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By Root 949 0

Viewed not so long ago as developing “third-world” nations, these countries are quickly industrializing and taking the lead in science and engineering. Like the Western superpowers, they possess nuclear arsenals and have ambitions in space. And with a very old tradition as innovators in science and technology, they will gain economic strength and vie for a leadership role in the world.

So where does myth fit into the geopolitical picture? Arguably, front and center. To understand where the world is going, we need a better understanding of where this part of the world has been. How better to gain some insight than to know their myths and see how these myths reveal some part of their collective soul?

CHAPTER SIX

THE RADIANCE OF A THOUSAND SUNS

The Myths of India

If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One.

—Bhagavad-Gita

For certain is death for the born

And certain is death for the dead;

Therefore over the inevitable

Thou shouldst not grieve.

—Bhagavad-Gita

If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most deeply pondered over the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions to some of them which well deserve the attention of those who have studied Plato and Kant—I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself what literature…is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human a life, again I should point to India.

—MAX MÜLLER

How do we know what the ancient Indians believed?

What role did myth play in ancient India?

If it’s all an endless cycle of birth and destruction, where does the Hindu Creation begin?

How do you get ten gods in one?

Who’s Who of Hindu Gods

What kind of hero doesn’t want to fight?

Why would a hero banish his loving wife?

What is Nirvana?

MYTHIC MILESTONES

India

Before the Common Era

c. 4500 Introduction of irrigation techniques in Indus Valley region in northwestern India.

Rice is cultivated south of Ganges River.

Pottery is made with corded decoration.

c. 2500 The emergence of civilization in the Indus Valley lowlands at the early cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, centered in the Indus River plain between what is now Pakistan and northwestern India; walled towns develop.

Earliest known woven cotton cloth found in Mohenjo-Daro.

2000 Collapse of Indus Valley civilization.

1500 Indo-Aryan nomadic invaders arrive and settle northwestern India.

Composition of the Sanskrit hymns of the Rig-Veda begins (completed c. 900).

1030 Aryans in India expand down the Ganges Valley.

c. 1000 Aryans establish small states in India.

c. 900 Composition of late Vedas, Brahmanas, and Upanishads begins.

c. 800 Rise of urban culture in Ganges Valley.

c. 600 Sixteen Aryan kingdoms are spread across northern India.

Emergence of Hinduism.

563 Birth of the Buddha.

540 Birth of Mahavira, founder of Jain religion.

c. 500 Religious law codes composed.

Caste system introduced in India.

c. 483 Death of Buddha.

c. 400 Composition and compilation of epic poems Mahabharata and Ramayana.

326 Alexander the Great crosses the Indus River into India; farthest advance of his empire.

321 Chandragupta founds Mauryan Empire.

297 Chandragupta, the first man to unite the Indian subcontinent, abdicates in favor of his son, Bindusara.

273 Reign of Ashoka after he seizes throne.

262 Ashoka converts to Buddhism; renounces violence; Buddhism becomes state religion.

232 Ashoka dies.

c. 100 Composition of seven-hundred-verse Bhagavad-Gita.

W

hen the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in New Mexico’s desert in July 1945, Robert Oppenheimer—the brilliant young physicist who directed the Los Alamos laboratory—recalled the moment like this:

We waited until the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same…. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the