Research Project: Hindu Mythology (posted by Eliza)

The three main gods in Hinduism are Brahma, the creator god, Vishnu, the preserver god, and Shiva, the destroyer god (only of bad things, don't worry!). Each of the three main gods has a wife to compliment their talents. The three wives are Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and the sister of Shiva, Lakshmi, the goddess of money, and Parvati, the goddess of power. Almost everything comes back to the trimurti. My research topic is about four gods / goddesses whom I think are very interesting.

Ganesha

Ganesha's story starts in a mountainside bathhouse. When Shiva was off on a business trip, his wife, Parvati, needed someone to guard the door whilst she was bathing. So, out of her bathing soaps and oils, Parvati made her son, Ganesha. Parvati ordered him to guard the door. Likewise, when Shiva came back from his trip early, just to find he wasn't let in, he got very frustrated. Shiva and Ganesha dueled, and Shiva chopped off Ganesha's head. When Parvati came outside, like any mother, she got VERY angry. To avoid his wife's wrath, Shiva sent two of his disciples to go and fetch the first animal's head they saw. That is the story of how Ganesha got the head of an elephant!

Ganesha is the Hindu god of wisdom, prosperity, and good fortune. I have noticed Ganesha statues above the entryways of businesses and houses. People worship Ganesha with new businesses, new homes, and marriage. We met Sunil at Jagdish Temple in Udaipur, Sunil pointed out his big belly and said he was like Ganesha, his big belly being a sign of prosperity.

Krishna

Krishna's story starts in a prison cell. Krishna's parents, Devaki and Vasudeva, were being held captives by Devaki's brother, the unjust ruler Kamsa, who feared a prophecy that his nephew would kill him. Miraculously, when Krishna was born the bars swung open. Krishna is the 8th reincarnation of Vishnu, the protector god. Vishnu has been reincarnated nine times when the world has been endangered. The ten avatars of Vishnu are:

1. Matsya - the Fish

2. Kurma - the Tortoise

3. Varaha - the Boar

4. Narasimha - the Man-Lion

5. Vamana - the Dwarf

6. Parasurama - the Angry Man

7. Lord Rama - the Perfect Man

8. Lord Krishna - the Divine Statesman

9. Balarama - Krishna’s Elder Brother

When the world is in danger soon there will be a tenth avatar, Kalki - The Mighty Warrior.

Krishna is almost always depicted with his flute in hand, although Dad and I saw one mural where baby Krishna is drinking milk out of cow's udders. Krishna is the god of love, compassion, protection, and divine play. Essentially, Krishna has blue skin. He went to his lover and threw blue pigment to try and change her skin, then his lover beat him on the head with a stick. Do you recognize anything? This childish prank started Holi! 

Krishna is also the teacher in the Bhadavad Gita, which is basically the Hindu Bible. In the Bhadavad Gita cousins are competing for the throne and they are about to go to war. In the crowd Arjuna sees teachers, friends, and family. Arjuna says to his friend and charioteer, who is also Krishna, that he can not fight. Krishna then talks about reincarnation and Dharma and stuff. Arjuna asks how he knows this. Now Krishna talks about how he is the taste in food, the light in the sun, etc. Arjuna asks if Krishna can show his true form, so Krishna gives Arjuna the gift of divine seeing. Arjuna sees the past, present  and future.

Hanuman

Hanuman was born with the head of a monkey. His mother is Queen Anjana and I can not even imagine what she was thinking at the time. Just as Krishna is a reincarnation of Vishnu, Hanuman is the reincarnation of Shiva, the destroyer god, although Hanuman was not born to save the world. When the monkey was born he was hungry. Hanuman thought the sun was a fruit, so he flew up to eat it. Seeing what Hanuman was up to, the Goddess of thunder struck him dead. Then Shiva had to come and resurrect him. As a child, Hanuman was very mischievous. When he was a teenager, Hanuman went into the woods where he found a sage praying, and Hanuman stole the headpiece from the sage's head. Little did Hanuman know, the sage was actually Rama, the 7th reincarnation of Vishnu. Then Sita, Rama's wife, gets abducted by a demon, Rama and his brother go to find Hanuman for help. Hanuman says yes, and leads an army of monkeys to support Rama in the Ramayana.

After the fighting finished, Hanuman meditated for a long time to become at peace with himself. Hanuman is the god of courage, strength, and self-discipline. If children have nightmares, then parents take them to a Hanuman temple. I watched a video where they interviewed a local lady. She said the monkeys go to the Hanuman temple because they know nobody will come after them with sticks there, since Hanuman is the god of monkeys. I will say that she was very right. 

The Hanuman temple we visited was in Udaipur next to the lake. There were quite a few trees where the monkeys were looking down at you from. I think it was one of the few spots where locals actually fed monkeys.

Durga

I would start off by telling you how Durga was born, but Durga was never born - she was made. Some people would say when Parvati, Shiva's wife, was born, because Parvati turns into Durga when  she gets really angry. Vishnu and Shiva made Durga when a demon buffalo threatened to destroy the world. Durga faced the demon buffalo and his troops with her lion by her side. Durga and her lion beat the troops to a bloody pulp. Then they were face to face with the demon buffalo. At first, Durga wasn't too angry, but when he hurt her lion she went berserk. She chopped off the head of the demon buffalo. Then he turned into a lion, and she chopped off his head, too. The lion became an elephant, and she chopped off his head. Then the elephant turned into a boar and then she chopped off his head again. Finally, he became his buffalo self again. She chopped off his head once and for all. 

Durga is usually shown with 10 or more arms to hold her weapons, and she's basically a killing machine. Now you can probably see why Shiva really didn't want to anger his wife when he chopped off Ganesha's head. Durga is the goddess of protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga is like Athena but way cooler.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Hinduism is both sacred and profane. One example is the yearly pilgrimage. Up to 18,000,000 pilgrims go to Sabarimala, a temple about 70 miles from Kochi every year. The men go on pilgrimages both to get spiritually cleansed and for a boys outing.We saw hundreds of pilgrims at the airport. The pilgrims wear all black, don't shave for a month and are all barefoot. On the women's side of things, there's Pushkar Lake. Women go there both to be in the holy water and to hang out with their friends and go shopping. Also at Pushkar lake there are the priests who say a prayer for you. At the start they say the choice is totally up to you for the payment but by the end they are pressuring you to give them $40. so it is quite hard to tell if they are holy men or complete con artists. Another example that I saw was a mural of a muscle-bound Hanuman, with some of the other gods that were born with animal heads. They're kind of depicted as super heroes, which made it pretty different from the sacred drawings in the Ramayana. I've only gotten to tell you about four Hindu deities, but there are thousands out there.