Hindu Puranas state that Sage Agastya was ordered by Lord Shiva to proceed to the South to rectify the balance of the Earth as it tilted down in the south because of the congregation of Devas and people of the earth in the North, Himalayas to attend His (Shiva’s) marriage with Parvati.
Accordingly Sage Agasthya traveled down from the North to the South and had the Earth’s balance restored.
Is this a fantasy?
Hinduism narrates events and philosophy in two ways.
One is stating facts as they are, if in its opinion we are capable of understanding it.
For example the details on Astrology or the events related to the Ithihasas, Ramayana, Mahabharata.
In other cases they allude to events by interesting legends, like saying that there is Chanda Loka(world of the Moon) to convey a stage of spiritual development in Pranayama.
It is interesting to note that these two technics are followed to denote the same event, as in the description of Sun’s Movement in His Chariot and the description of Vishnu’s Naval Galaxy.
The incident narrated above falls into Allegory , relating to formation of seasons.
This is validated by Milankovitch Cycles.
‘Axial tilt, the second of the three Milankovitch Cycles, is the inclination of the Earth’s axis in relation to its plane of orbit around the Sun. Oscillations in the degree of Earth’s axial tilt occur on a periodicity of 41,000 years from 21.5 to 24.5 degrees.
Axial Tilt .Milankovitch Cycles. periodicity of 41,000 years
Today the Earth’s axial tilt is about 23.5 degrees, which largely accounts for our seasons. Because of the periodic variations of this angle the severity of the Earth’s seasons changes. With less axial tilt the Sun’s solar radiation is more evenly distributed between winter and summer. However, less tilt also increases the difference in radiation receipts between the equatorial and polar regions.
One hypothesis for Earth’s reaction to a smaller degree of axial tilt is that it would promote the growth of ice sheets. This response would be due to a warmer winter, in which warmer air would be able to hold more moisture, and subsequently produce a greater amount of snowfall. In addition, summer temperatures would be cooler, resulting in less melting of the winter’s accumulation. At present, axial tilt is in the middle of its range.’
There is another legend relating to Agastya, which states that Agastya crossing over to the South and in the process made he Vindhya Mountain shorter.
I have written on this while writing on Canopus and stated that it coincides with the Migration of Manu from the South to Ayodhya.
Yet another states that Agastya drank Ocean( I shall be writing on this).
Axial Tilt.
Axial Tilt.To understand axial tilt, we employ the right-hand rule. When the fingers of the right hand are curled around in the direction of the planet’s rotation, the thumb points in the direction of the north pole. “Globespin-tilt-23.4” by Wikiscient, Tdadamemd – File:Globespin.gif – created using NASA’s “Visible Earth” image (in the public domain).. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globespin-tilt-23.4.gif#mediaviewer/File:Globespin-tilt-23.4.gif
In astronomy, axial tilt (also called obliquity) is the angle between an object’s rotational axis and the perpendicular to its Orbital plane, both oriented by the right hand rule. At an obliquity of 0°, these lines point in the same direction i.e. the rotational axis is perpendicular to the orbital plane. Axial tilt differs from inclination. Because the planet Venus has an axial tilt of 177° its rotation can be considered retrograde, opposite that of most of the other planets.The north pole of Venus is “upside down” relative to its orbit. The planet Uranus has a tilt of 97°, hence it rotates “on its side”, its north pole being almost in the plane of its orbit.
To understand axial tilt, we employ the right-hand rule. When the fingers of the right hand are curled around in the direction of the planet’s rotation, the thumb points in the direction of the north pole. Righthand rule simple.png: “Right-hand grip rule” by Right_hand_rule_simple.png: Original uploader was Schorschi2 at de.wikipediaderivative work: Wizard191 (talk) – Right_hand_rule_simple.png. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Right-hand_grip_rule.svg#mediaviewer/File:Right-hand_grip_rule.svg
Over the course of an orbit, the angle of the axial tilt does not change, and the orientation of the axis remains the same relative to the background stars. This causes one pole to be directed toward the Sun on one side of the orbit, and the other pole on the other side, the cause of the seasons on the Earth.
Twelve Fridays of a year are marked for Her worship.(Hubbs, p. 117).
The meaning of the word Siva is Auspiciousness, Mangalam.
Shiva is not to be confused with Rudra, as Amsa of Shiva.
Rudra is the chief of the Ekadasa Rudras.
He is described as Ferocious and anger prone.
Sri Rudram starts with,
‘On namo Bhagavate Rudraaya,
Namsthe Rudramanyave”
My Salutations to Rudra,
who is the embodiment of anger,
My Salutaions to Him’
He is the god of Destruction, while Braham is the God of Creation, Vishnu the Protector.
Shiva is different as Vishnu is different from Narayana.
Shiva has five functions.
Srushti(Creation), Stithi(Protection or Maintanence), Samahara(Destruction). Thirodhaaana(Hiding) and Anugraha( Benevolence).
Shiva is the Kinetic energy while Sakthi is the potentian Energy.
Shiva without Sakthi is useless.
In Tamil there is a saying Shiva without Sakthi(in Tamil this word also means Power) is a Sava, A corpse.
It is Sakthi who contributes to the Power of Shiva.
Lalitha Sahasranama calls Her as,
pancha Pretha Manchaathi Saayini’ one who rests on Five Corpses.
Please read my post onDevi worship on the meaning of this.
This sakthi is a part of Shiva and occupies the Left side of Shiva.
This is seen in Ardhanaareswara Form of Shiva.
Bhavani is an Amsa of Sakthi.
The word Bhavani springs from the Sanskrit word “BHU, BHUVA ,-“to live, be, exist”
It also means “being, existence’
This alludes to Being, Being Born, offspring and fertility.
n Slovakia, the equivalent to Siva is life-goddess Zivena, who is counterposed with chief god Praboh (Jones and Pennick, p. 187). His name means “(original) primitive god” (Konus, p. 906).
Interrelated Sanskrit words:
PRA- (prefix): “before, in front”, and therefore, “first, original”; BHU, #1 BHU’, #2 BHU’: “becoming, being, produced, live”. All are the root words of BHAVA/BHAVANI
—PRA-BHU*, “excelling, powerful, lord”, a name of Shiva.
The name itself means “before-living”, in other words, “original God”.
It obtains the concept of “excelling, powerful” exactly in the same way that Eng. PRIME implies “the best”.
—PRA-BHU/PRA-[root] BHU-, -BHAVATI, “originate from, be powerful/master.”
—PRA-BHAVA*, “excelling, production, origin, Creator (“might, power”=PRA-BHAVA) (Monier-Williams)
A picture of Siva shows her with a sun-disk behind her head (admittedly, not an unusual occurrence for ancient deities). And there is mention of Siwa/Syuna, a goddess of the Western Polabi (Hastings, vol. 11, p. 594).
Zhiva: “..…
“There persisted another religious rite more closely related to Procopius’s account of the veneration of nymphs. This religion appears to have had no organized priesthood. It revolved around the goddess called Zhiva by the Elbe Slavs.
The ceremonies were performed by the whole community in the depths of the forests [like the Baiga and Savaras of Northern India, who believe fully in forest spirits. (Hastings, vol. 2, p. 333; vol. 7, p. 214}] and in places where land and water met. (Hubbs, pp.12-13).
“Chroniclers, who confirm Procopius’s earlier observations, refer to the river, lake, and forest nymphs as BEREGINY.” (from BEREGINA, “earth, shore”). BEREGINY represent the fertility goddesses (Ibid, pp.14-15).
The role of diety of guardianship/family/ household is shared by Bhavani, Prabha and the BEREGINY (Kinsley, pp. 109 and 110; Ann and Imel. p. 291; Hubbs, p. 13).
In a similar vein, Shiva-Bhava is the “presiding diety of the waters” (Gupta, p.15).
Banaras/Benares, known as Shiva’s City, is referred to as the center of Earth, “this shore,” on the Ganges River and is an embodiment of the goddess Kashi (“shining, sun”. Cf. Hebrew names Ziva or Zivah, (“shining, radiant”).
Kashi is a counterpart to Bhavani and is a shakti of Shiva (Eck, pp.159, 418). Kashi is said to sit above the earth as a crossing place between earth and the “far shore” of the transcendant Brahman. (Eck, pp. 6, 35).
It is said that, when one dies, Shiva whispers the “ferryboat mantra”, or mantra of the crossing (Eck, p. 331).
This compares with Slavic concepts of the dead traveling across an ocean with a conductor to guide the deceased. Likewise, the Slavic Siva is connected with the life/death cycle. (Ann and Imel, p. 73).
Compare Slavic SHIVAYA/ZHIVAYA VODA (various sources give different spellings), “living water”, which brings dead people back to life; and MERTVAYA VODA, “dying water”, which makes a living person dead (Professor A. Babyonyshev, email).
The “dying water” heals all wounds on the corpse of the deceased, and then the sprinkling of “living water” bring it to life.
And in the Kanjar tribe, Bhavani is worshipped along with the goddess Prabha, “light” (Hastings, vol. 7, p.653).
This word is associated with a sun-disk (Monier-Williams, p. 683).
The Kanjar use a protector-exorcist called a SYAANAA (“wise one”) to propitiate bad spirits (Hastings, vol. 7, p. 653).
Neither the Kanjar nor the followers of Siva had any formal priesthood (Hubbs, pp. 13, 14; Hastings, vol. 7, p
References.
Ann, Martha, and Imel, Dorothy Myers. GODDESSES OF THE WORLD
Babyonyshev, A, professor. Email)
Eck, Diana. BANARAS CITY OF LIGHTS
Gupta, Shakti M. FROM DAITYAS TO DEVATAS IN HINDU MYTHOLOGY
Gutkin, Irina, professor. Email
Hastings, James , ed. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS
Helmhold, CHRONICLE OF THE SLAVS, Tschan translator
Hubbs, Joanna. MOTHER RUSSIA
Hudec, Ivan. TALES FROM SLAVIC MYTHS, translated by Emma Nezinska and Jeff Schmitz
Jobes, Gertrude. DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY, FOLKLORE AND SYMBOLS
Jones, Prudence, and Pennick, Nigel. A HISTORY OF PAGAN EUROPE
Kinsley, David. HINDU GODDESSES
Konus, Jozef J. SLOVAK-ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY
Monier-Williams, Monier. A SANSKRIT-ENGLISH DICTIONARY
Znayenko, Myroslava. THE GODS OF THE ANCIENT SLAVS
While I was writing a Post, the content recommendation by Zemanta suggested a news story by CNN that Lord Krishna appeared in the Sky.
I am reproducing the excerpt.
My observation is that it is difficult to comment without being present in the spot.
May be an Illusion as well.
“On 15-Feb-2006 at 07-30 hrs I saw snake god Shesha Nag with five heads appearing and moving in the sky. After a few seconds I saw 7 bright stars in a line moving in the sky. Soon all the 7 stars became 7 buds in the sky and they were moving from North West sky to South East sky. On the move all the seven buds were growing and when they reached in front of me all of them stopped in a line. Then the first bud started to become flower and after becoming flower it became a big fish in the sky. It was god Matsya Avatar (fish incarnation of god Vishnu). Then the second bud became flower and soon that flower became god Garuda. Then the third bud became flower and that flower became god Shiva. Then the fifth bud became flower and that flower became god Muthappan. Then the sixth bud became flower and that flower became elephant headed god, Ganesha. Soon the last bud started to become flower and after becoming flower it became a big snake god in the sky. It was snake god Nagadevta. In short one after one all the 7 buds became flowers and all 7 flowers became 7 gods. They were Matsya Avatar, Garud, Shiva, Muthappan, Ganesha, Hanuman and snake god Nagdevta. After 7 minutes all the 7 gods disappeared together in the sky.
As I indicated in my earlier posts, the essential difference between an Avatar of Shiva and Vishnu lies in the fact ,in the case of Shiva, He does not stay in a Womb, called Ayonijaha (though this epithet is used for Vishnu in the Vishnu Sahasranama, I do not recall any instance where Vishnu seems to have appeared from nowhere and disappeared), in the case of Vishnu He is born as Humans in a womb, undergoes the trials and tribulations of a Human Being.
64 Thiruvilayadal,Sacred Play of Shiva, Murals in Madutai Meenakshi Temple.
Probably an Avatar is different from Leela, an Avatar is the coming down of God, Avatara means ‘coming down’,whereas Leela can be translated loosely as ‘play,playful’.
Lord Shiva’s Leelas where He had appeared, done His job and disappeared are mentioned in the Tamil Classics, more vividly in the Thiruvilayadal Purana by Paranjothi Munivar, 6th Century AD.
These Avatars, Leelas of Shiva are 64 in number.
These have taken place in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
These Avatars are called the Avatars of Somasundara,an amsa of Shiva, and the husband of Meenakshi, an avatar of Goddess Parvati.
Meenakshi Sunadareswarar is in the Madurai Meenakshi Temple.
Other than in the Tamil Classics, Shiva Purana and passing references to some of the instances narrated in the Thiruvilayadal Purana, in the other Puranas,I am unable to find references to these in the Sanskrit works.
One can not brush these aside as figment of Tamil Imagination either as cross references abound Tamil and they are generally trust worthy of facts and there are temple inscriptions which check out with other Historical facts.
The history of the Tamil Kings mentioned in these instances check out .
Considering the fact that the ancestor of Lord Rama migrated from Dravida, there seems to be something I am missing here.
Please refer my Post Rama’s ancestor from Dravida
I am searching.
Some of these instances seem to be prehistoric and may relate to Thenmadurai, where the First Tamil Sangam was held Thenmadurai was swallowed by a Tsunami.
Please read my posts on Tamil Sangam dates.
Readers may send in their inputs with source on this issue.
The 64 instances where Lord Shiva appeared are listed below.
Lord Vishnu,without Lakshmi, desirous of Male child worshiped Lord Shiva at Tiruvarur.
He was blessed with a Male child, Kaama or Manmatha, the God of Love/Lust.
Angered at being omitted Lakshmi cursed Vishnu that His son would be burnt by Shiva.
Somaskanda.Shiva, Skanda and Parvati.
Upon realization of the curse, an aggrieved Vishnu created a composite image featuring Shiva, Uma and Skanda (Somaskanda – symbolic of fertility) and offered worship to it.
Parvati alleviated the curse placed on him stating that despite being burnt to death, Kaama would live on to create the forces of attraction between the male and the female that would ensure the continuation of the human race.
There is no other children of Vishnu or Vishnu and Lakshmi, from the Purarnic references.
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