skulls and snakes

[Raghu Raghunathan]

> the picture on my altar shows
> Lord Shiva wearing snakes instead, the more common portrayal. (Which, by the
> way, would probably upset Christians more than the skulls!)
> Sue Brezden

This is another interesting difference between Hinduism and
Christianity. In Hinduism snakes are considered almost
sacred and a symbol of good fortune. In my village in
India it was considered a honor if a snake crawled into
someone's kitchen and partook of the food; and many village
temples have several snake nests around them that are protected.

Considering there are so many differences in beliefs between
religions it is no wonder that people of different faiths have
such a hard time putting up with each other.
Raghu

[Byron C. Howes]

In article <8...@rlgvax.UUCP> ra...@rlgvax.UUCP (Raghu Raghunathan) writes:
>
> This is another interesting difference between Hinduism and
> Christianity. In Hinduism snakes are considered almost
> sacred and a symbol of good fortune. In my village in
> India it was considered a honor if a snake crawled into
> someone's kitchen and partook of the food; and many village
> temples have several snake nests around them that are protected.
>
> Considering there are so many differences in beliefs between
> religions it is no wonder that people of different faiths have
> such a hard time putting up with each other.

The Snake, as a god or representation of knowledge and wisdom is far more
ancient that Christianity or Judaism. Joseph Campbell implies that the
Judaic myth of the Garden of Eden is, in fact, a turning upside down of
a common myth about the snake/consort giving knowledge to man. The purpose
of the rewrite was to discredit those who worshipped the snake/consort.
The myth of the guilded calf in Exodus was likewise an effort to discredit
a local deity.
--

Byron C. Howes
...!{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch

[Tim Maroney]

Good points, Byron, although I'm not sure what a "guilded calf" is. Perhaps
the cattle are planning to form a union to protect themselves against being
made into veal?

Anyway, I just wanted to point out Hadit's self-description in AL: "I am the
Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight & bright glory." (Sorry if there are
any mistakes, that's from memory.) Another vote for the snakes!
-=-
Tim Maroney, CMU Center for Art and Technology
Tim.M...@k.cs.cmu.edu uucp: {seismo,decwrl,etc.}!k.cs.cmu.edu!tim
CompuServe: 74176,1360 Religion is a branch of psychology.

[Byron C. Howes]

In article <6...@k.cs.cmu.edu> t...@k.cs.cmu.edu (Tim Maroney) writes:
>Good points, Byron, although I'm not sure what a "guilded calf" is. Perhaps
>the cattle are planning to form a union to protect themselves against being
>made into veal?

Oh...and for them the true G-d lives in the veal world.
(sorry, its been such a long time since I've seen a
joke in this newsgroup...)

Sorry for the misspelling.