Vampires in India

Anne Rice would love this: Vampires have a long history in India. In fact, some historians believe that the vampire myth started in India and entered Europe through the spice trade routes.

Many cultures around the world have stories of blood-sucking creatures. India is no exception. In fact several types of vampires are described in the folk literature of that sub-continent. Here are a few:

Vetalas: Said to be evil spirits that inhabit the bodies of the dead, they are often depicted as hanging upside down from trees. Sometimes described them as half-bat, half-man, this may describe how bats became entwined with vampire mythology. Other legends have them entering living bodies, which they manipulate at will, usually for some evil purpose. However, in a recent television story in India, “Vicky and Vetaal” the Vetaal (Vetala) is shown as a fairly innocuous and friendly spirit.

Pisachas: Usually female, Pisachas are types of witches. Some take the appearance of beautiful women who suckle babies with the intent of poisoning them with their deadly milk. Sometimes, they are depicted as ghastly, flesh-eating creatures. However, they may be driven away by chanting mantras, or by propitiating them with offerings.

 Bhutas: Ghosts, who appears for several reasons, mainly due to having an injustice committed to them while in human forms. Because of this, the souls of the dead, instead of continuing their journeys, remain in disembodied states until justice is served and the guilty punished. As ghosts, they are supposedly common at cremation grounds and have reputations for driving humans insane.

  

Rakshashas: Demonic bloodthirsty beings, they are usually depicted as having long fang-like teeth and horrible appearances. They are almost always cannibals and have a reputation of disrupting prayers and sacred rituals. Some texts describe their origins to pre-date humans. Rakshashas can also shape-shift, taking normal human form to form friendships, only to betray and kill the unsuspecting. Interestingly, in the fantasy role-playing gameDungeons & Dragons, a rakshasa is a type of evil outsider.

Interestingly, human souls, based on their moral history (karma,) may incarnate into these types of vampire bodies. However, even these creatures have the chance to reincarnate again, potentially into human bodies, and thus receive the chance to ascend into higher levels of consciousness.

Four Female Saints of India

The feminine aspect of the divine is very strong in Hinduism—whether in the many Deities worshipped, in the theology, or in the number of female saints throughout its history.



Representations of the  Sage Agasthya and Lopamudra Devi

Classical Hinduism traces its origins to the ancient Rishis who received revelations, later compiled into the Vedas, which form the basis of Hinduism’s teachings. These Rishis, some single and some married, lived in ashrams in the forest and the tradition recognizes the wives of these Rishis as great spiritual personalities themselves, at par with their husbands.

Among them is Lopamudra Devi, the wife of the sage Agasthya. She is credited with great contributions to the theology of the Feminine, and spread the fame of the Lalita Sahasranama (the thousand names of Devi, the Divine Mother.) She was expert in the philosophy of the Divine Feminine and many of her hymns are recorded in the Vedas.



Andal

The Tamil saint Andal appeared South India in the pre-Medieval period. A charming story is told of her appearing in a sacred Tulsi garden and being adopted by her father, the saint Perialvar. Raised in a deeply spiritual environment, she became famous for her deep devotion to God. She considered herself to be the wife of Vishnu (an Avatar of Krishna) and composed many hymns in the mood of a wife in love with God, the Divine Lover. Her songs are still sung at weddings in the Tamil country. Her father, realizing that she loved only Vishnu, arranged her marriage to Lord Ranganatha, a carved-stone representation of Vishnu. To the wonderment of the assembly, Andal’s body merged with that of the Deity.

 

 

 

 

 



Meerabai

Another female saint who experienced ecstatic love for God was Meerabai, born in 1498 in Rajasthan, West India. As a child, she witnessed a wedding procession and asked her mother who her husband would be. Her mother gave her a statue of Krishna and from then on, she considered herself to only be the wife of the Divine.  Meerabai was born into a royal family, but showing no interest in the court or family, spent her days in a state of ecstasy with her beloved Krishna. Finally, in despair, she was ejected by her family and spent the rest of her life travelling through India, composing songs of her Beloved, which remain well known, even to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

Amritananda Mayi

A modern female saint is Armritananda Mayi, also known as Amma. Born into a poverty-stricken family from Kerala, in South India, she spent, as a small child, many hours in deep meditation, experiencing periods of great rapture. She also had the habit of giving away the meagre possessions of her family to those in even greater need, to the consternation of her family. As news of her spiritual attainment spread, she attracted followers, and despite being born into a lower-caste family, some of her first disciples came from Brahmin families, causing quite a stir. She is known as Amma (Mother) because of her habit of spontaneously embracing people to comfort them.

Where is Shangri La and what is its connection to yoga?

In 1933 James Hilton, in his novel Lost Horizon, wrote about the legend of Shangri-La (a variant of the original Shambala.) He placed Shambala in the south-eastern part of China in the Himalayas.  The book was instrumental in introducing the mysticism of the East to Western readers; yet Hilton had knowledge of only a small part of the entire narrative.

In his novel, Hilton recounted the parts of the legend he had heard: about a hidden valley where men and women live for enormous lengths of time. Little did he know the entire legend of Shambala, which describes a much larger story: that of the preservation of the teachings of the Vedas and Yoga and their re-introduction to the world when the cycle of time starts again.

In his book On the Way to Shambala, Dr. Edwin Bernbaum writes about visiting a Buddhist temple in Nepal and coming across a scripture which describes a passage to that mythical valley. He placed it as being somewhere in northern Nepal. Over the years, other esoteric locations described for Shambala are the Arctic, the Western Himalayas and even the middle of the earth.

Yoga has its own mythic stories – a recounting of its origins, its progression, its diminution over time, its disappearance and finally, its rebirth.

Both Hindusim and Buddhism describe time as being circular, and each cycle of time as being composed of four distinct ages or epochs: Satya yuga, the beginning age, then Treta yuga, Dwapara yuga, and finally Kali yuga. Moral characteristics such as honesty, non-violence and mercy decline steadily over the passage of time, until finally, at the end of Kali yuga, they are practically non-existent.

What would the world look like at the end of time? The Srimad Bhagavatam describes it as a cannibalistic society with a wicked world ruler, terrible environmental degradation and oppressive taxation.

In a Hindu text, the Bhagavat Purana (also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam), it is mentioned that yogis and rishis meditate in an invisible state in Shambala. Their goal: to preserve within themselves the teachings of the Vedas and the Yogas and to reintroduce them to the world at the beginning of the coming Satya Yuga.

A great world-consuming struggle between good and evil will ensue at the end of time, featuring mystical weapons and ancient flying craft known as vimanas, as Lord Kalki (a future avatar of Lord Vishnu) battles an evil world ruler who attacks Shamabala. The dictator who orchestrates the destruction is killed and the earth, abused for so long, blooms anew, the wheel of time turns again, yogis are saved, and the eternal teachings of the Vedas and yoga are reintroduced to world.

We are now somewhere at the beginning of Kali yuga, and we can only expect things to get worse before they get better! The lesson: become more adept at our sadhana (yoga practise) and maybe become like little Shambalas ourselves, ready to pass on the teachings to others!

The Musical Extinctions

The word “extinction” evokes images of dinosaurs and dodos, animals once plenty, but now existing only in the historical record.

Civilizations go extinct as well. Ancient Egyptian, Roman, Aztec and other societies have died off, either by violent conquest or cultural exhaustion. Along with them, artistic expressions—whether literary, dramatic, musical or otherwise—die off.

Another form of artistic extinction occurs when one culture becomes so pervasive and powerful that other cultural forms of expression become overwhelmed. This is the current situation.

Manipuri lady playing the Pena

I had the experience of this many years ago, when visiting the Indian state of Manipur, which is nestled in the north-eastern corner of the country, bordering Myanmar, near the Chinese border. As I was returning to my host’s home one evening, I had the surreal experience of being blasted with the strains of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” coming from a small roadside dwelling. Manipur is a rural society, whose traditional instruments are soft-sounding bamboo flutes, the pena (a lute played with a bow) and the pung, a two-headed drum. Indeed, the contrast was jarring.

Drum market in Zimbabwe

Traditional societies have an astonishing variety of instruments. For example, Zimabawe, a relatively small country in Africa, boasts the Ngome and Ingunga, just two varieties of several dozen types of drums of various sizes. Other percussion instruments include a peculiar drum played by rubbing and scratching that produces an unusual scratching sound, and the kanyeda, an instrument made of bamboo strips strapped together and filled with small seeds for percussion. Some traditional instruments facing extinction are the chinzambi, chipendai, tsuri, mukwati and wenyere.

And it is not just instruments that are fading away, but also musical forms and idioms. Traditional musical forms are very much tied into the spiritual narratives and mythologies of these societies. In many cultures, music is not regarded as a performance designed to make money for the artist but as a means of connecting with the sacred, which has reward in itself and is focused not on the artist, but on the object of the art.

The introduction of Western education, mostly by missionaries, effectively cut traditional cultures from their roots and thus provided the means for Western musical attitudes and idioms to enter. Indeed, youth in many traditional societies are trading in their instruments for guitars and drums and the musical idioms of their ancestors for rap and rock-and-roll.

Yo Yo Honey Singh

Examples abound: Yo Yo Honey Singh, a Punjabi rapper, whose explicit lyrics shock local sensibilities; K-pop music featuring Korean boy bands with hair dyed blonde blasting rock-n-roll in the Korean language; and Bollywood, the Indian film industry, which at one time featured exclusively Indian instruments, now giving way to Western music.

Music is distinguished by creativity and variety. Its diminution strikes at the very heart this artistic enterprise, leaving all of us poorer in its wake.

The Origins of Tree Hugging

Painting of the massacre of Bishnois in 1730

 The term tree-hugger in North America is generally used in a pejorative sense, to refer to a wolly-headed, idealistic hippie who is not connected to “reality.”

But tree-hugging has a long history, as a way of protecting the environment, as a protest against political exploitation and as an expression of cultural and spiritual values.

In 1730, the King of Jodhpur, a desert-like region in the North-West of India in the state of Rajasthan, required wood for the construction of a new palace. He ordered his soldiers to collect wood from a region where Bishnois, a rural people, lived.

One of the Bishnois, a woman named Amrita devi, could not bear to witness the destruction of both her faith and the village's sacred trees. In an expression of non-violent resistance, she hugged a tree, and encouraged others to do so too, proclaiming: “A chopped head is cheaper than a felled tree.”

As each villager hugged a tree, refusing to let go, they were beheaded by the soldiers. It is said that 363 Bishnoi villagers were killed in the name of their sacred forest.

When the King was informed about this atrocity he rushed to the village and apologized, ordering the soldiers to cease logging operations.

In 1973, the mountainous Himalayan region of India was the scene of another widespread episode of tree-hugging. Called the Chipko (stick) movement, it went on to become a rallying point for many environmental movements all around the world. In many parts of the developing world, parcels of forests were, and still are, being sold off to companies for clear-cutting. As with the Bishnois, the Chipko movement had many female leaders.  At first, several small confrontations between villagers and loggers from companies happened.

But the flash point occurred in January 1974, when the government announced anther auction. This incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions of the government by hugging the trees. On March 25, 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees, the men were diverted by state government and contractors to a fictional compensation payment site, while back home labourers arrived by the truckload to start logging operations.

Chipko women defending trees

A local girl, on seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the village’s women’s association Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site and confronted the loggers. When all talking failed, and the loggers started to shout and abuse the women, threatening them with guns, the women resorted to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled. This went on into late hours. The women kept an all-night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters until a few of them relented and left the village. The next day, when the men and leaders returned, the news of the movement spread to neighboring districts and more people joined in. Eventually, only after a four-day stand-off, the contractors left.

The news soon reached the state capital, where the state Chief Minister eventually ruled in favour of the villagers. This became a turning point in the history of eco-development struggles in the region and around the world, and from here, tree-hugging spread to other areas around the world, including North America.

While tree-hugging is seen as an ecological movement in the west, the roots are actually spiritual. The Bishnois are followers of the Guru Jambeshwar Bhagavan, born in 1451, who taught twenty-nine principles which emphasized cleanliness, truthfulness, devotion to God and compassion for all living things, including trees and animals. Their beliefs have led to a remarkable community. Bishnoi carpenters never cut trees--they wait for trees to die on their own or fall down during storms. They dig small ponds in their fields and fill them with water  for wildlife during the arid summer months. Even if their standing crop is eaten by deer herds, no Bishnoi ever chases a deer away. They are great protectors of wildlife and consider it a great pride to be able to die saving trees or animals. Unsurprisingly, Bishnoi areas are oases of trees, wildlife and water in an otherwise forbidding landscape.

A Bishnoi girl

"We would willingly go hungry to feed the animals," says Bana Ram, in an interview with Anupama Bhattacharya[i]. "We believe in the co-existence of life. Our guru said that those who die saving innocent animals or trees will go to heaven. For us, animals are the avatars of divinity."

"Our guru forbade us to get addicted, be it smoking, tobacco chewing, drugs or alcohol. Even tea is considered a vice," says Teja Ram. 

"What makes me proud," says Bana Ram, "is that the next generation is even more committed to nature than we are." As if on cue, a little boy who can hardly keep pace as we walk around the village, tugs at my sleeve and says: "I'll never let anybody kill these animals."

Living amidst the barren wastelands interspersed with khejri and babool trees, the Bishnois are a proud race. "We don't get any help from the government and don't want any," says Johra Ram. "Any change in the world has to begin within the society. All this talk about nature and wildlife protection would be more effective if each individual was to believe in the earth as a living, breathing entity and fight for its survival the way we do."

Who is a sannyasi?

A Sannyasi

A favorite of magazine covers and documentaries, nothing presents a more exotic and mysterious picture of Hinduism than that of the sannyasi. Traditionally revered in Hinduism, and sometimes derided by detractors, these wandering holy men have been part of the Indian landscape since ancient times. Indeed, tales of sannyasis retiring to the forest in search of enlightenment is a staple of the civilization. By the time of Buddha, two thousand six hundred years ago, the tradition of sannyasa had already long existed. In fact, before his enlightenment, the Buddha spent years travelling with a group of sannyasis, practising austerities, who then became his first disciples.

In Hinduism, four stages of life are described: bramacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa. A bramachari is a celibate student, whose duty is to learn from his teacher, his guru; a grihastha is a householder, whose duties include raising a family and engaging in civic duties; vanaprastha is the retired stage of life, and finally, a sannayasi is someone, who having performed all worldly duties, renounces all for the pursuit of spiritual wisdom. In practical terms however, many young men (and women) take sannyasa.

Thus a sannyasi is not a priest, which is profession, but a natural stage of life. It is the result of a deep commitment, involving no salary nor benefits, and a product of a personal search for the truth. Yet, despite their abandonment of societal responsibilities, the orders of sannyasa have built up significant traditions over the years. While many sannyasis are free of any association and follow their own path, many more coalesce into orders, attracted by the teachings of the leaders.

The Buddha created an order of sannyasis, which he called the Sangha. These monks (in western terms) dedicate their lives to understanding the teachings (the Dharma) and expounding it to others.

Shankaracharya

One of the great organizers of sannyasa in Hinduism was the great 8^th century saint Shankar-acharya. Born in South India, he travelled across the land, expounding his philosophy, establishing temples and orders of sannyasis, which have great influence to this day.

He founded two types of sannaysis; one called the astra-dhara (the carrier of weapons), and the other the shastra-dhara (the carrier of scriptures.) The astra-dhara, the warrior sannyasis, were meant to protect Hindu temples, which were being regularly attacked by invaders. They were structured around mahants (leaders) and their orders are called akharas, which literally means the circle within which martial arts are practised.

The shastra-dhara sannyasis established mathas, whose closest English translation would be monasteries. There, they studied scripture, specifically those that expounded the monistic teachings of their founder. These sannaysis became known as the dasnami (ten-name) sannyasis, so-called because upon entrance to the order, initiates are awarded one of ten names (such as Puri, Bharati and Giri.)

The Sringeri Matha, established by Shankaracharya

Sannaysis are still found in India, though in much reduced numbers. The main reason for the decline is the minimization of traditional spiritual education in India, where western education is seen as a gateway to the best paying jobs. In the transition to a materialistic culture, and away from a spiritual one, many of the ancient traditions are diminished.

Origins of Non-violent Martial Arts

Kung-Fu in the Forest of Pagodas, Shaolin Temple

In 464 A.D. a Buddhist monk from India, named Buddhabadra, arrived in Henan, China, to spread the teachings of the Buddha. He was part of a great missionary movement that brought the teachings of the Dharma to many parts of Asia, from Afghanistan and Persia in the west to China and Japan in the east.

Known as Batuo in Chinese, he became famous for his erudition and wisdom and gathered many disciples from across the kingdom of Northern Wei.

Thirty-one years later, the Emperor Xiaowen built the now-renowned Shaolin Monastery in Henan for this monk, and from then on, the Monastery became famous for its martial arts practitioners, especially in Kung Fu.

Non-violent martial arts is intimately tied in with two things: the spread of Buddhism and, secondly, the philosophy of ahimsa (non-violence.) Ahimsa is one of the five virtues that form the basis of Buddhist ethics. These five precepts are:

   1)  Abstention from taking life.

   2)   Abstention from stealing.

   3)   Abstention from sexual misconduct

   4)   Abstention from falsehoods, and finally,

   5)   Abstention from intoxicants

As Buddhism spread from its birthplace in India/Nepal, challenges to the wandering monks arose. Specifically, during travels across the land, they would be attacked by hostile persons, whether belonging to different communities or plain thieves and bandits. To injure or kill them would entail breaking one of the cardinal rules of the monks’ faith. Thus, over the years, they developed ways of protecting themselves without seriously injuring their opponents. These forms of non-violent combat they brought with them to China and other places.

Bodhidharma

In 527 A.D., an even more important Buddhist monk, from the Tamil region of South India, named Bodhidharma, simply called Damo in China, arrived at the Shaolin Temple. His influence on Chinese Buddhism and culture cannot be underestimated. He is considered to be the transmitter of Chan (the quintessential Buddhism of China) and its first patriarch, and in Japan, known as Daruma (Dharma.) In Chinese art, he is shown as a dark-skinned, wild-haired, bearded and ill-tempered monk. Traditionally, Chinese date the birth of Shaolin Kung Fu to his arrival.

Both Buddhabhadra and Bodhidharma seemed to have attracted, among others, Chinese military men as their first disciples. Buddhabhadra’s first disciples, Huiguang and Sengchou became well known for their prowess. Bodhidharma’s main disciple, Huike, was also an esteemed warrior.

The Shaolin temple combines two different but complementary traditions: Chan (Buddhist philosophy and ethics) and Quan (martial arts.) The monks there have always pursued the philosophy of unification of these two. In a deeper sense, Quan is considered part of Chan. As late Shaolin monk Suxi said in the last moments of his life, "Shaolin is Chan, not Quan."

In China non-violent martial arts developed to a degree much greater than they did in their home lands of India and Central Asia, and from there, Buddhist monks transmitted the teachings to Japan, South Korea and other parts of the world.

The Golconda Diamonds

Up until the 1700’s, almost all the world’s diamonds came from the Golconda region of India. Located in the Deccan plateau of South India, some of the largest, clearest and valuable diamonds found their way from this area and into the hands of kings and noblemen in Persia, Arabia and Europe.

Marco Polo in particular mentions how Indians went about harvesting diamonds long ago.

“This kingdom (India) produces diamonds. Let me tell you how they are got. You must know that in the kingdom there are many mountains in which the diamonds are found, as you will hear. When it rains the water rushes down through these mountains, scouring its way through mighty gorges and caverns. When the rain has stopped and the water has drained away, the men go in search of diamonds through these gorges from which the water has come, and they find plenty. In summer, when there is not a drop of water to be found, then diamonds can be found in plenty among these mountains. But the heat is so great that it is almost intolerable. Moreover the mountains are so infested with serpents of immense size and girth that men cannot go there without grave danger. But all the same they go there as best they can and find big stones of fine quality. Let me tell you further that these serpents are exceedingly venomous and noxious, so that men dare not venture into the caves where the serpents live. So they get diamonds by other means. (Polo, 1958:246).”

Even today, when the mines of Golconda no longer produce diamonds, and the center of the mining industry has shifted to South Africa, Russia and Canada, Golconda Diamonds have maintained their mystique and desirability. In fact, these diamonds are so difficult to find, that the great majority of jewelers and gemologists will never hold a Golconda diamond in their hands during their careers, and thus, the world’s remaining Golcondas  keep attracting higher prices.

One of the reasons for this is the history and legends attached to these stones. Here are three legendary stones from the Golconda mines:

The Orlov Diamond: According to one account, the earliest known fact about the Orlov diamond is that it was set as one of the eyes of a Deity in a sacred temple in the south of India. A French soldier, who deserted and found employment in the neighborhood of Srirangam, learned that the temple contained the celebrated idol of a Hindu god, the eyes of which formed by two large diamonds of inestimable value.

According to the story, he made a plan to seize the diamonds, a feat which necessitated years rather than months of planning, since no Christian was ever admitted beyond the fourth of the seven enclosures. So in order to steal the diamonds, he embraced the Hindu faith and eventually obtained employment within the walls of the temple. By degrees he gained the confidence of the unsuspecting Brahmins and was allowed in as a frequent worshipper at the inner shrine (where the diamonds were located), because of his apparent veneration for this particular divinity. Ultimately, he secured the appointment of guardian to the innermost shrine within which lay the diamonds of his attention.

The Diamond passed through many hands and finally ended on the Sceptre of Queen Catherine the Great, and is now in the Kremlin.

The Hope Diamond

One of the most famous gems in human history, the Hope’s history is replete with wars, revolution, murder and greed. Purchased (or stolen) in 1666 by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as the Tavernier Blue. The Tavernier Blue was cut and yielded the French Blue (Le bleu de France), which Tavernier sold to King Louis XIV in 1668. On September 11, 1792, while Louis XVI and his family were imprisoned in the Temple in the early stages of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, a group of thieves broke into the Royal Storehouse, and stole most of the Crown Jewels during a five-day looting spree. While many jewels were later recovered, including other pieces of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the French Blue was not among them and it disappeared from history. On 21 January 1793, Louis XVI was guillotined and Marie Antoinette was guillotined on 16 October of the same year. It was smuggled to Britain, and sold to American owners in 1911. It now is part of the collection of the Smithsonian.

The Kohinoor

Reputed to be the Shyamantaka jewel, mentioned in Sanskrit texts, it has a very ancient history. In the early 14th century, Alauddin Khalji, second ruler of the Turkic Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, and his army began looting the kingdoms of southern India. Malik Kafur, Khalji's general, made a successful raid on Warangal in 1310, when he possibly acquired the diamond.

It remained in the Khalji dynasty and later passed to the succeeding dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, until it came into the possession of Babur, a Turco-Mongol warlord, who invaded India and established the Mughal Empire in 1526. Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. In 1658, his son and successor, Aurangzeb, confined the ailing emperor at nearby Agra Fort.

Following the 1739 invasion of Delhi by Nader Shah, the Afsharid Shah of Persia, the treasury of the Mughal Empire was looted by his army in an organised and thorough acquisition of the Mughal nobility's wealth.

After the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747 and the collapse of his empire, the stone came into the hands of one of his generals, Ahmad Shah Durrani, who later became the Emir of Afghanistan. One of Ahmed's descendants, Shah Shujah Durrani, formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia. He was quickly overthrown by his predecessor, Mahmud Shah, but managed to flee with the diamond.

He went to Lahore, where the founder of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813. Its new owner, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, willed the diamond to the Hindu temple of Jagannath in Puri, in modern-day Odisha, India. However, after his death in 1839, his will was not executed. On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Kingdom of Punjab was formally annexed to East India Company rule, and the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. The manner of his aiding in the transfer of the diamond was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. It now adorns the Royal crown of England.