The Myth of Somakasura Stealing the Vedas: Jungian Analysis of the Symbol of Wisdom

Abstract

After a fierce battle with Somakasura, there stood the enormous presence: Lord Matsya, Sri Vedanarayana, embodiment of the vedas on the holy land of now Nagalapuram (Sri Vedanarayana Swamy Temple), South India- awaiting a journey, awaiting a hero, the savior of all, Vaivasvata Manu to impart the wisdom of life through the teachings of the Vedas. The myth of Somakasura stealings the Vedas and being restored by Lord Matsya (as extracted from sources in the temple when visited by the author) is decoded through the Jungian perspective in this paper. The layers of the symbol of the vedas as the supreme provenance of complex truths of life, knowledge and wisdom is explored and rooted into in this research through archetypal amplification (research tool) as a pre-instantiating objective to prepare the gifts for the archetypal hero, the progenitor: Manu. The symbolic precarious journey of attaining wisdom mirrors that of the journey taken in by the archetypal hero Vaivasvata Manu, the flood savior, post the Vedas were restored.