Posted:
Haha don't worry this isn't a complaint thread. I used that title for a reason. You'll find out in a bit.
I think this might be relevant to the current track (btw I haven't watched today's episode yet, so I could end up being wrong). The Shiva Purana touches on the Samudra Manthan at two places in the Satarudra Samhita. According to the text Mahadev takes two different avatars in connection to those events.
The first, mentioned in Chapter 16 is the Yaksesvar avatar. This is basically what we saw on the show last year. Except it wasn't just Indra (and the devas) who became arrogant; Vishnu himself demonstrated the same arrogance. Shiva-as-Yaksesvara challenged not just Indra, not just the devas but also Vishnu to remove the blade of grass from his palm. And like the rest of them, Vishnu too failed to even move it an inch. For obvious reasons the show only had the devas at fault.
The second avatar is mentioned in Chapters 22-23. According to this when the amrit emerged from the ocean, drops of it fell into the water and from them appeared several apsaras. Later, when the devas got the amrit, fight broke out between them and the asuras as we know. Vishnu participated in the battle and led the devas to victory. The daityas then took the apsaras and retreated to Patala while the danavas stayed behind to guard them and hold back the devas. Vishnu defeated them and chased the daityas all the way to Patala. There, drunk on his victory, he went astray. He saw the beautiful apsaras and engaged in sexual play with them, completely oblivious to everything else. He fathered many sons on them. They were powerful, skilled in the arts of warfare and unfortunately, evil. They caused havoc in all the worlds.
The devas and rishis went to Brahma and he took them to Shiva to ask for help. Lord Shiva then incarnated as Vrsesa - a giant bull. Meanwhile, Vishnu had also invited all devas and other divine beings to join him in his orgy. Vrsesa entered Patala and killed Vishnu's sons. Seeing this, Narayan attacked Shiva. An enraged Shiva (as the Bull) kicked Vishnu who launched many weapons at him but they were all useless. The Bull stood as if it were a mountain. At last Vishnu's pride was shattered and he came out of his delusion. He asked for forgiveness. Shiva forgave him and told him to go back to his abode. Vishnu wanted to get his chakra (which had fallen somewhere in Patala in all this chaos). But Shiva told him to leave it there; he would create a new one for him. Mahadev also pronounced a curse that only a yogi like Shiva or a demon born of him may enter that place. Anyone else who dared to do so would die immediately.
I believe the creatives have taken the Vrsesa story and modified it so as not to offend anyone. The story in its original form is not very kind to Vishnu. Hence they introduced this idea of the apsaras asking for a boon from Vishnu that basically gives him amnesia*. This protects his character though it does shift all the blame on the apsaras. It's not a bad idea I think. I don't know if there is any significance to the apsaras being five in number or their specific names. Perhaps there isn't any. I do think it's possible that this track will end with Vishnu promising to marry them in his Krishna avatar. Vishnu (either as himself or as Ram) promising women to marry them as Krishna is a common theme in many stories. Let's see.
If anyone is wondering why Vishnu lost his way in the second story if his arrogance had already been crushed in the first one...there isn't an explanation. At least none that I saw (I'll check again when I get the chance to make sure). The two stories are included in different places with nothing connecting them. The intervening chapters dwell on other issues. This is why it is often necessary to employ some creativity to make all these different mythological stories flow together in an adaption.
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*Is there any saas-bahu trope they haven't covered on the show? Vamp. CHECK. Multiple marriages to the same person. CHECK. Marriage related misunderstandings and all that stuff. CHECK. And now the guy getting amnesia and being with other women. CHECK! 😆
I think this might be relevant to the current track (btw I haven't watched today's episode yet, so I could end up being wrong). The Shiva Purana touches on the Samudra Manthan at two places in the Satarudra Samhita. According to the text Mahadev takes two different avatars in connection to those events.
The first, mentioned in Chapter 16 is the Yaksesvar avatar. This is basically what we saw on the show last year. Except it wasn't just Indra (and the devas) who became arrogant; Vishnu himself demonstrated the same arrogance. Shiva-as-Yaksesvara challenged not just Indra, not just the devas but also Vishnu to remove the blade of grass from his palm. And like the rest of them, Vishnu too failed to even move it an inch. For obvious reasons the show only had the devas at fault.
The second avatar is mentioned in Chapters 22-23. According to this when the amrit emerged from the ocean, drops of it fell into the water and from them appeared several apsaras. Later, when the devas got the amrit, fight broke out between them and the asuras as we know. Vishnu participated in the battle and led the devas to victory. The daityas then took the apsaras and retreated to Patala while the danavas stayed behind to guard them and hold back the devas. Vishnu defeated them and chased the daityas all the way to Patala. There, drunk on his victory, he went astray. He saw the beautiful apsaras and engaged in sexual play with them, completely oblivious to everything else. He fathered many sons on them. They were powerful, skilled in the arts of warfare and unfortunately, evil. They caused havoc in all the worlds.
The devas and rishis went to Brahma and he took them to Shiva to ask for help. Lord Shiva then incarnated as Vrsesa - a giant bull. Meanwhile, Vishnu had also invited all devas and other divine beings to join him in his orgy. Vrsesa entered Patala and killed Vishnu's sons. Seeing this, Narayan attacked Shiva. An enraged Shiva (as the Bull) kicked Vishnu who launched many weapons at him but they were all useless. The Bull stood as if it were a mountain. At last Vishnu's pride was shattered and he came out of his delusion. He asked for forgiveness. Shiva forgave him and told him to go back to his abode. Vishnu wanted to get his chakra (which had fallen somewhere in Patala in all this chaos). But Shiva told him to leave it there; he would create a new one for him. Mahadev also pronounced a curse that only a yogi like Shiva or a demon born of him may enter that place. Anyone else who dared to do so would die immediately.
I believe the creatives have taken the Vrsesa story and modified it so as not to offend anyone. The story in its original form is not very kind to Vishnu. Hence they introduced this idea of the apsaras asking for a boon from Vishnu that basically gives him amnesia*. This protects his character though it does shift all the blame on the apsaras. It's not a bad idea I think. I don't know if there is any significance to the apsaras being five in number or their specific names. Perhaps there isn't any. I do think it's possible that this track will end with Vishnu promising to marry them in his Krishna avatar. Vishnu (either as himself or as Ram) promising women to marry them as Krishna is a common theme in many stories. Let's see.
If anyone is wondering why Vishnu lost his way in the second story if his arrogance had already been crushed in the first one...there isn't an explanation. At least none that I saw (I'll check again when I get the chance to make sure). The two stories are included in different places with nothing connecting them. The intervening chapters dwell on other issues. This is why it is often necessary to employ some creativity to make all these different mythological stories flow together in an adaption.
---
*Is there any saas-bahu trope they haven't covered on the show? Vamp. CHECK. Multiple marriages to the same person. CHECK. Marriage related misunderstandings and all that stuff. CHECK. And now the guy getting amnesia and being with other women. CHECK! 😆
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