MARUTS Respected friends,
While going through the English edition of Matsayapurana I could get the following not much known story about the birth of Maruts(Marutir Devatas). I thought of sharing the same with you. I have edited the same and given below. I hope whilechanting mantras during forth coming Yajurvedi Upakarma we may recollect their story. Sincerely, Gopala krishnan 8-6-2021 1.Story ofAditi and Diti Brahma’s one of the manasputra was Daksha. Brahmaordered him creation. Sixty daughters were born to Daksha and Panchajani. Out of this thirteen daughters were married toKashyapa. We have already known about Kashyapa as the grandson of Brahmathrough his son Mareechi, another manasaputra. Since the purpose was creation, the ethical sidein the marriage between grandson andgrand daughters we need not think of. The thirteen grand daughters were named Aditi, Diti,Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhavasha, Ira, Kadru, Vishvaand Muni. (The names of Kashyapa’s wives, sometimes vary in other puranas. 2. Aditi’schildren Aditi’ssons born to Kashyapa were known as the adityas. There were twelve of them and they werenamed Indra, Dhata, Bhaga, Tvashta, Mitra, Varuna, Yama, Vivasvana, Savita,Pusha, Amshumana and Vishnu. These were the gods. (Yama the son of the sun godand his wife Samjna may be different.) Their sons also came to be known as the Devas. 3. Diti’s sons Diti’ssons born to Kashyapa were the daityas (demons). There were two of them, named Hiranyakshipu and Hiranyaksha.Their sons also came to be known as the daityas. 4.Relaton between Devas and Daityas Thegods and the demons were as such first cousins or brothers. They are born to Kashyapa ,mothers being Aditi andDiti respectively. They did not like each other and fought amongst themselvesall the time. Demonssuffered more. 5.Diti mediate to have a son tokill Indra Ditiwas disconsolate to see her children suffer thus. She resolved that she wouldmeditate so as to obtain a son who would be so powerful that he would killIndra, the king of the gods. Therewas a tirtha named Syamantapanchakaon the banks of the sacred river Sarasvati. Diti went there and started to pray to the sage Kashyapa.She lived on roots and fruits and meditated for a hundred years. 6.Kashyapa get pleased and give boonsubject to conditions Theseprayers pleased Kashyapa. "Ask for a boon," he said. "Pleasegrant me a son who will kill indra," replied Diti. "Itshall be as you wish," said Kashyapa. "But there are some conditions.You will have to live in thishermitage for a hundred years more. Throughout these hundred years you willbear the baby in your womb. Butthere are certain conditions of cleanliness that you must observe. You must not eat in the evening, normust you sleep under a tree at night. Exercise is not permitted in any form. 7.Important condition- hairs keepbraided Donot sleep with your hair unbraided, orwithout having had a bath. If you can observed these rules for a hundred years,you will have the son you wish for." Kashyapawent away and Diti began to observe the rites that the sage had prescribed. ButIndra got to know what was afoot and he was naturally in no mood to permit thebirth of a son who would be the cause of his own destruction. 8.Indra become attendant Hehung around Diti’s hermitage, pretending to serve his chithi(Diti). Hebrought her firewood and fruit and served her in other ways. But in reality, hewas merely waiting for an opportunity. He was waiting for the moment when Diti ()would fail to observe the norms of cleanliness that had been laid down for her. Ninety-nineyears and three hundred and sixty-two days passed. That is, only three days were left for the period of one hundred years to beover. 9. Diti forget to braid her hair in thelast minutes Ditiwas tired on one particular occasion. Since the period of her ordeal was soonto end, she had also become somewhat careless. Shefell asleep without washing her hair. Whatwas worse, she went to sleep without having braided her hair. This was an actof gross un-cleanliness. There is a Malayalam saying-“Veettu vathukkal Vannappol kudam pottichu” Indraseized his awaited chance. Since Diti had committed an unclean act, herdefences had been lowered. 10 Indra enter Diti’s womb Indraentered Diti’s womb in a trice. Indra used his wonderful weapon vajra. With the vajra, Indra sliced the baby inDiti’s womb into seven parts. These parts started to cry. "Ma ruda," said Indra."Don’t cry." 11. Indra chope the foetus and becomesuccessful Butthe parts continued to cry. Indra therefore chopped up each of the parts intoseven more sections, sothat there were forty-nine parts in all. SinceDiti had failed to observe the prescribed rites, these forty-nine sections wereno longer a threat to Indra. 12 Birth of Maruts and elevation toGods Whenthey were born, they came to be known as the Marutsfrom the words Indra had used in addressing them. They were elevated to the status ofgods and became Indra’s friends and constant companions later. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/2116035431.3006481.1623158165847%40mail.yahoo.com.
