The Ram of Agni

"In the beginning, Agni burned all things, but at the insistence of Shiva, Brahma withdrew Agni, and instead created Yama, the god of death" from: "Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World, Volume 1" By Gaṅgā Rām Garg...

Very interesting...Because of this: Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of death, who "represented the high summer sun which scorched the earth...which hindered crop production"...I talked about Nergal in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

In Mesopotamia, Nergal is associated with lions (is actually depicted as a lion, lion-man). Why? Because in Mesopotamia, Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year. The time of drought. The time of death...

Why is Jul/August marked with Leo? Cause the end of Jul, beginning of Aug marks the beginning of the Eurasian lions main mating season...

But in Indian subcontinent, Leo is the peak of Monsoon season...The wettest time of the year...

The climate in Leo in India is the opposite to the climate in Leo in Mesopotamia...Which is why lion is a negative symbol in Mesopotamia and a positive symbol in India...I talked about this in my post "Mahishasuramardini"...

So when is the hottest and driest time of the year in India? As you can see on the previous chart, the temperatures start rising during Jan/Feb, beginning of spring, and peak during Apr/May, the end of spring...This is also when we have minimum precipitation...

So the hot/dry season in India is spring, symbolised by ram...I talked about the animal symbols of the seasons in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Aries, ram, is the symbol of spring, because spring is sheep lambing season. The most important event in sheep annual lifecycle of both domestic and wild sheep...

And the hottest/driest time of the hot and dry season, the time of drought, the time of death, is during Aries...Which is why, I think, Agni rides on a ram...Love the ram's grin... 🙂

This is the time of the burning sun, sun's fire, Agni, "which destroys all things"...Remember, in Hindu mythology, Agni (fire) was believed to have three manifestations: Sun, Lightning, Fire...Which is why he had three heads...

So, Agni, in his "burning sun" form,  gets replaced by Yama, the god of death, who is in the Rigveda, the son of Surya, the Sun God...Now that makes sense I think...🙂 And Yama is also closely associated with Agni, who is both Yama's friend and priest...That too now makes sense...All very interesting...

BTW, Aries is when Slavs celebrate Jarilo, Sun god whose name means Brightly burning one...The Dragon...Who then got Christianised into St George, The Dragon Killer...I wrote about Jarilo in my post "Letnitsa treasure" about solar symbolism of snakes and dragons in Slavic mythology.  

You can read more about Jario (Pronounced Yareelo), Aries, Georgios (See how it all sounds similar) in my posts "Aries must die", "Two Georges"...

Jarilo, the dragon (symbol of the destructive sun's heat)...Like this Mesopotamian dragon, with 7 snake heads...Snake, symbol of sun's heat, one for each summer hot dry summer month...I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

Hmmm...is it possible that this is why Agni, the personification of (sun's) fire, has "seven tongues"? Agni, the dragon, the one who destroys everything, the one who brings death, who was "replaced" by the god of death, Yama...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

The bitch of the gods

Figurine of spotted dog, Pakistan, Indus Valley, Chanhu-Daro, about 2600–1900 BC. currently in the Museum of Fine Art Boston 

In Indian mythology we find these 3 sisters: 

Saranyu "Wet Monsoon Wind", peaks Jul/Aug 

Sarasvati, "Monsoon Flood", also peaks Jul/Aug

Sarama, "The Bitch Of The Gods"????

Monsoon peaks Jul/Aug, during "Dog days" when "Dog star", Sirius, rises with the sun...I talked about this in my post "Tishtrya"...

Interesting right? "The Bitch Of The Gods" helps Indra (the rain god) to recover his stolen cows (euphemism for rain clouds)...

BTW, Indra rides on a white elephant. Indian elephants mating season peaks in Jul/Aug, Dog Days, peak of the monsoon season...

I talked about this in my post "Musth"...

Also interesting is that "The Bitch Of The Gods" is the mother of the two dogs that belong to Yama (the god of death). The dogs which guard the entrance into the underworld...

This is super interesting...Pariah dogs, the old dog breeds, mate during autumn (Aug,Sep,Oct) starting from Jul/Aug, Dog Days. Gestation lasts 60+ days, so pups are born (Oct,Nov,Dec)...

I talked about this in my post "Dog days"...

Guess what happens in Oct/Nov? Mating season of water buffalos begins...Which is why water buffalo was used as an animal calendar marker for Oct/Nov...

Now water buffalo is a very interesting animal calendar marker, because it is found in both Mesopotamia and India, where because of the opposite climates, it has opposite meaning...

In Mesopotamia, Oct/Nov is the beginning of the rain season, so there, water buffalo is a positive symbol associated with water...I talked about this in my post "Buffalo licking jar"...

In India, Oct/Nov is the beginning of the dry season, so there, water buffalo is a negative symbol associated with drought. I talked about this in my post "Mahishasuramardini"... 

So...."The Bitch Of The Gods" which marks Jul/Aug, the beginning of the mating season of the old breed Pariah dogs, gives birth to the dogs of Yama, the god of death, who rides on a water buffalo, right at the beginning of the mating season of water buffalos...

And these dogs guard the entrance into the land of the dead...Which is in the places where we have wet (fertile) and dry (infertile) season, associated with the dry season, which in India begins in Oct/Nov...

Which is where we find Yama Puja, which marks the border between Kharif (wet) and Rabi (dry) season in India. 

I wrote about this in my post "Kharif and Rabi season" about this amazing Indus Valley civilisation vase which depicts these two seasons using animal calendar markers...

Interesting...

BTW, one of the two Yama's dogs was called "Sharvara" which means "Spotty" 🙂

That's it...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...