Two candelabras commanded the attention from the centre of the well-varnished mahogany dining table which dominated the space of the room of the majestic tea bungalow. After a wholesome breakfast, as the guests sat sipping their cups of tea, the conversation somehow landed at Julia Roberts who followed Hinduism and I was shocked at this revelation. I was amazed at the knowledge of the overseas buyers about the religion, so to say Sanatan Dharm. One of them stated that “it must be quite a task to follow and remember the names of 330 million Gods!” and that’s when the other guest quipped, “oh! That’s not true”. The depth of her knowledge was evident by her passionate, though brief explanation.
In Sanskrit ‘koti’ has dual meaning. It can mean both ‘crore’ and ‘types’, vis a vis, 33 types of Devtas that are mentioned in the Rig Vedas. There are 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras, 12 Adityas, 1 Indra and 1 Prajapati.
The Vasus are the abode of existence, of all that lives, moves or exists. The 8 Vasus are, earth, water, fire, air, ether (space), moon, sun and stars. By now the vehicle had arrived for the guests for their visit around the estate, so they promised they would shed more light on the 11 Rudras during the lunchtime. After seeing to the lunch preparations, my inquisitiveness had got the better of me and I laid my hands on a book given to me by my mother a long time ago, on “Nervauric forces”. It is a vast topic but I managed to brush through the elementary principles.
There are a total of 11 rudras, out of which 10 are pranas, namely, apaana, vyaana, samaana, prana, udaana, naag, kurma, krikal, devadutta, dhananjay and the eleventh is the HUMAN SOUL. These are called rudras because when they leave the body, the body is considered dead and the relatives of the deceased begin to weep. Rudra loosely translates to ‘one who makes a person weep’.
I was feeling proud of myself that I had acquired some knowledge and we could now discuss something of common interest. When the guests returned from their garden visit, we went on to discuss the 11 rudras at length and even talked about the 12 Adityas. This is comparatively simpler, as these are the 12 months of the year; that cause the lapse of the term of existence of each object or being. As we were finishing our lunch, we found the garden purohit at the verandah, inviting us for the Maha Shivratri puja that evening. The guests were excited to attend this traditional evening. One of them had already been to Kumbh Mela but for the others, this celebration would be an experience of its kind.
After excitedly sharing her unique experience of the Kumbh Mela, our guru for the day went on to add, that the thirty-second Devta is ‘Indra’, which is also known as electricity that is all-pervading as it is productive of great force. Finally, the thirty-third Devta is ‘Prajapati’, also called yajna because it benefits mankind by purifying the air, water, rain and vegetation.
The master of all 33 devtas is ‘Mahadeva’- the supreme energy, a part of which we all felt within, as we- the executives, their families and our guests, stood in reverence in the small Shiv Temple, at the peak of the hill, bells ringing and mantras resonating through the cold mountain breeze.
