As a science student, when our teacher was teaching concept of Big Bang Theory in middle school, I got a feeling that I was not learning this concept first time and actually heard similar things earlier! That strange feeling of “I heard this before” forced me to give stress to my brain. After lots of introspection, I was surprised to recollect my memories regarding Indian (Hindu) mythological stories my mother used to tell me when I was a kid!
Yes, the Samudra Manthan and Vishnu Avatar stories from vedas and Puranas…..how Lord Brahma created the world and how Samudra Manthan formed some important universal things like The Moon, Wealth , The Poison , Plants, Medicines, animals, etc ….and how Lord Vishnu along with Lord Shiva helped in this process.
Since long I was thinking to relate or compare both ancient mythology and modern scientific concepts. Here I have tried to relate some of the things that Samudra Manthan (roughly means “Turbulence/Churing activity”) mentioned in vedas and Puranas to modern days knowledge of Universal creation. This is my limited understanding of Hindu mythology and scientific theories. I believe, since ancient time scholars/rishis were trying to tell you all complex scientific things in life as Mythological stories or Sanskrit philosophical texts – Upanishadas. Probalby , it is a simple way of telling common people about such hi-fi scientific concepts!
This is just an attempt to relate mythology with scientific proofs available now. My interpretation may be true, partially true or may be completely wrong. But, I am here just trying to see mythological concepts from Science student’s perspective! See chart below:
Indian Mythological story of “Samudra Manthan” Vs Big Bang Theory of universe formation
Substance formed as per “Samudra Manthan “ | Scientific proofs from Big Bang Theory /Universe formation | |
Things formed | What it represents/Meaning | Things formed |
Chandra | The Moon (Stars and planets) | The Moon (Stars and planets) |
Airavat /Uchchaihshravas | Elephant / Horse (Animals) | Animals/ Life on the earth |
Halahala/ Vish / Jahar | The poison taken by Lord Shiva to protect universe | Poisonous gases and particles in universe |
Wealth | Gold | Gold (Au) |
Silver | Silver (Ag) | |
Diamonds | Carbon/Graphite (C) | |
Gems | Silica (Si), Carbon, etc | |
Other precious metals | Brass,Ferrous,Nickel, etc.See complete periodic table | |
Kalpavriksha (Wish fulfilling tree) | Useful Tree / Plants | Trees/Plant life on the earth |
Kamadhenu ( Wish fulfilling cow) | Cow/Animals | Animals on the earth |
Sura ( Wine) | Alcohol/Chemicals | Chemicals/Biochemical formation |
Parijat (The divine tree) | Tree / Plants | Trees/Plant i.e life on the earth |
Samudra Manthan sculpture at Thailand’s Airport (posted by a user on Youtube)
Samudra Manthan : See Hindu mythological story in which Gods or Positivity (Devas) and Demons or Negativity (Asuras) were churning the ocean of milk to get various important things to distribute among them later. Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva helped them.
Big Bang Theory: See National Geographic clip on youTube regarding Solar System Structure and Formation. They described how the earth /planet/ metal was formed from protons ,electrons , hydrogen and helium followed by all gases, metals and the earth.
Also see, Prof Stephen Hawking’s explanation on how solar system and earth is formed
Professor Stephen Hawking demonstrating how stars and chemicals formed due to big bang theory and then created our human body/ life on the earth.
I wonder whether we are just “Rediscovering” what was already known to mankind in ancient Vedic age! Hindus/Indians might have lost this knowledge due to lack of transmission to next generation somewhere in the past or may be due to natural calamity/deaths/tsunamis, migrations, wars, foreign invasion, bad kings/rulers, etc.
Good part , now we can read Vedas and Puranas easily from free English translated version here ( see also link 2, link 3 ,and link 4) or in any other language. Also, we have scientific knowledge and instruments to find proofs.
Image credit: “en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan”
Sources: YouTube, Wikipedia, Saudra Manthan ,Google search, and Other links mentioned in writing.