Mudgala and Mudgalānī, their historical race for their progeny
A Short Story from Ṛg Veda
Did you ever try sitting on a bull/ox, buffalo, or anything of the like. When I was a child, I used to go to Askok farms to fetch fresh farm milk, which was located in the vicinity of our colony where we resided.On the way through fields, I would cross Chameleons changing colors, water snakes, buffaloes, an irrigation canal while reaching the Askok farms. On the way I would see village boys heading buffaloes, and some would ride upon one. I made friends on the way and one day I mounted a buffalo, finally. The kind of slippery, the feel of skin, the tinkling due scares hair are still on my mind. I also learned local flute music via these boys. I was hardly 8 or 9. I would never tell my mother that I see snakes on the way, or else she would not let me go to the farms nearby. I accompanied some of the elder dīdīs from the colony and thus was not an issue. But I smarted them with time, to be on my own self. And this is a little secret I am sharing today. I was quite daring in my childhood days. That daring has given me strength to keep cows and their offsprings at my place till to this day. I am very fond of them. Now I don’t remember how many cows I have reared by now.
And now my boys mount Nandis sometime.
The above pic shows the Woman riding two bulls, Kaushambi, 2000–1750 BCE.
Instantly, What does this remind you of?
It reminds me of Jallikattu (Bull surfing/Race), on which long debates went off recently and settled in law.
I don’t think women now participate in such races in India, but Rig Veda, the oldest extant in the world, has an account of Mudgal and Mudgalānī, a race won via bull cart though, among the other charioteers.
The story or the account is an historical event where many cultural memories pops up about progeny, surrogacy, lineage and want of an offspring as a reward. this account appears in X 102, in the latest mandala of the Rigveda. there is a narrative of a person named Mudgala who, along with a woman named Mudgalānī, wins a horse chariot race with a bull cart. The imagery here depicted is that of the bull, towing a cart.
This also appears in as the cart of Mudgala, who is regarded as a saint in the context of Atharvaveda XI 3,9.
This also appears in as the cart of Mudgala, who is regarded as a saint in the context of Atharvaveda XI 3,9. Probably this event is a replication of a new year in a Vṛṣabha Rāśī or Rohinī.
Similarity in Greek Account
Many earthly matter are being replicated on the sky. One such story is found about divine charioteer Castor and Pollux in Greek account. Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. Castor and Pollux are the Punarvasu nakshatra in Indian system. This story finds a parallels to Brahma-Prajāpati following Rohinī, which is identified for ṃṛgaśīrṣa-Prajāpati chasing Rohinī nakṣatra — Tasminneva Agrahāyaṇi( c.f Amarakoṣa Nāmaliṅgānuśāsana) may have lost the chariot part but definitely carry an image of Haya- Horse in a very complicated sense as either “a year beginning” or the beginning of EON or the new cycle of precession.
The story goes as
Among the verses in the hymn that found a place as X. 102 in the latest layer of the Rigveda, there is a narrative of a person named Mudgala who, along with a woman named Mudgalānī, wins a horse chariot race with a bull cart. The image depicted is that of the bull, towing a cart. This hymn contains materials for later literary references of the chariot driven by Mudgala. There are several cases in which the actor or the subject of the action is not specifically shown in the constituent verses of this hymn; therefore, there are variations in the interpretation, which have not been highlighted in translations and articles until recently. The common point of these studies is the premise that the cart is two-headed (a bull on one side and a club on one side), from which an allegorical interpretation is advanced. However, the one-bull cart remains well-known at that time, namely, the cart of Mudgala, who is regarded as a sort of a saint in the context of Atharvaveda XI 3,9. On the other hand, the name also means a kind of bean, namely, the mudgá (Vigna mungo) combined with the suffix -la. In this paper, I assume that the cart on which Mudgala mounted was a one-bull cart and that the priest outside the hymn prays for a two-horse chariot in front of him. Based on this working hypothesis, I present a translation of the hymn with a focus on the structure of cattle carts and horse chariots. Not all the verses of the hymn constitute one story or allegory such as the verses that hint at the restoration of reproductive ability. This hymn proves to be a form of prayer that includes vulgar and complex symbolisms (e.g., Mudgala is a symbol of two testicles [two wheels], whereas Mudgalānī symbolizes the scrotum, etc.) and is chanted by the priest, who is the narrator, for the client’s victory in the current chariot race. — Eiichirō Satomi et al
ṚV 10.102 tells the story of a race won by Mudgala and his wife Mugalānī, who were riding in a cart pulled by a bull. This hymn was probably composed to accompany a rite of niyoga, in which a surrogate is appointed as a substitute for an impotent or dead husband. The real race, therefore, is one for virility and fertility, and the real prize is offspring. Such a race is also depicted in one of the episodes where the conquest is for positional aheadness-jyeṣṭhatā between Dhaniṣṭhā — Abhijit is found in MBH. Other such mysterious birth is depicted in Ṛg veda in regard of Agastya from Urvaśī, the celestial nymph and Mitra — Varuṇa duo, The context again is about the birth of a nocturnal star. It appears that that the race is between the charioteer- Agrahāyanī (Mṛgaśiīrṣa) and Rohiṇī.
Likewise, understanding Kṛtikās and their becoming foster mother of Skanda and bringing up Skanda-Apasmāra, also known as Viśākha/Viśākhā, is highly critical. It appears that the story depicts the birth of Viśakhā Nakṣatra, and probably Viśākhā at Vernal equinox. That would make the Mudgalāni episode of Ṛg veda, for the prize as progeny, probably pointing towards a Rāśī- Vṛṣabha. Ṛg veda knows twelve spokes of year and we have already noted Kṛta age and Two pole star conditons in Bhūgolādhyāya from Sūryasiddhānta which is based on Rāśī system; epoch — 12000 BCE.
Takeaway
Overall, there are myriad stories which have become myth due to not being investigated in a manner that was remembered and we may have lost the facts due to unconventional and global studies imposed upon us and being bereft of local oral traditions and Sanskrit studies for the past one millennium. Revisiting root and becoming seed is the most difficult process. But I hope that we start studying our texts deeper to evaluate back the facts and make sense of myths in our scriptures.
