(A decade ago after a
trip to Tibet, Nepal and India, I wrote down my impressions. It was not meant
to be a book, however after it was read by some, it was suggested that if it
gets published, interested persons can use it. However I thought (and still
think) that the narration was more of a personal quest into Bhagavan Shiva and
that it may not interest a wider audience. Therefore instead of commercially
publishing it, I thought of placing it on a website of Publishing house Harper
Collins’s website known as Authonomy.com.
It remained on their website as "Kailash, Kathmandu and Kashi – A story of Shiva and me" for people to review my narration for many years.
However, last year, when Harper Collins shutdown Authonomy.com and I realized
that some people still wanted to read my account, I decided to place all 26
chapters of that travelogue on this blog. Reader views and comments are
welcome)
Chapter 5. Shiva - Puran, Ancient Text of Shiva-Stories Shiva/ Digression into Quran / Back to Shiva-Puran / Shiva – Parvati Romance / Digression into Bible / Back to Shiva-Parvati
Ancient Indian scripture-texts are classified as Vedas, Upanishads,
Purans, Itihaas, Sutras etcetera based on their content and the source. They
are storehouse of ancient episodes, information on dynasties, on cultural life,
morals, ethics, experiences and knowledge of all kinds, secular, spiritual,
religious, moral, historical, geographic, scientific etc.
There are several Purans, each covering one or the other God.
Shiva-Puran is one among about a hundred minor and major Purans and is full of
amazing tales of Bhagavan Shiva.
Digression into Quran
No connection with the subject of this book, however it seemed
irresistible not to notice and then not to write about close rhyming between
the words “Quran” (Islamic religious scripture) and the word “Puran”. Rhyming has intrigued me for many years and
am led to fantasizing with two ideas to explain what appears to be a strange
coincidence which in reality may be by design. Etymologists would not agree
with me, and they could be correct because according to them, the word ‘Quran’
is derived from Arabic root-word (قرأ)‘qara'a’, which means ‘read’. The Archangel Gabriel
commanded ‘Iqara'a’ (أقرأ )
to Prophet Mohammed, asking him to ‘read’ or ‘recite’.
So on the face of it Sanskrit word ‘Puran’ can have no etymological
connection with ‘Quran’. However if one was to assume (or discover) any Indic
connection with Prophet, a world of possibilities open up. Consider these two:
One: ‘Quran’ as a strategic ‘avatar’ of word ‘Puran’ to distinguish it
from original inspiration and yet maintain religious authoritativeness of the
written word. Remember, Purans were authoritative religious documents for a
large section of civilized population of world during pre-Islamic times.
Or, Two: The word ‘Quran’ as having emerged from Sanskrit original word
‘Karna’ meaning ‘Ear’.
Let me explain.
First hypotheses: When new religions are established, they need their
unique holy books and distinct names for those books. If one was to view Puran,
it would be found that many subjects discussed within Quran and Purans have a
close match if viewed in a broader sense, not withstanding wide differences and
outright opposite content in words and spirit.
How to select a word or how to change existing word that should be
unique and yet can infuse undertone of authority? This question may have
exercised minds at that time. Any word that is similar to ‘Testament’, ‘Tohra’
or ‘Bible’ could not be a choice, after all Islam rose from followers of Those
books and needed to demonstrate the difference from them. ‘Puran’ was handy
enough which conveyed “Religious Authority”. However there was one problem with
the word ‘Puran’. Because Arabic script does not have letter “P”,
Arabic-speakers could not pronounce “Puran” as we do in English and most other
languages of the world. Thus the word “Puran” is naturally un-pronounceable by
speakers of Arabic language. This handicap was put to advantage. Simply replace
unpronounceable ‘P’ with something suited to local tongue. And ‘Q’ of ‘Qitab’
meaning ‘Book’ was a good replacement. Thus Quran, a strategic Avatar of
‘Puran’.
Second Hypotheses: Sanskrit, ‘Karna’ to be a root word for Quran seemed
possible to me because ‘read’ as a root word for Quran is far fetched, firstly
in its origin, Quran was spoken by angel Gabriel and heard by Prophet Mohammed.
Since it was a revealed wisdom, it could have been perhaps be called as
‘revealed’, ‘received’, ‘heard’ or ‘Through-Ear’. Prophet was illiterate, he himself could not
read a written word, so ‘hearing’ had more importance. Even ancient Indian
scriptures have that connotation when they refer to “Shruti” (Shruti means
‘Heard’). Thus there is a precedent.
From this viewpoint, now, look, how well Sanskrit word ‘Karna’, meaning
‘Ear’ seems a promising fit. Remember, if ‘Karna’ was to be written in Arabic
script, it would be written as three distinct alphabets Qaff, Raa and Nuun قرن and would be pronounced as ‘Qaran’, even ‘Quran’. In English or
most other languages, one can pronounce Sanskrit word ‘Karna’ with R and N
joined together, in Arabic, due to language architecture limitation, R and N
have to remain separate - There is no way to write ‘Karna’ in Arabic since
there is no provision of joining R with N. Therefore Sanskrit word when written
in Arabic, would lend itself to pronouncing as ‘Qaran’.
Present day accepted Arabic spelling of Quran has an additional
alphabet ‘a’, and written as قرآن –
normally pronounceable as ‘Qaraan’, marginally different than ‘Qaran’
The ‘u’ in the
pronunciation of ‘Quran’ does not appear in the written script yet by convention what is
written
as Qaraan is pronounced as Quraan. If one really wanted to pronounce
word ‘Quran’ as ‘Quraan’,
it should be written in Arabic as كوران
However both hypotheses lack one important ingredient;
could India India Europe
many years ago before the advent of Islam. Some people have even suggested that
Islam’s holy shrine the Ka’bah is somehow connected with Bhagavan Shiva
from a few unusual traditions that smacks of Hinduism. For instance, one,
Muslim pilgrims revere one specific corner-stone near the entrance of the
Ka’bah. This stone is known as ‘Hajre Aswad’, and stands out by a
beautiful silver frame fixed around it, two, Hindu-style circumambulation (Parikrama)
around the Ka’bah by pilgrims, three, Hindu style unstitched white garment
wrapped around their bodies and four, the draping and cleaning rituals of
Ka’bah. Perhaps remnant of pre-Islamic tradition observed at Ka’bah when it was
used as a place of worship by Arabs of Mecca and surrounding towns before
advent of Islam. It contained many idol of Gods and is known in Arabic as ‘Baitullah’
or ‘Bait-al-Allah’, meaning “House of God”, (Bait=House, Allah=God).
Do these prove Indic connections?
Leaving further deliberations to etymologists, archeologists and historians let
me return to Shiva-Puran.
Back to Shiva-Puran: Shiva –
Parvati Romance
Shiv-Puran is one of the major Purans and a solid document, in its
current form, consisting of 24,000 verses, 6 sections and 260 Chapters. It is
said that initially it contained 100,000 verses before it was made into its
current abridged form by great sage, Vyas, (also known as Ved-Vyas, he being
compiler of Vedas) and taught it to his disciple Romaharashana. He in turn
repeated it as a talk during his dialogue with sages who lived in the forest
known as ‘Naimish-Aranya’ in response to their enquiry about Bhagavan Shiva.
Thus on the scale of antiquity, the history covered in Shiva-Puran is much
older than the time of its narration.
One among many interesting anecdotes and ‘stories’ is a romantic
Shiva-Parvati tale, in a nutshell, as follows:
In a complex plot hatched by Gods to arrest the menace created by a
devil Tarakasur, they needed Bhagavan Shiva’s son. Only he could end Tarakasur.
Gods therefore desired that Bhagavan Shiva gets married and produces a child
But this is an impossible task as Bhagavan Shiva is in deep meditation in Himalayas . However a maiden, Parvati, sees Him and falls
in love with Him. She cared for Him when He was deep in meditation. On the
other hand, this situation provided Gods with a great window of opportunity. If
Bhagavan Shiva can be made to consider Parvati favorably, perhaps their dream
can come true. ‘Conspiracy’ is hatched. Cupid (Kama Deva, God of Love), is
order in action. On the other hand, neither Shiva nor Parvati are aware of the
designs of Gods. Kama-Deva creates a romantic climate for love to germinate and
succeed. All of a sudden it is spring-time, complete with singing birds, bees
sweet smelling flowers and rest of the paraphernalia. Disturbed from his
meditation and suspicious of something amiss, apparently aware neither of being
tended by a hopeful maiden nor of Kama-Deva’s action, when He opens His eyes,
He notices a beautiful maiden nearby and Kama in hiding behind nearby foliage,
ready to hit Him with his love-arrow. Bhagavan Shiva becomes angry at
impropriety of Kama Deva and to stop him in his tracks, hurls fire from
third-eye. Kama-Deva, instantly burns to Ashes.
Parvati, unaware of presence of Kama-Deva, is shocked to the core and
freezes in fright seeing angry man she was tending to and Kama
turning into ashes. She was in utter disbelief and terrified by His
temper. Disappointed, confused, she goes
back to her house, losing every hope of reaching heart and mind of Bhagavan
Shiva. After a while, during course of a visit by Narad[1]
Muni[2] to
her parents’ home, upon seeing dejected Parvati, he suggests Her to undertake
severe pursuance by meditating on Shiva, so strongly and so single-mindedly
that Bhagavan Shiva has to pay attention to Her. It goes on for many[3] years.
She gets so engrossed in His longing, at one stage even she does not care even
to eat, Her body becomes frail, earning Her a nick name ‘Aparna’ (Who
does not eat anything not even a leaf). Bhagavan Shiva is not unaware; He is
never unaware when a devotee remembers Him. He sends His helpers to verify Her
spiritual knowledge and intensity of her quest. All the informants come back
with positive report. Then Bhagavan Shiva himself goes to Parvati in the shape
of a Brahmin[4] boy and
asks her reasons for terrible austerities that She is observing. She, in a
child like innocence, replies that She was seeking to marry Shiva. The Brahmin
boy laughs out aloud at her ‘stupidity’ and tells her as to what an irony that
beautiful women like her wants to marry a recluse. It defies senses that anyone
in right mind can even ever think of marrying that ugly man. What a repulsive
and terrible man has she chosen! Boy says that Shiva has horrifying appearance,
if seen at night, one would die of fright, no one knows when He was born and no
one even knows who His father and mother is, He wanders among dead, among
ghosts, His wild temper is legendary and He is so utterly carefree, does not
even wear a loin cloth. Who can want this type of man for husband and what
happiness can He ever give you anyway? To this, Parvati replies, ‘you have made
me angry by denouncing my love. However, yet I am not cursing you because among
all your wicked sentences that you have uttered, I have seen one line of truth
and praise, that His birth, that His father and that His mother is unknown.
Precisely because He is birth less, He would be deathless too and therefore I
want him as my husband.’ Satisfied with her brilliant reply and seeing her firm
resolve, boy in the end reverts to His original form and accepts Parvati as his
wife.
Well
this is a Puranic tale, even may be a history, perhaps garnished with a poetic
modifications from a very distant time. Indeed this story does not have any
recognizable hallmark of history as we know it therefore let us not debate its
historicity, we need only to read from it, its messages as best as we can;
that: God would not allow us to manipulate Him, God can be called; when called
with fervor, He does come; He always listens; have clarity in your quest; He
can test our resolve; if at some stage we might meet with disappointment, some
‘Narad’ at that time will come to show direction; better among the people
deserve tougher test paper; ultimately, in this world, nothing is more
important than God; Once you are with Him, you may not prefer to detach from
Him; etcetera.
Digression into Bible
Modern
man is obsessed with the history, with dates, chronologies, and lineages.
These, no doubt, are important but in India
And
however much obsessed we may be with history, the truth still appears far away
despite our skills at recording events. Take Jesus Christ for example, an event
that happened merely two thousand years ago. Birth of a divine child and yet no
one knows with accuracy his date of birth; speculations are rife if it was 25th
December or was it 6th January or was it some time in
September-October? Biblical records have
recorded the time of his birth as the time when “Cattle was out for grazing”.
Do we know year of his birth? Again the speculations are rife, placing the year
from 0 to 6 BCE. Do we know who his biological father was? Certainly not; we
only know a carpenter named Joseph was his foster father who was married to
Jesus’ mother. Do we know who was mother, yes, Mary, but we are not sure how;
because she was a ‘virgin’. And we even do not know where and how Jesus spent crucially
formative years of his life as a youth. Where was Jesus between age of 12 and
30? History has no record of his ‘lost years’. Although the Roman government of
the day had executed him, there are no official records to confirm a date of
the sentence and no one knows his exact date of death, was it Friday or a
Thursday? And what was the month. (Refer to various books and internet on this
subject to ascertain existence of the controversies around life of Jesus).
History obsessed we have failed on both the counts; neither our history is
accurate nor do we have learnt the messages from masters. And in any case, even
if the historical records were not available or that they were false, the
substance of the words of Jesus would still be potent enough. With or without
historically accurate records, let us read and benefit from the messages of
masters.
Back to Shiva-Parvati
Mata Parvati was certainly a formidable thinker who took
her arguments to their logical conclusions and had courage to live by them. How
else did she recognize Bhagavan Shiva and had her unequivocal yearning
for Him, even though He appeared exactly as described by that Brahmin Boy.
Ultimately They wed, Their marriage celebrations described at length in the
Shiva-Puran and lived, still live, happily ever after on mount Kailash.
There, Mata Parvati, Bhagavan Shiva, Their both children, Bhagavan
Ganesh and Bhagavan Kartikeya, their ‘army’, their ‘vehicles’ Bull,
Mouse and Peacock are said to live permanently.
Bhagavan Shiva and Mata Parvati, despite their ‘Bhagavanhood’
love each other passionately. Their married life is epitomized as ideal and
till this day Hindu men and women seek inspirations and blessings from
them. Mata Parvati could put
across her views and intelligently argue out her case when required in
discussions with Bhagavan Shiva. A mother of a brilliant child knows how
difficult is it to deal with them without scuttling their minds. For Mata
Parvati, both her sons were extra-ordinarily gifted, how would she have managed
them, especially during long meditational trips of Bhagavan Shiva,
single handedly? In the times of crisis, Devas and mortals have sought
her to save them from demons. She has in turn taken forms of fierce goddess and
saved innocents and oppressed while annihilating the demons. As for her eyes
for romance, one should read Shiva-Puran first hand. In India
[1] Name of a wandering Sage, who is considered as a great
devotee of Bhagavan
Vishnu (Narayana)
[2] Sage
[3] As per the text of Shiva-Puran, 3000 years!
[4] Brahmin is the name given to that class of people in
ancient India
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