The elephant God

Before beginning anything important, Lord Ganesha is invoked. He is the remover of all hurdles or obstacles. This reminds me of the story of Siva, ‘Tripura Samhara’. In this story, Siva burns down 3 demons to ashes with a single smile. While starting on a chariot, with Brahma as the charioteer, Siva forgets to invoke Ganapathy. The chariot refuses to move. Siva realizes His mistake, and prays to the elephant God. Vishnu, taking the form of a bull, pushes the chariot from behind. The chariot starts. Siva finishes His job.

Why did I start with the above story today? In the third chapter of Natya Shastra, all other Gods are mentioned. Lord Ganesha is never mentioned. This is a surprise for me. After prayer to all Gods, the teacher performs the Havana or Homam. He breaks a pot, which signifies the destruction of all obstacles. Then a fight is caused in which small wounds and lacerations occur and blood spills around. The spilling of blood is a good omen for the success of the performance. Also, intellect, mind and memory are conceived as deities and prayed. Also it is mentioned, ‘Any devotional rite is bound to increase spiritual power if there is adequate faith’.

This chapter speaks in detail about prayer, Gods of Hindu religion, how to pray to each God, what to offer etc. Madhuparka (mixture of honey, curd, ghee, water and sugar) and Payasa (milk pudding), are mentioned, which are used as offerings even today for most festivals. This brings us to the end of the third chapter of Natya Shastra.

‘Carnatic music’ is the most adaptive music as much as I know. Madurai Mani Iyer’s ‘English note’, popular until today is a good example. Also, violin, Guitar, Saxophone, Clarinet, mandolin, Key board etc are western instruments very popular in Carnatic music. Indian instruments are comparatively less in number. Even though they are western instruments, music is ours! No westernization. Indianization of western instruments!