Daily Deities: Hel

    I've recently learnt about a lot of "dark-themed" things. I recently learnt about Goth and Punk fashion and philosophy. I wanted to know where they came from and why they're different. I also learnt about Gothic literature. I also learnt about Noir fiction and what defines it. I've also been listening to Gothic and Noir music to help me relax recently, and overall, I've been experiencing a very morbid vibe. So I decided to talk about one of my favourite topics: Chthonic gods! Specifically Hel.

    Now, Hel is spelled with one "L", but it's pronounced like "hell". Hel is the Norse goddess of death and the ruler of Helheim, the Nordic realm of the dead. She is the only daughter of Loki and is described as being half-woman, half-corpse; split down the middle. She is also one of those misunderstood gods in mythology and so I want to talk about her today.

    Loki was the trickster god of Norse mythology and he had three children with the jotunn/giantess Angrboda. His three children consisted of Jormungandr (a snake), Fenrir (a wolf), and Hel (a goddess). Well, Hel is technically half a goddess. She's also half a giantess/jotunn. Loki tried to hide his kids from the other Aesir gods, but they found out eventually. But, unfortunately for Loki and his children, there was a bad prophecy about them. Odin has many magic advisers and seers who spoke of a prophecy in which Loki's children will be the cause of Ragnarok (the Norse apocalypse). Not wanting Ragnarok to happen, Odin decides to deal with Loki's children. The gods throw Jormungandr in the Midgard ocean, turning Jormungandr into the giant World Serpent that he's known to be. The Aesir tricked Fenrir and tied him to a rock, losing Tyr's hand in the process.

    Once Hel was banished to Helheim, she was trapped. She became one of the most powerful goddesses in the Norse pantheon, but she couldn't leave her realm any better than the dead souls she welcomed. The road to Helheim was guarded by Hel's guard-dog Garmr. She was also the only goddess who could control the dragon Nidhogg. Helheim may sound like "hell", but there is no evidence to suggest that it was a terrible place. Dead warriors would go to either Valhalla or Folkvangr, while people who died of old age and sickness would go to Hel. Helheim isn't a place for sinners, it's just a place for all people who didn't die in battle. Why would it be a terrible place for them?

    The only story where Hel plays a small role is in is the death of Baldr. Baldr was the son of Odin and was the god of light, purity, happiness, love, forgiveness, and basically all good things. Everybody in the nine realms loved him. But then he started having nightmares about his coming death, and so his mother Frigg got everything in existence to swear not to hurt him. All except mistletoe (because mistletoe, am I right?). Because of this, Baldr was basically invulnerable. So, at parties, the Aesir would play games in which they threw all kinds of dangerous and non-dangerous things at him, which would all bounce off him and not harm him. Now, Loki (who likes nothing better than causing trouble) makes an arrow out of mistletoe and gives it to Hodr (Baldr's blind twin brother). Hodr may be blind, but he's actually a very good archer. He shoots Baldr and kills him. Odin then has a child with a giantess named Vidar, who avenges Baldr by killing Hodr. Baldr and Hodr both go to the underworld. Hel welcomes them very warmly with many festivities and wealth (further proof that Helheim wasn't THAT bad).

    Everyone was sad about Baldr's death, and so Hermod (the messenger of the gods), went to Hel to see if he can persuade her to return Baldr. Hel agreed to let Baldr go if everything in the nine realms wept for him. And everything did. Everything except for one giantess, Thokk. "Thokk" was actually Loki in disguise. So, Baldr had to stay in Helheim with Hodr and Hel. He would return after Ragnarok, to rule in the new world.

    Loki would be punished for what he did, but all of these events would lead up to Ragnarok. Loki, Fenrir, and Jormungandr would be free, and Loki would take Hel's army of the dead to attack Asgard. Hence, Loki's children would be the cause of Ragnarok. Strangely enough, this actually places Odin and Loki's children in the mythical motif of the "prophecy". This is a  motif in which a king hears about their doom at the hands of a relative, they try to stop it and in the process, they give the person in question EXACTLY what they need to fulfil the prophecy. Odin heard a prophecy about his doom, then tried to stop it, but ended up giving Loki's kids exactly what they needed to fulfil their role in the prophecy. Jormungandr never would have grown so big if he wasn't thrown into the Midgard ocean. Fenrir wouldn't have been so angry if he hadn't been tricked into being chained up. Hel would have never had an army of the dead if she hadn't been made the queen of the dead in the first place. In trying to stop Loki's children, he gave them EXACTLY what they needed to fulfil the prophecy of Ragnarok (in which Odin dies).

    Odin could make an easy antagonist since the Aesir gods aren't really GOOD PEOPLE. They always get drunk, cause problems, ask Loki to fix it, and if it goes wrong, they blame Loki for it. This bad representation could be because of Christian bias. The only primary source we have for Norse mythology (The Prose Edda) was written by Christian Icelandic mythographer Snorri Sturluson. He wrote it from a heavily biased perspective. We don't have any sources before that, so we don't know how much of Norse mythology is legit or not. But, on the topic of Hel, a lot of scholars have come to the conclusion that Hel probably didn't exist in Pre-Scandinavian-Mythology. They have theorized that Snorri very likely created her as the personification of the underworld that was also called Hel. But who knows?

    Thanks so much for reading! In my opinion, I think Hel is nice and I like her. I also hardcore ship Hel and Baldr. No regrets. :)

    What do you think of Hel? Good, bad or neutral? Do you think she existed pre-Snorri? Comment below! (Please comment responsibly. Constructive criticism is welcome.)

Daily Deities #7: Anubis

    I don't know why I am thinking about Anubis today but for some reason I am. I guess I like him like I do with all chthonic gods.

    The idea that the ancient Egyptians were OVERLY OBSESSED with death is actually a myth. They weren't THAT obsessed with death, but it did play an important role in the lives of the Egyptians. I guess it makes sense that in order to understand life, it would be important to understand death as well. Hence, the ancient Egyptians knew a lot about death and believed that the soul was immortal and needed help to reach the afterlife after it left its body.

    Considering how important death was, it makes sense that Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death and mummification, would be a very important figure for the ancient Egyptians. Anubis was the son of the gods Nephthys and Osiris. The story goes that Nephthys looked a lot like Osiris's sister-wife Isis, and so tricked him and gave birth to Anubis. Sometimes this affair is said to be the inciting incident for Set's reign of terror over Egypt. Sometimes, it happens because Set is jealous of Osiris and Isis and so neglects his wife Nephthys, causing her to seduce Osiris. Whatever the outcome or reason, Anubis is born as the son of Osiris and Nephthys and hence, is rejected by his stepfather Set.

    Anubis leaves home and soon encounters his aunt Isis, who had just lost her husband Osiris and was trying to find his body. She took in Anubis and taught him magic. Once he had learnt, they parted ways and Anubis left for the Duat/the underworld. Anubis became the king of the dead and the god of death. He judged the dead souls on how good or bad they were in their life. Eventually, Isis and Nephthys found Osiris's dead body. They asked Anubis for help with resurrecting Osiris. So Anubis preserves Osiris's body and brings him back to life, making Osiris the first mummy; and making Anubis the inventor and god of mummification. Outside of that, Anubis doesn't really have any other stories about him.

    Now, just because he didn't have many stories doesn't mean he wasn't widely worshipped. He was one of the most popular Egyptian deities. His historical development goes as far back as before "Egypt" became official. The Egyptians have always buried their dead in tombs with many treasures to help the soul in the afterlife. Unfortunately, the buried goods attracted the attention of thieves. So, to scare the thieves away, the carved and painted black jackals on the walls of the tomb. Jackals were often seen near tombs and would scavenge and eat the remains of any dead body it finds. After connecting jackals with death, they began to worship a god with the head of a jackal in order to protect them from jackals. This figure would become Anubis.

    Anubis's head is specifically the head of an African golden jackal (as of 2015, due to observation and study, scientists have renamed it to wolf). At first, he was just depicted as a full jackal but soon morphed into a human with the head of a jackal. Anubis was the all-powerful king of the underworld and the god of the dead. He would judge souls and reward or punish them in the afterlife based on their deeds. But, with the discovery and invention of mummification and embalming, Anubis also became the god of mummification. embalmers would often wear Anubis/jackal masks while preserving or wrapping a body.

    Anubis was highly popular and worshipped all throughout Egypt as the god of death and the dead. At first, Anubis didn't have any parentage, so they made him the son of Ra, the most-important sun god. Eventually, He was given the whole Osiris-Nephthys birth story. As time moved on, Osiris would replace him as king of the underworld, and Anubis was reduced to a psychopomp and balancer of souls. When the Romans conquered Egypt, they syncretized Anubis with Hermes and Hades. In fact, a new god, Hermanubis, was formed. He's basically Hermes and Anubis combined.

    Anubis has been depicted in many different ways throughout pop culture. Sometimes he's a mysterious god who's tortured by the sins he committed for whatever reason. Sometimes he's a good guy and sometimes he's just neutral. Sometimes he's the divine sexy teenage love interest of the main character. Often he's portrayed as the sinister god of death and a merciless villain. This has ZERO precedent in the mythology and I wish it would stop. I hope to portray a nice version of him in the future.

Anubis: Picture credit link

    So that's my thoughts on Anubis. What do you think about him? Who do you think is a better king of the Egyptian underworld, Osiris or Anubis? What is your favourite portrayal of Anubis and why? Feel free to comment down below! (Comment responsibly. Constructive criticism is welcome)

Daily Deities #6: Nikumbila/Narasimhi/Pratyangira

    I was in a bad mood recently. I was feeling very angry at myself for no reason. I was walking around and thinking to myself and so I did some research on Hindu goddesses, specifically the scary, angry ones. Whenever I look at the angry goddesses, there's always some form of good, powerful symbolism behind them and it makes me feel good. I stumbled upon one in particular who I found very interesting and so I wanted to share what I learned with you.

    I have watched and read the Ramayan on multiple occasions and I'd always heard that Ravan's son, Meghnad/Indrajit had gotten all his strength and magical power from a goddess named Nikumbila. I'd heard of how he performed Tantric rites in order to please her. I just never looked up this goddess to learn if she was an actual Hindu goddess. I sort of just assumed she was some kind of Rakshasa goddess who only appears in the Ramayan because I'd never heard her name anywhere else. Now, I had also heard of another goddess, Pratyangira, who was a form of Goddess Durga with a lion's head. I knew that she was one of the Matrikas, who are 7-8 forms of Goddess Durga who help the goddess fight in battle. The Matrikas each represent the energy and power of a god or an avatar of Vishnu (except for Chamunda, who has no male counterpart). Pratyangira is also called Narasimhi because she is the female energy of Narasimha, Vishnu's lion-man hybrid avatar. Narasimha is one of Vishnu's most powerful incarnations. His anger nearly destroyed the universe. So, if Narasimha is so powerful, just imagine how powerful Pratyangira is since she's the physical representation of his entire power.

    It wasn't until recently that I learned that Nikumbila was just another name for Pratyangira and it surprised me. She also goes by a couple of other names. In Vaishnavism, she is considered the wife of Narasimha. Narasimha literally means "human-lion" (Nara-simha). Narasimhi is the feminine version (name-wise). While she is often associated with Goddess Kali, she is also considered a form of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu. Hence, she is also called Simhamukha Lakshmi ( lion-headed Lakshmi). In South India, she is known as Atharvani Bhadrakali, identifying her as the goddess of the Atharva Veda (which also makes her the goddess of magic and spells, since the Atharva Veda has magic spells in it). Prati means reverse, while Angiras means attacking. Hence, Pratyangira is the goddess who can reverse and protect oneself from black magic. She is the goddess of both offensive and defensive power.

    Her lion head on a human body is a representation of the balance between good and evil. She also rides a lion and sometimes has blue skin and fur with a wide-open mouth and lots of teeth. Her eyes are often red with anger and in her four hands, she carries a trident, a damaru (basically a hand-drum), a cobra snake as a noose (badass!), and a skull.

    Pratyangira has a couple stories. She is often present whenever Durga or Shiva summons the Matrikas to help them fight in battle, and she also helps Goddess Lalitha when fighting Bhandasura. One story states that some sages were performing a yagna to the Ashta-Lakshmis (the eight forms of Lakshmi). While doing so, they were attacked by a powerful demon. To protect them, Lakshmi transforms into Pratyangira and kills the demon.

    Another story states that when Narasimha killed Hiranyakashipu, he was still so angry, that his anger and power were burning the universe and threatening to destroy it completely. In fear, the gods all ran to Lord Shiva for help. So Shiva sent his incarnation Veerbhadra to stop him. Veerbhadra tried to explain to Narasimha, but when words and reason failed, the two started fighting. Shiva felt that things were getting out of hand and so he incarnated as Sharabha. Sharabha was a bird-lion monster who began to fight Narasimha, but neither could defeat the other. So, Pratyangira Devi burst forth from Sarabha's wings and nullified Narasimha's power in a second. JUST. LIKE. THAT. No fight or anything! If Narasimha is so powerful, just imagine how powerful SHE is.

    Remember that as we segway into how her devotee became so powerful thanks to her. In the Ramayan, Pratyangira made a cameo appearance under the name Nikumbila. Nikumbila is actually Ravan's Kuldevi (family goddess). Meghnad was given a boon by Brahma that gave him knowledge of her mantra and the Tantric rites that he should perform to get her power. He did so and became very powerful, especially in the magical arts (like sorcery and illusions, since Nikumbila is the goddess of magic). Using this power, Meghnad defeated Indra, earning him the name Indrajit. Indrajit caused tons of problems for Lord Ram and his army during the Ramayan. At one point, He caused Ram and Lakshman to fall unconscious, and also nearly killed Lakshman. But luckily, Lakshman survived thanks to Hanuman and returned to kill Meghnad. He attacked Meghnad at the cave where he worshipped Nikumbila. If he disrupted Meghnad mid-worship, then Meghnad would be vulnerable, because he hadn't completed his sacrifice. Lakshman killed Meghnad, giving Lord Ram the upper hand in the war.

    Considering how powerful Pratyangira is, I'm not really surprised that Meghnad was as powerful as he was. Anyone would be if they worshipped her at his level. Well, you know what they say: Behind every great man is a great woman.

Nikumbila: Picture credit link

Pratyangira: Picture credit link

    What do you think of Pratyangira? Which of her names is your favourite? Did you know about Meghnad and Nikumbila? Comment below! (Please comment responsibly. Constructive criticism is welcome)