ARDHANARISWAR -- ANCIENT SECRET OF GENETICS

THE SCIENCE OF ARDHANARISHWAR - WELL-EXPLAINED GENETICS 

Ardhanarishwara is a Hindu God, Shiva, depicted as half male and half female, split down the middle. The name Ardhanarishwara means "The Lord Who is Half Woman."  Why is this bizarre form of God Shiva?  What made them create such a bizarre form of God?  What was the reason behind?  What do we come to know from it?

The iconographic 16th century work Shilparatna, the Matsya Purana and Agamic texts like Amshumadbhedagama, Kamikagama, Supredagama, Karanagama and etc. describe the iconography of Ardhanarishwara. The right superior side of the body usually is the male Shiva and the left is the female Parvati.  The composition of the text of Matsya Purana may have begun in the last centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE, that is more than 2000 years old text.

MYTHOLOGY:  According to Hindu mythology, the story goes like, Kartikeya, the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Hindu God and Goddess, killed Tarakasur (a powerful Demon) by the powers of Kaali (The fierce form of Parvati), and was made the War Chief of Gods.  After defeating the demon, Tarakasur, he paid homage to his mother, Parvati, by whose powers he was successful in killing Tarakasur.  On the contrary, Parvati passed all the credibility to Mahadev or Shiva, as he is the teacher of all the knowledge, wisdom, incredible powers, destroyer of evil and the transformer -- that all her powers are derived from Shiva. After hearing this, Shiva said to Nandi, the gatekeeper of Mount Kailash, Shiva's Abode, to bring Bhringi rishi to Mount Kailash, as he has to tell and teach Kartikeya as well as the whole Universe some deep Secret Knowledge...

Bhringi was an ancient sage (rishi), and a great devotee of Shiva. According to mythology, all the rishis paid homage to both Shiva and Parvati, consort of Shiva, but Bhringi would not worship Parvati and dedicated himself solely to Shiva.

Nandi brings Bhringi to Mount Kailash, the abode of Shiva, and expressed his desire to circumambulate or go around Shiva (Hindu way of worship). As he was going around, he found out that he could not move around Shiva in spite of trying his level best.  No matter how much he tried, his position was still at the beginning point of circumambulation. Exhausted and tired, Bhringi then asked Shiva the reason  of his failure to circumambulate Shiva.  Shiva said, you can never circumambulate a HALF God.  Shiva’s consort, Parvati/Shakti, said, “You cannot just go around him. You have to go around me too. We are two halves of the same truth.”

Bhringi, however, was so focused on Shiva that he had no desire to go around Parvati/Shakti. Seeing this, Shakti sat on Shiva’s lap making it difficult for Bhringi to go around Shiva alone. Bhringi, determined to go around Shiva took the form of a Bhring (Black Bee) and tried to slip in between the two.

Amused by this, Shiva made Parvati/Shakti one half of his body – fusion of ShivaShakti...the famous Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva. This was God whose one half is the Goddess. But Bhringi was adamant. He would go around Shiva alone. So he took the form of a rat, some say a bee, and tried to gnaw his way between the two.

This annoyed the Goddess so much that she said, “May Bhringi lose all parts of the body that come from the mother.” In Tantra, it is believed that the tough and rigid parts of the body such as nerves, bones, tendon, cartilage, etc. come from the father while the soft and fluid parts of the body such as flesh, blood, and emotions come from the mother. Instantly, Bhringi lost all flesh and blood and he became a bag of bones. He collapsed on the floor, unable to get up.

Bhringi realized his folly. Shiva and Shakti make up the whole. They are not independent entities. One cannot exist without the other. Without either there is neither. He apologized.  So the Universe never forgets this lesson. Bhringi was denied flesh and blood forever. To enable him to stand upright he was given a third leg, so that his legs served as a tripod.

Ardhanariswar tells us that every person is made up of two entities, one-half from father and one-half from mother.  It takes the fusion of these two entities to make a complete person, whether male or female...  We have both male and female entities present in our body, in equal halves, to make us Complete.

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EXPLANATION WITH MODERN SCIENCE:
In Modern Science of Genetics, we know that we have exactly 46 numbers of chromosomes for each and every cells of our body and this chromosome number is constant for a particular species, for example all humans, male and female.  Of these 46 chromosomes, which are responsible for our typical characteristics, exactly half or 23 chromosomes come from Father and the other half or 23 chromosomes come from Mother.  Exactly Half by a process of cell division known as Meiosis which was discovered and described for the first time in sea urchin eggs in 1876 by the German biologist, Oscar Hertwig.  This keeps the number of chromosomes in our body constant, e.g., 46.

Just think how they could have just known the exact numbers of chromosomes and their exact process of division so many years ago....???

Moreover, there is No doubt you've heard people say that the left side of the brain is the logical and analytical, deals with the Conscious Mind.

Whereas the right side of the brain is artistic and creative, deals with the Subconscious and Unconscious Mind, which controls our emotions, feelings, involuntary muscles, reflexes etc.


But, one interesting feature of the brain is that each of the halves of brain has its dominance on the opposite side of our body.  Like the Left side of the brain controls/dominates on the Right side of our body and the Right side of brain controls/dominates on the Left side of our body.

Which is depicted by the iconography of Ardhanariswar:

The Right side of body depicting the Male / Shiva side, controlled by logic, reason, knowledge, wisdom, statistics, analytical Left brain.

The Left side of body depicting the Female / Prokriti / Parvati side, controlled by emotions, creative, artistic, intuitive Right brain.

This has been medically proven in patients with left or right hemispheric damage due to cerebrovascular accidents generally having paralysis on the opposite or contralateral side.

Since, the concept is so complicated and intertwined, that for a layman like me, it is rather easier to understand the iconography of Ardhanarishwar...

...Than understanding,
1. The origin of life by meiosis.
2. The division of chromosomes.
3. Sharing of genetic materials from parents.
4. The formation of a human body.
5. The structure of brain.
6. The function of brain.
7. The laterality concept of brain.
8. The Logical and Emotional aspects of mind.
9. The inseparable roles of parents.
10. The functionality of a FAMILY.
11. The importance of Mother and Father.
12. The Male & Female Equal Social Status.
13. Supreme God is neither male nor female.
14.  Etc., etc., etc...




Please leave a comment... so that I can improve myself and bring some more from the Ancient Knowledge...

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of any religion or any other entity of the Indian Government.  The views are totally and completely author's personal views.

Arup Ghosh, BSC, BASM (IBAM)
Indian Board of Alternative Medicines Certified Hypnotherapist
Silva Graduate, Laredo, Texas
Subconscious Mind Trainer