My weekly catch-up post..Hindu mythology again

[lumos28]

No: HPFGUIDX 58660

Catlady wrote:

>>I thought Garuda was the vehicle of Indra, sky/storm god called 
King 
>>of the Gods, but not as high a god as the Three (called Trimurti?). 
>>Shiva's vehicle is Nandi the bull, but I can't remember whom I was 
>>told was Vishnu's vehicle. 

Indra's vehicle is a white elephant who goes by the slightly 
complicated name of 'Aairaavat'.
And yes, Indra is not as high as the Trinity (Trimurti-you're right 
on target)
He also has a terrible storm and lightening producing weapon, the 
Thunderbolt.
Shiva's vehicle is Nandi, the bull. And Garuda belongs to Vishnu.


>>I think of Padma as a Vishnaiva name, because as Vishnu sleeps on 
the 
>>coils of the cosmic serpent (is that his vehicle?) with his feet 
>>resting in the lap of his wife Lakshmi goddesss of wealth and 
beauty 
>>(he is the Preserver, she is goddess of some things that people are 
>>eager to preserve), there is a Lotus growing out of his navel. That 
>>Lotus, sometimes personified as a goddess Padma, is the entire 
>>physical world, the illusory material world that we experience, 
>>also called Maya ('illusion', a related word to 'magic') and Lila 
>>('play'). So sometimes it is said that Padma, Maya, and Lila are 
>>junior wives of Vishnu and sometimes that they are additional 
aspects 
>>of Lakshmi.

Vishnu does in fact sleep in the serpent coils (I can't recollect the 
name of the snake) in the ocean, along with Lakshmi.
I believe Padma is another name for Lakshmi, she is said to be Lotus-
eyed, but I'll have to check up on that.
'Padma Lakshmi' is sometimes used as a single name. As in Salman 
Rushdie's wife.

Vishnu, however, is sometimes depicted to be flying on Garuda.
The Lotus that grows from his navel is where Brahma sits. It is said 
Brahma, the Creator
was himself born from Vishnu's navel, and I believe he appeared on 
the lotus.

Lord Vishnu himself is famous for his 10 incarnations. The 'dasha 
(ten) Avatars (incarnations)'
as they are called. The more famous of these 10 are Rama and Krishna. 

I am not aware of Maya, Lila and Padma being junior wives of Vishnu.
However, these Gods and Goddesses have so many 'additional aspects', 
to borrow your
phrase and forms, its a little hard to keep track!

Ancient sages have often been quoted as saying "The whole world is 
Maya-an illusion".
 
>>It originally struck me as strange that twin sisters had one a 
Vishnaiva name and the other a Shiva-ist (what is that called?) name, 
<snip>

That is quite true. You could have both type of names. I think Shiva-
ist can be put forth as
Shaiva. Not sure ...

>>I hesitate to disagree with someone who lives in the relevant 
place, 
>>but I was under the impression that here in USA, Patel and Patil 
are 
>>interchangeable spellings of the same name. 

is that so? I don't think they are interchangeable here. Patels and 
Patils, like
my earlier message said, are from 2 very distinct communities. Maybe, 
the Patels spell
their name as Patil abroad (?) But they'd still belong to a different 
community than the real
Patils. 

The Marathi Patil is very much a village administrator in the rural 
parts, who wields
quite some power. 
That set me thinking about old, wizarding families.


>>I kind of assumed that JKR just picked a South Asian surname that 
>>she'd encountered from someone she'd met, and then picked Indian 
>>first names that alliterated with it.

That is perfectly possible. 

>> Some listie was arguing that 
many people named Patil or Patel are Muslims
<snip>

Definitely not Muslim. And yes, there is very little chance that a 
Muslim would be named
after a Hindu Goddess.

-Anita, who's delighted someone's discussing the Hindu myths-JKR 
connection with her.