ASIAN MYTHS

Asian Myths

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Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com

ASIAN MYTHS

Asian Myths
The Myth of Bhrigu (Hindu):
One time the priests of India sent Bhrigu the Wise to find out which god was most worthy 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, at which 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, whereupon the 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 his three 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 to defeat, 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, but harbored 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 rejoiced at 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 ugly wrinkled 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 could do 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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ASIAN MYTHS

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 to search 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 stream she 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-induced trance, 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 music was 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 and killed 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 of eternal 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, they take 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 each end, 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 cooperative 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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ASIAN MYTHS

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 Devas can 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 it chases the sun and the moon forever. The elixir, or soma, is identified with the moon, and the 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 ocean they 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 and Chiang, 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. On halving 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 advised that 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 a spirit 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 called out: '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 his bones. 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 beautiful decided 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-bank so 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 she threw 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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ASIAN MYTHS

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 he was 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 he himself 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 the ogresses 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 their descendants 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 took them 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 in the 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 Avalokitesvara could 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 over the whole land. (From the Mani bka' 'bum.)

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