N. Gopala Pillai, M. A
from the Proceedings of the All-India Oriental Conference
Vol. IX (Trivandrum: Government Press, 1937), pp. 955-997
The worship of a Mother Goddess was prevalent throughout Asia. It obtained in Egypt and from there it is said to have passed on to Greece.[62] Herodotus asserts, “The Egyptians, they went on to affirm, first brought into use the names of twelve gods, which the Greeks adopted from them; and erected altars, images and temples to the gods; and also first engraved upon the stone the figures of animals. In most of these cases they proved to me that what they said was true.” [63] George Rawlinson remarks “there is also evidence of the Greeks having borrowed much from Egypt in their early Mythology as well as in later times, after their religion had long been formed.” [64] In Egypt we find a Goddess “standing on a lion, like ‘Mother Earth’ who is mentioned by Macrobius[65] (Saturn. I, 26). We find her again in Assyrian monuments.[66] The very name of the Egyptian Mother Goddess is ‘Maut’.[67] The comments of the great scholar G. Rawlinson on this point are again worth quoting. “Besides the evidence of common origin, from the analogies in the Egyptian, Indian, Greek and other systems we perceive that Mythology had advanced to a certain point before the early migration took place from central Asia. And is in after times each introduced local changes, they often borrowed so largely from their neighbours that a strong resemblance was maintained; and hence the religions resembled each other, partly from having a common origin, partly from direct imitation, and partly from adaptation; which continued to a late period”.[68] But whether the early migration took place from Central Asia or not is a question beyond the purview of this paper.
We have already referred to Dionysos being portrayed as ram-headed and Skanda being Chānga-mukha. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that he is referred to as ‘Naigameya’ in the Mahabharata. Would it not be possible that this word has its origin in misreading and mis-spelling the word Nysian, Dionysos being taken to mean the Nysian God. Such a suspicion is strengthened by the large variety of forms in which the word Naigameya occurs in various works. It occurs as Nejamesa in the Grhya Sūtras of Āśvalāyana and Śānkhāyana, as Naigamesa in Suśruta and as Nemeśa in the Mathurā Inscription.[69] Prof. Pargiter gives various illustrations of flagrant misreadings of names.[70] Naiśeya or Naiśayeya meaning Nysian would have easily assumed all these various forms.
The Indian legend concerning the origin of Skanda is vague, vacillant and divergent. Different sources give different tales. The Mahabharata has two or three varying versions. The tone of dubious hesitancy is patent. The first version of the story goes that Vasistha and the other Rsis were offering a sacrifice. Agni, being invoked, descended from the sun, entered into the fire and received the oblations. Issuing forth from the fire, he beheld the lovely spouses of the seven Rsis, bathing pleasantly in their hermitages. They shone like golden altars, pure as the crescent moon, like the flames of fire, and all as wondrous as the stars. The mind of Agni was upset. He became the slave of his passion. Knowing no other means of quenching his lust, he entered into the domestic fire and beheld them and touched them with his flames. Thus he dwelt for long enamoured of these lovely women. But his heart’s desire was unfulfilled, and in distress and despair, he decided to abandon his corporeal form and retired into the forest. Now Svāhā, the daughter of Daksa has fallen in love with him. Her amour was unrequited and she now found an opportune moment and a clever ruse. She assumed the form of the wives of the six rsis, one after another, and enjoyed the bliss of union with Agni. But she was not able to impersonate Arundhati, the chaste wife of Vasistha. Thus,
“six times was the seed of Agni thrown into the reservoir on the first of the lunar fortnight. Discharged there and collected, that seed by its energy generated a son. That which was discharged (Skanna) being worshipped by the rsis became Skanda.”
(Vanaparvan Ch. 227)
“Sātkrtvatas tu niksiptam ,Agne retah kurūttama , tasmin kunde pratipadi ,Kāminyā svāhyā tadā ,
tat skannam tejasā tatra, samvrtam janayat sutam , rsibhih pūjitam skannam, Anayat skandatām tatah.”
Vanaparvan, Ch. 227 (17-18).
It is evident that Śiva or Rudra does not come in here, nor do the Krttikā stars. In the next stage, Agni is equated with Rudra and the Krttikās are slyly smuggled in.
“Brahmins call Agni Rudra; therefore, he (Skanda) is the son of Rudra. The seed which was discharged by Rudra became the white mountain. And the seed of Agni was placed by the Krttikās on the white mountain. All the devas having seen him honoured by Rudra, they call him who is the mysterious one, the best of the virtuous, the son of Rudra. This child was born when Rudra had entered the fire. Skanda, the greatest of the Devas, was born with the energy of Rudra, of Agni, of Svāhā and of the six women. Therefore he became the son of Rudra”.
Vanaparvan Ch. 229 (35-38)
“Rudram agnim dvijāh prāhuh ,rudrasūnus tatas tu sah, rudrena śukram utsrstam ,tat śvetah parvato’ bhavat ,
pāvakasyendriyam śvete , krttikābhih krtam nage , pūjyamānam tu rudrena ,drstvā sarve divaukasah,
Rudrasūnum tatat prāhur, guham gunavatām varam , Anupraviśya rudrena ,Vahnim jāto’ hy ayam śiśuh ,
tatra jātas tatas skando ,rudraunus tatō’ bhavat , rudrasya vahneh svāhāyāh ,Sannām strīnām ca tejasā ,
jātas skandas suraśrestho ,rudrasūnus tato’ bhavat.”
Vanaparvan Ch. 229 (35-48)
The confusion arising out of the attempt at the fusion of different concepts is hardly disguised. We perceive the very process of fusion, the trembling fingers of the fabulist at work, mixing and mingling divergent legends. Rudra and Agni, Svāhā and Krttikās are all jostling against each other. The introduction of the Krttikās does not appear to serve a purpose here. The acquisition of the six faces through their intrusion is mentioned only later. And there, Śiva has slowly displaced Agni from his original fatherhood. Agni becomes the agonized bearer of Śiva’s caustic energy.
“The discharged energy of Śiva fell into Agni. The Lord Agni was not better able to bear all that imperishable stuff. The brilliant bearer of oblations was sinking under it. Being advised by Brahma, he deposited it in the Ganges. The Ganges herself incapable of bearing it threw it ashore on the venerable Himalayan range. There, the son of Agni grew encompassing the worlds. The Krttikās saw that lustrous foetal form in the thicket of Sara reeds, and each one cried out “he is mine”. The lord knowing their maternal affection drank the effluent milk of their breast with six mouths.”
Śalyaparvan, Ch. 45 (6-12)
“Tejo māheśvaram skannam
Agnau prapatitam purā
tat sarvam bhagavān agnih
nā’ śakad dhartum akśayam
tena sīdati tejavi
dīptimān havyavāhanah
na ca’inam dhārayāmāsa
brahmane uktavān prabhuh
sa gangām upasangamya
niyogād brahmanah
garbham āhitavān divyam
bhāskararopamatejasam
atha gangā’pi tam garbham
asahantī vidhārane
utsasarji girau ramie
himavaty amarārcite
sa tatra vavrdhe lokān
āvrtya jvalanākāram
dadrśur jvalananākāram
tam garbham atha krttikāh
śarastambe mahātmānam
analātmajam īśvaram
mamā’yam iti tāh sarvāh
putrārthmyo’ bhicukruśuh
tāsām viditvā bhāvam tam
mātrnam bhagavān prabhuh
prasnutānām payah sadbhir
vadanair apibat tadā.”
(Salyaparvan, Ch.45 (6-12)
Finally we get a summary of results:
“Some regard him as the son of Brahman,
some as the eternal boy, the eldest born,
some as the son of Śiva, and some as the
son of Agni, of Umā, of Krttikās and of the Ganges”.
Salyaparvan, Ch.45 (98-99).
Kecid enam vyavasyanti , pitāmahasutam prabhum , sanatkumāram sarveśam , brahmayonim tam agrajam ,
kecid maheśvarasutam , Kecit putram vibhāvasoh , Umāyāh krttikānām ca , Gañgāyāś ca vadanty uta ,
(Salyaparvan Ch. 45 (98-99)
These varying accounts confirm our suspicion.