THE MOST COMMON MYTHOLOGICAL THEMES ACROSS DIFFERENT CULTURES Dr. Neelam Matey

Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, P.B.C.O.E, Nagpur (M.S.)

ABSTRACT

Human being has always been fascinated by different myths and legends. It is our nature to search for the unknown and find answers for difficult questions. We may find similarities in myths and folklores between the countries which could be geographical neighbors. But, what is more fascinating are the similar themes that occur in the traditions of geographically distant and linguistically distinct cultures. The biggest mystery around the different cultures of the world is how the world came into existence. We may find countless stories on the creation of the world.

Keywords: Myth, Unsolved Mysteries, Religious Beliefs, Creation of World, Basic Elements.

I INTRODUCTION

Mythological stories are an integral part of every culture. Mythology is a collection of stories telling our beliefs and our history. The stories are usually regarding major issues such as the origin of humanity and its traditions, and the way in which the natural and human worlds function. They exist in just about every culture and reveal how people in ancient times speculated about how the world may have emerged. Sometimes it is possible to trace the birth of a myth to a part of the world where it becomes established; other times you can see it migrate from one culture to another; from one time period to the next, modified in different ways and at times with many other added symbolical values that may or may not have been there in their origin. This can be seen with an example such as the origins and myths of the Centaur, the sphinx, Pegasus, etc. The myth is seen in motion. The people across the globe have a similar interest in the myth of creation of the world. These stories have been developed across cultures that narrates how the world was created. We may also find many stories describing the creators and the world they have created.

II DISCUSSION

Human being has always been fascinated by different questions – questions about the unknown, questions about the miracles in nature, but, above all, the questions regarding the origin of the world. It is the human nature to wonder about the unknown and try to find answers for the unsolved mysteries. At the foundation of nearly every culture is a creation myth that explains how the wonders of the earth came to be. These myths have an immense influence on

336 | P a g e

human beings thinking. Despite being separated by numerous geographical barriers many cultures have developed similar myths with the same basic elements. Many creation myths begin with the theme of birth. This may be because birth represent new life and the beginning of life on earth may have been imagined as being similar to the beginning of a child's life. This is closely related to the idea of a mother and father existing in the creation of the world. The mother and father are not always the figures which create life on earth. Sometimes the creation doesn't occur until generations after the first god came into being.

“Myth” is derived from the Greek word mythos, which can mean tale, or story, and that is essentially what a myth is : a story, or a traditional story. You can find many examples of similar themes in the mythology of different cultures. We all have fascinations and imaginations regarding the images in moon, like many cultures like the Chinese, Japanese and the Indian, believe that there is a rabbit in the moon. They have different imaginations though for what it is doing. The Chinese say that it is making medicine, and the Japanese and Koreans say it is making rice cakes. But the lore of all the cultures agree that the rabbit is doing some work. If we consider the geographical locations of these countries, then we can say that they are not too far apart, so, such similarities are hardly surprising. It is not surprising when distinct cultures that are geographic neighbors or linguistic cousins share common elements in their tales and myths. What is more fascinating are the similar themes that occur in the traditions of geographically distant and linguistically distinct cultures.

Human being has always been afraid of many things, things that are beyond human understanding and beyond human control. So, in every culture we find its very own stories to help deal with things considered to be dreadful, beyond understanding, or out of human control, such as natural disasters, sudden illness and death. These stories are known as myths and represent a powerful influence on religious beliefs in specific cultures. Religious beliefs are also known as divinities and although many cultures have different religious beliefs and practices many divinities share similar roles across cultures. In different cultures, we find many stories in relation to the divine roles. In relation to divine roles, there are myths that tell stories of creation from different perspectives that involve Gods and Goddess.

In many cultures, we may also find stories about several Gods explaining how the world came into existence with much emphasis on the expectations of each Supreme Being. In most of the cultures, Gods are considered the male divine. They are also shown as the creators of many things in the world. They are portrayed as a ruler that dominate everything they create through their power and forces. The Gods cannot be defeated and they have many special powers with which they can dominate everything and especially, all the evil forces. In many cultures, Goddesses are portrayed as creators and they are shown as the creator of the world. They have the power to create through reproduction either through special powers, or with a God and that is why so many cultures have divinities in similar roles.

337 | P a g e

The biggest mystery which is still to be solved is how the world came into existence. We may find countless stories on the creation of world. These stories have been developed across cultures that narrates how the world was created. We may also find many stories describing the creators and the world they have created. These stories in different cultures, may at times claim how there culture is older and better than other cultures. Creation myths are stories about the birth of the world. They exist in just about every culture and reveal how people in ancient times speculated about how the world may have emerged. Therefore, the creation myths reveal a lot about the thoughts of human beings in the very distant past. These stories shows the way how the people saw the world and how they understand it. Since their minds were not very different from ours, their myths also teach us a lot about ourselves.

Creations stories have appeared in just about every culture and mythological tradition. All the stories are different, but still there are so many things that are common. There is a need to study the human speculation about the birth of the world and what inspired it. Creation myths are important because they have laid a foundation for cultural beliefs and religion although many explanations do not seem possible there is still a message in each story. In many stories, Gods are shown as very intelligent and caring. In some other stories, they are shown as having many distinct personalities. God is the commonality among creation myths, whether it is a tale of several Gods or an individual, God is the one similarity throughout creation myths. A supreme being appears in almost every myth. He or she is what triggers the train of events that create the world. Sometimes there are two beings, a passive and active creator. Creation myths explain how the universe came to be from different cultural perspectives. Amongst them, all the culture do not believe on the myth that the life actually started on earth. Some believe that it originated either above or below where we live now. Still other myths claim the earth was once covered with water and the earth was brought to the surface. These myth is similar to the myth that there was a time when animals and human being lived together happily on earth. After that human being has committed some sin and because of that, animals and human beings separated.

III CONCLUSION

To conclude, we can say that, there are many cultures in the world which are separated by geographical barriers, but there are certain myths which are very similar. The biggest mystery which is still to be solved is how the world came into existence. We may find countless stories on the creation of world. We may also find many stories describing the creators and the world they have created. These stories in different cultures, may at times claim how there culture is older and better than other cultures. At the foundation of nearly every culture is a creation myth that explains how the wonders of the earth came to be. These myths have an immense influence on human beings thinking. Despite being separated by numerous geographical barriers many cultures have developed similar myths with the same basic elements.

338 | P a g e

REFERENCES 1. Classical Mythology: Mark M. O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, Michael Sham 2. Common Elements in Creation Myths : Lindsey Murtagh 3. Creation Myths 4. Shared Stories: Common themes in myths and legends across cultures. 5. Universal Myths and Symbols: Animal Creatures and Creation by Pedro Mendia-Landa

339 | P a g e