Eclipse…the mythological aspect
Just came across a text stating the mythology behind this celestial phenomenon. According to this text…the story of solar eclipse stems from what is popularly known as Samudra Manthan. It is said that at the time of Samudra Manthan when the sweet tasting nectar of immortality came out, there was a huge tug-of-war among the Devtas and the Asuras as to who will drink the Amrit, then the devtas approached Lord Vishnu who disguised as a damsel known as Mohini. As accomplished she was, Mohini kept the asuras enchanted with her beauty and poured the amrit only to the devtas…but two of the asuras Rahu and Ketu managed to sneak in-between the devtas and sipped the amrit but Surya Dev and Chandra Dev, because of his luminous nature were able to the spot them and Lord Vishnu acted soon and killed the asuras with his chakra but by that time the amrit had already reached their throat, so their heads became immortal, and so to seek revenge Rahu and Ketu occasionally swallow the sun and moon and the heavenly bodies then travel through the throat to finally appear again.
Strange, but true this is what our mythology states. Wonder how did people manage to think something as insane as that…Thank God for Science and scientist or else even we would trust such preposterous stories.
Just came across a text stating the mythology behind this celestial phenomenon. According to this text…the story of solar eclipse stems from what is popularly known as Samudra Manthan. It is said that at the time of Samudra Manthan when the sweet tasting nectar of immortality came out, there was a huge tug-of-war among the Devtas and the Asuras as to who will drink the Amrit, then the devtas approached Lord Vishnu who disguised as a damsel known as Mohini. As accomplished she was, Mohini kept the asuras enchanted with her beauty and poured the amrit only to the devtas…but two of the asuras Rahu and Ketu managed to sneak in-between the devtas and sipped the amrit but Surya Dev and Chandra Dev, because of his luminous nature were able to the spot them and Lord Vishnu acted soon and killed the asuras with his chakra but by that time the amrit had already reached their throat, so their heads became immortal, and so to seek revenge Rahu and Ketu occasionally swallow the sun and moon and the heavenly bodies then travel through the throat to finally appear again.
Strange, but true this is what our mythology states. Wonder how did people manage to think something as insane as that…Thank God for Science and scientist or else even we would trust such preposterous stories.
4 comments:
am aamused by the whole thing by the way wich newspaper..if u can name it...and today i saw someting as stupid as this one on a news channel, in some remote areas of assam they dug up pits to bury (halfly only their heads visible) kids who are handicapped becoz they believe during eclispe doing such a nonsense would cure them!!
now no words for this one rite...it happens only in India...pity them..
Religion really baffles me sometimes. People died in a stampede which took place as people tried to take a did in the Ganges during the eclipse. I mean its so sad lives have to be lost trying to keep up with the intricracies of religion and mythology.
Dat swallowing part wala was damn funny,I mean I hope I m not hurting sentiments here,but it indeed is funny !!
And sageeeeee's comment is like icing on the cake...!!*sarcastic look*
It indeed does happen onlyyy in India..!!
@Sangeeta: It was some paper Dainik Jagran/Bhaskar or some crap..Even I heard of it we were discussing this also..even I pitty those kids...wonder how can we so blindly believe such non-sense when even our mythology is struggling for verification...
@Hari:I agree and what bothers me all the more is that even after repeated incidences like these people still fail to understand..Sometimes I feel people don't want to understand...
@Khushboo: No sweety, U aren't hurting any sentiments..what is a fact is a fact..such bed time stories are not national issue to be in a paper...
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