Let me tell you a story I heard about 30 years ago (1986) from my Malayalam teacher who was a 'Father' (A Christian priest). He was explaining us in the class on a poem about 'Airaavatam' - by the famous nature poet Shri P. Kunhiraman Nair.
As a preface, he told that this poem was about a myth of Airaavatam the white multi tusker vehicle of Lord Indra of the Hindu puraanaas. "The story is about how few apsaras who had prepared a very special fragrant garland wished to give it to an eligible person like Lord Indra. As they wondered as to who that could be, Sage Durvaasaa known for his short temper passed by them. The apsaraas felt that it wouldn't be nice if the sage was not offered the garland. Having received the offering from the apsaraas, the sage was confused (what can a sage do with the garland after all) and wished to offer it to the first eligible guy he met. As he moved on, he saw Indra upon his Airaavata. Indra paid his respects to the great sage and the sage gifted him the special garland he just received from the apsaraas.
Indra got back on his Airaavata and kept the garland upon the elephant's head and started dressing up his hair so that the garland could look more beautiful. A swarm of bees surrounded the garland which irritated the elephant who pulled out the garland and swung it to the ground to keep the bees away. In the meanwhile the garland was crushed under its feet. Unfortunately Sage Durvaasaa saw this and considered it an insult to him & his valuable gift. He cursed Indra that he and his follower gods would be on accelerated ageing.
Lord Indra rushed to the sage's feet and begged pardon and convinced him that it was not his intention to insult him the least. The sage gave then the antidote that they should take Amrut to become eternal so as to nullify the accelerated ageing.
Now the problem was that Amrut could be obtained by churning the Milky Way. For which he organised the help of the flying mountain Manthara, with Vaasuki the snake god as the rope, his all time foes - the asuraas on the head side and the devas on the tail side. As the manthan went on, many things came out viz. the deadly Kaalakooda poison, Mahalakshmi, Jyeshta, Kaamadhenu, Kalpataru, etc. Shiva drank the poison to rescue the teams from its bad effects. The poison was very powerful and Vishnu had turned blue instantly. Finally when the Amrut was delivered, Vishnu saved it from the Asuras and gave it to the Devaas having allured the asuraas by the charming beauty of Mohini avataar. And Garuda secured it from the Naagas. By the by, one other that came as a by-product was the Airaavata itself that went to become the vehicle to Indra."
He stopped here and said: "This is now a chicken & egg story!"
"Because the very cause of the Paalaazhi (Milky Way) Manthan was Airaavata while Airaavata itself was the byproduct."
He paused again. "So what do we conclude?"
He continued: "That the story is false and a myth"
(And the class learned this for the exams).
Few Years passed by until once I saw an interpretation of this very story by Aachaarya Narendra Bhushan, an ardent follower of Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati.
In that he said: "The vapour from the waters go up to form the clouds that shower as water; and that again turns to vapour."
Airaavatam is this cloud on which Indra The Lord of Rains rides on with his Thunderbolt.
Needless to say, this prompted me to take a path of trying to understand the meaning of these stories (that are termed myth), rather than simply listening with emotions.
As a preface, he told that this poem was about a myth of Airaavatam the white multi tusker vehicle of Lord Indra of the Hindu puraanaas. "The story is about how few apsaras who had prepared a very special fragrant garland wished to give it to an eligible person like Lord Indra. As they wondered as to who that could be, Sage Durvaasaa known for his short temper passed by them. The apsaraas felt that it wouldn't be nice if the sage was not offered the garland. Having received the offering from the apsaraas, the sage was confused (what can a sage do with the garland after all) and wished to offer it to the first eligible guy he met. As he moved on, he saw Indra upon his Airaavata. Indra paid his respects to the great sage and the sage gifted him the special garland he just received from the apsaraas.
Indra got back on his Airaavata and kept the garland upon the elephant's head and started dressing up his hair so that the garland could look more beautiful. A swarm of bees surrounded the garland which irritated the elephant who pulled out the garland and swung it to the ground to keep the bees away. In the meanwhile the garland was crushed under its feet. Unfortunately Sage Durvaasaa saw this and considered it an insult to him & his valuable gift. He cursed Indra that he and his follower gods would be on accelerated ageing.
Lord Indra rushed to the sage's feet and begged pardon and convinced him that it was not his intention to insult him the least. The sage gave then the antidote that they should take Amrut to become eternal so as to nullify the accelerated ageing.
Now the problem was that Amrut could be obtained by churning the Milky Way. For which he organised the help of the flying mountain Manthara, with Vaasuki the snake god as the rope, his all time foes - the asuraas on the head side and the devas on the tail side. As the manthan went on, many things came out viz. the deadly Kaalakooda poison, Mahalakshmi, Jyeshta, Kaamadhenu, Kalpataru, etc. Shiva drank the poison to rescue the teams from its bad effects. The poison was very powerful and Vishnu had turned blue instantly. Finally when the Amrut was delivered, Vishnu saved it from the Asuras and gave it to the Devaas having allured the asuraas by the charming beauty of Mohini avataar. And Garuda secured it from the Naagas. By the by, one other that came as a by-product was the Airaavata itself that went to become the vehicle to Indra."
He stopped here and said: "This is now a chicken & egg story!"
"Because the very cause of the Paalaazhi (Milky Way) Manthan was Airaavata while Airaavata itself was the byproduct."
He paused again. "So what do we conclude?"
He continued: "That the story is false and a myth"
(And the class learned this for the exams).
Few Years passed by until once I saw an interpretation of this very story by Aachaarya Narendra Bhushan, an ardent follower of Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati.
In that he said: "The vapour from the waters go up to form the clouds that shower as water; and that again turns to vapour."
Airaavatam is this cloud on which Indra The Lord of Rains rides on with his Thunderbolt.
Needless to say, this prompted me to take a path of trying to understand the meaning of these stories (that are termed myth), rather than simply listening with emotions.
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