The 5 best myths of Hindu mythology

Hindu mythology is extraordinarily rich., and contains fascinating and unforgettable myths. Adventures of gods, beautiful love stories, epic battles between clans; Indian myths have everything to make us spend unforgettable moments.

As in all other mythologies, Hindu mythology contains an endless wealth of symbolism. In this article we cannot deal with all these meanings, but we hope that, with this summary that we offer you of the best Hindu myths, you want to delve deeper into this ancient culture, which is still in force today in the India.

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Several of the most important Hindu myths

The Indus Valley civilization dates back to the 5th millennium BC. C, time in which the first testimonies of historical towns have been found. A little later, around 3000 BC. C, the area already had important and prosperous cities, such as Harappa, which denote an already very sophisticated culture.

The first document that contains a description of Hindu mythology is the Rigveda, written in Sanskrit in the second millennium BC. c. From then on, this language of culture, derived from the ancient Indo-European language, will be the vehicle for in which the myths of Indian culture will be transmitted in writing, just as they have come down to us. days.

Next, we propose 5 myths of Hindu mythology that will not leave you indifferent. Enjoy reading.

1. The sun god's wife can't stand his heat

The sun-god in Hindu mythology is Surya, lord of the sun, dawn and sunset. The first mention of this god is found in the rigveda, the oldest text in India (2nd millennium BC). C). In it, Surya is described as being resplendent with gold; Thus, a parallel is established, common in all cultures, between the solar force and this precious metal..

The myth tells that one day, while visiting his artisan, Surya noticed his daughter, Sanjna. She, too, took notice of this handsome young god, and every time Surya came to the workshop, she would glance at him sideways and smile. The girl's father noticed this secretly growing love, and one day he sternly warned his daughter: “Sanjna, don't marry him. She remembers that she is the god of the sun, and being around him can be unbearable, and even dangerous. But Sanjna was very much in love with her and it was impossible to make her see reason. So, finally, the distraught father gave his consent to the wedding.

The couple was very happy at first, and even went on to have three beautiful children. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Sanjna to bear the heat radiating from her husband's body. One day she got rid of her embrace, for Surya's body was covered in dangerous flames, and he became so angry that he cursed her and her children.

With pain in her heart, Sanjna ran away from her house and left behind her a shadow, a copy of herself that could bear the heat of the sun. But Surya soon realized the deception and set out in search of his lost wife. Once he had found her, he begged her forgiveness and asked her to come back to him. Sanjna could not return; she did not feel able to bear the horrible heat of her husband. The couple seemed doomed to stay apart forever.

Surya, determined to keep the woman he loved, went to his mother-in-law the craftsman and asked her to cut out one eighth of the sun's rays from him. So did Sanjna's father, and from then on, the only part of the god that still shines like gold are the feet. In this way, Surya and Sanjna can be together and love each other, without fearing that the sun's rays will burn the girl.

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2. The goddess of love is born

Whoever stops to analyze Hindu myths will be in for a surprise. And this is none other than its great resemblance, in many aspects, with the Greek myths. This is not mere chance, of course; Both cultures, both Indian and Greek, come from the Indo-European peoples and, as such, they share cultural traits.

The birth of the goddess of love is surprisingly similar in both mythologies. If you remember, Aphrodite is born from the foam of the sea, and travels to Cyprus in a scallop. Well then; Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of love and abundance, emerges from a huge lotus flower, which appears in the middle of the ocean after being stirred up by the gods. Like her Greek namesake, Lakshmi possesses incomparable beauty. But, unlike Aphrodite, she always remains faithful to her husband, the god Vishnu. The fidelity of the couple transcends, even, life and death, since, in each reincarnation of Vishnu, the god is always accompanied by Lakshmi. Thus, the couple stars in several of the most beautiful love stories in Hindu mythology.

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3. The god Krishna and Radha, the shepherdess

One of these love stories is that of the god Krishna, one of the reincarnations of Vishnu, and Radha, who is none other than Lakshmi. reincarnated as a shepherdess Her story is collected in the Mahabharata, one of the main books of Hinduism. According to this version, Radha is a cowherd girl (a gopi), who is already married when she meets the god. However, as a reincarnation of Lakhsmi, her destiny is none other than to be with Vishnu. So every night, the young woman sneaks out of her house to be with him.

One night, Radha's husband discovers the deception and chains his wife to the wall so that she cannot escape again. Radha's sadness at not being able to be with her beloved is so intense that her soul escapes from the body to join him. In this way, Krishna possesses Radha's soul and is never separated from her again.

The love story of Radha and Krishna symbolizes the encounter of the soul with divinity. The myth is tremendously popular in Indian culture, and has been sung in numerous poems. In the book Gita Govinda, by the 12th century poet Yaiá Deva, describes the erotic and passionate nights of lovers who, in Ultimately, they symbolize the mystical union between the soul and God, similar to what happens in the Song of songs from the bible.

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4. the terrible goddesses

In Hindu mythology, goddesses represent the shaktis of the masculine gods, that is, his feminine energy. In other words, the goddesses complement the deba masculine, and full divinity can only be understood when both are together. On the other hand, each goddess or shakti emanates directly from the primordial Mother Goddess (called, precisely, Sakti), and thus represents the different aspects of it.

One of these goddesses is Parvati, one of the many reincarnations of the goddess Sakti. In her Parvati form she is the wife of the god Siva, the creator and destroyer of the universe. Parvati is a sweet and generous mother goddess, but, at the same time, she can be terrible and devastating in her other guises: Durga, the goddess of war, and most terrifying of all, the goddess Kali.

Kali is the dark lady of the earth, the goddess who unleashes her wrath in the form of catastrophes and cataclysms. The depiction of her is truly frightening: the goddess shows a long tongue red like her blood and wears a necklace of severed heads. She has four hands; In two of them she holds, first, a sword and, in the other, the head of a giant. This fearsome goddess is the shakti or destructive energy of Siva, her consort.

She tells the myth that some giants wanted to overthrow the gods, and they recruited a huge army, so powerful and fearsome that even the gods themselves felt fear. Then, Sakti, the Mother Goddess, turned into Durga, rode her colossal lion towards the Himalayas, where the giants' lair was located. The fight was fierce, since from each giant drop that fell, a hundred more giants were born. When they saw that her mistress could not handle them, the other goddesses came down to help Durga; but even then, it was clear that they would lose the battle and that their kingdom would be extinguished forever.

At that time, Durga was divided into two halves. One was Kali, the goddess of destruction and death, who with her very long tongue sucked up the falling drops of blood one by one, thus preventing more giants from being born. The other half was still Durga, who met the two leading giants in decisive combat and defeated them. The gods had been saved.

5. The Hindu Epic: The Mahabharata and the Ramayana

Written in Sanskrit, the Mahabharata It is the longest epic poem ever written. (much more than the Iliad or the Odyssey). It is made up of a series of interrelated tales, which were compiled around the 6th century BC. c. These tales tell the story of two rival families, the Kaurav and the Pandav, both descended from a common ancestor, Bharat. In fact, the title comes to mean "The great war of Bharat".

The story is really exciting and not only has war scenes, such as the final battle that gives victory to the Pandav, but we also find beautiful love stories. For his part, he Ramayana is another extensive literary work that narrates the adventures of Rama, one of the reincarnations of the god Vishnu. Among others, the story of the kidnapping of Sita, his wife, by some demons is told, and how Rama comes with a great army to rescue his love.