Hi Friends!
I have been quite irregular in posting, the past few days (and months)! So, I thought that it would be a good idea if we look at a few stories about days. Or the names we know them by, and see where it takes us. Fair warning, this may take longer than usual!
Quick disclaimer, today we won’t take the story of the Strong Saviour (“TarakaAsura“), and his upcoming demise at the hands of the much-awaited son of the Auspicious Self-Born One (“Shiva Shambhu“), which we were talking of till last time.
As we all know, the days of the week are seven in number. In India, the names assigned to them are based on the seven heavenly bodies, that people could see in the sky, unaided by telescopes. These were called the One’s That Hold or Seize, i.e. graha’s. Interestingly the Indian mythological tales (and astrology) count nine of them, or Navagraha’s: seven that are visible directly, and two which were seen based on the effect they had on the visible one’s.
Day 1 – Sunday
The first day of the week is called RaviVaar, or The Day of the Sun. The Sun as a graha, has multiple divine personalities connected with it.
Sage Kashyapa (son of Sage Marichi, grand-son of Lord Brahma) with his wife Aditi (daughter of Prajapati Daksha, grand-daughter of Lord Brahma) had twelve sons, known as Sons of Aditi, or Aditya‘s. They were the bright (or “deva”) sons of Aditi.
In fact they were the twelve forms of sun, associated with the twelve solar calendar months. Let’s try and correlate them. Please note, that we are trying to connect various tales, hence there is some pick-and-choose, and some inconsistencies.
| Aditya | Solar Month (Vikram Calendar and Rashi) | Lunar Month (close correlation) | Gregorian Calendar Months (general correlation | Story Connects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aryaman | Mesha (the “ram”) | Vaishakha | April-May | The patron deity of the customs, or the ways of the civilised (or “aryas”) |
| Vivaswan | Vrishabha (the “bull”) | Jyestha | May-June | Progenitor of Vaivaswata Manu, the Manu of the Seventh (and current) Manvantara The titular sun from whom the solar dynasty claims descent |
| Anshuman | Mithuna (the “twins”) | Ashadha | June-July | Literally the patron deity of parts (“ansha‘s”) , or rays (“anshu‘s”) |
| Savitr (Parjanya) | Karkata (the “crab”) | Sravana | July-August | The solar deity who is addressed by the Gayatri Mantra, one of the most well-known and celebrated hymn in India |
| Varuna | Simha (the “lion”) | Bhadra | August-September | The Lord of Waters and (along with Mitra) of Eternal Laws, Oaths, and Debts. Guardian of the West Direction, one of the Guardians of Directions, or Dikpalas |
| Indra | Kanya (the “virgin”) | Ashwina | September-October | The eldest Aditya, and literally the King (of the Deva‘s) The Destroyer of Vritra, wielder of vajra, the thunderbolt. |
| Dhatr | Tula (the “balance”) | Kartika | October-November | Patron deity of health and peaceful domestic life (both very important IMHO). Invoked a lot of times by the priests during the Hindu marriage (pay attention when you attend one) |
| Mitra | Vrishchik (the “scorpion”) | Agrahayana | November-December | Patron Deity of Friendship, and (along with Varuna) of Eternal Laws, Oaths, and Debts. Gives us the Sanskrit and Hindi word for Friend |
| Pusan | Dhanush (the “bow”) | Pausha | December -January | Patron Deity of Safety away from home. Ironically, as he was beaten and lost his tooth when he travelled to Daksha’s Yagna, when Shiva’s representatives destroyed the same. |
| Bhaga | Makara (the “crocodile”) | Magha | January-February | Patron Deity of Luck and Fate. Again ironically as he was blinded during the destruction of Daksha’s Yagna by Shiva’s representatives. Maybe hence “blind” luck. |
| Tvastr | Kumbha (the “pitcher”) | Phalguna | February-March | Patron Deity of Workmanship. Also known as Vishwakarman. The father in law of Vivaswan, who created the Sudrashana Chakra after shearing off part of Vivaswan’s brightness. In some tales the father of Vritra, the dragon whom Indra killed so famously |
| Vishnu | Mina (the “fish”) | Chaitra | March-April | The youngest Aditya. One of the Mighty Trinity. The One who takes various incarnations to save mankind and Deva interests. And to kill (and bring back) his cursed gatekeepers. As a Fish, as a Turtle, as a Boar, as a Half-man-Half-Lion, to count a few. Sometimes one of his incarnations, the Dwarf-statured Man, or Vamana, is considered as the youngest son of Aditi, and not Vishnu himself. |
In addition to these twelve sons of Aditi, there was another of her sons, who is also connected to the Sun. The Eight Vasu‘s (literally the one’s who occupy) are part of the original 33 Devas, as you would remember from an earlier story. Of them, there is one who is connected to the Sun. He is called Pratyusha. Sadly, he doesn’t get many individual citations. One story has the eight brothers get in trouble, due to disrespecting one of the Saptarishi‘s, the Sage Vashistha. They get cursed to be born as mortals. Pratyusha, along with six of the other younger Vasu‘s, served a very short period of this curse, being victims of infanticide by their mother. Only the eldest Vasu, Prabhasa (or Dyaus, denoting the sky) lives a long and eventful life. This individual was named Devavrata, and became well known as Bhishma. And before I forget, the terrible-oathed Bhishma, and the infanticide-victim Pratyusha, in these mortal life’s, were sons of Lady Ganga. She, in turn, was the daughter of Lady Mena (“knowledge”) and Lord Himacala (“mountain lord of snows”). She would also be one of the nine mothers of the much-awaited son of Shiva, the one who was destined to kill TarakaAsura.
Day 2 – Monday
The second day of the week is called SomaVaar, or the Day of the Moon. The divine personality connected with this day is Chandra, also known as Soma. He was son of one of the Seven Sages (“saptarishis”), Sage Atri, born of his tears of divine joy. Chandra is an interesting deity, the reason of a cautionary story, wherein favouritism (towards one wife or “nakshatra” or star constellations out of twenty-seven), became the reason of the waxing and waning of moon and also caused the bereavement of Shiva (indirectly).
Let us give these long suffering starry wives their dues, and list out their names. Please note each nakshatra, as per Indian astronomy, covers 13 degrees 20 minutes, i.e. thirteen-and-one-third degree. If you multiply this by 27, you get 360 degrees, which completes a full circle. As the moon (the actual one) takes twenty-seven days to orbit the earth, these are the actual constellations observed by those who told the stories, dividing the night sky into “mansions” that Chandra stayed in, with each wife. They were:
| Ashvini | Bharani | Krittikaa |
| Rohini (the favourite) | Mrigashira | Ardraa |
| Punaravasu | Pusyaa | Ashleshaa |
| Magha | Purva Phalguni | Uttara Phalguni |
| Hastaa | Chitraa | Swati |
| Vishakha | Anuradha | Jyesthaa |
| Mulaa | Purva Ashadha | Uttara Ashadha |
| Sravanaa | Dhanistha | Satabhisa |
| Purva Bhadrapada | Uttara Bhadrapada | Revati |
Chandra also stars in a story of his coveting the divine preceptor’s wife (Tara, or star) causing a major scandal, and the start of the Lunar Dynasty (in a way).
Chandra is the patron deity of vegetation, and medicinal herbs, as Oushadhaiya. In some stories he is the patron deity of waters and intoxicating offerings to gods, as well. This gives him an overlap with both Varuna, who is the lord of waters, and his daughter Varuni (who came out during the Sagara Manthana) who is the patron goddess of intoxicating drinks. Only difference is that Chandra‘s somarasa is beloved by the Devas, while Varuni‘s sura is the intoxicant of choice for the Asuras.
Day 3 – Tuesday
The third day of the week is called MangalVaar, or the Day of Good Fortune. Ironically, it is named after Mangal Graha, or Mars, which is considered to be a harbinger of bad fortune. This planet has a reddish hue, and hence is also called Lohitanga (“ferrous or red limbed”), and Angaarakaya (“fiery red bodied”), as well as Raktavarna (“bloody or red complexioned”). He is the son of BhooDevi hence also called Bhauma (“son of the earth”). This makes sense, as the planet is quite close to Earth, in fact the closest actual planet to Earth, as Moon isn’t technically a planet (or is it!).
The story of Mangal‘s birth is actually connected to two of the story-threads, we have discussed earlier. Let’s quickly cover both these etiological mythologies, or stories of origins that explain.
In the first, when Shiva was crying and doing extreme penance, after the untimely death of his wife Sati, a few drops of his tears (mixed with his blood) fell on the earth, and transmuted into a reddish skinned boy, who started making immense amount of noise. Hearing his crying, BhooDevi started taking care of him. When Shiva realised that his son was thus nursed by her, he ordained that he be known as Bhauma, the son of Bhumi.
In the second, lesser known (and accepted) story, he is the son of BhooDevi with Lord Vishnu. This was from when he took his third incarnation, as the Divine Boar, or Varaha Avataar, and rescued her from the clutches of Hiranyaksha, the first incarnation of Jaya, the cursed gatekeeper. In some tales that son, of Lord Vishnu and BhooDevi, was Naraka, whose end came in the hands of the eighth (or may be the ninth) incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Vaasudeva Krishna, supported by Queen Satyabhama, the incarnation of BhooDevi in the Dwaapar Yuga.
In yet other tales, Naraka was the son of Hiranyaksha, with BhooDevi. This brings to mind another story, which has very interesting parallels to both the stories. So let’s cover the other days of the week (and the remaining grahas) in another post, and delve into this parallel story.
Parallels of the Accidental Sons
Once, Shiva was sitting in Mount Kailasha with his wife, Sati. She playfully covered his eyes with her hands. The heat of his gaze made her fingers sweat, and out of that contact was born a strong bodied, but terrible looking and blind boy. This boy was named Andhaka, or the Blind One.
Meanwhile, Asura King Hiranyaksha was devoid of joy, as he was childless. His twin brother, Hiranyakashipu had many sons, some of them even named after joy, such as Anuhlada, Samhlada and (later) Prahlaada. His sister, Simhika also had a son named Svarbhanu (we will meet him again shortly). Hiranyaksha, like many other Asuras, was a devotee of Shiva. Knowing his situation, Shiva let Hiranyaksha adopt Andhaka, who should be considered a son of Shiva and Sati. Later after the death of Hiranyaksha, and after many a cruel jibes from his cousin on his form and blindness, he performed penance and got boons from Lord Brahma, to get divine vision as well a beautiful form. He also (unsurprisingly) asked for immortality, but Lord Brahma (again as expected) only granted this partially. Andhaka could only be harmed or killed by Lord Shiva, if he lusted after a woman who was like his mother. After this Andhaka became the king of Asuras, and easily defeated the Devas. There seems to be a pattern with recipients of Brahma‘s boons.
Needless to say, the exact terms of the exception to Andhaka‘s immortality happened soon enough. Andhaka once came upon the wife of Shiva, while the MahaDeva was away, and blinded by his power and her beauty, tried to capture her. This wasn’t his birth-mother Sati. Rather she was the daughter of Parvateshwara, i.e. Parvati, the second wife of Shiva, so Andhaka felt he was in the clear. He forgot (or wasn’t aware) that she was the reincarnation of Sati, hence was a woman who was like his mother. In the ensuing battle, Shiva swallowed the learned preceptor of Asuras (another graha and deity with a day named after him), and defeated Andhaka and his army convincingly. In this war Shiva was supported by both Bhauma Mangal, and the much awaited son of Shiva and Parvati (along with eight other mothers)
After that, Shiva impaled Andhaka on his trident. In addition, Parvati cursed him to lose all that he received from his mother. Due to both of these misfortunes, Andhaka lost all his blood and soft tissues (which are supposed to be from the mother), and was left only with the hard bones and skeletal tissues (which are supposed to be from the father). He realised his mistakes, and praising the Self-Born Shambhu and Shakti, the True-Power, accepted them as his parents. He was then given the position of one of the leaders of Shiva‘s Ganas, and is known as Bhringi.
So Naraka, if he was the posthumous son of Hiranyaksha by BhooDevi, then his adopted brother Andhaka, was also the half-brother of Mangala, who being the son of BhooDevi, was half-brother of Naraka.
Or, if Naraka was the son of Vishnu and BhooDevi, and was taught a bloody lesson by Krishna (avataar of Vishnu) and Satyabhama (incarnation of BhooDevi), then parallely Andhaka was a son of Shiva and Sati, and was taught a similar (but less fatal) lesson by Shiva and Parvati (reincarnation of Sati).
With this intriguing window into the parallelism in Indian mythology tales, let’s end for today, with a promise to come back soon to complete the linkages of the remaining days of the week, the deities they are named after, as well as the other grahas.
Tales from Indian Mythology from a Story Keeper 
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