Asian Myths

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ASIAN MYTHS

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Asian Myths



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Asian

Myths

The Myth of Bhrigu (Hindu):One time the priests of India sent Bhrigu the Wise to find out which god was mostworthy to worship: Brahma, Vishnu, or Siva. Bhrigu approached Brahma but omitted one

of the proper forms due the god, so Brahma reproached him, accepted his apologies, and

forgave him. Then Bhrigu approached Siva, again neglecting to pay the proper respect, atwhich Siva nearly burned him to a crisp with his third eye. Only the most profuse

apologies saved Bhrigu from death. Then Bhrigu went to Vishnu's home, where he found

the god asleep on the floor. Bhrigu kicked Vishnu in the chest to awaken him, whereuponthe god awoke, asked Bhrigu if he'd hurt his foot and then proceeded to massage it.

Bhrigu returned to the priests and declared Vishnu the greatest god of all because he

conquered with generosity and kindness.

Indra and the Dragon (India):Tvashtri, the mightiest of priests, out of dislike for Indra, created a three-headed son to

take over Indra's throne. In response Indra tried tempting the youth with dancing girls,

but to no avail. Indra then slew the young man with a thunderbolt and ordered that histhree heads be cut off. Enraged, Tvashtri made a colossal dragon named Vritra to destroy

Indra. This serpent reached up to the heavens and swallowed Indra. But Indra tickled its

throat and leaped out to resume the battle. The dragon proved too strong for Indra todefeat, so he fled. He then went to the god Vishnu for advice, and was told to

compromise with the dragon. The serpent agreed to a peace, providing Indra promise not

to attack him with solid or liquid, or attack him by day or night. Indra promised, butharbored much resentment, while he tried to figure out a way to get around the

agreement. One evening at TWILIGHT Indra saw a huge column of FOAM containing

the god Vishnu, so he hurled this at the dragon, who fell dead. The gods and men rejoicedat the serpent's death, but Indra bore a great sin for killing a priest's son.

Indra and the Peacock (India): There was a time, ages past, when peacocks were very plain birds. They were

indistinguishable from the female peahens; both were brown, with long tails and uglywrinkled feet, and both had a terrible cry. It was so loud and harsh that it sounded as if

someone had just grabbed the bird by the throat and was squeezing mightily. One day,

the peacock was pecking at insects on the ground, when Indra, the sky god, rushed by.The peacock called out asking from whom Indra was running. Indra breathlessly

answered that the demon king Ravana was chasing him. Even though Indra was a god

and had lightning as his weapon, nothing could hurt Ravana. The only thing Indra coulddo to save himself was to run away. Just then, the peacock and Indra heard Ravana

thundering toward them. Quickly the peacock spread his tail and Indra crouched down

behind it. The demon raced by them without a glance and disappeared into the distance.

Indra breathed a sigh of relief from behind the peacock. "Thank you," said Indra. "Such a


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brave bird should not be so plain. I will make you the most beautiful bird in the world."

He bowed to the peacock, and as he did, the peacock's brown feathers turned a brilliant

blue, and his tail became a fabulous green with a thousand golden eyes. In ancient India,it was said that the peacock's cry was an omen that a storm was approaching. Indra, the

bringer of rain, had made the peacock his herald.

A Legend of Kushiro (Ainu/Japan):A young Ainu wife with her baby strapped to her back, daily visited a nearby mountain tosearch for lily roots and other edibles, and when she gathered her fill, she would go to a

stream to wash the roots, removing her baby from the back-pack and leaving it wrapped

in her clothes on the bank, as she went naked into the stream. One day thus in the streamshe began to sing a beautiful song, and when she had waded to shore, still singing,

commenced dancing to the tune, altogether in a trance and unaware of her surroundings

until, suddenly, she heard a frightening sound, and when she came out of her self-inducedtrance, she saw a bear-god approaching. Terrified she ran off, just as she was, naked and

alone. And when the bear-god saw the abandoned baby by the stream, he thought: I came,

attracted by that beautiful song, stepping quietly, not to be heard. But alas! Her musicwas so beautiful it moved me to rapture and I must have made a noise. Then the infant

began to cry; the bear-god put his tongue into its mouth to nourish and quiet it, and for a

number of days, tenderly nursing it this way, never leaving its side, managed to keep it

alive. When, however, a band of hunters from the village approached, the bear took off,and the villagers, coming upon the abandoned baby alive, understood that the bear had

cared for it, and, marveling, said to one another, "He took care of this lost baby. The bear

is good. He is a worthy deity, and surely deserving of our worship." So they pursued andkilled him, brought him back to the village, held a bear festival, and offering good food

and wine to his soul, as well as loading it with gifts, sent him homeward on his way by

eating of his flesh.

The Churning ot the Ocean (Hindu): (Paraphrased, with apologies to Roni Jay's "Teach Yourself Mythology".)

This is the story of how the gods achieved immortalilty: it is also a classic good versus

evil myth. It tells of the conflict between the Devas, or gods, and the Asuras, or anti-gods,

shortly after the creation. (It also explains the waxing and waning of the moon.) This

myth is first found in the Vedas: this version is taken from the Hindu Mahabharata.

The gods are gathered on Mount Meru, discussing how they can come by the elixir ofeternal life, when Vishnu has an idea. He suggests that they throw strong herbs into the

sea, and precious jewels, and then churn the sea in order to produce the elixir. They need

a paddle to stand in the ocean and rotate to create the churning motion. So they uproot

Mount Mandara and balance it on back of a submerged tortoise. In order to rotate it, theytake the snake Vasuki and wrap him around the paddle, with a length of his tail

protruding at one end, and his head and neck at the other. Pulling alternately from eachend, they should be able to make the paddle turn back and forth. However, it takes all the

Devas to pull at one end, so they have to ask the Asuras to come and pull the other end

for them in exchange for a a share in the elixir. The Asuras agree, and a sort of co-

operative tug-of-war ensues, with the Devas pulling one end, the Asuras pulling the other,and the paddle spinning back and forwards in the middle. Eventually, their churning


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produces the sun, the moon, several gods and goddesses, and other treasures and, at last,

the elixir of eternal life. The evil Asuras grab the mixture before the Devas can reach it,

but Vishnu takes the form of a beautiful woman and distracts their attention so the Devascan recover the precious elixir. However, one of the Asuras, Rahu, manages to snatch a

drop of it. But as he is about to swallow it, Vishnu beheads him. Having taken a sip of the

elixir Rahu cannot die, but Vishnu takes his head and places it in the heavens, where itchases the sun and the moon forever. The elixir, or soma, is identified with the moon, andthe waning and waxing of the moon is explained by the elixir disappearing down Rahu's

throat and then reappearing. When Rahu catches up with the sun he swallows it, causing

an eclipse. In case you were wondering, when the gods were finished churning the oceanthey took Mount Mandara and put it back.

The Pumpkin Girl (China):At the time of the emperor Shih Huang Ti of the Ch'in dynasty, two families Meng andChiang, who were neighbours, each planted a pumpkin seed by their boundary wall. The

two plants grew until they met and united to produce a pumpkin of most unusual size.

The two families discussed the ownership of the fruit and finally agreed to divide it. Onhalving the fruit, they found a beautiful little girl within whom they decided to rear

jointly, giving her the name Meng Chiang after their two families. Meanwhile the

emperor had resolved to build a wall 10,000 miles long to protect his northern frontier

from the Huns, but as each section was completed, it collapsed. Finally a sage advisedthat a human being should be buried alive at each mile of the structure. The hunt for

victims began and terror spread through the land. Then another sage proposed to the

emperor that to sacrifice a man called Wan (meaning Ten Thousand) would provide aspirit for each mile without spreading further terror. A certain Wan, fleeing from the

threat to those of his name, was hiding in a tree in the garden of Meng Chiang when the

latter came out into the moonlight to bathe in the pool there. Happily she said: 'If a man

were to see me now naked, then I would gladly belong to him for ever.' And Wan calledout: 'I see you.' So they were married, but during the marriage feast, soldiers came and

seized Wan, who was duly sacrificed. Meng Chiang, though the marriage had not been

consummated, felt bound to her husband and set out for the Great Wall to seek for hisbones. Appalled by its length, and not knowing where to begin her search, she sat

weeping, when the wall, pitying her, fell down where her husband's remains lay. Shih

Huang Ti, hearing of the widow's devotion, sent for her and seeing that she was beautifuldecided to make her his empress. Meng Chiang agreed to the imperial will, provided that

there was a 49 day funeral feast in honour of her husband, to be attended by the emperor

and the court officials, and that an altar, 49 feet high, should be erected on the river-bankso that she might make offerings for the dead man. The emperor agreed and all was done

as Meng Chiang had required. Then Meng Chiang mounted on the altar and denounced

the emperor for his cruelty before all the court. Shih Huang Ti sat unmoved, but when shethrew herself to her death in the river, the emperor ordered his soldiers to drag her from

the water and, having cut her body into pieces, to grind her bones to dust. And as they did

so, the fragments turned into tiny silver-colored fish in which the soul of Lady Meng

Chiang lives on.


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The Monkey and the Ogress (Tibet):The Buddha Amitabha told the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara that as Sakyamuni had not

converted the Land of Snows (Tibet), it was Avalokitesvara's duty to carry out this

missionary work. Avalokitesvara sat on top of Mount Potala and looked at the land hewas to convert. Its creatures were ignorant and pursued evil ways. He emitted from the

palm of his hand a ray of light and from it appeared a monkey (in other versions hehimself becomes incarnate as the monkey). He instructed the monkey in the Doctrine and

sent him to meditate in the Land of Snows. The country was divided into nine regions:three upper regions inhabited by elephants and deer, three middle ones by rock-ogres and

monkeys, and three lower ones by ogres. There were no men at that time. The monkey,

engrossed in meditation, was approached by a rock-ogress disguised as a female monkey,but he paid no attention. She changed herself into a beautiful woman, approached him

again and asked to be his consort. The monkey refused, but she threatened that if he did

not consent she would summon the ogres to devour the creatures of the land, and theogresses would bear young and, being many, they would take possession of the whole

land and devour the whole world. Perplexed, the monkey went to see Avalokitesvara to

ask what to do. The Bodhisattva told him it was proper to mate with the ogress, for theirdescendants would become human beings, among whom the Doctrine would spread. The

monkey obeyed and after nine months the ogress gave birth to six sons. They had bodies

covered with hair, like their father, and tails like their mother. Their faces were red and

they had a taste for flesh and blood. When they were in want of food their father tookthem to a forest called the Peacock Woods, where there were other monkeys, and left

them there. When he came back after a year he found that they had increased by 500.

Their offspring were neither monkeys nor yet men. They suffered from heat and rain inthe summer and from snow and cold in the winter, and they had nothing to eat. The father

monkey gave them some food, but when they devoured it they were in pain, their hair fell

off and their tails disappeared. In distress he went to see Avalokitesvara once more. He

was consoled and told that his descendants had now become men and that Avalokitesvaracould carry out the mission of converting them. He was given seven kinds of grain,

precious dust and other minerals for his children and he went back to them and instructed

them how to cultivate land and procure food. The dust and minerals were scattered overthe whole land.

(From the Mani bka' 'bum.)

Asian Myths

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