Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik Read online

  Today, Western scholars claim that influence flowed from West to East, and Indian scholars say the opposite. This is an ongoing debate, and nobody knows the answer.

  Tell us about Agni.

  Agni is the second most important god in the Vedas. Indra is associated with water and Agni, with fire, both key elements for a civilization to be established. In modern times, one would say electricity instead of fire. In Vedic times too, fire and water were essential for life so these gods were important. Indra was invoked for rain and Agni was placed in a kund around which yagnas were performed. It is believed to be the mouth of the gods. When you put ghee in the fire and say ‘swaha’, the food reaches the gods. During a yagna, first the yajman (patron of the yagna) is identified. For instance, I, Devdutt, am performing the yagna, and while chanting a mantra for Indra, I offer ghee into the fire, so it’s from Devdutt to Indra. Like a courier service, Agni carries the offering to that god. So Agni is extremely important.

  And Vayu?

  Vayu is associated with Marut, storms and prana, life or breath. Vayu is air and prana is breath. They are both co-related. In many ways, Vayu is the source of life. With air comes life and to sustain life you need fire and water.

  We see Shiva in the Puranas. How is he seen in the Vedas?

  The concept of Shiva exists in the Vedas, but not like we know him now. In the Vedas, he is seen with awe, fear. He is a powerful god called Rudra. Indra and the other gods we spoke of are in the spotlight but Rudra is in the shadows. People are afraid of him. He is invoked last in a yagna, after it’s over. Don’t invoke in the beginning, he may cause trouble, so there’s a forbidding energy. This is not the Bholenath, Shankara kind of image that is found in the Puranas.

  What about Vishnu?

  Vishnu is more popular. He is associated with the sun, and is one of the Adityas, the sons of Aditi. Here he has characteristics that we can identify with. For instance, as Vamana he took three steps, so he is clearly associated with three steps. You’ll find a description of the Varaha avatar as Emusha, and the Kurma avatar as Akupar. There are these glimpses or vignettes which find fuller form in the Puranas. But he is there, in small descriptions—like a trailer version!

  What about Brahma?

  Brahma is an important god. In the Vedas, he finds mention as Prajapati, Vastospati, Brahmanaspati, but he is not described as an old man sitting on a lotus flower as he is in the Puranas. His physical form, appearance are not clear in the Vedas. One theory is that Brahma was one of the most important gods of Vedic times but as we moved to the Puranic times, he was abandoned, because yagna was replaced by murti puja or idol worship. Bhakti became more important than ritual. So Shiva and Vishnu gained in importance. And Brahma, along with yagna, started disappearing.

  Are the asuras described in the Vedas?

  In the Vedas, asuras are not considered negative. In fact, asura is a title for greatness. So they’ll say to Indra, to Varun, ‘Aap asura ho.’ The word which came to mean ‘enemy’ in Puranic times was actually a title of greatness in the Vedas. In Persian or Zoroastrian mythology too there are devas and asuras. There, devas are negative, and asuras are positive. In our Puranas, devas are positive and asuras are negative. In the Vedas, both are positive. In Parsi religion, god is Ahura Mazda. The word Ahura comes from asura.

  Are Vedic gods worshipped even today or has the practice stopped altogether?

  During a havan or yagna puja, Vedic gods are invoked, like Surya. In a navagraha temple, the names of the grahas come from the Vedas. Astrology is Vedic. For Surya puja, sukta (poems) are found in both Vedas and Puranas; he’s one god who is consistent between the two epochs. Indra may have diminished in significance, but not Surya, although they were competitive gods in Vedic times. In the Ramayana and Mahabharata too you will see them competing. Surya is worshipped even today, in the morning in yoga (surya namaskar), offered water, etc. Surya is a Vedic god who is still alive.

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  Vrata

  On any given day of the week, people seem to be observing a vrata. Do the Vedas mention vrata?

  The Vedas do mention vrata but not in the sense that it’s practised today. There, a vrata is simply an observance before a yagna—like bathing, fasting before a puja, and so on. These observances are called vrata, and the word comes from there.

  Why is a vrata observed?

  It’s associated with karma. Our 3000-year-old philosophy believes that there is a cause for whatever happens in life. There is a seed for every fruit. But you have no control over the fruit whose seed your action has sown. As Krishna says, don’t worry about the fruit. We also know that we can work hard but there’s no guarantee that it’ll produce results. Life is uncertain. When things are not going right, what can you do? You’ll be told to work hard, be motivated, have faith, go to a guru or a temple, but that doesn’t seem enough. You have to do something. That’s where vrata comes in. You undertake a series of activities by which you try to communicate what you want in life. It’s almost as if you’re communicating with the cosmos, sending a message that this is your wish. By observing a vrata, you express your wish.

  How is a vrata observed?

  There are different kinds of vrata. One is a jagaran, in which you keep awake all night. It’s a shift from your day-to-day practice. There is maun vrata, in which you abstain from talking. The most popular is fasting, in which you decide to not eat, say, from this sunset to the next. Some people take it a step further and observe a nirjala upvas, that is, they do not even drink water. Then there are those vratas in which you eat only a specific kind of food, like chana or sweet food, or those in which you do not eat certain foods, like sour food. Other vratas can be for going to a temple on foot, or going barefoot, on the knees, or by rolling the body, and so on.

  Some of these can be quite rigorous, like keeping silent for ten days, not drinking water for twenty. Although men, women, young and old, all observe vratas, these seem to be more popular with women. Perhaps women did more of this because after marriage they would move from their father’s home to a new home to live with an unfamiliar man. It would make them feel lonely, helpless and powerless. They would console themselves by observing a vrata—it would make them think they were conversing with god and the cosmos, that they had a connection with the world. So from the psychological point of view, it was a very important ritual.

  When is a vrata observed?

  There are no fixed days. Some are observed annually during a festival or on a tithi (appointed time) like Ekadashi or Sashti or Dussehra when one massages with a particular oil. Others over longer periods like the Vasant Navratri when one eats only vegetarian food. Some can be random, as when on a certain day someone simply decides to observe a vrata.

  Are there any stories associated with vratas?

  Yes, some vratas are associated with stories. India’s most popular vrata is the Vat-Savitri vrata. This is the story of Savitri which was told to Draupadi and the Pandavas in the Mahabharata.

  Savitri is told that her bridegroom will die within a year of their marriage, but as she is in love, she goes ahead and marries Satyavan anyway, against her father’s advice. One year later, when Yama comes for Satyavan, Savitri has a long dialogue with him and manages to get her husband back. What this story tries to establish is that the husband’s life is in his wife’s hands. He can attain longevity by his wife’s actions.

  Women keep this vrata once a year for the good health of their husbands. As part of the vrata, you have to listen to or tell the story and walk around a banyan tree (vat-vriksha), tying a thread. Banyan trees all over India have threads tied around their trunk. So, there’s a story, a ritual, and an observance. The observance is that women consume only fruit or milk, not cereal or cooked food, etc. This is a popular vrata in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

  Is there a story about the famous Karva Chauth vrata?

  Karva means pot and Chauth is the fourth day of the lunar cycle. Although it is now observed throug