Hindu Mythology

"From the upper to the lower Samudra he released the celestial waters."

"For Turvasha and Yadu, you calmed the gushing waters on the farther shore (V.31.8)."

"The Gods who dwell in the luminous realm of Heaven above the firmament, who make the mountains shake across the flooding ocean; who extend with their rays with strength across the ocean, Indra come with the Maruts (I.19.7-8)."

"Oh Maruts, you draw up the rain from the ocean and, full of the heavenly waters, make it pour (V.55.5)."

"Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvatī has listened. Thinking of wealth and the great world of creatures, she poured for Nāhuṣa her milk and fatness."

"Priests, go to the ocean, worship with offerings the Son of the Waters (X.30.3)."

"From the lap of the mountains, happy, smiling, like two running mares, like two bright mother cows licking their calf, Vipas and Shutudri run with fluid. Directed by Indra, seeking power, as chariots they travel to the sea (III.33.1- 2)"

"Oh Maruts, what medicine of yours is in the Indus and in the Asikni rivers, what is in the oceans or what is in the mountains (VIII.20.25)."

"The higher gods of the Rgveda are almost entirely personifications of natural phenomena, such as Sun, Dawn, Fire, Wind. Excepting a few deities surviving from an older period, the gods are, for the most part, more or less clearly connected with their physical foundations. The personifications being therefore but slightly developed, lack definiteness of outline and individuality of character. Moreover, the phenomena themselves which are behind the personifications have few distinctive traits, while they share some attributes with other phenomena belonging to the same domain. Thus Dawn, Sun, Fire have the common features of being luminous, dispelling darkness, appearing in the morning. ... The universe appeared to the poets of the Rgveda to be divided into three domains of earth, air, and heaven, ... This is the favourite triad of the Reveda, constantly mentioned expressly or by implication. The solar phenomena are referred to heaven, while those of lightning, rain, and wind belong to the air. In the three worlds the various gods perform their actions, though they are supposed to dwell only in the third, the home of light."

"While some flow together, others flow towards; the rivers fill the common receptacle’."

"Varuna dug a path for the Sun and led forth the ocean-going floods of the rivers."

"This stream Sarasvatī with fostering current comes forth, our sure defence, our fort of iron. As on a car, the flood flows on, surpassing in majesty and might all other waters. Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvatī hath listened. Thinking of wealth and the great world of creatures, she poured for Nahuṣa her milk and fatness."

"“RV 7.95.2, a hymn of the middle Rgvedic period, indeed speaks of the sarasvatí flowing to the samudra.”"

"With its customary caution the Vedic Index, which does not at all promote indigenism or an early Rg veda, but adheres to the AIT, states “knowledge of the ocean… was almost inevitable to people who knew the Indus” (vol 2, 432)."

"As the wind, as the wood, as the sea stirs"

"The consciousness is like a chariot yoked to a team of powerful horses. One of them is breath (prånå), the other is desire (våsanå)."

"So right from the start, even according to the AIT scenario, even as the Aryans (allegedly) arrived, they fashioned cars from the wood of native trees; they did not bring chariots from abroad!"

"The only real-life, not mythological, ratha in a race we know is mentioned in 10.102 and this is pulled by oxen. Nowhere in the 1000 hymns of the `Rgveda is there one single mention of a real-life battle with horse-drawn rathas... The scholars of the 19th century translated the Rigvedic ratha (or anas) as “chariot” thinking of Greece and Rome, and the notion stuck."

"Having a word to designate the war chariot does not mean that they invented it."

"Joyfully the youthful daughter of the sun Ascends your rátha, heroes, here; Around are marvellous áßvás flying, May the flame-coloured birds bring you to us."

"The twelve-spoke wheel of truth revolves about the heaven unwearied. Seven hundred and twenty sons in pairs stand on it, O Agni. They call the full one in the upper half of heaven the “Father with five feet and twelve forms”. These others call him “the far-seeing one mounted below on seven wheels and six spokes”. On this ever-revolving five-spoked wheel, all creatures take their stand. Its axle, though bearing a heavy load, does not get hot, nor has its nave ever broken apart for ages."

"Not only the language, but also the culture of the newly arrived elite was appropriated, including the 'Vedic Tank' the horse drawn chariot."

"Soma flows on for u's as winner of the kine, winner of thousands, cars, water, and light, and gold; He whom the Gods have made a gladdening draught to drink, the drop most sweet to taste, weal-bringing, red of hue."

"The Early Mandalas contain no references to technological innovations like ‘ara’ (spokes) which appear only in late Mandalas."

"Given the current frantic search for evidence of ‘spoked wheels’ in the remains of the Indus Valley Civilization, the translation [of the word arati as 'spoked wheels'] could even be considered irresponsible."

"Something of this fear of the horse and of the thundering chariot, the "tank" of the 2nd millennium B.C. is transparent in the famous horse 'Dadhikra' of the Puru king Trasadasya ("Tremble enemy" in RV 4.38.8) ……..The first appearance of thundering chariots must have stricken the local population with terror similar to that experienced by the Aztecs and the Incas upon the arrival of the iron-clad, horse riding Spaniards."

"By the time of the Katha Upanishad, the metaphor of the horse (and the chariot, to which we will turn shortly), though slightly altered from the `Rgvedic imagery, had become perfectly explicit: “Know the self (åtman) to be the chariot’s master, and the body, the chariot itself; know the intellect (buddhi) to be the charioteer, and the mind (manas), the reins” (1.3.3); the horses, the Upanishad continues, are the five senses (indriya-s) which must be reined in by our intellect and (higher) mind, and ultimately the self. The chariot, here, stands for the body or our external being."

"The rite is often considered a ‘ship’ or a ‘chariot’; it is a means of communication, of bringing closer the two shores, that of the hither or terrestrial realm, and that of the beyond, or godly realm."

"The unique forms and the early appearance of carts in the Indus valley region suggest that they are the result of indigenous technological development and not diffusion from West Asia or Central Asia as proposed by earlier scholars."

"The reconstructed picture of the Vedic ratha is not yet complete. A number of technical terms are not fully or not at all understood... The Rgveda, in fact, offers countless examples of such metaphors, where the chariot stands for the word, the well-composed hymn of praise, the ritual ceremony or the sacrifice as a whole."

"Forty bay horses of the ten cars’ master before a thousand lead the long procession. Reeling in joy Kakßivån’s sons and Pajrå’s have grounded the coursers decked with pearly trappings."

"In the total of nine passages in the Rigveda in which the words √vah, rátha, and ásva occur together, the ráthas are imaginary, heavenly vehicles, drawn by imaginary, heavenly ásvás. Parpola’s specific translation “war-chariot” for rátha is misleading. In none of these passages is the rátha a vehicle of war. All but three of them describe dawn and her attendant deities."

"The two most ancient epics of India are called the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The oldest of these epics is called the Ramayana or "The Life of Rama". The name of the poet, or sage, was Valmiki. And this is how he became a poet. One day as this sage, Valmiki, was going to bathe in the holy river Ganga, he saw a pair of doves wheeling round and round, and kissing each other. The sage looked up and was pleased at the sight, but in a second an arrow whisked past him and killed the male dove."

"As the dove fell down on the ground, the female dove went on whirling round and round the dead body of its companion in grief. In a moment the poet became miserable, and looking round, he saw the hunter. "Thou art a wretch," he cried, without the smallest mercy!, "I have never spoken in this sort of way before.""

"Be not afraid. This is poetry that is coming out of your mouth. Write the life of Rama in poetic language for the benefit of the world. And that is how the poem first began. The first verse sprang out of pity, from the mouth of the first poet. And it was after that he [Valmiki] wrote the beautiful Ramayana, the “Life of Rama”."

"He excels in description of forests and the hermitages of sages. Nature, in all its aspects and varieties — trees, mountains, rivers, clouds, dawn, sunset, had a great fascination for him. His sketches of some of the sages have a deft touch and they dwell on the greatness of penance and the sublimity of a spiritual life of self-realisation."

"The Ramayana contains the stories of the northeastern kingdoms. But here the legends were rewritten by one man, the poet Valmiki, who played a role analogous to that of Homer."

"Legendary sage Valmiki, venerated as the ‘Adikavi’, First Poet, in Sanskrit, though unequivocally recognises Rama as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Threthayuga, second aeon in the cycle of ages, depicts the hero Rama as the most virtuous human being, personifying all the highest ingredients of Dharma."

"He [Válmíki] was the son of Varuna, the regent of the waters, one of whose names is Prachetas. According to the Adhyátmá Rámáyana, the sage, although a Bráhman by birth, associated with foresters and robbers. Attacking on one occasion the seven Rishis, they expostulated with him successfully, and taught him the mantra of Ráma reversed, or Mará, Mará, in the inaudible repetition of which he remained immovable for thousands of years, so that when the sages returned to the same spot they found him still there, converted into a valmik or ant-hill, by the nests of the termites, whence his name of Válmíki."

"Valmiki the Poet held all the moving world inside a water drop in his hand. The gods and saints from heaven looked down on Lanka, And Valmiki looked down at the gods in the morning of Time."

"Rishi Valmiki taught us that in order to make progress in society, you have to take along Shabari with you; if you want your society to progress, you have to ensure that even vanars stand by you. If you want to move ahead, you have to embrace Kevat. ...We have come together at this place to express our commitment to follow his message.... Rishi Valmiki laid central focus on awakening the power of truth in order to destroy evil. He did not desire or envisage the slaying of demonic forces merely through the force of war. He has presented a whole vision of a well-organised society in order to defeat asuri (demonic) powers. Prabhu Ramchandra was competent to handle his adversary [Ravan] by himself. But Rishi Valmiki inspired him to mobilise and carry along the power of the entire range of vanjeevan (forest life) including vanars (monkeys), to ignite divine energy in them for the purpose of destroying subversive forces in society that appear in the form of asuras (demons). This social mobilisation of the good included not just Ravan’s own brother and son, but his whole family. Rishi Valmiki has taught us to live by energising and bringing together positive energies of society in order to destroy asuri shakti. He taught us that in order to make progress in society, you have to take along Shabari with you; if you want your society to progress, you have to ensure that even vanars stand by you. If you want to move ahead, you have to embrace Kevat . Rishi Valmiki gave all these messages. We have come together at this place to express our commitment to follow his message."

"His [Valmiki’s] Ramayan is generally treated as Adi Kavya, the first Sanskrit poetry ever written. While it was part of oral tradition for centuries, it reached its final form somewhere between 200 BC and 200 AD. The content took a lyrical form after he experienced a painful episode."

"It is surely more important to discover what he [Valmiki] had in mind when he wrote the work [Ramayana] and how he intended his readers to study and interpret it. From this standpoint, there is hardly any doubt that his intention was to delineate Rama as an avatar."

"I have no skill in any craft, even in words."

"Act now Valmiki; Call out and the rest must follow."

"Valmiki stood up and broke free out of that hard anthill. Suddenly he saw all around him many houses of hermits and their families, young trees carefully watered, a retreat cleared from the forest. Four boys ran up to him from the river and cried "The wife of some great warrior weeps by Ganges. She is fair as a Goddess fallen from heaven, all bewildered, all alone, never seen before, with child, and with small gifts tied from the city within a silk cloth beside her. Go to her, welcome her and protect her."

"You have now. Coming here, I sang a friend-gathering song. Valmiki, I've seen other skies than these, other worlds, and other friends. People are counting on you... and I can hear the chariot from Ayodhya approaching across Ganga."

"What did she do wrong?"

"Rama rules as King in Ayodhya. He is born in the Solar race and a descendant of the Sun; he is brave and gentle and firm in fight. By Rama's command his adorable Queen Sita is being brought here into the forest on a chariot, and though she suspects nothing yet, here she will be left abandoned. Unless you comfort her she will drown herself in Ganga and kill as well her unborn sons by Rama."

"Nothing. She is innocent and blameless. She has lived as Rama’s queen ten thousand years; before that Rama saved her from great danger by wondrous and incredible deeds. And now behold one of the terrors of kingship, that Rama let her go because his people talk against her. Get up, save her life with you and your companions; and make in measured words the song of Rama, and teach it to Rama’s two sons."