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The head-alone cult of Renuka worship is not confined to
India alone. The head-alone image is seen in the myths and art of ancient
Greece too. It is the Gorgon head which resembles
Goddess Kali with protruding tongue and dreadful looks. What is surprising is
that many of these art works on Gorgon heads do show them with a Tilak on the
forehead, a symbol that is unique to Hindus and Hindu Goddesses.
In this image, the Gorgon head in Vix-krater's handles,
unearthed from the grave of the Celtic Lady of Vix, dated at 510 BC shows the face of Kali with
a tilak on the forehead. {1}
Yet another popular find from Greek art was a cup having a
painting of the Gorgoneion
in the image of Kali with a round bindi on her forehead. This is dated at 6th
century BCE. {2}
In the Greek myths, there are three Gorgons that are females
with terrible faces and winged bodies.
One of them, Medusa
found in a clay plaque dated at 570 -550 BC and housed at Syracuse resembles
the posture of Garuda or Eagle as carrier (that is found in most temples in
Tamilnadu and used in temple precessions to carry the deity), but having the
face of Kali with a tilak on the forehead. {3}
Compare this for the iconographic similarities with Garuda,
the divine Eagle that carries Vishnu.
The following image is of Garuda found in Badami caves.
Garuda is carrying the celestials. Look at the position of
legs and up-turned wings while flying. This is how the Syracuse Gorgon (previous
pic) is also seen.
Following is the image of Garuda carrier that is used in
procession of Gods in Garuda- vahana and found in numerous temples.
The leg-position is something that is identical in these
figures.
These figures found in India are of recent times compared to
the Greek images. But the idea of Garuda as a carrier of Vishnu comes from
India and must have pre-dated Parashurama. There are Garudas, Kinnaras, Gandharvas,
Nagas etc mentioned at many places in the Puranas. Superficial reading may give
an impression that these are all mythical characters. But a branched-out study
of Hindu texts would reveal that Garuda symbolises good
eyesight. An eagle can see from a greater height a small chick on the
ground and swiftly swoop down on it and fly back with it as fast as it came. The
link between eye sight and Eagle is made out from texts like Prasna Marga that prescribe donation of the image of
Garuda as a remedy for eyesight problems. {4}
From this it is presumed that reference
to certain people as Garudas or eagles was because they were endowed with good
eye sight and swiftness in movement. It is for this reason Lord Vishnu
is supposed to travel on the Eagle whenever he had to rush to the rescue of his
devotee caught in the hands of a tormentor. Thus the concept and its
application are found in Hindu thought. The image of Garuda / Eagle of the
Gorgon of Syracuse must have travelled from India only.
The strong reason to say this is because the most popular idea
of Vishnu having mounted on the eagle to rush to the rescue of his devotee was
that of Gajendra Moksha
in which an elephant called Gajendra was caught by a crocodile. According to
Puranas, this episode happened during the period of Tamasa
Manu, who was worshiped by the people in and around the Vindhya region.
It was in the same region, the head-alone cult of Renuka
got shaped.
The earliest reference to Gorgon comes in Homer’s works dated at 12th century BCE. The
focus of reference was the eyes of the Gorgon. They were huge, flashing and depicted
variously as spirals, swastikas, fire wheels and concentric circles and so on –
something in line with the Garuda concept of sharp eyesight. The Eagle-as-
carrier concept was fused with the idea of eyesight, such that it was believed that
the gaze from the eyes of the Gorgon, when falls on someone would destroy him /
her or turn them into stones (incapacitated). The Syracuse Gorgon Medusa image
was symbolic of travelling like an Eagle to instantly reach the tormentor and
destroy him.
Gorgon Medusa has a parallel to Renuka’s head-alone image. Renuka
was beheaded by Parashurama. Medusa was beheaded by Perseus.
Persia and Parashurama
In the Greek myth, Perseus beheaded Medusa and carried
her head to kill his enemies, by putting it out in front of anyone whom he
wanted to kill. The origin of Perseus is still a matter of speculation. There
is an opinion that Perseus means “Persian” or that he was
from Persia as there are portrayals of him in Persian
style pyjamas, boots, cap etc. The word Persia has its origins in Old
Persian word “Parsuwash”.
No etymology exists for this word, Parsuwash.
However in the records of Shalmaneser III (reign 858-824 BCE), two names are
mentioned in the area of Lake Urmia- one is Parsuwash and the other is Matai. It is
not known whether Parsuwash refers to a people or a place. But "Parsuwash"
is considered to be same as the Old Persian word pārsa. {5}. Did this refer to Parashu or Parash-wasi? Was
Persia the region where the people who followed Parashurama lived? Were they
called as Parashu > Parashu-wasi > Parsuwash? Was the name Perseus rooted
in Parashu? Is it merely a coincidence that Perseus, whose name is phonetically
similar to Parshu-vas, did a similar act of beheading a woman as Parashurama
did?
Parashu in Sanskrit means axe. The very name Parashurama came
up due to the axe or parashu he was carrying. It is with that weapon he killed
the kshatriyas. Did the people of Parsuwash carry the axe and the Renuka cult
to other regions of Europe? This looks plausible, as we find the axe as the
Royal symbol of power in the pre-Greek society. The Etruscans who occupied
Greece ever since 12th century BCE until the Roman conquest in 3rd
century BCE, had axe as their Royal symbol of power to punish and execute
wayward subjects.
During Royal processions this axe was carried by an official
in front of the procession. This was made with a bundle of sticks having an axe
tied to it {6}. It
must be noted here that the head-alone Medusa also finds a place only in this
period of pre-Greek culture.
Parashurama was known for having beheaded Renuka and been
terrible in destroying his enemies. Was that used by a native of Parsuwash –
i.e., Perseus, in conquering others and establishing his supremacy? Did Perseus get the inspiration from
Parashurama and killed his enemies while holding the severed head of a woman? It
must be remembered that Parashurama’s killing spree started upon the death of
his mother and father.
There is scope to connect Persia with the followers of
Parashurama. Parashurama’s anger had gone upto Kashmir as we find Mahabharata mentioning
Kashmiras as having fled from his anger. {7}. Son of Sibi,
the Sauviras located in present day Pakistan had gone into hiding to escape
from Parashurama. Therefore those regions and the adjoining ones must have been
populated by the people who helped him in his fight against the kshatriyas. (Certainly
Parashurama could not have killed the kshatriyas all by himself. He must have
taken local help in every region that he went to flush out the kshatriyas).
In course of time that pocket having Parashurama’s followers could have
become known as Parashwa or Parshuwas or Parashu- vaasi. The phonetic
similarity is not the only indicator. How the idea of Medusa with severed head
having the features of the Hindu Goddess got into their myth must be
satisfactorily explained. Any explanation would bring us to Hindu traditions
only.
Perhaps the much earlier version of head-alone can be traced
to Sesklo culture –
located in the same place, i.e., Greece and dated at 6000 BCE.
It was a ceramic mask having a terrible look.
It looks close to the Kirtimukha image of Hindu temple
architecture {8}
This is also a head-alone figure!
This is also a head-alone figure!
Kirtimukha.
There is a narration in Shiva Purana
tracing the story of Kirtimukha, thereby showing its origin in Hindu culture {9}. The Kirtimukha is
shown to be eating the tail of the snake! In a surprising connection, Renuka
was known to have always picked up a snake, coiled it up like a rope and placed
it on her head to support the pot that she freshly made and filled with water. It
is possible to visualise how she would have struggled waiting to be beheaded
and at the moment of getting beheaded. Picking out the snakes that she used to
use as support for the pot, she could have bitten her teeth holding them in her
mouth. The shock and pain at the moment of getting beheaded was perhaps depicted
in the image of Kirtimukha. Those who suffered intensely were deified in Hindu
culture. Her image could have got developed into Kirtimukha image and later
re-defined by Puranic sages with mythical symbolisms.
Interestingly the Gorgon images of Greek myths also come
with snakes as hair. Of them Medusa was beheaded by Perseus. According to Greek
myths, those on whom the gaze of the head of Medusa fell were turned into
stones. Perhaps this was the reaction of
people who happened to see the gruesome moment of beheading, becoming numb like
a stone. Perhaps that reaction was witnessed in Renuka’s episode and remembered
for long. Perhaps that was carried into the myth of Medusa by Perseus.
One of the drawbacks in establishing the Hindu roots and
stories such as these on Parashurama is the lack of evidence from archaeology.
However Parashurama’s story comes with verifiable clue on marine archaeology in
that it was he who was supposed to have reclaimed the lands on the west coast
of India from the Arabian Sea. How did he do that? Did the sea level recede at
that time? Or did he reclaim lands and build barriers to stop sea water from
entering the lands? The latter seems to have happened.
An expedition carried out by Deccan College of Pune and
the Department of Science and Technology of the Central Government had
found a 24 km long wall of 2.7m height and a width of around 2.5m off the Konkan coast in the sea waters. It shows that the land had
once extended upto that and the wall had prevented erosion and entry of sea
waters. The details with photographs can be read at
Experts from National Institute of oceanography have dated
this wall at 6000 BCE.
This puts the time period of reclamation, attributed to Parashurama at 8000
years BP. The amazing correlation comes from the Sesklo culture of Greece
in that the face mask found there is also dated at around 6000 BCE! Is
this only a coincidence? Or did people really carry the Renuka cult of
head-alone to the places they went?
Parashurama’s times and Renuka cult with head-alone image go
together, something substantiated by the origin of Tantra practices of Devi
attributed to Parashurama kalpa sutra. Either the escapees or the devotees of
Renuka cult had taken the ideas to Europe. If they were escapees, they could
have safeguarded themselves from any attack by Parashurama or his army of
followers by showing the face mask or gorgon as a proof of their allegiance to
Renuka cult. In the case of devotees or followers of Parashurama, the tantra practices learnt from Parashurama
could have helped them in vanquishing their opponents. The latter seems to have
been infused into Greek myths as Gorgon amulets and myths of Medusa and Perseus.
The basic feature is a female face or Renuka with the head.
Thus it can be said with conviction that the head-alone cult
has sprung up from Parashurama’s story. It is also true that a head-less
identity had sprung from his actions! A headless body is known as “Mundam” in Tamil. Fearing for his axe, some people had
fled while there were others who stood by him in helping him to hunt down the
kshatriyas. We will know about the latter category in the next article before
proceeding further into analysing who Mundas were.
(Continued in Part 5)
References:
{4} Prasna Marga, Chapter 23, Verse 11.
{7} Mahabharata 7-68
