Indian Pantheons: Crash Course World Mythology #8 Video Lecture | World Mythology: Crash Course - Personal Learning

Hey there, I’m Mike Rugnetta and this is
Crashcourse mythology.
Today, we’re going to tackle one of the
most difficult and fascinating pantheons in
all of mythology.
It’s got dancing dwarves, buffalo demons,
and some many armed folks.
Yessir there’s a lot going on in this pantheon!
Maybe even more than in the Egyptian pantheon.
Sorry Thoth.
In this episode, we’ll talk about the pantheon
of deities in Indian myths.
Unlike myths from Egypt and the Ancient Near
East, there are living people for whom these
stories have deep, personal, religious meaning.
Remember how it got a little uncomfortable
when we discussed the Bible’s creation story?
Well, it’s gonna be a bit like that.
But we’re gonna try to minimize the awkwardness.
Just ask--wait, there’s no god of awkwardness?!
Ruh roh.
INTRO
Discussing the Indian pantheon is tricky for
two reasons: first because it remains a living
belief system for about a billion people.
And second because Indian religious and mythic
traditions are not only abundant but also
ancient.
As in Egypt, there are different sets of gods
and goddesses that were worshipped at different
points in time.
But unlike Egypt, India was and is home to
many different languages, which means we have
a lot of different stories, each with many
different versions.
We are going to focus mostly on stories that
have been written in Sanskrit, the sacred
language of Hinduism.
Sanskrit first appears in written form around
150 CE in a series of rock inscriptions that
look much more complex than what I’ve inscribed
on rocks.
This probably doesn’t say “Parvati wuz
here!
Vishnu + Lakshmi 5eva.”
Let’s remember that Sanskrit is a complex
language and its poetry may sound unusual
to English ears.
But we can handle it.
Lead the way, Bragi, Norse God of poetry.
In the earliest Indian traditions, Dyaus the
sky father, and Prithvi the earth mother were
central.
Hey, sky dad and earth mom!
Nice to see you over here, too!
Do you mind if I drop off some cosmic laundry?
Later, however, Surya the sun god, Agni the
fire god and Indra the warrior king of the
gods took top God Billing from mom and dad,
who were arguing all the time!
Sky dad, earth mom, knock it off!
Just stop the fighting!
We can all get along.
Indra was the child of the sky and the earth,
and was responsible for keeping them separate,
but had his own beef with another god, Varuna,
who may once have been the ruler of the gods,
but was supplanted by Indra.
Hey, even god’s got beef, right?
Wonder if one of them recorded a diss track...
Anyway, the most well-known myth about Indra
is about his battle with Vritra, a giant serpent
or dragon, whom Indra kills, thus creating
the sun, the dawn, and they sky.
(Yeah, I know – you thought we had sky covered
but, mythology is tricky.)
The death of Vritra also gave form to chaos.
Which is nice.
So yup, it’s our old friend the creation
story, but with violence instead of sex.
In a number of stories, Indra is described
as battling and destroying hostile minor deities
and demons.
I mean, someone has to, right?
And so maybe, you’re thinking yay, Indra.
He fights the good fight.
But… he also breaks oaths,kills family members
and commits adultery with Ahalya, the wife
of the sage Gvautama.
For which he lost his testicles.
Cherries emoji.
Scissors emoji.
Face Screaming in emoji.
But hey wait, it’s OK. in another myth he
has them replaced with those of a ram.
Emoji.
So...um...guess that worked out.
Indra’s weapon of choice is a thunderbolt,
similar to Zeus, and by India’s classical
age he becomes a god of rain.
And this changing function over time is generally
emblematic of Indian myth.
Like the Egyptian pantheon, it’s difficult
to pin down one canonical set of myths or
characters because they appear in so many
forms, often with multiple names.
Here’s another version of how things get
going: In the Vedas, which are the most ancient
Hindu scriptures, Prajapati was the creator
god, but over time, and especially in the
Upanishads, another collection of important
Sanskrit texts, the less anthropomorphic concept
of Brahman developed.
Brahman isn’t a GOD so much as the all-encompassing
essence of reality, the supreme cosmic spirit.
Pretty cool, right Thoth?
It’s not something you can easily represent
on a sandstone relief, but then again it’s
not that dissimilar from “god” in monotheistic
religious traditions.
Brahman has sometimes been translated as the
“world soul” and all individual souls
are one with it.
Don’t get too comfortable, though, because
Brahman, in later classical Hindu mythology
and religion, is embodied and personified
as three deities: Brahma, the creator, Vishnu,
the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer.
They are all distinct, with their own stories,
and yet also represent aspects of the more
esoteric and universal idea of Brahman.
This triumvirate?
Trifecta?
Divine Hat Trick?
Hindus call it the trimurti and Vishnu and
Shiva loom largest in Indian myths.
So then, why is Brahma third banana?
Well, once the universe is created, the work
of the creator is done.
True, The concept of cyclical existence is
central to the Hindu and Buddhist worldview,
so you’d think a creator would be considered
among the most important gods.
Still, Brahma’s significance declined in
comparison with that of Vishnu and Shiva,
perhaps because, according to John Brockington:
Essentially he is a fusion of a creator deity
with the impersonal Brahman propounded in
the Upanishads, which see the goal of religious
endeavor as some kind of union with the absolute,
whereas the popular forms of religion attested
to in the epics prefer a more personal and
devotional approach.
In other words, Brahma doesn’t really get
involved in the juicy stuff-- battles and
quests and adultery.
So let’s turn to Vishnu, the preserver.
Stories of Vishnu often involve his consort
Shri, also called Lakshmi, a goddess of prosperity
and good fortune, which is pretty terrific
as dowries go.
Vishnu protects the world from evil, and he
often appears in different forms called “avatars”.
Avatars are the human or animal form of a
god on earth and they are very, very rad.
By the classical period, Vishnu had 10 or
so avatars:
Matsya, the fish, who we’ll hear more about
when we talk about floods
Kurma the tortoise, who played a role similar
to the tortoise in the earth diver myth that
we saw
Varaha, the boar who is a boar and does boar
stuff
Narasimha the man-lion who kills the demon
Hiranyakashipu
Vamana, the dwarf who defeats the demon Bai
through trickery
Parashurama who kills the hundred-armed Arjuna
with an ax and probably has amazing biceps
Rama and
Krishna who are central to the Mahabaratha,
one of the great Sanskrit epics
The Buddha who is the Buddha.
You know.
From Buddhism.
Kalkin who is a future avatar and a millennial
figure that will establish a new era.
But not like, a millennial millennial.
Kalkin is not on Snapchat.
Shiva, the destroyer, had his origins in the
Vedic era as a storm god who was a “wrathful
avenger” and a “herdsman of souls,”
which definitely sounds trickier than sheep.
Shiva is also associated with yoga, asceticism
and erotic love.
Which definitely sounds contradictory.
Or maybe just flexible.
This erotic aspect manifests most concretely
in Shiva’s symbolic form as a linga, which
is self-explanatory if you look at it, and
might explain why Shiva has numerous female
deities as either wives or consorts, including
Sati and Parvati, and sometimes Durga and
Kali.
Basically, Shiva has game.
One of the best known images of Shiva is his
depiction asl the lord of the dance–no,
definitely not, yes.
According to one scholar:
“His steps are intended to relieve by enlightenment
the suffrage of his devotees: hence he balances
on the back of a dwarf who symbolizes ignorance.
His gestures and the attributes he is holding
symbolize aspects of his divinity; the drum
in his back right hand [symbolizes creation],
the tongue of flame in his back left hand
[symbolizes destruction], the gesture of protection
[of his front right hand symbolizes] protection
and his raised leg symboliz[es] release.”
Has Michael Flatley ever balanced on the back
of a dwarf?
I rest my case.
Now we’ve spent most of the episode discussing
the three key gods of the trimurti and their
amazing dance moves, but Indian pantheons
feature goddesses, too, who usually have qualities
that complement their husband’s powers.
I mentioned Parvati and Uma and Sati, the
wives of Shiva, and Laskshmi, who is married
to Vishnu.
But other traditions describe the goddess
Devi, which translates to “goddess” or
Mahadevi, the great goddess, who is occasionally
associated with these other consorts and sometimes
seen as a world creator in her own right.
In some traditions Devi is essentially the
same as Brahman.
Like many of the deities we discuss, Devi
can be many things to many people.
We haven’t seen too many female warrior
goddesses yet.
So let’s wrap up with a story that features
one: Durga, also known as Kali, who is unapproachable
to her suitors and invincible in battle.
Also she rides a lion.
So clearly - no one is cool enough to date
her.
Thoughtbubble, do your thing.
One of the main stories about Durga is that
of her killing the buffalo demon Mahisha.
Mahisha conquered the other lesser gods, the
Devas, and then the Devas went to Vishnu and
Shiva for help, who listened and grew angry.
And you wouldn’t like Vishnu and Shiva when
they’re angry, because their anger takes
the form of Durga, who confronted Mahisha
and the other demons.
“The demons rushed towards the goddess who
killed them in hundreds, felling some with
her club, catching others in her noose, slicing
others with her sword, and piercing others
with her trident.
Meanwhile, Mahisha himself, in buffalo form,
terrorized her troops.
Then he attacked her lion, and Durga became
furious.
She caught him in her noose, whereupon he
quitted his buffalo shape and became a lion
himself.
She cut off its head and he emerged as a man,
sword in hand.
As she pierced the man, he became a great
elephant, seizing her lion with its trunk,
but she cut off his trunk with her sword as
he resumed his buffalo form.
Lightly tossing aside the mountains he hurled
at her, she leaped on him, pinned his neck
with one foot and pierced him with her trident.
Then she cut off his head with her mighty
sword.”
Thanks, Thoughtbubble, that was... harrowing?
I guess it’s always the second beheading
that sticks.
CONCLUSION
This episode could only scratch the surface
of the complexity of Indian mythology.
Not only does it come from so many sources,
but for many people these are living myths,
unlike the deeds of Egyptian gods that we
saw last week.
These stories are complex because people associate
one god with one or two attributes or phenomena,
like wisdom or storms.
And these gods take many forms and are often
seen as versions of each other, or maybe of
a single universal god.
Hinduism is a fascinating religion and a rich
source of myths, but it’s also quite the
web.
Emoji.
Thanks for watching. We'll see you next week.