Father's Day 2022: 4 Legendary Fathers and Sons of Hindu Mythology. Written By- Rashmi Vajpayee
Father’s Day will be observed on the third Sunday of June and this year it comes on Sunday, 19th June 2022. This day is glorified as honor and appreciation of the father. On this auspicious day, children give presents to their father and spend time with them.
Like the mother, the father also has an important role in the upbringing of their children. The mother is seen as soft who raised their kid with affection. On the other hand, the father is considered to be strong who stands with their children like a rock. The father is a role model whose footsteps are followed by his children.
Hindu mythology has so many exceptional fathers who have raised powerful and charismatic children. On the occasion of Father’s day, I am going to share some legends where the children of the mythological times worshiped their fathers above everything else. In these stories, the father is given the highest esteem.
1)Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha-
Lord Ganesha is Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati's son, portrayed by his elephant head, big stomach, his mount, and a small rat. He designates intelligence and wisdom. Moreover, he is the slayer of all barriers for the believers. Once, both Ganesha and Kartikeya his elder brother decided to define themselves as superior to each other. Meanwhile, Lord Shiva assigned them a task to perform. He stated that the winner of this task will be worshiped as the first among the gods. Hence, people will worship him before offering devotions to other gods.
According to this task, the one who will complete the round of this universe and will reach to Lord Shiva first will be the conqueror. Kartikeya, the elder one fled on his peacock to get a round of the universe. Still, Ganesha who had a rat as the mode of carrier evaluated how to accomplish this task before Kartikeya. Getting a fast round of the universe by sitting on the rat is a difficult task.
Suddenly Ganesha chose to do a parikrama (round) of his parents. After which he declared that my parents are my universe. Therefore I got around them only. Both, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were delighted to learn this from Ganesha. Consequently, Lord Shiva announced Ganesha the conqueror of this task and declared that he will be the first God to whom devotees will worship. He further added that every prosperous event will initiate only after praying to Lord Ganesha.
2)Dasharath and Ram-
According to the Ramayana, Dasharath was the King of Ayodhya and Ram was his elder son. Ram was supposed to get the throne after Dasharath.
Despite that Dasharatha’s other wife, Kaikeyi desired Ram to be banished for 14 years; she aspired her son Bharata to become the King. She applied the boons that Dasharath had promised to her previously.
Ram accepted his mother’s desires without any evil thoughts and left to the forest. Dasharath could not stop his son from going to the forest. Dasharath gave up his life, unable to bear the sorrows of Sri Rama’s separation. He died a few days after Ram went to the forest. Ram, did this only to honor the promise of his father and the boon that he had given to his stepmother Kaikeyi.
3)Shantanu and Bhishma -
According to the Mahabharata, Shantanu was the King of Hastinapur. He had a son named Devavrata born from Ganga.
After a few years, Shantanu fell in love with Satyavati who was the daughter of fishermen. Satyavati declined to wed Shantanu because he already had a son who would get the throne after him.
If she wedded Shantanu, her children would not get the throne and be under the control of Devavrata. When Devavrata came to know about this and he rejected his right to the Kingdom. He also vowed that he would never marry.
This way, he would not have heirs who would demand the right to the kingship. Due to this deadly vow, Devavrata came to be recognized as Bhishma. Bhishma did all of this just for the sake of his father. After that Shantanu blessed his son Bhishma with “Ichcha Mrityu” (he could select the moment of his death, making him immortal till his chosen time of death).
4)Yayati and Puru-
The Mahabharata tells the tale of King Yayati. When his father-in-law, sage Shukracharya, learns of his hidden second marriage, he cursed that he will grow old before time.
Terrified, Yayati begs pity. Shukracharya enables him if there is anyone ready to exchange his youth with him he will regain his youth.
Indeed, Yayati’s beloved son Puru ready to exchange his youth with his old father. Yayati enjoys the happiness of youth once again until he is completely satisfied.
And then he passes his youth to his son, stating there is no limit to human aspirations — the more you wish, the more they grow. Yayati returned his youth to his dearest son and got back his original form. The tale is also representative of the younger generation sacrificing the desires of the older generation.
Originally published at https://indianculturecivilization.blogspot.com on June 17, 2020.
