prasad1
Active member
This post pokes fun at my own religion. When we were young we accepted whatever was told having been brought in a TB family.
Now in my senior years, I can look back and say how gullible we were.
I was sad reading the post about Astvakra in another thread. Why do we celebrate such horrendous role models?
Do we not realize that these father's action can not be condoned. We do rewrite our History, such bad examples should also be written off.
We can claim without any regret that our dads are the best. If you're a modern kid, you've probably had a father who actually invested his love and care in you. The role they play in our lives are worthy of more than just a Father's Day once a year. But we never pause to think that this role is, in fact, quite different from the ones set by fathers from Hindu mythology.
And not just Hindu mythology. A warped sense of fatherhood seems to have been the norm with even the ancient Greeks. After all, Kronos ate all his kids, till his last-born Zeus slayed him. Anybody familiar with the Old Testament of the Bible (which is something the Jews, Christians and Muslims follow different versions of) would know just how much of a failure Eli, Samuel and David were as fathers.
Bad dads are a part and parcel of mythologies from across the globe, and no matter how inspiring the mythical kings from the vast Hindu mythology might seem to you, you just can't deny that they didn't match up to the ideals of fatherhood. Don't believe us? Here are a few dads from Hindu mythology who just weren't the best, or even there, when their kids needed them the most.
1. Dushyant and Bharat
Now this story has two children abandoned by their fathers. Vishwamitra left the heavenly nymph, Menaka, and their newborn daughter--because Menaka had dared to disturb his meditation. Menaka couldn't take the child back to heaven, so she left her in the forest, where the sage Kanva found her and adopted her. That's how Shakuntala, the heroine of Kalidas's famous Abhigyanshakuntalam was born.
Shakuntla Married King Dushyant. He left her pregnant and forgot about her.
Kind Dushyant did finally accept Shakuntala and Bharat, but the whole story points to the fact that this mythological king didn't give two hoots about the woman he had married in secret, or the son from that union. The king whose name inspired the name of India grew up without knowing the love or recognition of his father. Dushyant might have been a great conqueror, but he was clearly not a great dad.
2. Shiva and Ganesha
We're all aware of the wrath, the 'destroyer of the world', Shiva is capable of. But beheading his own son? That was a little extreme. The legend described in the Shiva Purana says that Parvati created Ganesha when Shiva left for an expedition, leaving her alone and bored. On being persuaded by Lakshmi, Parvati created a statue of clay and blew life into it, and created a son who was called Ganesha.
Soon, the father and son were involved in a battle-like situation, which ended with Shiva beheading his son. The grieving Parvati begged her husband to reinstate life into her son's headless body. Giving in to his wife's prayers, Shiva placed an elephant's head on the body, and it came to life--thus, the Elephant God was reborn.
While it's okay to have ideological differences with your children--and disagreements are a part of life--such violent acts should be condemned. There were enough ways of penalising Ganesha for his behaviour; going to the extent of killing him out of rage was extreme.
3. Arjun and Iravan
The son of Pandava prince, Arjun, and Naga princess, Ulupi, turned out to be the ultimate sacrificial son. Devdutt Pattanaik reveals in Jaya that Iravan played a vital role in the battle of Mahabharata. Arjun met and fell in love with the Naga princess when he was living in the forest for a year as punishment for entering Draupadi's chamber while she was with Yudhishtira.
He married her, and the two were blessed with a boy, Iravan--the son Arjun abandoned shortly after, only to turn him into his scapegoat later.
Soon after Iravan's entry into the battle, it was declared that the Pandavas could only win the battle if a prince was sacrificed to Goddess Kali. As expected, Iravan agreed to offer himself to the deity, because that's what an obedient son was expected to do. Iravan chopped his head off for the father who abandoned him, without looking back with regret. Arjun might be the greatest archer in the world, but clearly, he wasn't the greatest father.
4. Bhima and Ghatothkach
Another scapegoat from the Mahabharata, Ghatothkacha was the son of the strongest Pandava, Bhima, and his Rakshasni wife Hidimbi. Like Arjun, Bhim abadoned his son and wife in the forest only to think of his half-human half-rakshas son when the need arose.
Ghatothkach was called to duty by Bhima was during the battle, where he killed Kauravas like ants under an elephant's foot. To stop the terror he had unleashed on the Kauravas, Karna killed him using the Vaijanthi Shastra granted to him by Indra. Such was the power of this human-rakshas, who died serving his father, and is still an unsung hero.
5. Shantanu and Bhishma
To be fair to Shantanu, one has to admit that he did try to stop Bhishma's mother, Ganga, from drowning him at birth. He pined for both Ganga and his eighth son. When the father and son were reunited on the banks of the Ganga years later, Shantanu announced Devavrata as the crown prince.
Devavrata succumbed to his father's lust and took a bhishma pratigya of renouncing the throne, and staying a lifelong celibate so that none of his lineage could ever challenge Satyavati's children. He was named Bhishma thanks to this vow, and he didn't stray from his word till he died at Kurukshetra. Bhishma has always been an ideal for us, but don't you think Shantanu's lust was the root of everything the young prince had to go through--even the war at Kurukshetra?
6. Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad
Both the Bhagavat Puran and Vishnu Puran describe the terrifying story of this father-son duo. Most Hindu kids have grown up hearing the stories of the villain that Hiranyakashipu was, thanks to the nearly immortal boon he got from Brahma. His son Prahlad, born away from his father's evil influence under the tutelage of sage Narada, was a bhakt of Vishnu--whom Hiranyakashipu hated.
He tried to get his son killed on numerous occasions. At one point, he has his sister, Holika, sit with Prahlad on a burning pyre. This led to Holika dahan, but Prahlad the Devout was unscathed. Finally, Hiranyakashipu directly challenged Prahlad's beliefs, and Vishnu himself appeared in his Narasimha avatar to kill the demon king.
7. Uttaanpaad and Dhruva
Another character mentioned in Bhagavat Puran and Vishnu Puran, Dhruva craved the love of his father--but did not receive it. He was born to King Uttaanpaad and his first wive, the gentle queen Suniti. His favourite wive was, however, Suruchi, who also had a son and competitor for the throne, Uttam.
On one occasion, Dhruva was sitting on his father's lap when Suruchi forcefully separated them. When Druva lay claim to his father's affection, Suruchi told him to go and ask god for it. So Dhruva did. He performed severe austerities and prayed to Vishnu, who finally granted him his presence, love and Dhruvapad (which means that he would become a celestial body after death, and be untouched by mahapralay or apocalypse).
8. Ram and Luv-Kush
There are as many versions of how Ram came to know about his sons as there are versions of the Ramayan in this subcontinent. According to the Valmiki Ramayan, Sita lived in Valmiki's ashram after her banishment from Ayodhya under the suspicion of having committed adultery. The story states that Sita had twins, Luv and Kush, who were born and brought up in Valmiki's ashram, and trained by the sage himself.
Some might choose to believe that this proved Ram was an ideal ruler, but don't you think he failed as a father by not just missing out on the twins' birth, but also by not keeping in touch with his wife and kids while they lived a life of penance in the jungle?
Our mythical kings and princes were quite the inspiration, but only as rulers. Their lives stand testimony to the fact that they weren't the best dads; most of them were absent during their kids' childhood, some didn't even recognise the child's mother until much later. These are clearly not the examples our great fathers looked up to, and we couldn't be more glad for it.
www.indiatoday.in
There are many more such tales, and we can have a new perspective on the old tales.
Now in my senior years, I can look back and say how gullible we were.
I was sad reading the post about Astvakra in another thread. Why do we celebrate such horrendous role models?
Do we not realize that these father's action can not be condoned. We do rewrite our History, such bad examples should also be written off.
We can claim without any regret that our dads are the best. If you're a modern kid, you've probably had a father who actually invested his love and care in you. The role they play in our lives are worthy of more than just a Father's Day once a year. But we never pause to think that this role is, in fact, quite different from the ones set by fathers from Hindu mythology.
And not just Hindu mythology. A warped sense of fatherhood seems to have been the norm with even the ancient Greeks. After all, Kronos ate all his kids, till his last-born Zeus slayed him. Anybody familiar with the Old Testament of the Bible (which is something the Jews, Christians and Muslims follow different versions of) would know just how much of a failure Eli, Samuel and David were as fathers.
Bad dads are a part and parcel of mythologies from across the globe, and no matter how inspiring the mythical kings from the vast Hindu mythology might seem to you, you just can't deny that they didn't match up to the ideals of fatherhood. Don't believe us? Here are a few dads from Hindu mythology who just weren't the best, or even there, when their kids needed them the most.
1. Dushyant and Bharat
Now this story has two children abandoned by their fathers. Vishwamitra left the heavenly nymph, Menaka, and their newborn daughter--because Menaka had dared to disturb his meditation. Menaka couldn't take the child back to heaven, so she left her in the forest, where the sage Kanva found her and adopted her. That's how Shakuntala, the heroine of Kalidas's famous Abhigyanshakuntalam was born.
Shakuntla Married King Dushyant. He left her pregnant and forgot about her.
Kind Dushyant did finally accept Shakuntala and Bharat, but the whole story points to the fact that this mythological king didn't give two hoots about the woman he had married in secret, or the son from that union. The king whose name inspired the name of India grew up without knowing the love or recognition of his father. Dushyant might have been a great conqueror, but he was clearly not a great dad.
2. Shiva and Ganesha
We're all aware of the wrath, the 'destroyer of the world', Shiva is capable of. But beheading his own son? That was a little extreme. The legend described in the Shiva Purana says that Parvati created Ganesha when Shiva left for an expedition, leaving her alone and bored. On being persuaded by Lakshmi, Parvati created a statue of clay and blew life into it, and created a son who was called Ganesha.
Soon, the father and son were involved in a battle-like situation, which ended with Shiva beheading his son. The grieving Parvati begged her husband to reinstate life into her son's headless body. Giving in to his wife's prayers, Shiva placed an elephant's head on the body, and it came to life--thus, the Elephant God was reborn.
While it's okay to have ideological differences with your children--and disagreements are a part of life--such violent acts should be condemned. There were enough ways of penalising Ganesha for his behaviour; going to the extent of killing him out of rage was extreme.
3. Arjun and Iravan
The son of Pandava prince, Arjun, and Naga princess, Ulupi, turned out to be the ultimate sacrificial son. Devdutt Pattanaik reveals in Jaya that Iravan played a vital role in the battle of Mahabharata. Arjun met and fell in love with the Naga princess when he was living in the forest for a year as punishment for entering Draupadi's chamber while she was with Yudhishtira.
He married her, and the two were blessed with a boy, Iravan--the son Arjun abandoned shortly after, only to turn him into his scapegoat later.
Soon after Iravan's entry into the battle, it was declared that the Pandavas could only win the battle if a prince was sacrificed to Goddess Kali. As expected, Iravan agreed to offer himself to the deity, because that's what an obedient son was expected to do. Iravan chopped his head off for the father who abandoned him, without looking back with regret. Arjun might be the greatest archer in the world, but clearly, he wasn't the greatest father.
4. Bhima and Ghatothkach
Another scapegoat from the Mahabharata, Ghatothkacha was the son of the strongest Pandava, Bhima, and his Rakshasni wife Hidimbi. Like Arjun, Bhim abadoned his son and wife in the forest only to think of his half-human half-rakshas son when the need arose.
Ghatothkach was called to duty by Bhima was during the battle, where he killed Kauravas like ants under an elephant's foot. To stop the terror he had unleashed on the Kauravas, Karna killed him using the Vaijanthi Shastra granted to him by Indra. Such was the power of this human-rakshas, who died serving his father, and is still an unsung hero.
5. Shantanu and Bhishma
To be fair to Shantanu, one has to admit that he did try to stop Bhishma's mother, Ganga, from drowning him at birth. He pined for both Ganga and his eighth son. When the father and son were reunited on the banks of the Ganga years later, Shantanu announced Devavrata as the crown prince.
Devavrata succumbed to his father's lust and took a bhishma pratigya of renouncing the throne, and staying a lifelong celibate so that none of his lineage could ever challenge Satyavati's children. He was named Bhishma thanks to this vow, and he didn't stray from his word till he died at Kurukshetra. Bhishma has always been an ideal for us, but don't you think Shantanu's lust was the root of everything the young prince had to go through--even the war at Kurukshetra?
6. Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad
Both the Bhagavat Puran and Vishnu Puran describe the terrifying story of this father-son duo. Most Hindu kids have grown up hearing the stories of the villain that Hiranyakashipu was, thanks to the nearly immortal boon he got from Brahma. His son Prahlad, born away from his father's evil influence under the tutelage of sage Narada, was a bhakt of Vishnu--whom Hiranyakashipu hated.
He tried to get his son killed on numerous occasions. At one point, he has his sister, Holika, sit with Prahlad on a burning pyre. This led to Holika dahan, but Prahlad the Devout was unscathed. Finally, Hiranyakashipu directly challenged Prahlad's beliefs, and Vishnu himself appeared in his Narasimha avatar to kill the demon king.
7. Uttaanpaad and Dhruva
Another character mentioned in Bhagavat Puran and Vishnu Puran, Dhruva craved the love of his father--but did not receive it. He was born to King Uttaanpaad and his first wive, the gentle queen Suniti. His favourite wive was, however, Suruchi, who also had a son and competitor for the throne, Uttam.
On one occasion, Dhruva was sitting on his father's lap when Suruchi forcefully separated them. When Druva lay claim to his father's affection, Suruchi told him to go and ask god for it. So Dhruva did. He performed severe austerities and prayed to Vishnu, who finally granted him his presence, love and Dhruvapad (which means that he would become a celestial body after death, and be untouched by mahapralay or apocalypse).
8. Ram and Luv-Kush
There are as many versions of how Ram came to know about his sons as there are versions of the Ramayan in this subcontinent. According to the Valmiki Ramayan, Sita lived in Valmiki's ashram after her banishment from Ayodhya under the suspicion of having committed adultery. The story states that Sita had twins, Luv and Kush, who were born and brought up in Valmiki's ashram, and trained by the sage himself.
Some might choose to believe that this proved Ram was an ideal ruler, but don't you think he failed as a father by not just missing out on the twins' birth, but also by not keeping in touch with his wife and kids while they lived a life of penance in the jungle?
Our mythical kings and princes were quite the inspiration, but only as rulers. Their lives stand testimony to the fact that they weren't the best dads; most of them were absent during their kids' childhood, some didn't even recognise the child's mother until much later. These are clearly not the examples our great fathers looked up to, and we couldn't be more glad for it.
8 dads from Hindu mythology we're glad we don't have
They might have been great rulers, but these fathers just didn't do enough justice to the idea of fatherhood.
There are many more such tales, and we can have a new perspective on the old tales.
