Showing posts with label Durga Puja. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Durga Puja. Show all posts

Saturday, October 24, 2020

關於杜迦女神節、其神話故事由來,以及相關古印度神話人物介紹 All About Durga Puja, It's Mythology And Related Hindu Divines

印度重要傳統節日 杜迦女神節 詳盡介紹: 節日起源/神話故事/相關古印度神話人物/慶祝方式/方方面面小知識/以及我們過節祈福的場景

又到了一年一度的杜迦女神節(Durga Puja)慶典。在古印度年歷裡,杜迦女神節發生在 Ashwin 這個月份,Ashwin 是古印度年曆裡的第七個月,相當於公曆的九到十月。

補充知識:古印度的年曆在每32到33個月後會在一年十二個月上加一個月,變成一年十三個月。目的在於平衡十二個月(月亮十二次輪迴)和一年(地球繞太陽一週)相對比而少掉的天數,保證四季落在相同的月份上,便於推算耕種時間。

杜迦女神節是一個為期十天的慶典,從 Ashwin 這個月的第一天慶祝到第十天。2020年的慶典從10月17日開始,持續到10月26日。




這個節日慶祝的是什麼?慶祝的是代表正義的杜迦女神在與惡魔神 Mahishasura 大戰中的勝利。


杜迦女神為什麼要和惡魔神 Mahishasura 打戰?這是發生在古印度神話故事裡一個相對比較早期的故事。


Goddess Durga Maa


Demon King Mahishasura


Mahishasura 這個惡魔神從來就有統治三個世界的野心。


補充知識:在古印度神話故事裡,世界由三部分組成 - 天界由諸神統治,凡界即平凡人的世界,還有一個在凡界地下的魔界。這三層世界又細分為十四層,天界有從高到低六層,最上面是創造一切的主神 Lord Brahma,越往下是等級越低的神,第七層是人間的凡界,再往下,地下的魔界一共有七層。







在惡魔神  Mahishasura 與神界的戰爭中,他並不具有戰勝諸神的力量。


補充知識:注意這裏的神界由普通的神統治,包括天神、風神、火神、太陽神等等,在古印度神話裡,另外還有三個超級巨神 - Lord Brahma, Vishnu 和 Shiva。Lord Brahma 是所有一切的創造者,所有一切的起源;Lord Vishnu 掌管著所有一切事物,維持著所有一切的平衡;當世界需要變化時,Lord Shiva 是終極摧毀者,把舊世界摧毀,使得新世界獲得生命。

 


Lord Brahma - The Creator 

Lord Vishnu - The Preserver & Protector

Lord Shiva - The Destroyer


於是惡魔神 Mahishasura 想盡辦法獲得更大的能量,他故意向超級巨神 Lord Brahma 示好,對他祭拜,表示虔誠,最終獲得 Lord Brahma 的信任。Mahishasura 想要獲得的終極力量是長生不死,但是不死違背了天地創立的根本(古印度神話一個最大的基本就是任何事物都不可能不死,都有終結的一天)。於是 Lord Brahma 給了 Mahishasura 接近於長生不死的特殊力量:任何神、人和惡魔都殺不死他。


在 Mahishasura 獲得了不被任何神、人和惡魔打敗的神力之後,變得肆無忌憚,張狂自大,認為他終於有了統治所有三個世界的力量,並且開始向三個世界開戰。世界一片混亂,給了 Mahishasura 特殊力量的 Lord Brahma 也無能為力。於是 Lord Brahma 向 Lord Vishnu 求助,Lord Vishnu 向 Lord Shiva 求助。


最後 Lord Shiva 集結了所有三個超級巨神和諸神,把所有神的力量結合起來,創造了一個新的、擁有女性力量的神。這個集所有神力為一體的新神就是杜迦女神,她長著十隻手,拿著諸神送給她的各種武器,騎著威猛的獅子,擁有戰勝最可怕惡魔的終極戰鬥力。


杜迦女神就是在這樣一個背景下被創造出來的,而她最終也成功制服了惡魔神 Mahishasura,使得三個世界恢復了以往的安寧。






因為這場宏大的戰役持續了十天,所以這個節自古以來就要過十天。


這十天怎麼慶祝呢?杜迦女神有九個不同的變身,每個變身是一個不同的女神,具有不同的特質和能力。其中有一個女神能幫助信徒寬恕,寬恕他人和自己的罪行,有一個女神能幫助信徒去除無知,獲得知識的力量,有一個女神能幫助信徒清潔自己的靈魂,達到精神上的純潔。另外還有好幾個女神非常強壯,具有戰鬥的力量,她們有的長得四隻手,有的長著八隻手,好幾個像杜迦女神的原型一樣長著十隻手。她們都騎著獅子或老虎,舉著大劍,能吸收太陽的熱量,並將能量以火的形式釋放出來。


所以在慶典的前九天裡,祭拜這九個由杜迦女神變身來的不同女神,每天的祭祀活動按照當天女神的特質來安排。在第十天,慶祝的是杜迦女神在戰鬥十日之後最終的勝利。


正義的神戰勝惡魔神,是古印度神話裡不變的經典,幾乎所有的古印度神話故事都是關於正義和邪惡的鬥爭,戰鬥最終的結果都是正義戰勝了邪惡。所以在印度教的幾乎所有重要的傳統節日裡,慶祝的都是正義戰勝邪惡。


在我印度婆家的區域,即 Bihar,西孟加拉邦這塊,杜迦女神節是一年裡最大的節日(重要性相當於中國的新年),幾千年下來,至今仍如此。在這十天裡,人們從各地回到祖村團聚。


其實祭祀的準備活動幾個月前就開始了,包括製做女神、惡魔神和其他諸神的泥像,包括準備所有祭祀活動中需要用到的聖物等等。人們嚴格地按照傳統流傳下來的祭祀程序,從第一天到第十天,每天都有各自不同的流程和意義,使用不同的場景和聖物。


我印度婆家本族人的傳統是慶祝十二天,即在十天之後另外還有兩天額外的熱鬧。所以族群裡的人一般都會向公司請滿兩個星期假,學校也會自動放兩週假,讓大人和孩子們有足夠的時間做慶典。


對於孩子們來講,是一年裡最開心和最值得期待的日子。因為不僅可以在村里和夥伴們連著玩兩週,各種祭祀活動不斷,父母還會給他們準備新衣服和新鞋子穿,親戚鄰里還會為孩子們分發各種甜品和玩具等禮物。


除了杜迦女神外,還有四個印度教的神在這個節日裡同被慶祝 - Lakshmi女神(財富之神),Saraswati女神(知識和音樂之神),Ganesha象神(吉祥開端之神)和 Kartikeya神(戰爭之神)。


這四個神其實都是杜迦女神的孩子,在古印度神話裡,杜迦女神在戰爭勝利之後帶著四個孩子回到出生地做了祭典。


Goddess Lakshmi


Goddess Saraswati 

Lord Ganesha


Lord Kartikeya


杜迦女神節在全印度各地都有,每個區域的叫法不一樣,但都是慶祝杜迦女神戰勝惡魔神 Mahishasura,而且都是慶祝十天。


比如在我婆家的印度東部地區叫 Durga Puja,包括西孟加拉, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha這些邦;在北印度包括德里,Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh這些地區,叫 Dessehra,“Dessehra” 是“十天戰役”的意思;在西印度比如古吉拉特,旁遮普,拉賈斯坦這些邦,叫 Navratri,“Navratri” 是“九個夜晚”的意思,因為這裏的人更側重於敬奉杜迦女神的九個女神化身,對第十天的大勝不做過多慶祝,所以他們只慶祝九夜。





Monday, October 28, 2019

Why Aryan Invasion Theory is a total made-up by the British to advance their inhuman colonialism and imperialism?

I know most of you Indians are too cool to care. As an interested outsider, I am keen to get my facts right. Please correct me if I were wrong, and welcome to more discussions.

So this is what I figured out recently: Aryan invasion theory is utterly fabricated by the British to put down Indians, so they are easily subjected to occupation and exploitation. It's one of the evilest shit ever in human history. For more than 300 years, the British put this in the Indians' mind - You are just a bunch of bastards, you lost your original culture (Indus Valley Civilization), what you have as a culture now, comes from some white dudes who are moving herdsmen and rapists.

Aryan Invasion theory was in each every textbook and each every scholar's mind, it was in each every classroom that studied Indian history and in the South Asia department of each every university and college in the world. This theory was injected in all of South Asians' blood, for centuries. But it just took me, a stay-home mom some reading and India trips to figure it out.

What is the Aryan Invasion theory by the way? In short, it's saying that at the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization (2000 BCE), bands of light-skinned Aryans invaded the Indian Subcontinent from Central Asia and conquered the dark-skinned Indus dwellers. And the light-skinned Aryans were the noble ones who designed the religious ritual system and stayed on top of the pyramid, ruling over the dark-skin ones.

By the saying of it, I could feel that the theory was baked up from an extremely racist place. Not to traumatize you all, the large majority of Chinese who think themselves know something about India, they learned the light-skinned higher caste rulers are white people - the European descendent Aryans who came to invade India.

The sad part is most people are unaware, but in their conscious mind, they are situated to white supremacy without knowing. Good work British, this is how you ruled the world and we are still living in the dark.

Five years ago I was named as one of the 100 people who actually really know something about India (out of the 1.3 billion). Five years later, I am not sure how many of the 100 people are still active. And out of the 100 or whatever number it is, I don't think other than me, any scholar ever openly brought up the evilness or wrongness of the Aryan Invasion theory, or they just never cared to question. So ya, the 1.3 billion Chinese are still in the dark, thanks to the British.

So why Indus Valley Civilization is still alive and active among all Indians? How can you say Indian culture is the only surviving ancient civilization that never died? First of all, with more advanced technology, more and more unearthed artifacts from Indus Valley Civilization are undoubtedly proving, today among Hindus, they are doing pretty much the same thing. For example, worshipping to Goddess (female) statue, worshipping of Shiv lingam, lotus posture found in various artifacts, figure that highly resembled lord Shiv, red-colored Sindhu found on the forehead of women's statue. The evidence is only accumulating.

Also, recent satellite photography has shown that between 1900 and 1600 BCE the Indus River changed course, the cities of the Indus Civilization were being abandoned during that period.  Most likely the Indus Valley people just migrated to different locations. Furthermore, Aryans' own extensive writings never mention wars or hostilities against peoples who can be positively identified as indigenous to India.

And take a look at the Durga Puja celebration, one of the biggest events in Hindu culture today. The mythology of Durga maa goes way earlier than Ramayana. Lord Rama chose the date of Durga maa's fighting to go on his own fighting, and he prayed to Durga maa to gain strength. To me, it shows the continuance and persistence of the ancient culture.

And as a human being, I don't think we are recognizing and celebrating enough the fact that, whatever the humans in Indus Valley did 6000 years back, we are still doing it today. This is definitely the biggest miracle in today's living world. And I truly believe that to decipher the ancient culture that has survived through all the ups and downs in human history, is the only way to save us in the future.

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More on Durga Puja

I asked my husband about the story of Diwali, the connection between Diwali and Durga Puja. What I realized is the mythology of Durga maa goes way earlier than lord Rama ("Ramayana" was written at 7th to 4th centuries BCE).

At that time (7th century BC), Durga maa's story must be like lord Rama's story at our time - prominent mythology that came from hundreds and thousands of years back, passed down from generation to generation.

It has to be from a very advanced civilization that had a systematic worshipping mechanism, that civilization must be around for a long long time, and was strong and influential enough to later lead to the creation of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Which is just a development of the same civilization. It has to be Indus Valley Civilization.

This is what I couldn't get out of my mind.

The key to this issue - decipher the ancient words found in Indus Valley, if there is a connection, then it can prove the "out of India" hypothesis. Which will have a stronger and stronger stand in the future, I personally believe.

Even there is no connection between the languages in Indus Valley to Vedic, it doesn't eliminate the fact that the rituals and worshipping system has passed down. The Vedas somehow recorded all of this. By all means, I don't see the sign of "Invasion", maximum "Integration".

I wouldn't at another life, believe the worshipping of Durga maa was imported from Central Asia. lol 

Correct me if I were wrong.


My take on Aryan Invasion Theory



 

The famous Shiva figure with lotus posture, three faces and surrounded by animals




The other figure found in a seal with lotus posture and three faces