The Muse

The sheer variety of symbols and artefacts in use across the ages and geographies does not necessarily point to a multitude of assumptions and values from which they spring. The study of mythology and folklore then, is a reverse approach to anthropology. This blog is dedicated to my favourite symbols, tales and artefacts - both ancient and contemporary.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

This is Ishita



This is my sister's gmail account, and I use this because I'm too lazy to make my own.
Having described myself adequately, I now say a prayer:
Shayane Padmalabhamcha

I next move on to thank Himanshu Kumar, who's inspired me to blog. Thanks also to all my batchmates, for preventing homesickness.

The purpose of my blog is to discuss mythology, in general, because I like stories. The first story would be a folktale.


Once, in a drought-hit village of India, a farmer began to work. Seing the futility of his activity, Lord Shiva appeared to advise the poor creature. "What purpose does your ploughing serve? There will be no rain, as I've ordained it."

"You made the world, my lord," replied the farmer, "and you made the Law that sustains it. If I'll do my part, I'm sure the Law will take care of the rest."

"Do you imply that the Law is greater than Me?" thundered the deity, "You shall witness this contest, and retract your very thoughts." So saying, he went to Amaravati, abode of Indra, the raingod, and commanded him to withold the rainclouds from that region.

"I'm bound by Your Law, sire," said Indra, "if the frogs of that land croak, I will have no choice but to release my rainclouds.". "Rest assured, for that shall not happen."

His next stop was of course, the Frog Union of India, who assured him compliance, under the condition that not even a single firefly would appear in front of them, in which case, Legally bound as they were, they had to croak.

Frustrated by the length of the chain of command He'd created, He went to the Firefly Adda and warned them appositely. Luckily for Him, the unhappy chain ended there.

That very evening however, it rained in adequate amount in that village. Dumbfounded at the occurence, the Lord rushed to Indra, who palefacedly explained that the frogs had done the mischief. The frogs placed the blame upon the fireflies. But the fireflies denied it.

Being omniscient, Mahadev knew the fireflies weren't lying, and so He went back to the frogs, who vehemently maintained that they'd spotted a firefly, and that one was blinking even right now. Indeed, the Lord spotted a blinking light in the fields, and went to investigate.

It turned out to be our hardworking farmer, who was now weeding the fields by torchlight, which due to his bobbing action, seemed to look like a firefly from afar. Thus defeated by His own Law, the Lord Ashutosh, returned to his abode.

I'd read this story when I was younger, at which time it didn't sound half as silly. Reasoning apart, the moral of this story is a serious one. Humans invented the game of chess, and the rules of playing it. Humans are also the players, and when they descend in the form of the chess pieces, they're bound by those very rules. So it is ordained in this Game of Life, that if we do our part in acomplishing our goals, not even the Creator can conspire to prevent their fulfilment.

With this, I close this blog, and proceed to partake of Sunday Lunch.

3 comments:

Anand said...

very good story...way to go!!

Anonymous said...

damn it dimag kharab hogaya. just 2 gud u nvr told me dis story 4 bedtime. wud hav been intelligent 2day. nt a gadha. lv u yr. gr8 job

Unknown said...

Its nearly a decade you since you wrote this but I have to say I really enjoyed it Ishita didi