Mithilesh Kumar Prasad
Have you ever wondered about religious stories and mythologies while reading or listening to them? You will notice that the animals used by the gods and goddesses are likely to be found in modern times as well. According to the National Geographic article ‘Age of Earth,’ the earth is probably 4.6 billion years old, and the origin of life can be traced back to 541 million years ago. Nature has nurtured and contributed throughout this time, and life has been undergoing adaptation, transformation, and regeneration.
According to studies, when a fish-like creature, or in other words, amphibians, left water and began living on land, gradually evolving their physical appearance and body structure, they gradually transformed into different shapes. The first mammal appeared 250 million years ago in the Dinosaur Era. Earth has experienced six mass extinctions that wiped out approximately 90% of all creatures, including the story of an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs or the great ice age, after which the first humans appeared.
However, the total duration of human existence is only 30 thousand years after the first humans emerged in Africa. Science and scientists discovered the remains of dinosaurs and other creatures in a variety of locations, but they never discovered a temple, mosque, or church for worship. It simply demonstrates the absence of God during that time period. The life cycle had seen many creatures, large and small, but none of them had been observed praying for something or asking the gods for heaven. Another point that has been raised is why the mythological gods did not use creatures that were far more dangerous than the animals they are said to use.
For understanding, if some mythological god or goddess used a lion as his or her ride, why didn’t they choose T-rex instead of it? A study says it was the most dangerous predator on earth. Gods that rode herbivore animals such as cows and dogs, why didn’t they just go for a scutosaurus? It is just because of limited knowledge of the humans of that period of time, as they did not have complete knowledge about the earth and the living cycle?
I’ve seen many religious people getting offended by someone reading their religious books in their comfort zone, perhaps lying in bed, and some don’t even take the names of their prophets, who made laws and boundaries in their sacred books. The mammals they worship do not follow the same laws and boundaries. If you give a cow a piece of paper, she will eat it, whether it is a blank page or a page from a holy book. The only thing that makes humans better creatures is the mind and communication for which they created language and thereby had plenty of words to explain every mood and every situation. With greatness comes great responsibility. Nature only provides one option for living beings: adapt and change according to nature, or nature will change you.
~
References
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/age-earth/
~~~
Mithlesh Kumar Prasad is a student of political science and completed his master’s degree from GGV Bilaspur. His is interested in regional and caste politics in India. His other publication is Naari101, an analysis of Bahujan Samaj Party.
