Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [168]
Ultimately, Krishna reveals himself to Arjuna in his universal form: all-devouring time. Recognizing his duty, Arjuna rejoins the battle. Fought over eighteen days, the battle claims the lives of many heroes on both sides. Finally, largely due to some devious tactics suggested by Krishna, the Pandavas emerge victorious.
Why would a hero banish his loving wife?
How pure and perfect must a devoted wife be to please her husband—and the neighbors? That question is central to the Ramayana, the second of India’s two great epic poems. At about one-quarter the length of the Mahabharata, it is also more accessible and has been popular for centuries. Set in Adodhya, in northern India, and featuring Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu and the oldest son and heir of an Indian king, the poem, like other popular hero legends and folktales, is the story of a dispossessed prince, victim of an evil stepmother.
The trials of Rama begin when his stepmother demands that her own son, Bharata, Rama’s half-brother, rule as king. Rama’s father has promised his wife a wish, and must concede. Rama dutifully accepts his role—his dharma—and is forced into exile, living in the forest for the next fourteen years with his devoted and beautiful wife, Sita—bound by her dharma to remain with her husband—and his loyal brother, Lakshmana. (Bharata, meanwhile, recognizes Rama’s right to rule. He places his half-brother’s sandals on the throne and agrees to rule from a small village until the day Rama returns.)
While in the forest, Sita is abducted by the demon king Ravana, who takes her to his island kingdom of Lanka (identified as what is now Sri Lanka, once known as Ceylon). Rama goes to war against Ravana and his armies, enlisting the aid of monkey troops led by the shape-shifting monkey general Hanuman. One of the most popular of Indian gods, Hanuman is a gifted healer with supernatural powers who understands the curative qualities of herbs. Rama defeats the forces of Ravana, kills Ravana with an arrow, and rescues Sita. But Rama is initially skeptical of Sita’s faithfulness to him. After she undergoes a trial by fire and proves her innocence, Rama takes her back and they return to Adodhya, where Rama is consecrated as a king.
But even then, in the last book of the Ramayana, there is gossip about Sita’s “infidelity.” Knowing the rumors are unfounded, but feeling duty-bound as ruler to respect the people’s wishes, Rama banishes Sita, who is pregnant. Having suffered so much, Sita asks Mother Earth to recall her, the ground opens beneath her, and she vanishes forever. Dividing his kingdom between his two sons, Rama enters a river and yields his life, merging his human existence back with the divine Vishnu.
What is Nirvana?
No, not Kurt Cobain’s band. The concept of being peaceful and blessed that describes one’s state of mind. A state without desire. Of perfection. In Buddhism. But wait. That’s getting ahead of the story.
By the 500s BCE, the Brahminism, which had evolved out of Indian myth, was undergoing the usual growing pains that occur when faithful followers take what they have learned and make it their own. Or decide that there might be another version of Truth. Two of the most profound reactions to the theology and social order of the Brahmins emerged almost simultaneously, and both would have lasting influence. The first—Buddhism—developed during the sixth century BCE out of the teachings and beliefs of a religious and social reformer, Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha (“the enlightened one”). The second—Jainism—was developed sometime after 580