Exopolitics Journal
3:4 (June, 2011). ISSN 1938-1719
www.exopoliticsjournal.com
Come Carpentier de Gourdon,
“
Indian Cosmology Revisited in the Light of Current Facts
”
274
Other Worlds and Their Inhabitants
Contrary to modern humans, the other creatures described throughout Indian ancient and medieval
literature, have not declined but remained in their original condition, with all the powers and
attributes assigned to them. Although they may have made themselves more discreet, perhaps
simply because our growing physical “density” has robbed us of most of our extra-sensorial means
of perception. As said earlier, the materialistic, skeptical or agnostic mindset that Western societies
have exported all over the planet in the last two or three centuries has played a major role in
deporting all traditional lore to the “no man’s land” of primitive legends or ethnic fiction.
However since the origins, Indian texts record that human beings mixed and mingled with the
various gods, genii and “demons” (in the greek, ambiguous or “good” sense of the term) and often
inter-married with them, giving birth to hybrid beings. Some highly meritorious and gifted men and
women became gods and rose into the higher heavens while others were semi-demonic and moved
freely between various worlds. Certain super-natural creatures are said to descend from apparently
human ancestors, like the rakshasas who were begotten by the great Vedic Rishi Pulastya. The latter
is identified as one of the stars in the Big Dipper constellation (Pheida in modern astronomy) and
hence his own nature is both earthly and celestial, as are the other six demiurgic rishis of Indian
cosmology. The Dipper or Great Bear points to the North Pole or cosmic axis where Vedic
cosmology locates the holy Meru mountain, the home of the gods. There lies the origin of the famed
“Indo-Aryan” arctic symbolism adopted in certain esoteric circles of 19
th
and early 20
th
century
Europe.
The sciences of yoga and tantra are known to give their advanced practitioners the ability to explore
other dimensions and to dwell at least temporarily in them, depending upon the level of mastery
achieved in the techniques. Thus, those parallel universes may be closed to most ordinary humans
but are not so mysterious to those who know the teachings of the seers. Among the beings who live
in them, some of the closest to humans are the pitris, pisacha, bhutas, yakshas, nagas, gandharvas,
kinnaras, ganas, rakshasas, asuras, garudas, suparnas, vidyadharas and devas, in no particular
order. Though not all of them are described precisely, there are enough references to them in the
Exopolitics Journal
3:4 (June, 2011). ISSN 1938-1719
www.exopoliticsjournal.com
Come Carpentier de Gourdon,
“
Indian Cosmology Revisited in the Light of Current Facts
”
275
Vedic and Puranic texts as well as in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and in later texts to form a fairly
complete image of what they represent.
Many scholars have concluded that those apparently super-natural creatures are in fact totemic
characterizations of various tribal populations and foreign nations but, aside from that naturalistic
interpretation, we should also look at the possibility that they are or were in fact really in existence,
as many current observations might well confirm. The pitris are among the closest to living humans.
Like the greek Manes they are the souls of the dead ancestors and they inhabit the astral dimension.
Pisachas and
Bhutas are akin to the ghosts or spirits of western lore and sometimes have the
characteristics of goblins. Yakshas are usually protective village spirits and often act as guardian
deities of underground treasures, groves or springs. Their monarch Kubera, who also rules over the
gandharvas is the god of wealth and metal and he is the “emperor” of the Northern or polar quarter.
The yaksha kingdom, said to lie around Mount Kailasa in the Western Himalayas, is called Alaka
and is rich in gold. In that same region are the
Garudas, mythical eagle-men or flying humanoids,
said to have white faces, golden bodies and large red wings, who hail from Hiranmaya and who are
rather similar to the Suparnas, also human faced and winged.
The Nagas, often situated in the same broad
region - and whose subterranean abode (the
Patala) is said in Tibet to be reachable
through a secret opening located under the
homonymous temple-palace of Lhasa (the
Potala), - are described as serpents or
dragons but can assume human forms and
like several of those fabulous beings are in
fact “shape-shifters”, if we choose to
borrow a term of contemporary science-
fiction. The Gandharvas, at once warriors and musicians serve the devas and are divided into
twenty seven tribes, many of which reside in the enchanted gardens of Chitraratha, north of