DEVDUTT PATTANAIK
DEVLOK with Devdutt Pattanaik 3
PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
1. Rites of Passage
2. Surya Dev
3. Fathers
4. Versions of the Ramayana
5. Radha
6. Christianity and the Bible
7. Shabri
8. Buddhism
9. Dwarka
10. Gramadevata
11. Dravida
12. Ravana
13. Khajuraho Temples
14. Yoga
15. Eight Types of Marriage
16. Hero/Prophet
17. Kingship
18. Jainism
Author’s Note
Follow Penguin
Copyright
PENGUIN BOOKS
DEVLOK WITH DEVDUTT PATTANAIK 3
Devdutt Pattanaik writes, illustrates and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. He has, since 1996, written over thirty books and 600 columns on how stories, symbols and rituals construct the subjective truth (myths) of ancient and modern cultures around the world. His books with Penguin Random House India include The Book of Ram, Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata, Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana, The Girl Who Chose and the ‘Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik’ series, among others. He consults with corporations on leadership and governance, and TV channels on mythological serials. His TV shows include Business Sutra on CNBC-TV18 and Devlok on Epic Channel. To know more, visit www.devdutt.com.
By the Same Author
Myth=Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology
The Book of Ram
The Pregnant King
Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata
Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana
Shikhandi and Other Queer Tales They Don’t Tell You
Jaya Colouring Book
Sita Colouring Book
Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik
Olympus: An Indian Retelling of the Greek Myths
Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik 2
1
Rites of Passage
India is all about sanskar (culture) and riti–riwaz (rituals and traditions). These are also known as rites of passage. What is the meaning of the word ‘sanskar’?
A simple meaning would be an experience of culture. It has been given a lot of importance in the Vedas. There is a concept in the Vedas called akriti (shape or form) which is of two kinds—prakriti and sanskriti. Prakriti is what is natural or default upon which man adds his own shape. This is sanskriti. From here, sanskar arises. Prakriti has another word for it called sansar, i.e., the world that is formed by karma—action and reaction. Man changes sansar by adding sanskar. ‘Ka’ is added which, in the Vedas, is associated with god, with the human intellect. Man is one animal who asks questions from ‘ka’—why (kyun), when (kab) and where (kahan). Animals do not ask these questions. The shape that arises from these questions is called sanskar. It’s a sophisticated idea that from sanskar, one experiences being human. An animal does not have any training. It has inborn or instinctive knowledge. A bird learns to feed and fly on its own. Man needs to learn to become human. Hence, sanskar or rites of passage. There are two ways of looking at sanskar. One is what I arrive with from an earlier birth, of the past. One is that of upbringing, which I experience in this life through the rituals in society.
In TV serials today, we often hear the word ‘sanskari’, particularly in reference to women. What does it mean?
The English translation of it would be ‘cultured’. If you go to someone’s house and find it neat and tidy and you are offered water, you feel that it is a sanskari house. If you are not offered water, you feel they do not have sanskar. Whether a child has brushed or bathed before eating and so on tells of his upbringing. Children are the report card of their parents. They show whether their parents have given them sanskar or not. Another indicator of this is how you behave with other people. Even an animal looks after himself. But how you treat others (mehman-nawazi) tells of your upbringing. How you treat your daughters-in-law, strangers, guests; how you look after your house; and how you behave when you have money and when you don’t. Rama is sanskari even in the jungle. As the famous sentence goes, you can remove Rama from Ayodhya, but you cannot remove Ayodhya from Rama. This suggests that sanskar and discipline are embedded in Rama.
What is the connection between sanskar and dharma?
Dharma is a wider concept. A human being’s dharma is humanity. How do you express it? Through rules, rites and sanskar. These are the mediums of showing your humanity. Today, dharma uses religious terms. She goes to the temple, so she is sanskari. That’s not quite correct. Religious does not mean sanskari.
In our culture, how many sanskars are there?
The list is variable. In the Purva Mimamsa, brushing of teeth and bathing are also sanskars. Sometimes it’s sixteen, sometimes forty-eight. The rites of passage are divided into four groups—wedding, birth, growing up and death.
Tell us about wedding sanskars.
In India, it’s been called an experience. Today, a marriage has to be registered legally and is seen as a contract. This has come from Islam. There’s a give and take between individuals and it is seen as an institution of god. This is not in the shastras. There it is an anubhav, an experience. You are a human being and you have to experience grahasth life, which means you have to assume the duties and responsibilities of a householder. The original idea is that men and women are independent. The notion about women being dependent on men is a later addition from the Manusmriti. In the Vedic times, men and women were independent. Vivaah brought them together to experience living together and having a child. So some rituals are very important in a marriage ceremony. One is kanya-daan where a father gives away (daan) his daughter and the other, panigrahan, in which the boy accepts the hand of the girl. Today it’s simplified as a varmala ritual. Another ritual is saptapadi. You take seven steps together where you agree to share seasons, food, wealth and prosperity, children, knowledge and love. So vivaah is the meeting of two individuals. In India, it is also the meeting of families and communities. The environment of the house changes after a wedding. Mostly, a girl enters a new home. Sometimes, boys go too. Arjuna marries Chitrangada but she never goes to his house. Rather, he goes to her house.
Was the kanya-daan concept always there?
In a swayamvara or gandharva vivaah, there was no kanya-daan. It was present in arranged marriages, and when patriarchy became prominent, a woman was considered an object that belonged to the father to give away. Many girls today don’t like this concept. The important aspect of sanskar is that your experience is socially approved. You declare socially. Otherwise, a man and woman can simply live together. Sanskar is always public. When a girl enters a household, many changes occur because she brings her values. Her cooking style and home-management style will be different. In earlier times, she would bring seeds as she travelled from one village to another, bringing new vegetation into her new home. She is said to be Lakshmi. In a manner, she is also Saraswati as she brings new knowledge and new thoughts. If you go into the details, you’ll find that vivaah does not connote physical relations. Vivaah is social. There’s another ritual, garbharansanskar, where there is a physical relationship. In earlier times, there used to be child marriages, so the boy and girl would live with their parents. When they became physically mature, called gaunasanskar in some parts of India, there were rituals to prepare the boy and girl for physical relations. One was to see Arundhatitara. The boy and girl would never have touched each other. The ritual is there for the boy to touch the girl in a manner that she is comfortabl
e with. He is trained. He asks her whether she has seen the Arundhati star. She may say yes or no. She is asked to show it to the boy. She points to the sky and the boy leads her arm towards the right star. That is their first physical contact. Why Arundhati? She is Rishi Vasishtha’s wife and associated with fidelity.
What are the rituals of childhood?
These start with a woman’s pregnancy. One is seemantham or baby shower. The pregnant woman is called home, her puja is done and she is fed and given gifts. She becomes aware that her life is going to change. Again, an experience in a social space. Privately, she is pregnant, she is going to have a baby one day. The newborn baby is handed over to the father. Jatakrama is the ritual of the father holding the baby for the first time to give him an experience of fatherhood. Annaprashan is the ritual of the baby eating its first solid food. There’s another ritual for when the baby is taken outside the house for the first time and another for ear-piercing (karnavedh). Human beings are the only creatures who wear jewellery. There’s one ritual for when the child starts studying (vidyarambh) and another for cutting hair or tonsure (chudakarn or mundan).
What are the rituals of growing up?
The puberty rites for girls and boys are different. For boys, shaving for the first time used to be a ritual. Nowadays, photographs are taken and put up on Facebook! For girls, the body changes dramatically. Menstruation begins. During earlier times, she would be bathed and given jewellery and there would be a big celebration.
What are death rites?
These are very important in India. If a child dies, it’s buried. For a mature person, anthesthi or cremation is done. The bones and ash are thrown in the water and shraddha ceremonies are done. These vary in families. The belief is that the atma (soul) does not leave the body immediately after death. It hovers around close by for some time. You do a few rituals so that the dead body crosses the Vaitarni and goes to Pitr-loka, the land of the dead. The rituals are performed to encourage the body to leave. If it stays back on earth it will become a bhoot or pretatma (ghost). The body is kept in the southern direction because the land of the dead, Yama-loka, is believed to be in the south. When the body is taken, mukhagani or the ritual of breaking a skull is performed because people believe that the atma is released from the skull. During shraddha, pind-daan is done in which we offer rice balls mixed with black sesame seeds. The food we eat becomes flesh. The belief is that the dead atma is looking for a body, and the crude form of body is food. A crow is called, which represents the Pitr-loka. ‘I’m giving you food’ means ‘I’m giving you flesh. Either I will produce a child or support other people with children so that you can be reborn.’ The basic concept of shraddha is to tell the pitr that we will produce children so that you can be reborn to perpetuate the cycle of life.
In Vedic times, during the anthesthi ritual, the widow was asked to lie down next to her dead husband’s body but asked to get up before the actual lighting of the pyre. This was to indicate that one part of her life was over and another was to begin. She was free to remarry if she so desired. Sati was not prevalent in Vedic times. It came later. Now it has been made illegal.
Can you tell me where the custom of wearing janevu (the sacred thread) originated from?
The Brahmin thread used to be first worn at Vedarambh before starting the studying of the Vedas which were considered sacred and secret. They were not easily accessible. Wearing the thread made you dwij (born anew or for the second time) and ready to receive that knowledge. Nowadays, it’s mostly worn just before getting married.
2
Surya Dev
In ancient times, Surya was worshipped and is still very important in many parts of India. He is referred to as Surya Dev, Surya Shakti, symbol of puja and so on. How did Surya worship start in India?
Surya is mentioned in the Vedas. He is hailed in the yagnas (rituals). He is a very important part of the Vedas. In fact, in the Rig Veda, the first sloka is of purohit or pandit who sits in the east, which is considered a holy (shubh) direction because of the sun. It’s natural. The first thing you see after the darkness and fears of the night is the sun. So the rising of the sun is considered auspicious.
The image of Surya is always a grand one. Can you tell us about it?
The illustration of Surya shows two hands, not four. Both hands hold lotus flowers. He sits on a chariot with seven horses to suggest the number of days of the week. This is interesting because the Vedas don’t count a seven-day week. This concept emerged 1800 years ago. The Vedas are 4000 years old. So probably the concept of seven horses emerged later. The chariot has twelve wheels signifying twelve months. This grand rath is called vimana. Today vimana means a plane.
The number of Surya Dev’s wives is sometimes three, four or five.
Surya is a romantic god. The folklore before the Puranas mentions one of Surya’s lovers as Suryamukhi (sunflower) who adores him so much that she keeps looking at him. He does not look at her. It’s a one-sided love. Another folk story talks of the Raat Rani (Queen of the Night) flower who lived in heaven and was in love with Surya who didn’t care much for anybody. She felt so bad that she said she would come to earth and bloom only at night so that Surya would never touch her. As a result the Raat Rani gives off a fragrance only at night when the sun is absent. So there is one who adores the sun unconditionally and another who is heartbroken. There’s a story in the Puranas about Saranya, the daughter of Vishwakarma, the architect. Saranya, Surya’s wife, is blinded by his radiance and cannot see him clearly. He too can’t see anything beyond his radiance. Their children are Manu, Yama and Yamini. Saranya gets frustrated in her marriage because she can’t handle Surya’s brightness and leaves, but keeps her double—Chhaya—in her place. Surya does not even realize this. He has two children with her too called Shanidev (the god of Saturn) and Revant. The children from his first wife want to tell their father that Chhaya is a false wife. Yama quarrels with his stepmother who curses him saying that his feet will be infested with insects. Surya realizes that a mother will never curse her children. Yama tells him the truth. Surya then goes to his father-in-law’s place but his wife runs away from there too. She takes the form of a mare. Surya then takes the form of a horse, chases her and appeases her. They then have twins—Ashwini Kumaras. Surya has quite a colourful life.
We know that Karna is Surya’s son. How else does he figure in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana?
In the Vedas, Surya and Indra are the main gods. Although there are more hymns in Indra’s name there’s some dispute about who is more important. But both are Adityas, sons of Aditi. The clouds and sun have a relationship. When there’s more sun and it is summer, we don’t like it and want the rains. But when there’s a lot of rain, and it’s all wet and dirty, we call back the sun. So there’s a tension there which shows up in stories. From Puranic times onwards, Surya and Indra start taking a back seat and Shiva, Vishnu and Durga attain importance. But the tension stays. In the Ramayana, Sugriva is a Suryaputra while Vali is an Indraputra. In the Mahabharata, Karna is a Suryaputra while Arjuna is an Indraputra.
Who is Surya’s sarathi (charioteer)?
His name is Arun, which means dawn. The Vedas don’t mention this name. There it’s Usha or Ushas; dawn is feminine. It’s the masculine Arun in the Puranas. Arun is Garud’s brother. Garud is the eagle who is with Vishnu. The eagle is associated with Surya in the Vedas. Arun and Garud’s mother, Vinata, had two eggs. Impatient for the children to be born she breaks one egg and a premature child—Arun—is born. Only the upper part of his body is formed. So you do not know whether he is a man or a woman. At dawn there’s light but you don’t see the sun. It’s unclear and that’s how his sexuality is too—Usha or Arun? A related story in the Ramayana is about Arun wanting to see dancing apsaras in the Indrasabha. The guards tell him that only women are allowed inside, so he takes a female form, goes inside and watches the apsaras dance. Indra asks about this woman whom he’s never seen before. He is attracted and sleeps with her. A child, V
ali, is born. During the time of this romance, Surya is annoyed by Arun’s absence. When Arun explains, Surya is curious to see his female form, so Arun becomes female again. Surya also falls in love and they have a child, which is Sugriva. In the images of Surya, you’ll always see only the sarathi’s upper body. Some images show Surya carrying a bow. This is to suggest that he shoots away darkness with his arrows. So just as Indra eradicates drought, Surya does away with darkness. The two Adityas remove dryness and darkness.
Tell us about the sun temples. We know about the beautiful one in Konark.
There was a time when there were many sun temples in India. In the eighth century, there was the Martand Sun Temple in Jammu and Kashmir. In the fifteenth century, a central eastern king, Sikander Shaheen, demolished it, so it’s now in ruins. In Odisha, of course, there is the Konark Temple, which was apparently brought down even as it was being built. The idol in the garbhagriha (inner sanctorum) was never set down on the ground. It was kept floating with two magnets—one on the floor and another on the ceiling. So when the ceiling magnet was stolen, the whole structure collapsed. This is one theory for which there is no proof. There’s a sun temple in Modhera, Gujarat, which is also in ruins. At one time, there used to be huge temples dedicated to Surya. Not any more.
Is there a place for him in the existing temples?
Not really. Surya is worshipped among the navagraha (the nine astrological deities of time). In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, there are a couple of sun temples, but these aren’t as popular as they once used to be. The size of the Konark Temple—also called the Black Pagoda—is huge for one god. Now we have Rama and Krishna temples but not sun temples. Perhaps after the Vedic age, the Surya parampara (community of sun worshippers) became associated with Vishnu, and he started getting worshipped. There are some images of the sun wearing boots. These are from the Kushan era which was in between the Vedic and Puranic times. Kushan was a king in the Mathura area of the Gangetic plains about 1800 years ago. He was central Asian and the boots suggest a Kazakh, Turkmenistan influence but that was about the last of it. It’s not prevalent today.