I thought I might do something with mythology related to eclipses this week, and this page gives an overview of some such explanations. It was apparently pretty common to assume the Sun was being eaten when it disappeared during the day. Hindu mythology holds that the one who does so is a demon called Rahu, who’s portrayed as a disembodied head.
He was originally part of an asura named Svarbanhu, whose story starts with the war between the asuras and devas. Shukra, the wise guru of the asuras and perpetual enemy of Vishnu, would resurrect his fellows whenever they fell in battle, so it looked like there was no end in sight. So Vishnu proposed stirring up the ocean to produce the elixir of immortality known as amrita, which would then be distributed to both sides. The stirring was done with a mountain supported by a giant turtle, the second avatar of Vishnu.
Before the amrita emerged, a deadly poison arose from the churning, which Shiva drank in order to save everyone else. He managed to trap the poison in his neck, which turned blue.
Vishnu then became the beautiful female dancer Mohini, who distracted the asuras so that she could give amrita to the devas alone.
Svarbhanu figured out the trick and disguised himself to get some of the nectar, but the Sun and Moon gods Surya and Chandra recognized him as a demon, and alerted Mohini.
Silly asura! Amrita is for devas!
She cut off Svarbhanu’s head with a wheel, but as the asura had already swallowed the amrita, his head and body became two separate immortal entities.
They were then situated at opposite points in the sky, the head at the north lunar node and the body at the south. They are sometimes shown as part snake, the explanation being that Brahma or Shiva provided parts from a serpent so they would both be complete entities.
The head, Rahu, was constantly ravenous and never satisfied, as it had no body to fill. Maybe that also explains Pac-Man.
Waka waka waka waka….
For revenge, he would swallow the Sun whenever it came near, but it would then come out through his neck.
The body, Ketu, would eat the Moon, causing lunar eclipses.
Hindu astrology considered them invisible planets, and their names were later given to Neptune and Uranus. So many mythical explanations for natural phenomena involve presumably conscious beings doing the same thing over and over, even though they must know it’s not going to turn out any differently than before. Then again, what else is a disembodied head going to do? Well, I suppose it could offer advice to Odin.
Picture by Sam Flegal
In a Buddhist scripture, Rahu is said to have captured both Surya and Chandra, but they prayed to Buddha, and he threatened to cut Rahu’s head into seven pieces if he didn’t release them.
Finally, in Final Fantasy VI, Rahu and Ketu are the arms of the monster Inferno, who appears in Kefka’s tower. They both can function independently of Inferno‘s body, which is presumably why they have those names, despite not being the head and body. In the Super Nintendo translation, they were instead called Rough and Striker, respectively.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
Categories
- A. Lee Martinez
- Adventism
- Advertising
- African
- Age of Exploration
- Albums
- Alchemy
- Alquerque
- Altaic
- Amanda Palmer
- American Civil War
- American Dad
- american revolution
- Amish
- Anabaptists
- Anglicanism
- Animal Crossing
- Animals
- Animism
- Arabian
- Arabian
- Arrested Development
- Art
- Arthurian Legend
- Astronomy
- Atticus Gannaway
- Australian
- Authors
- Awards
- Aztec
- Babylonian
- Baha'i Faith
- Beatles
- Beatrix Potter
- Belle and Sebastian
- Ben Folds
- Big Bang
- Bill Campbell and Irwin Terry
- Biology
- Board Games
- Body Image
- Book Reviews
- Breath of Fire
- Brentford Trilogy
- British
- Bronze Age
- Buddhism
- Byzantine Empire
- C.S. Lewis
- Calvinism
- Camilla Townsend
- Camper Van Beethoven
- Capitalism
- Captain N: The Game Master
- Carolyn Mark
- Carribean
- Cartoons
- Castlevania
- Catharism
- Catholicism
- Celebrities
- Celtic
- Chanukah
- Characters
- Checkers
- Chess
- China
- Chinese
- Chris Dulabone
- Christian Science
- Christianity
- Christmas
- Christopher Moore
- Chronicles of Chrestomanci
- Chronicles of Kazam
- Chronicles of Narnia
- Chrono Trigger
- Climate
- Cold War
- Colonization of America
- Comics
- Communism
- Concerts
- Confucianism
- Conspiracy Theories
- Coptic
- Corporations
- Cracker
- Crusades
- Cults
- Current Events
- Daniel Handler
- Dave Barry
- David Tai
- Dennis Anfuso
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Diane Brzozowski
- Dice
- Dick Martin
- Dirk Gently
- Discworld
- Disney Afternoon
- Dominoes
- Donkey Kong
- Douglas Adams
- Dr. Seuss
- Dragon Quest
- Dreams
- Drugs
- Easter
- Eastern Orthodox
- Economics
- Education
- Edward Einhorn
- Edward Lear
- Egyptian
- Eloise Jarvis McGraw
- England
- Environmentalism
- Eric Shanower
- Ethnicity
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Fairy Tales
- Families
- Family Guy
- Feminism
- Final Fantasy
- Finnish
- Focus on the Foes
- Food
- Fox News
- France
- Frank Black
- Frank Black/Black Francis
- Fred Otto
- French
- Fundamentalism
- Futurama
- Games
- Gender
- Genetics
- German
- Germany
- Gina Wickwar
- Global Warming
- Gnosticism
- Golden Sun
- Great Depression
- Greek Mythology
- Greek Philosophy
- Halloween
- Harry Potter
- Health
- Hellenistic Greece
- Heroes of Olympus
- Hinduism
- Historical Personages
- History
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Holidays
- Holy Roman Empire
- Hugh Pendexter
- Humor
- Iberian
- In Memoriam
- Inca
- incryptid
- India
- Introspection
- Inuit
- Iran
- Islam
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Jack Chick
- Jack Snow
- Jainism
- Japan
- Japanese
- Jared Davis
- Jasper Fforde
- Jeff Rester
- John R. Neill
- Jonathan Swift
- Judaism
- Kane Chronicles
- Kelly Hogan
- Kid Icarus
- Kirby
- Korean
- L. Frank Baum
- Language
- Lewis Carroll
- Libraries
- Live Shows
- Lutheranism
- madeleine l'engle
- Magic
- Magic Items
- Magnetic Fields
- Magnus Chase
- Mahjong
- Malaysian
- Mana/Seiken Densetsu
- Maps
- March Laumer
- Marcus Mebes
- Marin Elizabeth Xiques
- Mario
- marissa meyer
- Marxism
- Mathematics
- Mayan
- Medicine
- Mega Man
- Melody Grandy
- Mennonites
- Mesoamerica
- Mesopotamia
- Metroid
- Middle Ages
- Middle East
- Minus 5
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Monarchy
- Monkees
- Monopoly
- Monsters
- Monty Python
- Mormonism
- Mr. Show
- Muppets
- Music
- Mystery Cults
- Mythology
- Names
- Native American
- Navajo
- Neil Gaiman
- Neko Case
- Nellie McKay
- New Church
- New Pornographers
- New Year's Day
- Norse
- Nursery Crime
- Nursery Rhymes
- october daye
- Once Upon a Time
- Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch
- Oz
- Oz Authors
- Pac-Man
- Pachisi
- Pacific
- Passover
- Percy Jackson
- Persian
- Peter Clarke
- Phantasy Star
- Phil Lewin
- Philippine
- Philosophy
- Phyllis Ann Karr
- Piers Anthony
- Pixies
- Places
- Playing Cards
- Plays
- Poetry
- Pokémon
- Politics
- Popeye
- Power Rangers
- Prejudice
- Presbyterianism
- Protestant Reformation
- Punch-Out
- Rachel Cosgrove Payes
- Rasputina
- Rastafarianism
- Ray Powell
- Real Time with Bill Maher
- Relationships
- Religion
- Renaissance
- Revisiting Disney
- Rick Riordan
- Robert Rankin
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Rocky and Bullwinkle
- Roman
- Roman Empire
- Ron Baxley Jr.
- Russian
- Ruth Plumly Thompson
- Santeria
- Satanism
- Scandinavia
- Science
- Scientology
- Scottish
- seanan mcguire
- Search Terms
- Self-Esteem
- Semitic
- Sesame Street
- Seventh-Day Adventism
- Sexuality
- She and Him
- Shinto
- Sikhism
- Sims
- Slavic
- Snobbery
- Socialism
- Songs I Don't Care For
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- South American
- Space Program
- Spanish
- Spiritualism
- Sports
- Stan Freberg
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Stephin Merritt
- Stratego
- Street Fighter
- Super Mario Bros. Super Show
- Switzerland
- Taoism
- Technology
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Television
- Terry Pratchett
- Thanksgiving
- The Colbert Report
- The Daily Show
- The Flintstones
- The Jetsons
- The Simpsons
- The Sims
- Theosophy
- They Might Be Giants
- Thursday Next
- Tiles
- Tom Holt
- Tori Amos
- Toys
- Trials of Apollo
- Ultima
- Uncategorized
- United Kingdom
- Urban Legends
- Ursula K. LeGuin
- Valentine's Day
- Video
- Video Games
- Voodoo
- VoVat Goes to the Movies
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Welsh
- Wicca
- William Shakespeare
- Winnie-the-Pooh
- Wizards & Warriors
- Xanth
- XTC
- Year in Review
- Young Fresh Fellows
- Zelda
- Zoroastrianism
Blogroll
- 1UP's Retro Gaming Blog
- Adventures in Nerdliness
- Alan Cook's Weblog
- Back of the Cereal Box
- Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness
- Comics I Don't Understand
- Comics Make No Sense
- Dare I Read?
- Disney Weirdness
- Dwindling in Unbelief
- Eclectic Banana
- Electronic Cerebrectomy
- Hungry Tiger Talk
- No Smoking in the Skull Cave
- Oz and Ends
- Power of Babel
- Press the Buttons
- S.P. Maldonado's Oz Art
- Slacktivist
- The Oz Enthusiast
- The Royal Blog of Oz
- There's More to Oz Than the Yellow Brick Road
- Trixie's Treats
- Unreasonable Faith
- Verities and Balderdash
- Wannabe Wonderlands
Celebrity Blogs
Comics
More Stuff from Me
Meta
Twitterpated
- He could just become a fisherman, like the DQ7 hero. #DragonQuestXI #NintendoSwitch https://t.co/bPAt1l8IRf 14 hours ago
- @RF_P0TUS I really don't want to know what those yellow spots are. 20 hours ago
- @geekysteven @EllaZee5 This reminds me of a novelty T-shirt I saw: "It's not a bald spot. It's a solar panel for a sex machine." 20 hours ago
- @dragonquaustin Shouldn't Torneko be the one to hawk merchandise? 22 hours ago
- 📷 You tell ‘em, Mick! tmblr.co/Z6IMWyZbo5IKGW… 22 hours ago
Flickr Photos