Wind Horse : The Flying Horse | Tibetan Mythology | Asian Mythology | Mythlok | Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Mithlok with your host Nitin Nair We at Mithlok take extreme care to ensure that we do not hurt the sentiments of any person, any of our listeners in terms of their religious sentiments, their political sentiments or even their cultural or moral ethics and values Now although we do believe that there needs to be time to be taken and there are times when a spade needs to be called a spade but that isn't the purpose of this channel So what we do when we focus on a culture or tradition or a character we look at it from a completely unbiased third person perspective where we do not bring in any kind of political ideology or religious interpretation of any of the characters or the mythology because that is not what we want to showcase we really want to ensure that everyone understands that despite all the differences that we may have we are all essentially one and there's a lot more common between us than what divides us and by taking a stand either political or religious or ethical or moral and to defeat that purpose Now let me assure you that some things have to be described as it is and we will do that because we refuse to be intimidated by anyone who tries to tell us something that it is not The reason why I gave this preamble before we begin today's podcast is because we talk about something that is highly highly inflammable in today's political scenario Tibet or Tibetan mythology in particular Now this is a highly contested region with the Dalai Lama who is loved all over the world currently in India in Narmada taking refuge after being ousted from his own country along with thousands of his followers after China declared it as part of South Tibet Fearing religious persecution, complete destruction of their Buddhist beliefs and way of life including the installation of a fake Panchen Lama by the Chinese government they decided that it was safer for them to practice their religion in peace if they were outside the region so they are technically in exile and what we talk about today is Tibetan mythology we have refused to acknowledge it as Chinese mythology because the Tibetan culture is something that is distinct and has its own place in the world and beyond the character that we focused on today is called the wind horse or Lungta The wind horse is a Tibetan Buddhist term that refers to a creature that can carry the wishes of the people and the gods using the wind Now they are known to appear in prayer flags which is very common nowadays where you have these multicolored flags that are seen as a sign of people who believe in Buddhism and the Tibetan culture wherever the Tibetan Buddhist culture is practiced you would see these prayer flags in abundance and this becomes a kind of an iconic cultural reference to nowadays Now these Tibetan prayer flags are often strung around the Tibetan mountains and the Greater Himalayas to symbolize the blessings of the people who came before them and the people who are there now now why I said it has become like a cultural thing nowadays is because it's quite popular among bikers in India and in different parts of the world who actually travel to Leh, Ladakh, Tibet and the Himalayan region they usually come back with prayer flags on them to symbolize a bit of safety as an element to really showcase the fact that they have driven or visited these regions Now the wind horse is depicted as a white horse with a glowing mane and most of the time without wings they carry a saddle which has the three wish fulfilling jewels and in some descriptions is known to glow or be in flames so you would see the depiction of the wind horse usually having three multicolored gems on its back and there is usually a glow around it now whether it's a flame or whether it is the actual glow of the jewels is something that is disputed but then it doesn't create too much of a difference in the fact that that is what the wind horse is carrying and is known to bring around the world a good luck, fortune and blessings There has long been a confusion over the spelling because of the sound produced by the word can be spelled either lungta or lungta Lungta with a K translates to river horse while lungta with an R translates to wind horse Now according to Karmy, the term river horse originated from the Tibetan Nagya system which is a system of astrology that originated in China It has four basic elements, frog, blue, wangtang and lungta It is believed that the concept of the river horse which later changed to wind horse originated from Chinese tradition of the dragon horse So you can literally see how Chinese culture has influenced Tibetan culture and that is not a very big deal because multiple cultures and traditions and mythology from around the world have taken inspiration from each other and have imbibed many characters and stories from other cultures into theirs That is a kind of cultural mixing or a modern metropolitan city with multiple cultures clashing and becoming a melting pot of a truly amazing individual culture This is the same kind of thing that actually happened in the ancient times where it was the mythology that was imbibed by different cultures as their own The wind horse is used to refer to the idea of good fortune. It is also a symbol of well-being In other words, it is a symbol of luck and that is why the prayer flags are becoming very popular nowadays especially if you drive a vehicle Its appearance is supposed to bring peace, wealth and harmony symbolized by the three wishful doings Being associated with swiftness, speed and the wind, there has been a debate over time whether the wind horse or the lungta has the ability of flight The lack of having wings depicted in many of the drawings and inscriptions that we see, there is the debate that is still going on Now we believe that since the wind horse is associated with wind and speed, it could be very similar to different characters from around the world which probably didn't have the power of flight but could move themselves from one location to another because of their control over the natural phenomenon of wind Trivia for all of you listening out there now. Superman cannot fly. What Superman does is take long jumps He is able to really transfer the potential energy from his body into kinetic energy wherein he can cover long distances Technically, Superman doesn't fly either. I am not trying to insinuate that a comic character is similar to probably a mythical or religious character in some cultures I just wanted to bring this in because it was a cool fact and I am a huge Superman fan In modern days, ceremonies are usually performed in conjunction with the Lhasa ritual, which involves the burning of juniper branches to create thick and aromatic smoke It is believed that this ritual increases the strength of the supplicator's four righteous elements The prayer flags have now become a symbolism associated with long-distance travelers and is supposed to bring good luck and good fortune to anyone who has them on their person A wind horse once again has been a symbol that has international recognition now Tibetan culture is gaining prominence through the acts of its citizens and its followers Who really work hard to ensure that the world knows about their plight, knows about their culture and trying to keep that alive even with the younger generation today is extremely commendable My best wishes to you guys and this is your host Nitin Nair signing off by reminding you once again that MythLoke is the home of mythology MythLoke.com