Category Archives: Hindu Mythology

Sakuntala’s story is one of the favorite love stories of India, told in quite differ­ent ways by two great poets—Vyasa and Kalidasa (both c.400-500). (sakuntala was the daughter of a sage and an apsara, and her son became an emperor. Sakuntala’s mother, the famous apsara Menaka, was sent by Indra to stop the threat that the sage Visivamitra’s austerities (tapas) posed to his rule of heaven (svarga). Menaka was successful, diverted the sage from his ascetic prac­tice, used up his energy (sakti), and became pregnant. However, as soon as she … Continue reading →

Sakti is a term for the concept of energy (and as such a feminine noun), and it can be said to have been personified as Divine Energy, or the Mother Goddess, the source of energy. The concept is linked to the power of the austerities (tapas), creative and supernatural powers (siddhis), and the power of the sacri­fice (maya). Saivites claimed it as a property of Siva, his creative energy (shakti). Thus, it could be personified as his wife, Devi. And (sakti was one of Devi’s names and one of her … Continue reading →

The story of Sabari is famous because of her innocent love of Sri Rama. However, this love story is embedded in a rebirth story. (Sabari was Malini in her previous life. She was the daughter of a gandharva king, although she was called an apsara (celestial damsel) by some versions of the story. Malini was married to an old brahmin who neglected her in all of his aus­terities. So she took a woodcutter as her lover. When the sage Vitihotra learned what was happening, he cursed Malini to be reborn … Continue reading →

There are different versions of the number and names of the Rudras. A popular version was that the Rudras were born to Aditi. That would make them adityas (demigods). In the Puranas there were more than eleven Rudras—and they dif­fered in name and number. The eleven Rudras mentioned in the Mahabharata are Mrigavyadha, Nirrti, Ahirbudhnya, Pinaki, Sarpa, Ajaikapat, Dahana, Isivara, Kapali, Bharga, and Sthanu. In the Vishnu Purana the names of the eleven Rudras are Hara, Bahurupa, Tryambaka, Aparajita, Vrishakapi, Sambhu, Kapardi, Raivata, Mrigavyadha, Sarva, and Kapali. Some of these … Continue reading →

Rudra was a Vedic god (deva) long before (Siva would have been accepted as Brah­manical, or orthopraxic. However, the name Rudra was eventually appropriated for Siva, as a designation of a manifestation of Siva that was both dangerous and just within the boundaries of respectability. Even before this process was com­plete, another—that of turning a Vedic god into a class of gods—had taken place. The Rudras, however, demand their own entry. In the hymns of the Rigveda, Rudra was the howler, the roarer, and the ter­rible. He was a storm … Continue reading →

Rita was a concept in the Rigveda that was associated with cosmic order, as well as truth and justice. Rita can be said to be a Vedic version of the later concept of dharma. Linguists point out rita’s kinship to the Avestan word asha and Varuna’s place in ancient Persian religion as the ahura (kin to asura, but used to mean god, not demon) whose all-seeing eye brought truth and justice. In the Rigveda, Varuna was also an asura whose all-seeing eye brought truth and jus- tice—and was never viewed … Continue reading →

Rishyasringa received his strange name, “deer-horned,” because his mother was a doe. It happened this way: the sage Vibhandaka had been living a strict celibate life at his asrama (hermitage) deep in the forest. One day he saw the beautiful apsara (celestial damsel) named Urvasi. He lost his seed in the pond by which he was meditating, and a doe immediately drank it. She became pregnant and even­tually gave birth to Rishyasringa. He was a normal human except for a horn in his forehead—some version place a rack on his … Continue reading →

The term rishi means “a seer,” or “one who is foresighted.” In the mythology the term rishi is interchangeable with sage, or may even be used for a distin­guished priest (brahmin). Another related term would be guru (teacher). The seven sages (sapta-rishis) were also known as the maharishis—the seven. Some disciples of modern sages appropriate the ancient title of maharishi for their teacher, but properly it refers to those seven who preserve the divine scriptures, the Vedas, at the beginning of each age.

The Rigveda precedes all other Hindu scriptures in age and sacredness. The name Rigveda is a compound of rik (verses of “praise”) and veda (book of “knowledge,” or “wisdom”). It comes to us in such a highly crafted language (Samskrita, Sanskrit) that it was believed to have been received by the Seven Sages (sapta-rishis) whose students would memorize each word, each cadence, each intonation. Internal evidence suggests that it was composed by quite a few sages, who gave their names to individual hymns and collections, or chapters (suktas). These were … Continue reading →