Gandhari - The blind (folded) queen

When Gandhari, the princess of the kingdom Gandhar was engaged to be married to Dritharashtra of Hastinapur, little did she know that her husband was a blind man. She was crushed yet she married him for the sake of her parents and her kingdom. On the day of her marriage she takes a oath to blindfold herself for the rest of her life and give up on the pleasure of sight in order to prove her devotion towards her husband. Gandhari was blessed by Lord Mahadev that she will give birth to one hundred sons in this lifetime. Thus she becomes the mother of the Kauravas.
When Gandhari was engaged to be married to Dritharashtra, her elder brother Shakuni was not very pleased. He was very upset with his father who chose the welfare of his kingdom over the happiness of his daughter. Hence Shakuni decides to destroy the kingdom of Hastinapur inorder to avenge Bhishma Pitamah who brought the proposal to the kingdom of Gandhar and he moves into Hastinapur and religiously devotes himself in fulfilling his sole life goal of destruction of the kuru clan. Thus the Kauravas grew up on the foundation of hatred laid down by their maternal uncle. Shakuni kept feeding the Kauravas the bitter fruit of revenge. At every stage of the lives of the Kauravas, Shakuni was paving the path for Kurukshetra war.
When Shakuni was playing this foul game, what was Gandhari doing? When she blindfolded herself did she decide to turn a blind eye towards the cruelties of her brother? She could've asked her brother to leave Hastinapur for good and I am sure Shakuni would've even done that. But what stopped her from doing it? Was she insecure in her husband's home and felt secured when her brother was around? Was she helpless because she was always submissive to her ever frustrated and dominating husband? Or did she have that desire in her heart to see her eldest son rule the kingdom which was never wholeheartedly given to her husband in the firstplace? or was she also avenging Bhishma Pitamah who was the reason for her marriage into the kuru clan? Gandhari is a very intriguing character of the Mahabharat indeed. Though she proved to be a devoted wife, she wasn't a very good mother. She could have shown path of Dharma to her hundred sons just like Kunti did to her five sons but she decided to stay mum instead. If only she had put her foot down, Mahabharat would not have been what it was. Gandhari was never a bad woman and neither were her intentions evil. So why was she a silent spectator her brother's wickedness and her son's brutality and injustice. I will leave this question open to everyone to ponder on.

How it all began

How did Mankind come into existance? This has always been a a big mystery to all of us. Many scientists tried to probe into this but they were not able to deduce anything. Their say is that life has always been there on this Earth. There has to be a beginning somewhere isn't it? Like the silly but thought provoking question - chicken came first or egg. Do you wonder if the Earth came into existance along with humans. Like some kind of package deal. Mythology has an answer to that.

According to Bible, Adam and Eve were the first of the Humans on the face of Earth. We all know this from our school days don't we? Adam, was made from the dust while Eve was made from the rib of Adam. Hindu Mythology also has a very interesting story. 

Before we go on with the story allow me to introduce you to Trimurti - Brahma The Creator, Vishnu The Protector and Shiva The Destroyer. 

                                                     Trimurti - Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma

Brahma - The Creator of the Universe

Brahma is like the Human Resources Head. We are in this world because of him. So how did he come into being? To understand this we need to get some facts straight. Mahapralaya happens after 100 years of Brahma's life which is 311 Trillion and 40 million earth years (i have no idea how many zeros follow that figure) and this 100 years of  Brahma equals one day of Maha Vishnu known as 1 Parama. So when Vishnu finishes his day and goes into sleep, the Mahapralaya happens and the next morning he wakes up and gives birth to Brahma. Interesting isn't it?

So after the Mahapralaya, the entire earth was submerged in water. So till Vishnu wakes up from his Yoganidra (a deepest state of relaxation while still maintaining consciousness), the entire universe is withdrawn within him. During this time the three gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are in equilibrium. But when they lose their balance its time for Vishnu to wake up. 

 So how was Brahma born? Vishnu created a lotus from his navel and out of that navel emerged Brahma. Brahma came out of the lotus and he saw the Lord and gained wisdom. He was well versed with all the Vedas. Narayana (Vishnu) gave him the responsibility of creation.

Vishnu - The Protector

Brahma and Shiva came into being because of Vishnu. Vishnu is the supreme and all pervading God of the entire cosmic world. He is the reason for the creation and the destruction of the universe. He is also known as Hari or Narayana.He is the protector of his devotees. The entire Bhagavatham is about his praise. The place he resides is called the Vaikuntam, the highest place for liberated souls after they attain Moksha. 

Shiva - The Destroyer or The Transformer

The third of the Trimurti, Shiva destroys the universe when its time. thus ensuring the cycle of creation and destruction continues. Shiva is also known as Haran. Shiva, clad in tiger skin with serpents around his neck, a crescent moon on his head with Ganges flowing over it, resides in Mount Kailash with his wife Goddess Parvati and two sons Ganesha and Karthikeya. There is no particular story that revolves around how Shiva came into being. It is considered that just like Vishnu, Shiva has always been there. He and Brahma are considered the two halves of Narayana. 

So now that we got an idea about the Trimurti lets move on to see how Brahma went on about achieving his responsibility of creation. It is said that out of the mind of Brahma were born the four rishis - Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanathkumara. They were asked to continue the work of creation but they refused and instead took to attaining salvation at the feet of the almighty. Since they refused to go beyond the Brahmacharyam (celebacy) they remained children and hence they were popularly known as Kumaras. Since they refused to Brahma, he became very angry and this wrath gave birth to Rudra a crying child born out of his forehead. Rudra was assigned the heart, senses, life, sky, air, fire, water, the earth, the sun, the moon and tapas. He was asked to go and produce many in his image. Then Brahma went on with his creation. He created ten sons out of his body - Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrigu, Daksha, Marichi, Vasishtha and Narada. Dharma and Adharma were also born out of Brahma. Out of his heart was born desire and out of his brows anger. His shadow took a form and was named Kardama. From his mind and body the whole world was created and from his four faces the four vedas - Rig, Yajur, Sama and  Atharva. Brahma then divided his body into two, one male called Svayambhu Manu and one female called Shatarupa. These two were the first humans to be born on earth who went to create more and more humans. The first male was Manu, maybe that is why humans came to be called Manushya or Manav. 

Source of Information : Srimad Bhagavatam by Kamala Subramaniam 

Oh dear!!! Another blog on Mythology???

Mythology has always fascinated me. As a child I love listening to stories of Lord Krishna. I grew up in a middle class family who believed in God and raised instilling the same beliefs in us. I've heard the term Bhagavath Gita many a times along with Mahabharata and Ramayana. We all learnt in school that these are the most prominent of Hindu scriptures. But until recently I learnt that there is the most exhaustive scripture of Hinduism called Srimad Bhagavatham. The Lord's praises, his stories written by Vyasa which took its form when Vyasa's son Shuka narrated the story to King Parikshit (the successor of Yudhishtir, the eldest of the Pandavas from Mahabharata, ruler to Hastinapur)who was counting his last few days on earth.
Srimad Bhagavatham narrates the story of Lord Vishnu and his avatars. Major part of this Purana is dedicated to Vishnu's avatar as himself, our favorite God, Lord Krishna.
So how did I get drawn to this suddenly? Thanks to my Mother-In-Law. Once while we were having our dinner, my husband raised a question as to what is the difference between Bhagavath Gita and Bhagavatham. I promptly answered that they are both the same. My MIL was perplexed and wondered how her son and Daughter-In-Law didn't know the difference to two very different Hindu Mythological Scriptures. So that night she explained the difference and decided to teach me Sriman Narayaneeyam.
Narayaneeyam which is condensed Bhagavatham written by Lord Vishnu's ardent devotee, Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri. It is said that Bhattathiri who was suffering from Rheumatism, decided to present the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu by way of 100 Dasakam (group of 10 shlokas). He started composing the famous Narayaneeyam sitting outside the Guruvayoor Temple. It is noteworthy that every last line of his Dasakam ends the same way, asking Lord Guruvayoorappa to cure him of his ailments. On the day he composed the 100th Dasakam, he was completely cured of his ailments. In his 100th dasakam he explains the full vision of the Lord himself, from head to toe a complete discription of Lord Guruvayoorappan as if the almighty presented himself in front of him. One of the many wonders of the Lord is'nt it?
I never managed to get around to completing it until I conceived my son Darsh. So this is how it started. My MIL decided to teach Narayaneeyam to some ladies from our apartment complex and suggested that I learn it too. So i began my lessons and in a month's time I was pregnant. And throughout my pregnancy I learnt and chanted this beautiful verses that sings praise of Lord Vishnu. I may sound very silly here but deep in my heart I knew that I am going to have a son, my own little Krishna. The day I had him I was not surprised, My son just like Prahalaad (I will present his story later in this blog) heard the praises of Lord when he was in my womb, a reason why I  think I find my son drawn to God so much. He loves listening to stories of Lord Krishna, he can recite sholkas without any mistakes after just hearing it a couple of times. My son is definitely blessed and so I am I to have him in my life. Its after him that I got drawn into this Bhakti Sagara even more. And thus began my search. I am currently reading the stories of Srimad Bhagavatam from a book given to me by my Mother-In-Law. This book explains in simple words the entire Bhagavatam. So simple that even a 6 year old can read and follow it. The book is called  Srimad Bhagavatam by Kamala Subramaniam published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
Enchanting Hindu Mythology is my humble attempt to bring these beautiful stories to my friends and folks. A major input to these will be from my MIL ofcourse who is teaching this to all the ladies in our apartment complex. Sitting on the other side of the globe I know this is going to be quite a task but thanks to the endless Skype conversations and my MIL's never-say-no-to-Bhagavatham enthusiasm, I intend to keep this blog alive for as long as I am sane and strong enough to sit in front of the laptop and key away to glory.

Watch this space for some interesting facts about Hinduism.

PS : This blog is composed with help of various resources such as books, my MIL and the enormous resources available on the net. So you must be wondering, when there are so many blogs available online about Mythology, why another one? This is because I know that as my friend you will read my blog and may get fascinated by this subject and then you may search the web more to further your knowledge. So I am only a door that will lead you to the wonderland called Hindu Mythology.