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Myth to reality...
ARE MYTHS cultural prisons in which a people are caught? Not necessarily, according to the late Joseph Campbell seen in conversation with Bill Moyer in a film screened at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in New Delhi. For Campbell the myth is a wonderful means of connecting with that mystery of creation in all its polarities. As metaphors and manifestation of energies within man, myths express that something going beyond thought and words. A religion like Christianity which says that God created man in His own image, preaches a choice between dualities, Good and Evil, Man and God, Man and Nature, Nature and God, etc. Nature is often portrayed as corrupted with need to be corrected, says Campbell. Hindu mythology and many Eastern religions on the other hand, as mentioned by Campbell accept every natural impulse as inevitable and gear their thoughts to rising above all this. Nature rather than being corrected has to be sublimated. Our religion does not separate the Creator from Creation.
"I am that,'' says the Upanishad, and in being able to recognise that Divinity in all creation and identifying with that universal creative principle lies the highest aim of life. In this affirmation of the World, where one makes no judgements but searches for divinity in all, `Satwa' or illumination or realisation of that eternity as Paradise lies here and now -- in this life. So Eternity is looked upon as a state of mind, rather than a to-be-aspired something in some far off invisible Time and age. Campbell points out that in many religions there is the concept of "the one forbidden fruit" man is invariably tempted by, and leading him on to this act is the ubiquitous snake. In Indian myths on the other hand, the snake is Naga Raja and with its ability to shed its skin and grow a new one, is regarded as the symbol of revival of new life -- able to throw off death and spring anew.
Many intellectuals regard the myth as an oppressive instrument "denying its victims voice, visibility or even dignity'' according to Pankaj K.Singh and Jaidev in a paper on `Decentering the Patriarchal Myth'. Never ideologically neutral, the myth only legitimises power-filled practices, they say. But one has seen myths being variously interpreted to suit the times they are coined in. Thus Parvati was considered the sole creator of son Ganesh, the myth originating at a point of time when the Mother Goddess concept emphasising woman's ability to bring forth new life into the world as the dominant force in creation, was prevailing, and man's role as creator of life was perhaps less thought of. Much later, the highly patriarchal society gave all power to the male and the myth in certain areas of the country, ascribed the birth of Ganapati as originating solely from Siva's spilt seed -- the myth portraying a situation in which the privacy of Siva and Parvati in intimacy was rudely interrupted, significantly giving no place to Parvati in the conceiving of Ganapati. For Campbell the myth plays a sociological role, which has tended to dominate.
The problem lies in myths which are metaphors being read in "denotation instead of connotation''. Herein lies the stultifying effect on the mind. Putting the accent on the pedagogical role of the myth, which can teach many truths, the film ends with the narration of an enlightening story by Campbell from the Upanishad.
Proud of his might after throwing his thunderbolt on Rudra, Indra the King of Gods commissions Viswakarma to build an extraordinary palace for him at an appointed hill. In answer to Viswakarma's appeal that he be helped against Indra's insatiable demands about the palace, creator Brahma sends a young boy who looking at the magnificent palace avers that it is by far the biggest built by any Indra. On being asked to explain the `other Indras' aspect, the boy pointed to an army of ants and said they were all the previous Indras. He made Indra realise that in the endless play of creation, destruction and re-creation, he was but an infinitesimal speck in an unending cosmic process, the enormity of which no one can even comprehend. In answer to the question by Bill Moyer whether there could be modern myths, Campbell replied that the world today was changing too fast to be mythologised. Surely films like "The Aliens'' can be regarded as the modern myths. To throw off the entire world of myth would make one feel culturally deprived. As part of our cultural memory, the myth will live on with its additions and omissions -- tools of wonder, amusement, teaching and instilling a value structure. Where one puts the emphasis, is an individual choice.
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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