Quotes About Mythology

There are many stories of Ganesha's birth besides the one in which Shiva beheads Vinayaka. In one story, Ganesha is born when Shiva and Shakti make love taking the form of elephants. In another, Shiva creates a child of his own image for the pleasure of Shakti but since he looks too much like the father, Shakti replaces his head with that of an elephant.

Ram and Ravana represent two ends of the human spectrum.

Thus, metaphysically, Kalki will destroy everything, even death. He will destroy all structures so that none exist. In other words, he will herald Pralaya.

Tadaka subscribes to no rules, Ahalya breaks a rule while Sita follows all rules.

Devdutt Pattanaik

In the Valmiki Ramayana, there is no mention of the Lakshman-rekha. It is first mentioned in the Telugu and Bengali Ramayana s written over a thousand years after the Valmiki Ramayana was composed. Many early Sanskrit plays that describe Sita's abduction do not mention this line.

The place from where Sita is abducted has been identified as Panchavati, near Nashik in Maharashtra on the banks of the river Godavari. The name of the city of Nashik near Panchavati is derived from 'nasika' which means nose in Sanskrit and Prakrit, alluding to the cut nose of Surpanakha.

In Hindu mythology, there is no one but ourselves to blame for our problems: neither God nor any oppressors. The idea of rebirth aims to evoke acceptance of the present, and responsibility for the future. Our immortal soul is tossed from one life to another as long as our mind refuses to do darshan. This is made most explicit in the story of Karna in the Mahabharata.

The ordinal directions are represented by the moon (the north-east), the sun (the south-west), fire (the north-west) and wind (the south-east).

More often than not, what is passed off as history is mythology, someone's understanding of truth shaped by memory, feelings and desire, available facts notwithstanding.

The words asura and rakshasa are often used interchangeably but they refer to two different groups of beings. Asuras are children of Kashyapa; they live under the ground and fight the devas. Rakshasas are children of Pulastya; they live in forests and fight humans. Kashyapa and Pulastya are Brahma's mind-born sons.

Though formless, the God of Abrahamic mythology is addressed, even visualized, in masculine terms. The God of Hindu mythology is visualized as sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes both and sometimes neither. Thus,

Krishna encourages Drona's killing because Drona has abandoned varna-dharma. Though born in a family of priests, he functions as a warrior and even crowns his son king of a kingdom created by laying claim to one half of Draupada's land. As teacher, he teaches his students

All children mythologise their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know someone? Heart, mind and soul? Ask him to tell you about when he was born. What you get won't be the truth: it will be a story. And nothing is more telling than a story.

Fawn M. Brodie, whose classic life of Smith earned her excommunication from the Mormon Church, saw the Book of Mormon as 'one of the earliest examples of frontier fiction, the first long Yankee narrative that owes nothing to English literary fashions'.105 There was quite a genre of 'lost race' novels at the time. A century on, J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga formed an English Catholic parallel, conscious or unconscious, to Smith's work.

Some say these people were Phoenicians, but that is incorrect; they were older than the Phoenicians being Atlanteans,

You want to wake the Old Gods, don't you?" "Yes." "Well then, go where the Old Gods are accustomed to be worshipped.

Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity.

America is the world's living myth. There's no sense of wrong when you kill an American or blame America for some local disaster. This is our function, to be character types, to embody recurring themes that people can use to comfort themselves, justify themselves and so on. We're here to accommodate. Whatever people need, we provide. A myth is a useful thing.

What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades's underwear?

Cupid "the little greatest god."

Dutifully I knock on the table. "What does knock on wood even mean?" Daddy perks up. "Actually, it's thought to come from Greek mythology. According to Greek myths, dryads lived in trees, and people would invoke them for protection. Hence knocking on wood: just that added bit of protection so as not to tempt fate.

Tahtaya vurman?n anlam? ne ki?" Babam canland?. "Asl?nda bu inan?? Yunan mitolojisinden geliyor. Yunan efsanelerine göre a?açlarda orman perileri ya??yordu ve insanlar korunmak için onlardan yard?m al?yorlard?. Yani tahtaya vurunca kaderi öfkelendirmeden biraz koruma eklemi? oluyorsun.

Actually, it's thought to come from Greek mythology. According to Greek myths, dryads lived in trees, and people would invoke them for protection. Hence knocking on wood: just that added bit of protection so as not to tempt fate.