The title of our blog today is consciously ambivalent. It is so intended. As per the use of 'matters' either as a verb or as a noun, it could mean 'myths are important' or it can mean 'aspect/facet of a myth'.
Let us discuss two myths to understand this subtle difference. The first of these two myths refers to Daedalus and his son, Icarus. The father is a master craftsman, and is thus respected by all, including the deities. The son, Icarus loves flying like a bird.
To indulge his son, the master craftsman makes him wax wings. As they are so light- weight, Icarus can fulfil his lifetime ambition. He can actually fly. In his vanity though, he flies too close to the sun. The wax wings melt and falling from such a height, he drowns. A myth central to identity issues, this myth has been much used by Western artists and authors.
The matter of the second myth is both quite similar, and yet radically different. In this story, too, there is a master craftsman father, Vishwakarma. He is described in the Vedas as somebody who crafted the very universe.
In yet another version of the myth, as per the post-Vedic texts, he is not the all powerful maker of the universe. Rather, he is the divine craftsman, in all senses of the term 'divine'.
His son is supposed to be Nala who built the setu, the bridge, that helped Rama and his army cross the sea. In another version, he has five sons who are good at the five basic crafts, much required for the community existence of the agrarian variety rooted in the barter system.
As meanings thus emerge multi-dimensionally, now let us see why a myth matters. Well, the Western myth is more about an identity crisis. The Indian Myth, however, is about symbiosis, is about the sense of togetherness as a community.
Almost the same is the scaffold and construct of both the myths. Radically different are the significations of both, thus holding up two visions, two world views. It is thus that myths matter, in all the senses of the terms!
Pratima@ Myths mirror visions!
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