.

Goose has the power to separate milk from water. In other words, it has the ability to separate truth from falsehood. Saraswati is associated with the goose, and with herons, who are known for their concentration. 

Lakshmi/Alakshmi

• This is really interesting, because it highlights superstition around owls, which we have here in the West. If I am not mistaken, it is inauspicious to have an owl hanging around your house, right? From the Hindu perspective, Alakshmi, represented by the owl, brings quarrels to the household, if Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is not treated with respect. 

Turtle Island, from Pinterest and TugboatPrintShop

Kadru's Children, Serpents

I could find a lot of images with the earth resting on the back of a turtle, which is one of the ideas presented in Hinduism. Pattanaik also introduces the idea that the Earth rests on the hood of a serpent like a jewel. This serpent, Adi-Ananta-Shesha floats on the Ocean of Milk, and his coils are Vishnu's bed. I can also find a lot of images of this. However, I can't find many images representing the earth resting on the hood of a serpent.... "Naga-Mani" the serpent jewel, found in the hood of some special serpents, "it has the power to heal and bring fortune." "When Arjuna was wounded in battle against Babruvahana, the snake princess Uloopi secured this gem to save Arjuna's life."

World Elephant from Wikipedia

We also learned that 8 elephants hold up the earth, standing on the four cardinal directions and 4 other directions of the Earth, and they then stand on a turtle. 

We also learn that Nagaloka, the realm of the serpents, lives inside of the Earth. The whole spatial conception of how the Earth is held up and what's inside the earth, and where each of the realms sits compeltely fascinates me! Bhogavati is the underwater serpent kingdom also, where they rescued Bhima from drowning and cured him from the poison he had been fed. 

***"The Serpent Karkotaka stays coiled around Shiva's neck. As long as he is there he is safe from Garuda.