Beyond Mythologies : Story of Yamuna & Yam I Why Bhaiya Dooj is celebrated?
Excerpts from the story-walk session ‘Stories of Festivals’ By Sundeep Verma.
Rig Veda [10.10] has a conversation where Consanguineous Relationship and invention of night, first death are discussed by Yama and his twin sister Yami.
Yama and Yami were children of the Sun God. Saranyu is the primeval human, the first of mortals, and Yama was the first living creature to die and to go to the afterlife where he became the undisputed and feared king.
Once Yami was madly in love with her twin brother Yama. She wanted to have copulate with him and was pined for the refusal of his brother. Yami desired that Yama should induce an embryo in her womb. It was a natural instinct that aroused in her mind and body; after she had attained puberty.
Yama replied, ‘I do not like the sexual relation between a male and a female having similar blood. The Gods see everything’.
Consanguineous marriage is now abandoned in most parts of the world as it is proved hazardous for next generations. The children from such marriages or relations fall prey to hereditary diseases. This modern scientific concept is presented by Yama in the remote past and is written in the Rig Veda.
Bhaiya-Dooj is a celebration of this morality established by the story of Yama and Yami to strengthen the bond of brother & sister.
Written by Sundeep Verma
Sundeep is a storyteller, mythologist and artist. He is the founder of Cobalt Blue Foundation. The above text is from his talk at the Art of Seeing session at the launch of Ramayan in Madhubani paintings exhibition at Vernssage Art Gallery, ITC Welcome Hotel, Dwarka, New Delhi.
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