Changes

{{ToBeEdited}}

{{ToBeEdited}}

The Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas contain a lot of myths or unbelievable stories. An example from the Mahabharata is the passage given below that describes the birth of the snakes (Nagas) and the bird Garuda. The two sisters Kadru and Vinata were married to the sage Kasyapa. Subsequently it is said that Kadru and Vinata laid eggs and from those eggs were born the snakes as well as the bird named Garuda.  

The Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas contain a lot of myths or unbelievable stories. An example from the Mahabharata is the passage given below that describes the birth of the snakes (Nagas) and the bird [[Garuda (गरुडः)]]. The two sisters Kadru and Vinata were married to the sage Kasyapa. Subsequently it is said that Kadru and Vinata laid eggs and from those eggs were born the snakes (to Kadru) as well as the bird named Garuda (to Vinata).  

'''Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva, Upa-parva: Astika Parva, Chapter: 16'''<blockquote>"''In the golden age, Prajapati had two daughters. The sisters were endowed with wonderful beauty. Named Kadru and Vinata, they became the wives of Kasyapa. Kasyapa derived great pleasure from his two wedded wives and being gratified he, resembling Prajapati himself, offered to give each of them a '''boon'''. Hearing that their lord was willing to confer on them their choice blessings, those excellent ladies felt transports of joy. Kadru wished to have for sons a '''thousand snakes''' all of equal splendour. And Vinata wished to bring forth two sons surpassing the thousand offsprings of Kadru in strength, energy, size of body, and prowess. Unto Kadru her lord gave that boon about a multitude of offspring. And unto Vinata also, Kasyapa said, ‘Be it so!’ Then Vinata, having; obtained her prayer, rejoiced greatly. Obtaining two sons of superior prowess, she regarded her boon fulfilled. Kadru also obtained her thousand sons of equal splendour. ‘Bear the embryos carefully,’ said Kasyapa, and then he went into the forest, leaving his two wives pleased with his blessings.’''"</blockquote><blockquote>"''Sauti continued, ‘O best of regenerate ones, after a long time, Kadru brought forth a '''thousand eggs''', and Vinata two. Their maid-servants deposited the eggs separately in warm vessels. '''Five hundred years''' passed away, and the thousand eggs produced by Kadru burst and out came the progeny. But the twins of Vinata did not appear. Vinata was jealous, and therefore she broke one of the eggs and found in it an embryo with the upper part developed but the lower one undeveloped. At this, the child in the egg became angry and '''cursed''' his mother, saying. ‘Since thou hast prematurely broken this egg, thou shall serve as a slave. Shouldst thou wait five hundred years and not destroy, or render the other egg half-developed, by breaking it through impatience, then the illustrious child within it will deliver thee from slavery! And if thou wouldst have the child strong, thou must take tender care of the egg for all this time!’ Thus cursing his mother, the child rose to the sky. O Brahmana, even he is the charioteer of Surya, '''always seen in the hour of morning!'''''"</blockquote><blockquote>"''Then '''at the expiration of the five hundred years''', bursting open the other '''egg''', out came '''Garuda, the serpent-eater'''.''"</blockquote>This information has an element of unbelievability in it so the 'myth' is explained.

'''Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva, Upa-parva: Astika Parva, Chapter: 16'''<blockquote>"''In the golden age, Prajapati had two daughters. The sisters were endowed with wonderful beauty. Named Kadru and Vinata, they became the wives of Kasyapa. Kasyapa derived great pleasure from his two wedded wives and being gratified he, resembling Prajapati himself, offered to give each of them a '''boon'''. Hearing that their lord was willing to confer on them their choice blessings, those excellent ladies felt transports of joy. Kadru wished to have for sons a '''thousand snakes''' all of equal splendour. And Vinata wished to bring forth two sons surpassing the thousand offsprings of Kadru in strength, energy, size of body, and prowess. Unto Kadru her lord gave that boon about a multitude of offspring. And unto Vinata also, Kasyapa said, ‘Be it so!’ Then Vinata, having; obtained her prayer, rejoiced greatly. Obtaining two sons of superior prowess, she regarded her boon fulfilled. Kadru also obtained her thousand sons of equal splendour. ‘Bear the embryos carefully,’ said Kasyapa, and then he went into the forest, leaving his two wives pleased with his blessings.’''"</blockquote><blockquote>"''Sauti continued, ‘O best of regenerate ones, after a long time, Kadru brought forth a '''thousand eggs''', and Vinata two. Their maid-servants deposited the eggs separately in warm vessels. '''Five hundred years''' passed away, and the thousand eggs produced by Kadru burst and out came the progeny. But the twins of Vinata did not appear. Vinata was jealous, and therefore she broke one of the eggs and found in it an embryo with the upper part developed but the lower one undeveloped. At this, the child in the egg became angry and '''cursed''' his mother, saying. ‘Since thou hast prematurely broken this egg, thou shall serve as a slave. Shouldst thou wait five hundred years and not destroy, or render the other egg half-developed, by breaking it through impatience, then the illustrious child within it will deliver thee from slavery! And if thou wouldst have the child strong, thou must take tender care of the egg for all this time!’ Thus cursing his mother, the child rose to the sky. O Brahmana, even he is the charioteer of Surya, '''always seen in the hour of morning!'''''"</blockquote><blockquote>"''Then '''at the expiration of the five hundred years''', bursting open the other '''egg''', out came '''Garuda, the serpent-eater'''.''"</blockquote>This information has an element of unbelievability in it so the 'myth' is explained.

# '''Complete Rejection: The entire myth is false and an imagination''' (Snakes and birds are never born of women, women never lay eggs from which snakes and birds are hatched, there is no existence to Kadru, Vinata, Kashyapa, Garuda or Aruna as they are part of an imaginative story)

# '''Complete Rejection: The entire myth is false and an imagination''' (Snakes and birds are never born of women, women never lay eggs from which snakes and birds are hatched, there is no existence to Kadru, Vinata, Kashyapa, Garuda or Aruna as they are part of an imaginative story)

# '''Filtered Acceptance: There is some truth in the myth but there is some falsehood''' (Women never lay eggs to give rise to snakes and birds; nobody lives for 1000s of years; but Kasyapa, Kardu, Vinata, Aruna, Garuda and Surya existed; Aruna and Garuda could be sons of Vinata; Aruna later could have become charioteer of Surya; Aruna might had some bodily disability below abdomen; Garuda could have ended slavery of Vinata, who for some time lived as a slave (of Kadru); Garuda could have eaten snakes for food, like many people we know today)

# '''Filtered Acceptance: There is some truth in the myth but there is some falsehood''' (Women never lay eggs to give rise to snakes and birds; nobody lives for 1000s of years; but Kasyapa, Kardu, Vinata, Aruna, Garuda and Surya existed; Aruna and Garuda could be sons of Vinata; Aruna later could have become charioteer of Surya; Aruna might had some bodily disability below abdomen; Garuda could have ended slavery of Vinata, who for some time lived as a slave (of Kadru); Garuda could have eaten snakes for food, like many people we know today)

# '''Filtered Acceptance with Additions: There is some truth in the myth, but there are some gaps to be bridged and some falsehood to be discarded''' (Women never lay eggs to give rise to snakes and birds; nobody lives for 1000s of years; but Kasyapa, Kardu, Vinata, Aruna, Garuda and Surya existed; Kadru and Vinata were wives of Kashyapa; Kadru was fond of snakes, who used to raise snakes as pets; Vinata was jealous of Kadru, disliked snakes and liked birds who predate on snakes; Kasyapa, pleased with Kadru, gave here 1000 snake eggs; Kasyapa, pleased with Vinata, gave her 2 eggs of a bird (possibly hawk) that predate on snakes; Kasyapa mentioned wives to preserve the embryos inside the eggs very well and left. Maid-servants kept the eggs each in warm vessels to preserve the embryos; Kadru's eggs hatched first and she raised the 1000 snakes as her own sons; Bird eggs of Vinata took long time to hatch. An impatient Vinata broke open one of the eggs. She was shocked to find that the embryo was only half developed, horrifyingly mixed with fresh red (Aruna = red) blood!. The half developed bird embryo struggled to breath and died. Vinata felt guilty of what she did. She felt like the soul of the dead bird going up and merging with the morning son that shone red (Aruna = red) in the eastern horizon at that time; She felt that the bird's soul is cursing her, for what she had done to it; In the later stages of her life when she had to live like a slave (of Kadru), she felt it was due to her sin of breaking the half developed egg; the other egg hatched properly and a bird was born; She named the bird Garuda; that bird started eating snakes as its food; Vinata was very happy to see it devouring snakes and secretly wished to feed all of Kadru's pet snake to him. Later, Kadru and Vinata got many sons born of Kasyapa. Vinata named her first son in memory of the dead bird and named him Aruna (the red one). Aruna might also had some (minor?) bodily disability below abdomen (like a weak leg?), by birth or post birth; This son Aruna, in his later life became the charioteer of king Surya; She named her second son as Garuda in the fond memory of the other bird; Garuda in his later life ended slavery of Vinata; Garuda was fond of eating snakes as food, which became part of his non-vegetarian diet, probably encouraged by his mother Vinata, who hated Kadru and her snakes; Kadru's sons and grandsons themselves were font of snakes, like Kadru; They later developed into a race called the Nagas who worshiped the snakes as part of their culture, religion and ritual; They raised snakes as pets in their dwellings; Vinata's sons including Garuda, and her grandsons hated snakes and they worshiped birds (like hawks) that predated on snakes, and raised these birds as pets in their dwellings; they later developed into a race called the Suparnas / Garudas / Vainateyas. They ate snakes as part of their food-habits and became arch rivals of the Nagas;)

# '''Filtered Acceptance with Additions: There is some truth in the myth, but there are some gaps to be bridged and some falsehood to be discarded''' (Women never lay eggs to give rise to snakes and birds; nobody lives for 1000s of years; but Kasyapa, Kardu, Vinata, Aruna, Garuda and Surya existed; Kadru and Vinata were wives of Kashyapa; Kadru was fond of snakes, who used to raise snakes as pets; Vinata was jealous of Kadru, disliked snakes and liked birds who predate on snakes; Kasyapa, pleased with Kadru, gave here 1000 snake eggs; Kasyapa, pleased with Vinata, gave her 2 eggs of a bird (possibly hawk) that predate on snakes; Kasyapa mentioned wives to preserve the embryos inside the eggs very well and left. Maid-servants kept the eggs each in warm vessels to preserve the embryos; Kadru's eggs hatched first and she raised the 1000 snakes as her own sons; Bird eggs of Vinata took long time to hatch. An impatient Vinata broke open one of the eggs. She was shocked to find that the embryo was only half developed, horrifyingly mixed with fresh red (Aruna = red) blood!. The half developed bird embryo struggled to breath and died. Vinata felt guilty of what she did. She felt like the soul of the dead bird going up and merging with the morning son that shone red (Aruna = red) in the eastern horizon at that time; She felt that the bird's soul is cursing her, for what she had done to it; In the later stages of her life when she had to live like a slave (of Kadru), she felt it was due to her papa (पापम्) of breaking the half developed egg; the other egg hatched properly and a bird was born; She named the bird Garuda; that bird started eating snakes as its food; Vinata was very happy to see it devouring snakes and secretly wished to feed all of Kadru's pet snake to him. Later, Kadru and Vinata got many sons born of Kasyapa. Vinata named her first son in memory of the dead bird and named him Aruna (the red one). Aruna might also had some (minor?) bodily disability below abdomen (like a weak leg?), by birth or post birth; This son Aruna, in his later life became the charioteer of king Surya; She named her second son as Garuda in the fond memory of the other bird; Garuda in his later life ended slavery of Vinata; Garuda was fond of eating snakes as food, which became part of his non-vegetarian diet, probably encouraged by his mother Vinata, who hated Kadru and her snakes; Kadru's sons and grandsons themselves were font of snakes, like Kadru; They later developed into a race called the Nagas who worshiped the snakes as part of their culture, religion and ritual; They raised snakes as pets in their dwellings; Vinata's sons including Garuda, and her grandsons hated snakes and they worshiped birds (like hawks) that predated on snakes, and raised these birds as pets in their dwellings; they later developed into a race called the Suparnas / Garudas / Vainateyas. They ate snakes as part of their food-habits and became arch rivals of the Nagas;)

# '''Acceptance invoking aliens: There is some truth in the myth and what seems to be falsehood can be explained scientifically''' (Vinata and Kadru were two alien ladies, who laid eggs for reproduction; After uniting with the human Kashyapa, they laid eggs; Kadru laid 1000 eggs from which were born 1000 snakes and Vinata laid 2 eggs from which were born the two birds Aruna and Garuda; the snakes and the birds Aruna and Garuda had the human genes of sage Kasyapa, so they can speak in human language; Since they were alien, they lived for thousands of years and it took 500 to 1000 years to hatch the eggs; the snake sons of Kadru later developed into the Naga race; since they had human genes in them they could transform into a human form if needed and at other times appear as snakes; similarly Vinata's bird like son Garuda, since he too possessed human genes had the traits of humans and birds; Vinata's first son Aruna, who had some bodily disability below the abdomen, probably due to improper human-alien genetic combination, aggravated by the fact that the egg was broken prematurely, became an associate of Surya who was an alien astronaut who was in control of the sun (probably in charge of controlling solar winds that affect the weather on Earth))

# '''Acceptance invoking aliens: There is some truth in the myth and what seems to be falsehood can be explained scientifically''' (Vinata and Kadru were two alien ladies, who laid eggs for reproduction; After uniting with the human Kashyapa, they laid eggs; Kadru laid 1000 eggs from which were born 1000 snakes and Vinata laid 2 eggs from which were born the two birds Aruna and Garuda; the snakes and the birds Aruna and Garuda had the human genes of sage Kasyapa, so they can speak in human language; Since they were alien, they lived for thousands of years and it took 500 to 1000 years to hatch the eggs; the snake sons of Kadru later developed into the Naga race; since they had human genes in them they could transform into a human form if needed and at other times appear as snakes; similarly Vinata's bird like son Garuda, since he too possessed human genes had the traits of humans and birds; Vinata's first son Aruna, who had some bodily disability below the abdomen, probably due to improper human-alien genetic combination, aggravated by the fact that the egg was broken prematurely, became an associate of Surya who was an alien astronaut who was in control of the sun (probably in charge of controlling solar winds that affect the weather on Earth))

# '''Acceptance invoking divinity: The myth is true and what seems to be falsehood has a divine explanation''' (Vinata and Kadru were not humans; they were divine beings created by god Brahma (through Prajapati) and so is sage Kasyapa; For divine beings, everything is possible, including giving birth by laying eggs. So there is no wonder if Kadru gave birth through 1000 snakes by laying thousand eggs and if Vinata gave birth to Aruna and Garuda by laying two divine eggs. Snakes were also divine; Some like Ananta and Vasuki were gods; Some like Takshaka and most other snakes became devious and dangerous; Garuda is a powerful god; Aruna was indeed born exactly as explained in the myth, as he too is a god and is capable of doing what he did and went to sun-god Surya to became his charioteer. Contrary to what astronomers think today, the sun-god is indeed driven by Aruna in a chariot across our skies and it is of no use questioning this divine principle.)

# '''Acceptance invoking divinity: The myth is true and what seems to be falsehood has a divine explanation''' (Vinata and Kadru were not humans; they were divine beings created by god Brahma (through Prajapati) and so is sage Kasyapa; For divine beings, everything is possible, including giving birth by laying eggs. So there is no wonder if Kadru gave birth through 1000 snakes by laying thousand eggs and if Vinata gave birth to Aruna and Garuda by laying two divine eggs. Snakes were also divine; Some like Ananta and Vasuki were gods; Some like Takshaka and most other snakes became devious and dangerous; Garuda is a powerful god; Aruna was indeed born exactly as explained in the myth, as he too is a god and is capable of doing what he did and went to sun-god Surya to became his charioteer. Contrary to what astronomers think today, the sun-god is indeed driven by Aruna in a chariot across our skies and it is of no use questioning this divine principle.)

== Reference ==

== Reference ==

http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/de-mystifying-myths

http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/de-mystifying-myths