MORE ON GODDESS VARAHI

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Varahi is a boar-faced goddess who protects Newari (Nepalese) temples

and buildings. She is one of four sow deities -- also considered

animal-faced dakinis -- who preside over Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.

They guard the gates of the city-as-mandala.

 

Vajravarahi, red in colour, presides over the west and is believed to

protect livestock especially; Nilavarahi, blue in colour, guards the

east. The south is watched by Swetavarahi [or, Sukarasya] at the

southern gate while Dhumbarahi, who is grey, protects the north and

defends the valley against cholera.

 

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However, in Buddhist iconography the pig is equated with desire in

all its forms that range from from attachment to one's body through

the general attachment to material possessions as well as greed or

lust. It is one of the three animals standing at the hub of the

Buddhist Wheel of Rebirth both in a figurative and literal sense;

that is, the three impediments to release from the round of rebirth

are anger (the snake), ignorance (the rooster) and desire/attachment

(the pig).

 

In the Chinese tradition, the pig is used to represent abundance, but

also the fundamental animal nature. .

 

In the story of the hero Odysseus' 10 years on the road back from the

Trojan War, somewhere on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the

sorceress Circe turned Odysseus' crew into swine for the seven years

she kept him captive there.

Also transliterated Marici, she is the Tibetan Buddhist deity invoked

by travelers, perhaps partly because she is usually depicted in a

carriage. Her chariot is drawn by seven lesser pigs. Often

considered a solar deity, it may be more accurate to consider her as

a deity of the dawn. She also protects against the hazards of the

road, especially robbery.

 

Nuut

Egyptian goddess of the night, Mother of Stars, was depicted on

amulets sometimes, as a sow suckling her piglets.

 

Dorje Phagmo

Tibetan Buddhist deity, Vajra Yogini, is also known in the aspect

called in Sanskrit, Vajravarahi - in Tibetan, Dorje Phagmo [pron.:

pahmo], the Diamond Sow. In that dakini form she possesses a small

sow's head embellishing the right side of her own.

 

Vajravarahi is considered the consort of the Great Dharma Protector,

Maha- or Chakrasamvara (Tib.: Demchok) who `tears asunder the

elephant-hide of ignorance' and four of his 16 arms embrace her.

Their palace is said to be atop Mount Kailash. The mountain is his

symbol; the lake Manasarowar below it is hers. Together they

symbolize the union of method and wisdom; some would say, compassion

and wisdom.

 

There is more to the symbolism of the animal-head that crowns Dorje

Phagmo. Besides the usual totemic and generative aspects associated

with the sow's appearance, the throat and head evokes the

characteristic ear-splitting cry of the pig. The shrieking squeal of

the sow reminds us that Dorje Phagmo is a presence that can shatter

illusion obliterating all concepts and enabling us to realize the ro-

chig or One Taste of Emptiness-as-Form-as-Emptiness (Heart Sutra.)

 

This squeal is also the cry of Compassion that complements the

stallion's shriek that gives voice to the Wisdom of the Amitabha

Buddha family.

 

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The chief of the Greek gods, Zeus, was said to have been suckled by a

sow, though also by a goat.

 

The pig is the animal that was sacrificed to Demeter, Greek goddess

of the Earth and its fertility. She (and her daughter, Persephone,

queen of the dead) were the focus of the celebrated Eleusinian

Mysteries. Her cult was later absorbed and subsumed by the Roman

goddess of grain, Ceres, to whom the pig offering continued to be

performed. Swine were sacrificed also, to Hercules, to Venus and

also to the Lares by those seeking relief from their illnesses.

 

The Slavic figure called Baba Yaga (or Iaga,) though in Russian folk

tales she rides through the air in her mortar steering it with the

pestle, has also been described as riding on a sow.

 

The Celtic Mother goddess Ceridwin, who was associated with the moon,

was referred to as the Old White Sow. The Celts were also among

those who considered the flesh of swine the most suitable meal for

the gods even after the Old Mythology was diminished into tales of

the Otherworld. It was said that Manannan, god of the sea, had magic

pigs which though eaten one day, returned the next to be eaten again.

 

In direct contrast, all that was opposite to light was referred to in

Scandinavian folklore as The Black Sow.

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Roman historian Tacitus in Germania (1st century CE) says [Ch. 45]

about the Germans that

 

They worship the Mother of the Gods, and wear, as an emblem of this

cult, the device of a wild boar, which stands them in stead of armor

or human protection, and gives the worshiper a sense of security even

among his enemies. They seldom use weapons of iron, but clubs very

often.

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The Boar

According to the Bhagavad Gita ( 3.30.5) for lack of respect to guru

Brihaspati the Sage, Indra, king of the Hindu gods, was once

transformed into a pig.

 

Vishnu's third avatar, or manifested form, is The Boar. He is

depicted either as the animal or as a boar-headed man with four

arms. In that form, he holds a wheel, a conch- shell, a sword, and a

mace or a lotus. Alternately, two of his hands may be in the

protection or boon-bestowing gestures.

 

Hiranyaksha, (golden-eyed demon) received a boon from the god Brahma

after having practiced severe austerities in his devotion to him.

He asked to become king of the whole world, and that no animal which

he mentioned by name should ever have the power to harm him. But he

had to enumerate the animals, and he forgot to mention the boar.

 

Now the demon wreaked havoc, plundering everything of value from the

creatures of the world, including the Hindu scriptures. Golden-eye

even took the earth down into the ocean as a hostage, but it

complained bitterly and loudly.

 

Vishnu assumed the boar form and plunged into the depths of the

primeval ocean to rescue Earth. It took him one thousand years to

kill Hiranyaksha and to lift the earth up with his great white

tusks. He calmed it, and made it ready for human use by molding its

mountains and continents.

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In Egypt, the pig was sacred to Isis [and many motifs in the myth of

quest for Osiris appear in the myths of Demeter] just as the black

boar (Sus scrofa) was associated with her brother and opponent,

Seth. This black boar aspect of Seth was considered responsible for

the obscuration of the sun during an eclipse. In one version, he

gores Horus, the sun-god, putting out one of his eyes.

 

Edgar believes that "the tusks in the mouth of the male pig signifies

that it was by the 'power of his mouth' that the evil one, Seth,

caused ... (Osiris) to be put to death. In memory of this deed, the

peoples of many countries have caused countless boars to lose their

heads in sacrifice to the outraged god.

 

In Rome, a boar was the feast offering to the god Saturn; Martial

says, 'That boar will make you a good Saturnalia.' The winter pork

feast reminds us of Vishnu's Varaha incident occurring as it does at

the winter solstice when the earth needs to be retrieved from the

depths of darkness.

 

Arthurian legend includes The Hunting of Twrch Trwyth, a magical boar

with comb scissors and razor between its ears. The animal was female

and, like Marichi, was considered to travel with her 7 farrow.

 

Norse

The boar's-head standard is among the gifts bestowed by the Danish

king upon the hero Beowulf for his having slain the ogre, Grendel.

 

In Saxo's History of the Danes the order of the battle of Bravalla is

described, and Woden or Odin's device of a boar's head [hamalt

fylking] is said to refer to the swine-head military formation

referred to in the Code of Manu [ancient Indian social code] a "

terrible column with wedge head which could cleave the stoutest line."

 

The valkyries, the Norse dakinis, served the warriors of Valhalla

meat from the boar named Saehrimnir. The divine chef, Andhrimnir,

prepared a stew of it in the cauldron called Eldhrimnir. The beast

magically came back to life again before the next meal.

 

At Yule, the northern European winter solstice festival, the head of

a roast swine with an apple in its jaws, is the highlight of the

meal. Yule is still celebrated more than Christmas in Norway.

 

This custom was adopted in Britain at least from the time of the

Saxons who offered a boar as a solstice sacrifice like their more

northern relatives. A boar's or pig's head with the apple in its

mouth is a festive dish at Christmas in the British Isles though the

reason for it may be long forgotten.

 

Celtic and Irish boar, Graves' White Goddess and Frazer's Golden

Bough

 

The later Greek god, Adonis, whose origins seem to lie in the Middle

East, perished by the tusks of a wild boar. His name which derives

from adohn or lord likely refers to Tammuz, consort of the Great

Goddess, Ishtar.

 

Morton Edgar's Mythology and the Bible. c. 1920 says that in India, a

demon with a boar's face is said to have gained such power through

his devotions that he oppressed devotees or worshipers of the gods,

who had to hide themselves (Moor's Pantheon, 19.) Edgar claims that

in Japan there seems to be a similar myth.

 

Boar-slayer, the Buddhist Deity, Vajravarahi.

 

In this guise, Vajravarahi is related to the Devi, the great goddess

of Hinduism, the supreme Shakti.

 

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