Geo-mythology of India

Geo-mythology of India

D. CHANDRASEKHARAM

Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India 400076

(e-mail: [email protected])

Abstract: In all the Indian legends, whether it is the Ramayana or Mahabharata, one can findembedded elements of geological processes. Perhaps due to the lack of a sound scientific basisfor recognizing geological processes in ancient Indian civilization, such processes were believedto be the acts of ‘Gods’ (Suras) and ‘Demons’ (Asuras) and hence they formed an integral part ofthese legends. Even in the present age where science is able to explain several geological pro-cesses, the Hindu faith is such that these myths and legends continue to be passed on to succeedinggenerations. The fact that these geological processes are contained in these epics helps to sustaintruth (dharma) and maintain harmony. Ancient Indian civilization adopted this doctrine and itscontinuance will remain a fresh and vital part of future generations in India.

Hindu mythology centres around gods, demigods,their supremacies and related stories. Basically thephilosophy in all these legends is to teach humansthe values of Dharma (justice) and how God pre-vails in sustaining ‘dharma’ in the world (Sinha1954; Rajendranath Seal 1958). Initially, all thesewere Smrirtis (sacred teachings) and subsequentlywere documented in the form of books (Vedas) bygreat saints (Rishis). All these ancient books wereoriginally written on palm leaves and preservedfor centuries, some of which are still preserved,even today.

During the creation of these legends severalgeological phenomena and events became embeddedwithin them either knowingly or unknowingly.Whether it is Ramayana, Mahabharata or Puranas,these doctrines are presented in the form of folklore,or mythological stories. Hinduism always preachesdharma in order to maintain world peace and tocurb evil by any living being (Rajendranath Seal1958). This paper discusses how geological eventsand processes became entangled in these epics. Allthese stories refer to events that happened on Earth(or occasionally in the heavens) and hence geologicalprocesses became an integral part of them. Thoughexamples of several such close relationshipsbetween geology and mythology exist in Hindutexts, only a few are elaborated in this paper. Asimilar relationship between myths and thermalsprings over the world was compiled by the Geother-mal Resources Council in their volume Stories from aHeated Earth (Cataldi et al. 1999).

Hindu eras in relationship to stratigraphy

and the origin of Earth

According to Hindu Vedic cosmology, the age ofthe entire universe is divided into four yugas

(eras): Satyuga, Trethayuga, Dwaparayuga andKaliyuga. The time span of each yuga varies in amanner similar to geological eras. According tothe Hindu mythology the Satyuga lasted for 1.728Ma; Trethayuga lasted for 1.296 Ma; Dwaparayugalasted for 0.864 Ma; and the Kaliyuga, the presentera has so far completed 0.432 Ma (Somayaji1971). The Trethayuga and the Dwaparayuga arethe most important eras since they encompass themost important epics of India, the Ramayana andthe Mahabharata, respectively.

This four fold stratigraphic division of time-scaleis similar to that used in geology (cf. Precambrian,Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic). Some authorsconsider each yuga as ‘Maha Yuga’, meaning thateach should be multiplied by 1000 years. In whichcase the sum of all these yugas amounts to the ageof the Earth (c. 4.3 billion years) which constitutesa day for Lord Brahma (Brahma day), the creator ofthe universe (Somayaji 1971; Bhaktivedanta SwamiPrabhupada 1986). The destruction of the universeis called ‘pralaya’ or catastrophe—synonym tothe present day floods, earthquakes and tsunamis.In each era, Lord Vishnu, the saviour, emerges intothis world in the form of ‘avatar’ (incarnation).According to the Hindu mythology, these ‘avatars’are in the form of animals or semi-animal demigods(part is human and part is animal: Fig. 1). In eachavatar, he destroys the evil and restores ‘satya’(justice) in the world. The ten avatars are Matsya(fish), Koorma (tortoise), Varaaha (boar), Narasimha(the man lion), Vaamana (the dwarf), Parasurama(the angry man), Rama (the perfect human; avatarin Trethayuga), and Krishna (the divine statesman;avatar in Dwaparayuga). The tenth avatar which isyet to appear is Kalki (Pandey 1979).

Lord Vishnu is always seen with his conch andChakra (Vishnu Chakra; the wheel) in his hands.

From: PICCARDI, L. & MASSE, W. B. (eds) Myth and Geology.Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 273, 29–37.0305-8719/07/$15.00 # The Geological Society of London 2007.

He is reborn (as a new avatar) after a major cat-astrophe (pralaya) when the entire species onEarth becomes extinct. After every Brahma day,Lord Brahma creates new life on Earth. InHindu mythology it is said that after one such cat-astrophe, Brahma was busy creating new life onEarth and did not pay attention to the DemonHiranyaksha who had pushed the mother Earthinto (Patal lok) the Ocean (i.e. trying to destroythe Earth). Brahma, realizing that his new creationof life has to live on Earth, pleaded with Vishnuto save the Earth. Vishnu took the form ofVaraha (Fig. 1: Subramnya Sastri 1989; Pandey1979) and lifted the Earth with his tusks fromthe ocean bottom and reinstated it in its properorbit. One may interpret this geologically as thebirth of the planet Earth or an analogy of sea-floor spreading at mid-ocean ridges where newmaterial is created.

Rahu, Ketu and the eclipses

Lunar and solar eclipses are natural phenomena ofthe solar system and for that matter an eclipse iscommon to all the planetary bodies. However, inIndian mythology it is a chase between Rahu andthe Moon and Ketu and the Sun (Dave 1991a).Indra, one of the celestial gods or ‘Suras’, wascursed by Durvasa for insulting him by throwingaway the flowers offered by him. By nature,Durvasa is short-tempered and cursed Indra andall the gods that they would lose their vigour andstrength. So the gods started losing power whilethe ‘Asuras’ (demons) started gaining power. Thegods pleaded with Vishnu to help them to regaintheir power so that the demons would not overtaketheir kingdom.

Vishnu advised the gods to churn the milky seausing serpent ‘Vasuki’ mount Mandara as a stirrerto obtain celestial nectar (elixir) that wouldrestore their power (Fig. 2). Thus both the godsand the demons churned the ocean and the nectaremerged from the ocean. Vishnu deceived thedemons by taking the form of a beautiful lady(Mohini) and diverted their attention while thegods consumed the elixir. However, two ‘Asuras’(Rahu and Ketu), aware of Mohini’s trickery, tookthe guise of gods and also consumed some of thecelestial nectar and became immortal. The Moonand the Sun reported this incident to Vishnu whobecame furious and chopped off their heads withhis Chakra (see Fig. 3). Since Rahu and Ketu con-sumed the nectar, they remained in the universeand started chasing the Moon and the Sun as anact of revenge. Thus in Hindu mythology Rahuand Ketu are regarded as celestial bodies thatswallow the Moon and the Sun thus causing lunarand solar eclipses respectively. Indian astronomersas early as AD 300 discounted this myth and pre-sented the orbital paths of the planets and theirmoons thus accounting for lunar and solar eclipses(Somayaji 1971; Dave 1991a).

Mahakal crustal extension zone and

Mahakaleswar

While Rahu and Ketu were consuming the celestialnectar, a few drops fell on Earth. Wherever drops ofthe celestial nectar or the elixir spilled, those placesbecame divine or holy shrines for Hindus. Ujjain isone such place. Ujjain is located within the northernflank of the mid-continental Narmada rift. TheMahakal rift zone extends from the NE part ofMadhya Pradesh to SW part extending up toUjjain. (Venkata Rao & Nayak 1995; Fig. 4). Thefamous Tattapani thermal springs in Chattisgarhdistrict (east of Jabalpur, not shown in Fig. 4)

Fig. 1. Varaha (boar) avatar of Lord Vishnu.

D. CHANDRASEKHARAM30

emerge through this rift system (Chandrasekharam& Antu 1995; Subramnya Sastri 1989). Hindumythology mentions such a rift zone throughwhich Lord Shiva (known as Mahakaleswar)emerged to save his devotees in Ujjain by killingthe demon Dushana who was living in Ratnamalahills (Dave 1991a). Though there are no hillranges around Ujjain, the Ratnamala hills may bethe Vindhyans that form part of the Narmada riftsystem. Geographically, Ujjain attained importancefor nurturing great Hindu astronomers and becausethe Tropic of Cancer passes through it. Ujjain wasconsidered the ‘Greenwich’ of Hindu astronomers(Dave 1991a).

Vishnu, Shiva and marine fossils

Fossils are considered divine and are thought to rep-resent Hindu gods. For Indians, ammonites andechinoderm fossils are sacred and are known as‘saligrams’ or ‘saligramas’ (the actual name orterm in Sanskrit is ‘Salagraman’ and is one of thenames of Vishnu; Swami Nityananda 1998). InHindu mythology, ammonites are considered asVishnu Chakra and the echinoderms and cephalo-pods (belemnites) as Shiva (in his phallic form,Linga). The ammonite fossil with circular shape

and radiating ribs look very similar to VishnuChakra (Fig. 3) with radiating spikes. All types ofammonite fossils (e.g. Meekoceras varaha; Promi-croceras planicosta; Almatheus margaritatus;

Fig. 2. Churning the sea (Samudramanthan) by Suras and Asuras. Vasuki (name of the serpent) is the churning ropeand Mandara (name of the mountain) is the churning rod.

Fig. 3. Vishnu, the Hindu deity, holding the Vishnuchakra (also known as Sudarshan chakra) and theSerpent, Vasuki, sheltering Vishnu.

GEO-MYTHOLOGY OF INDIA 31

Eoderoceras bispinigerum; Cardioceras; Discosca-phites nebrascensis; Acanthoscaphites nodosus:Krishnan 1968) are given different names indicat-ing different manifestations of Vishnu (SwamiNityananda 1998). The ammonite fossil Meeko-ceras varaha found in the Triassic formation ofthe Central Himalayas (Krishnan 1968) resemblesthe Vishnu Chakra. Varaha is one of Vishnu’savatars. It is not clear whether this name is givento the fossil because of its resemblance to VishnuChakra or it attained this name accidentally.Indian geology textbooks mention of the ‘saligram’(Krishnan 1968; Wadia 1978); some of the echino-derm and cephalopod fossils look like a phallus,symbolizing Shiva. In India, these Jurassic andCretaceous fossils are extensively found in SpitiShale Formations of upper Himalayas and broughtto Nepal by Gandak River (Krishnan 1968), whichjoins the Ganges in the Gangetic plain in India.Vishnu became incarnate in the form of Saligramto save the demons and semi-gods alike. Thesefossils are kept in temples and households asnatural symbols of Vishnu (Fig. 5).

Stalagmites and Amarnath cave

Shiva is part of life for many Indians and he is wor-shipped in the form of Linga (phallus) by a largenumber of Hindus. Some Hindus carry the ShivaLinga (phallus) on their body (especially the echi-noderm fossils). A large number of pilgrims travelto Amarnath cave annually to see the Lord. Accord-ing to Shiva Purana (Subramnya Sastri 1989), Shivarecounted the secret of creation and eternal life tohis consort, Parvati, in this cave.

The Amarnath cave is about 145 km NE ofSrinagar, at a height of about 4000 m above meansea level, in the Himalayas (Fig. 6). It is believedthat the Shiva Linga in the cave forms every lunarmonth: during the first half the Linga starts

forming and attains full size on the full-moon day(lunar day 15), and during the second half of themonth the Linga starts decreasing and disappearson new-moon (Dave 1991b). This cave attractslarge crowds from all over India and more than25 000 pilgrims visit this shrine between May andJuly. In reality this cave is located in limestone-gypsum formation (Krishnan 1968) and the melt-water percolating into the cave from the roofthrough joints freezes on the ground and grows asa stalagmite (Fig. 7). Due to the heat generated bythe pilgrim population visiting the cave, the stalag-mite melts by June, thus reducing the size of theShiva Linga (the stalagmite). White gypsumpowder from the cave is distributed to the pilgrimsas ‘Vibhuti’ (sacred powder).

The Kashmir government reportedly is planningto extend the life of the stalagmite artificially.

Sea level change and Dwaraka

In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna was the chief advisorto the Pandavas (worriers and sons of King Pandu).Mathura was the abode of Krishna. Due to constanthostility between ‘Suras’ and ‘Asuras’, Kamsa, thedemon, waged a war against Krishna. Kamsa had acurse on his head that he would be killed byKrishna. In the ensuing battle, Kamsa was indeedkilled. Krishna, who actually belongs to theYadavas (a Hindu sect and disciples of Krishna),found it impossible to continue his stay inMathura and shifted his abode to Dwaraka alongthe Saurashtra coast in Gujarat (Kamala 1977;Dave 1991b). According to the legend, Krishna’sdisciples perished from infighting. Since the maintask of killing Kamsa had been accomplished,Krishna decided to leave Dwaraka and in one ofthe texts it was told that Krishna knew about thefate of Dwaraka and hence left for his heavenly

Fig. 4. Mahakaleswar and Mahakal crustal extensions zone (modified after Venkata Rao & Nayak 1995).


abode. The town of Dwaraka was inundated by theArabian Sea and subsequently submerged.

Recent marine archaeological investigation dis-covered the mythological Dwaraka town intact,under the sea along Saurashtra coast (Gaur et al.2000) (Fig. 8a,b). The sinking of Dwaraka wasdue to tectonic activity accompanied by sea level

rise; sea level was about 150 m below the presentlevel. Signatures of Late Quaternary coastal tec-tonics and sea-level changes are well recordedalong the cliffy coastline of Saurashtra. A succes-sion of raised terraces and wave-cut notches haveresulted from changes in sea level whereas tectono-genic features are represented by steep vertical clifffaces, distorted morphology of wave-cut notchesand staircase platforms (Pant & Juyal 1993a,b).This discovery gives an idea about the lay out ofDwaraka and the forts believed to have been inhab-ited by the Yadavas of the mythological Mahabhar-ata (Rao 1999; Gaur et al. 2000; Vora et al. 2002).Further the entire Saurashtra coast has beensubject to major tectonic events since Jurassictimes (Mishra et al. 2001).

Coral reefs and Ramayana

Rama, the great hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana,was the seventh avatar of Vishnu. The epicRamayana was written by Valmiki several centuriesafter Rama’s reign, which according to the

Fig. 5. Ammonites, echinoderms worshipped as Saligrams by Hindus.

Fig. 6. Map showing the location of Amarnath Cave.


astronomical data was around 2012 BC (Srinivasa1955). Rama, Sita (his consort), and Laxmana(his brother) were in exile for fourteen years due tothe wicked plan of his stepmother Keikeyi. Whilehe was in the Dandakaranya forest, Surpanaka,

sister of Ravana, the king of Sri Lanka, expressedher desire to marry Rama. Laxmana cut her noseand ears as a punishment for this desire (Srinivasa1955; Rajagopalachari 1958; Lakshmi Narasimha1984; Ganapati Sastry 1986; Dave 1991c). Ravana

Fig. 7. Amarnath Cave and the Shiva Linga. The Stalagmite (on the right) attains the shape of a phallus after fullgrowth and represents Shiva Linga.

Fig. 8. (a) Pictorial view of Dwaraka off Saurashtra coast. (b) Harbour of ancient Dwaraka (pictures courtesyGaur 2004 pers. comm.).


took revenge by kidnapping Sita to his kingdom.Rama decided to wage a war against Ravana.The main hurdle was to cross the sea betweenRameswaram and Sri Lanka (Fig. 9). Rama’s disci-ples helped him to construct a bridge betweenRameswaram and Sri Lanka. This is the legendaryRama’s bridge across Palk Strait.

In reality this bridge is a coral reef extendingbetween these two land masses. A recent Indianremote sensing satellite picture clearly shows thepresence of coral reefs, sand bars and clay depositsbetween these two countries (Fig. 9) which are sep-arated at this point by a distance of 32 km(Bahuguna et al. 2003). These coral reefs musthave been exposed due to a change in sea level,near Sri Lanka, during that period described in themyth. Sea-level changes are not uncommon glob-ally, and about 18 000 years BP the sea level was100–150 m below the current level (IPCC 2001;Purnachandra Rao et al. 2003). These coral reefsmust have been exposed to the surface—like thoseof Lakshadweep islands in the recent historicalpast—enabling Rama’s army to cross over to SriLanka. With sea levels rising at the rate of 2.5 cmper year (it has risen by about 10–20 cm in the20th century; IPCC 2001), this bridge may neveragain be exposed.

Myths about thermal springs

Ancient Indian civilization considered all geologi-cal phenomena as evidence of divine power andgifts from the gods (Rajendranath Seal 1958).This is evident when one visits all the geothermalprovinces in India where thermal waters with

temperatures from 47–98 8C issue throughvarious geological formations associated withmajor tectonic structures. A detailed account ofthe relationship between the thermal springs andHindu mythology was given by Chandrasekharam(1999). These sites are associated with epics suchas Ramayana and Mahabharata, and centresaround Lord Shiva, the presiding deity at manythermal spring sites. Legends associated withsome of the thermal spring sites are outlined below.

Manikaran is situated along Parvati River nearKullu, 80 km north of Shimla. According to thelegend, Parvati, lost her earrings in the RiverParvati and asked Shiva for help to recover them.Lord Shiva pierced the Earth with his third eyeonly to get gushing hot water along with the ear-rings. Manikaran is a famous pilgrim centre for

Fig. 9. Park strait and the IRS picture showing the coral reefs between India and Sri Lanka (IRS picture fromBahuguna et al. 2003).

Fig. 10. Rice (pots) being cooked inside the thermalpool at Manikaran.


Hindus as well as for Sikhs. A Shiva temple and aGurudwara (Sikhs religious shrine) are locatednear the emergence of the thermal springs. Devo-tees offer rice to Lord Shiva cooked in the thermalwaters. Rice is cooked in small cloth pouchesdipped in the thermal pool. Gurudwara cooks riceon a large scale in copper vessels for devotees.The food is served free to all the devotees (Fig. 10).

Similarly, the Tuwa thermal springs of Gujaratwere believed to have been born due to Bhima’s(one of the Panchapandavas of Mahabharata) mys-tical power. Draupadi, the common wife of Pancha-pandavas, asked Bhima to fetch water to quench herthirst near Tuwa. Bhima, not finding any source ofwater in this drought prone area, brought hotwater to the surface (Chandrasekharam 1999).

In the case of the Agnigundala thermal springsnear Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh, hot waterflows below the surface on the western bank ofthe River Godavari (Chandrasekharam et al.1996). According to the legend, Rama and Sitarested in Bhadrachalam during their exile and Sitarequested Rama to fetch warm water to beat thecold. Rama pierced the Earth with his arrow andbrought hot water to the surface. Bhadrachalam isfamous for Rama temple, and during RamaNavami day (the birthday of Rama) thousands ofpilgrims congregate at this temple and have a holybath in the thermal waters.

In general, in all the thermal spring locations,Shiva is the presiding deity. This is because thesesprings are considered as Ganga (water) whichwas brought from heaven to Earth by Bhagiratha(Macfie 1992). It was Brahma who gave the boonto Bhagiratha to enable Ganga to flow on Earth.To contain her fall, Shiva allowed Ganga to fallon his head and locked her in his matted hair thuscontrolling the flow. Ganga became part of Shivaand adorns Shiva’s head.

Conclusions

Geological processes or events are an importantcomponent of Indian mythology. Whether a majortectonic event, the growth of a stalagmite, for-mation of coral reefs or coastal submergence,these processes have been considered as manifes-tations of the gods. The central theme of all theepics is ‘God’ and His activities on Earth andhence all the Earth’s activities/processes form anintegral part of these myths and legends. Whatemerges is that all these geological processes wereknown to ancient Indian civilization. Since scienti-fic explanation was not available at that time, suchprocesses were embedded in the legends as God’smanifestations. In the Hindu faith these myths andlegends are passed on to the next generation. Thismay be the case not only in India but in the entire

world (Cataldi et al. 1999). What has beendescribed in the present paper is a fraction ofwhat exists in the Indian mythology. A detailedaccount of the relationship between geology andmyths would run to many more pages.

A. Minissale and L. Piccardi were instrumental in invitingme to write this paper. Several people helped me inlending their books on the Indian legends and puranasand translating certain books from their original languageto English. My sincere thanks to all of them. I thankO. Vaselli and J. Garnish for their critical comments andsuggestions and B. Masse for editing the text.

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Geo-mythology of India