We have all grown up listening to fascinating bedtime stories brought to life in our vivid imaginations by our parents or grandparents. On hearing the story of Aniruddh and Usha from my mother, I was motivated to hunt for other such stories that were not well known.
I noticed during my research that in most of our legends and myths, whenever the earth is mentioned she is personified as a woman and is also called "Mother Earth' or "The mother of all creation". The sky is almost always personified as a man. This is true for Indian, Greek/Roman and Norse mythology. However, Egyptian mythology is an exception.
The first time I came across the story of Nut and Geb, I was pleasantly surprised, Their story was completely different from all other earth and sky stories which I had heard or read about! This, is their story........
Nut and Geb were the twin children of the gods Shu and Tefnut. They were said to be born in each others embrace.
Nut, was the goddess of the Sky, as well as the stars, astronomy and the universe. She is portrayed as a woman wearing the water-pot sign, or as a star studded woman arching over the Earth.
Geb was the god of the Earth often represented with a viper around his head and thus called, the father of snakes or lying at the feet of Shu, the air god. He also represents the physical support of the world and is considered the third divine ruler among the gods. It is said that Geb's laughter caused earthquakes !!
Nut had been promised, to be married to Ra, the sun god. However, Nut was in love with her earthen counterpart, Geb and couldn't bear the thought of them being separated. When Ra found out about his fiancé's heart's desire, he was livid and cursed Nut that she could not bear children on any of the 360 days of the year.
Unhappy and confused, Nut went to Thot, the god of wisdom for advice. He told her that he would find a solution to her problem and she need not worry about it.
Thot had devised a plan which required him to gamble with Khonsu, the moon god. Khonsu readily agreed. It was decided that if Khonsu lost, he had to give Thot some of his moonlight which rivalled Ra's sunlight. Khonsu lost to Thot so many times that, he had enough moonlight to make a little more than 5 days.
Thus, Thot created five more days of the year, thereby enabling Nut and Geb to circumvent the curse of Ra.
These were the days on which Nut and Geb's children were born. They were - Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys and Horus.
When Ra heard what had happened he punished Nut and Geb by ordering their father Shu, god of air and wind to separate them for all of eternity.
Although they had a short time together, neither Nut nor Geb regretted their decision. They always looked over their children and the human world, but most importantly, they continued to look at each other.
There are many other versions of this myth, this was just one of them. One other version state that Ra cursed Nut because she did not get his permission to marry Geb, while other versions state that since Ra was the king of the gods, he was scared that Nut's children would overthrow him and assert themselves as the rulers of the divine realm.
This dichotomy exits in relation to the origins of certain Egyptian gods as well. While some myths suggest that Horus is the scion of Nut and Geb, others suggest that Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis.
Mythology is full of such love stories. While many of them don't end with a "happily ever after", they do show the power and devotion that the bond of love creates between two people. No matter the outcome of their decision, they follow their heart and don't regret their choices.
fantastic! waiting for more such stories.....