Music

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Mythology: Likeness among religions


Was just reading about the first avatar of Vishnu - Matsya. In this avatar Vishnu reincarnates himself initially as a fish who pleads for help from the Dravidian king Satyavrata while he is washing his hands in the river. The king puts him in a jar which
he soon outgrows, then a tank, a river and finally to the ocean but to no avail for he continuously outgrows them. Then the fish
reveals himself to be Lord Vishnu who tells him that a great flood will occur during which all life will be destroyed (Read about the other great floods ... or is it the same???) Yes the floods are in plural for they are known through the biblical story of Noah's Ark, through Deucalion in Greek mythology and Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Satyavrata was instructed to take "all medicinal herbs, all the varieties of seeds, and accompanied by the seven saints”along with the serpent Vasuki and other animals. (Sounds similar to something... cant remember what)

The Ten Avatars of Vishnu

Besides this there is the Great Trinity - Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. According to the Puranas, Brahma is self-born (without mother) in the lotus flower which grew from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe. (Akin to being the son of Vishnu).

In contrast there is the Holy Trinity - The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost

The reason why im writing this is coz I was thinking - Christianity as a religion only started after Christ or for that matter after the death of Christ. So all the stories in the Old Testament are linked up to Christianity after 32 AD, thus the historical context of the religion is put in after the events in the 1st century AD AND this historical context is something that is common to other religions (the flood for one), religions far older than Christianity.

Clearly Christianity is not very original with their history, it seems to be borrowed to me.
For more comparisons, you should defintiely watch Zeitgeist (especially the first part dealing with religion), you are in for a treat and lots of startling facts. A must watch.

Please correct if im wrong anywhere, especially if someone knows about something that genuinely links up Christianity with the past.

I feel as if I could have started a religion in 200 BC and then created a history for it by borrowing from other religions, although it would have to survive through the ages for the victors write history whether it is true or untrue.

1 comments:

Sudeep Patnaik said...

Hey needed to give an update!!! will do it soon and let u kno of the edit