All the articles:-
Before ending, let me say a few words on serpents. Serpents
are depicted as 2 main ideas in Hindu Thought. One is the sub-terrain mantle
that comes out of the vents during earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. They are
known as Naga or serpents. The underground tunnels and vents upon cooling
became underground caves where the snakes started to live. Those who made the
caves their dwelling places were also known as snakes or serpents or Nagas. Destruction
by earthquakes or volcanoes is seen as dance of snakes.
The core of the earth is said to be the foremost snake, the Adhisesha. It is because of the core, the earth
remains intact. This is metaphorically said that Adhisesha is bearing the
weight of the earth. An adaptation of this is Atlas
of Greek mythology. While Adhisesha bears the weight from within the globe,
Atlas bears it on his shoulders. The same idea in two cultures cannot have been
conceived independently of each other. Adhisesha concept is earliest and
symbolic, whereas Greek Atlas is a depiction of an impossible type. This is the
result of loss of touch or continuity with the original concept.
The snake is once again associated with the two main
entities of Godhead in Hinduism. Shiva’s ‘twilight’ dance is indeed known as
‘playing with the serpent’ (BhujangastrAsa).
That marks the collapse of the worlds and breaking of the lands. The liquid
magma shoots out on all directions. They are called as snakes that once dwelled
in underworlds, now coming out.
Another type of snake is the life form, our jiva or the soul – which is what we are in our inner
self. The soul or jiva gives life to the body and is of the size of our thumb
according to Upanishads. It resides as a coil of a snake in the tail of the
spinal cord. The very purpose of meditation is to rouse that jiva. It is characterised as a serpent lying dormant within us.
Almost everyone would have had a dream of snake some time in their life. It is
due to the nature of this snake- like jiva. When aroused through Yoga or
meditation or breathing procedures, this snake- like jiva (called Kundalini) rises
up. It is because Sage
Patanjali gave us the wisdom of Yoga and meditation and he himself has
mastered the rise of Kundalini, he has been depicted as snake bodied in
iconography.
Sage Patanjali (the master of Yaga) in Hindu temples.
After deluge – during cosmic devolution, where would the
snakes (jivas) go? They are infinite (ananta)
and are held by Vishnu or Narayana in sleeping
posture.
When the physical worlds spring up again, these serpents (jivas) enter them and start new
life.
The concept of serpents in these two basic levels is seen in
various forms. Most noted one is when the coiled serpent as Kundalini rises up
through meditation and comes out through the nostrils. Its image is like this
An interesting depiction of this is seen in the hand of
Jewish Asherah!
This is Ishtar, also considered as Aherah, of the Jewish
Thought holding something in her left hand which is considered by many as
serpents. But looking at the shape of it, it looks similar to the previous
image found at many places in India. Infact sages and yogis used to have a
wooden hand-rest made in the shape like this for keeping their hand on. Take a
look at the figures below.
In the figure of Lord Shiva shown below, the position of the
hand rest is the right way to keep.
The hand-rest as shown in the
above picture and the Kamandal (pot) were the 2
main accessories of sages in those days. The hand-rest in the shape of two
snakes coiled together and looking away at the top, with a connecting rod in
between them as a rest for the hand of the sage, is similar to what Asherah is
holding in her hand. Not only this, any stick that the yogis and sages possessed
used to be carved with a snake head!
Asherah is the female consort of Yahweh. In Hindu Thought
Durga, the consort of Shiva blesses the devotee aspiring to do yogic
meditation. In this role, Durga is
called as Vishnu Durga who helps the devotee in
this regard. These explanations are endless. But the concepts, ideas and
interpretation for Asherah – Ishtar images found in Hindu Thought do indicate
from where these ideas have sprung.
Moreover Asherah was associated with tree and was worshiped
as Tree Goddess, according to Hebrew Bible. (http://thequeenofheaven.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/asherah-part-i-the-lost-bride-of-yahweh/
).
With the advent of Christianity, Asherah was wiped out from the memory of
the people.
Female Goddess along with images of snakes, installed under
the trees is a Hindu concept that continues even today. Mayamatham, tells about
the name of the tree unique for each of the Sapta Matas.
The association of tress and snakes
for the Goddesses is not without meaning. The meaning is something which
is applicable only to India. The meaning is such that there was a purpose of
conservation of natural sources of water. India is dependent on seasonal
rainfall which actually gets collected in underground water tables. The
underground water links are called as water veins or
jala nadi. Wells, tanks and lakes were dug where these water veins ran.
The unique feature is that these underground water veins were identified by
means of specific trees and ant-hills (where snakes live) and snake holes.
There is a separate chapter on this, by giving the names of more than 50 trees
of water veins, in the book “Brihad samhita” written by
Varahamihira (written sometime between 1st and 5th
century CE). For details: http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2009/08/science-of-detecting-underground-water.html
These trees and ant hills provided the easy clues to
identify water sources. The best way to make people preserve these trees and
thereby the knowledge of presence of water veins was to install snake gods and
female Goddesses under these trees. This is how the tree worship and snake
worship under the trees came into existence.
This is relevant in a country like India having underground
water veins, but not in other countries. In places like Sumeria or Levant (Lavana samudra / sea of salt), this kind combination of water
veins with specific tress and snake holes do not exist. But presence of tree-
snake- female goddess culture in these places about 2000 years ago only goes to
show the spread of or adaptation of a similar culture from India. This
tree-snake presence for identifying water veins existed in the Indus sites
which was originally the site where river Saraswathy
flowed. The proof of it is in the name of the sage with whim this theory is
associated by Varahamihira in his book. The sage was “Saraswatha”.
He got his name due to his association with the region of river Saraswathy.
The loss of river bed of Saraswathy due to tectonic movements resulted in water
crisis and it necessitated sage Saraswatha to look for clues to identify the
places where the river water was concealed as underground water table.
The following image found in Indus sites is perhaps the
oldest available proof of female Goddess installed under a tree for worship.
The site where this was found could have been the region
where water table was close to the surface for easy access.
Beyond this region, i.e., in the North West of India, this
kind of tree- water table connection is unknown and not possible too. Such
being the basis of tree- goddess- snake worship, an Asherah or any entity with
similar concept anywhere outside India can only be an adaptation from Hindu
ways of worship.
(concluded)
