The illustration of VAHANAS

Lets talk about what makes up the 33 million Gods described in the ancient scriptures of Hinduism. Why Hindus worship so many gods and goddesses is a real mystery for most people. The interesting thing is that one culture can see this as fiction while most Hindus, without a second thought, can walk into a temple with multiple deities, bow down and offer prayer and worship with devotion treating that deity as much like a person as you and me.

I’m going to break this topic down to smaller segments simply to ensure that ‘I’ will not confuse myself further. One aspect that has always been fascinating me is the relationship of our God and Demigod with their ‘Vahanas’.  

Vāhana (वाहन, skt. that which carries, that which pulls) denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical entity, a particular deva is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vāhana is often called the deity's mount. Upon the partnership between the deva and his vāhana is woven much iconography  and mythology. Often, the deva is iconographically depicted riding (or simply mounted upon) the vāhana. Other times, the vāhana is depicted at the deity's side or symbolically represented as a divine attribute. (SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)

Eg: The Garuda, the vahana of Sri Maha Vishnu, one of the Divine Trinity, is a large mythical eagle-like entity that is part of both Hindu and Buddhist culture. The Garuda is often depicted as having a shiny, golden body, red wings, white face, a sharp, eagle's beak and a man's body. He is a powerful creature, full of energy and a size big enough to block the Sun God Himself! The Garuda is one of the most powerful demigods and is given an important place in Indian mythology. This can be gauged by the very fact that there is a complete Upanishad and Purana (Garudopanishad and Garuda Purana respectively) on him. Garuda has several other names such as Syena, Gaganeshvara, Chirada, Khageshvara, Kashyapi, Kamayusha, Sitanana, Sudhahara, Nagantaka, Tarkshya, Suparna, Vishnuratha, Vainateya and so on. 

Below is a list of Hindu gods and goddesses who are inseparably linked with their respective 'vahanas':

·         Aditya - seven horses

·         Agni - the ram

·         Brahma - seven swans

·         Durga - the lion

·         Ganesha - the mouse

·         Indra - the elephant

·         Kartikya - the peacock

·         Lakshmi - the owl

·         Saraswati - the swan or the peacock

·         Shakti - the bull

·         Shani - the crow

·         Sheetala - the donkey

·         Shiva - Nandi, the bull

·         Varuna - seven swans

·         Vayu - a thousands horses

·         Vishnu - Garuda, the eagle & Adi Shesha, the serpent

·         Vishwakarma - the elephant

·         Yama - the male buffalo

·         Durga - Lion or Tiger

·         Chamundi- Owl

·         Asvini Devas – Donkey (also for Indra and Agni)

·         Sun - 7 Horse Chariot

·         Rahu/ Shasti - Cat

·         Rathi - Pigeon

Now comes the big question: Why does our God have these animal representatives as their mode of transport when it is truly impractical to ride them or even domesticate them in this context!!

What if these were actually the interpretation of mankind that lived during this era together with our fellow ‘space travelers’ (GOD) that were here to impart their knowledge on civilization or to actually exploit planet earth for some important elements? Humans were just getting accustomed with civilization during this era by which these space travelers were helping us cope with these advancements. We were still relying on domesticated animals as a mode of transport (eg: horse, cow, elephant and so on). What if all these vahanas were actually base on that current civilization of mankind during that era??

The divine vehicle or vahana of Lord Muruga is a peacock named Paravani.  The Vahana peacock is also by way of representation that the Lord has entirely conquered pride, egoism, vanity. What If Lord Muruga’s actual mode of transport was this flying object that was pretty colorful? This flying object in the eyes of our fellow ancient humans might have been interpreted by them as a peacock.  They might have come to an understanding that this flying object is what a peacock might have been in the world of these Gods!!

Same goes for Lord Ganesha with his vahana- the mouse. What if Lord Ganesha as what he has been portrayed to be ‘fat’ resembling an elephant to be using a small motorcycle as his mode of transport. Humans might have thought it to be a mouse from the world of these Gods.

Lord Indra the chief of swarga loka with his white elephant named Iravata which actually flies – put it this way, Lord Indra piloted a huge white vehicle that was able to take off from ground, just like any jumbo jets would do these days. People saw it as a white elephant.

After thousands of years into civilization we are now building aircrafts, spacecrafts and all these sophisticated machineries base on the blueprints given to us by nature!! Super jets are being constructed according to the mechanics of a falcon, submarines base on whales and we even have a name for it- BIOMIMICRY!!

So basically when these tales were carried from one generation to the next, we simply concluded that these vahanas were indeed animals and we never gave us room to question this aspect and continued to instill this fake belief in us that Gods have mystical power, so do not dare questioning these scriptures!

If you believe in Vimanas to be spacecrafts as much as I do, then I sincerely think that you will give a thought to the context of Vahana to be more complex than what it actually symbolizes.