Episode 4 - Constant as the Northern Star

Hello and welcome to the Celestial Tales. A podcast where we explore the night sky using both mythology and astronomy. In each episode, I, Gemma Kerr will tell you a story that a culture has linked to a constellation, as well as describing some of its astronomical features and how you can observe them yourself. I mentioned at the end of the last episode that the Celestial Tales is part of a research project, looking at the link between mythology podcasts and opinions about astronomy. Listeners who have heard any of the first three episodes of the Celestial Tales are invited to take part. It takes less than ten minutes to fill out the survey, which can be found in the episode description or on our website. Participation is, of course, completely voluntary, though very appreciated. The survey is only open until the end of December, so if you haven't yet taken part, you could even do it right now as you listen to today's episode. This week we'll be exploring the constellations surrounding Polaris, or the North Star, through the tale of Druva from India. This story is from an ancient Hindu text called the Bhagavata Purana, which also features scientific knowledge from the time, including cosmology and astronomy. So much of our astronomy knowledge comes from India, and I really love the link to the stars that is made in this story. But before I give too much away, let's begin. King Utanapada ruled over the seven large islands which made up the world. As was normal for a man of his position at this time, the king had two wives, Suniti and Saruchi. Suniti was the older of the two, and had been King Utanapada's first wife. She was kind and caring, and had given him a son named Druva. The king's second wife, Saruchi, was unfortunately not a tool like her predecessor. Saruchi was proud and controlling, but being extremely beautiful, she was the favourite of the king. For a long time, none of this caused any real problems in the royal household. Suniti was good-natured enough to not mind too much that she was clearly not preferred, and besides, the king was a good father to her son, Druva. However, things in the palace began to change when Saruchi, the King's second wife, also gave birth to a son. The change in Saruchi was immediate. She now had a child of her own, who she hoped would one day become King. Druva, being the king's eldest son, was the heir to the throne, so stood in the way of that hope. But Saruchi knew that she was the king's favourite wife, so if anyone could persuade him to change the order of inheritance, it would be her. As the boys grew up together in the palace, Saruchi took every opportunity to strengthen the relationship between her son and the king, and to weaken the bond that he had with Druva. She highlighted every good feature of her son, and showered him with praise, while having nothing but harsh words and criticism for Druva. Druva was hurt by her scolding, but often found comfort in his mother, Suniti, who was raising him to be as kind and gentle as herself, and wise beyond his years. One day, when the boys were around five and six years old, Saruchi was watching her son play with the king. He was climbing all over his father as he sat on the throne, both of them smiling and laughing. Druva could see how much fun they were having, and ran over to climb onto the king's lap. His face split into a wide grin as he scrambled up, and his father helped him onto his lap. But Druva smiled quickly faded as he was yanked away by Saruchi. He looked up at her in confusion. He must have done something really wrong because her face was filled with anger, though he couldn't understand what he had done to upset her. Saruchi yelled at Druva. What makes you think you have any right to sit on the king's lap? Druva looked at her with wide, scared eyes, and mumble that he was the king's son. You may be the king's son, continued Saruchi, but you will never be as close to him as my son. You do not deserve to sit on his lap, nor do you deserve to sit on his throne, which is why the king has decided that my son is now his heir. My son will become king, and you never will. Druva began to well up with tears, not for the loss of his inheritance, but for the implication that he would not be allowed to have a relationship with his father. He looked to the king, his little face pleading for his father to say that it wasn't true, that he loved him just as much as his other son. At the king, he feared angering his favourite wife, just looked down, not saying anything. Druva burst out crying, and turned back to Saruchi, to beg her to be allowed to stay. He wouldn't cause trouble, but Saruchi looked at him with a smug grin and spat. All you can do now is pray to Lord Vishnu himself, that in the next life, you are born as my son, with that Druva ran from the throne room, heartbroken. Druva found his mother, Suniti, and ran into her arms. Through thick sobs, he explained what had happened in the throne room. Suniti was devastated to see her child so upset and furious with the king for saying nothing. But sadly, she knew that there was nothing she could do or say to change his mind, or of course the mind of Saruchi. A silent tear rolled down her cheek, as she apologised to Druva, saying that this was all happening to him, because he was her son. Because she wasn't favoured by the king, Druva was being cast aside. Druva looked to his mother, and gently wiped away her tear. "I don't want to be Saruchi's son, even if it would make me king someday," he told her. "I want to be your son." The pair hugged tightly, grateful for each other, and finding comfort in their conversation. After some time, Druva quietly asked his mother, who Lord Vishnu was. Suniti was surprised by the question, until Druva explained that Saruchi had suggested that he pray to Lord Vishnu to be reborn as her son. Suniti kept her indignants about Saruchi's suggestion quiet, and explained to Druva that Lord Vishnu was a god. But more than that, Lord Vishnu was believed by many to be the most powerful god, capable of doing anything, and protector of everyone. Druva asked if that meant he would be more powerful than the king, or Saruchi. And when Suniti nodded that, yes, definitely, this supreme deity had more power than his father and stepmother, Druva's mind was made up. He would find Lord Vishnu, and ask him to help with their problem. He would ask Lord Vishnu's permission to be close to his father. That night, as the royal palace slept, Druva snuck out of his bed and quietly slipped out of the main gate, his departure seen by nobody. He set out with fierce determination, though notably with no supplies or strong sense of where to go. But as with so many adventures, heading into the forest felt like a good place to start. At first, Druva strode confidently through the forest. He knew he would find Lord Vishnu in no time. But as the night wore on, he began to get tired and cold. He could hear the noises of the forest at night. What creatures were out there, and what could he do about it if one of them meant him harm? The realities of his journey were starting to set in, but Druva was fixated on his task. So fixated that he didn't notice a pair of eyes watching him from behind the trees. The man that those eyes belonged to, watched Druva. He had been following him for hours, always staying just behind Druva so he couldn't be spotted. Not that that really would have been necessary. Druva seemed to either not care about watching his own back, or simply didn't know how to. If the man had been a wild animal, he could have caught Druva on at least eight separate occasions already. Luckily for Druva, the man respected the boy. He was impressed with his determination, though clearly he needed guidance. At last, the man stepped out of the shadows and introduced himself to Druva. He was sage Narada, a wise traveller, and he would help Druva on his quest. Lesson number one, you're in a forest, there are wild animals that will happily eat you, keep a lookout for danger. Lesson number two, here are the wild fruits that you can eat, and here are the ones that will ruin your day. Learn to tell the difference between them. Sage Narada walked alongside Druva as he taught him these skills, showing him how to survive the forest so that he could reach his goal. As they went, Druva explained what he was doing, telling Sage Narada his story from the palace, and his decision to find Lord Vishnu and beg for his help. Sage Narada looked at Druva and told him that he had another lesson to teach, and this one was by far the most important. "You cannot find Lord Vishnu," he said. "Not by searching the forests, or climbing the mountains, or walking for a lifetime." The journey to finding Lord Vishnu is a spiritual one. Only through meditation, penance, and complete devotion can one hope to find Lord Vishnu. Druva looked at him, processing what he had said. After a few moments, Druva smiled his first genuine smile since before the incident in the throne room. He thanked the Sage and turned to sit under a nearby tree and began his meditation. Sage Narada was pleasantly surprised by the boy's reaction. He had never seen such resolve, especially in a person so young. He sat opposite Druva and began a low chant. When it was finished, he taught it to Druva, saying that it was a mantra, and if he chanted it while he meditated, it would please the Lord Vishnu. Druva nodded at the sage in deep gratitude, and resumed his meditation, closing his eyes to focus on the meaning of the words. And he stayed that way, in deep contemplation, for days, stopping only to eat. Sage Narada stayed with Druva to guard him for many creatures that might find them, and to act as spiritual guidance if Druva needed it. But Druva didn't seem to need it. After two months of meditation, he found that he no longer needed to eat as much, and slowly began eating less and less until he needed only water. By the time the fifth month came around, he didn't even need water. So deep was his focus and devotion to the Lord. After six months not moving from the spot, it was said that Druva no longer needed air. The power of his meditation was so strong that he began to shine with bright light, and energy rippled out from where he sat in the forest. The massive wave of energy flooding out from Druva did not go unnoticed. It was felt far beyond the edges of the forest by a god called Indra. Indra was a warrior god with power over storms and thunder, and in this story was the king of the gods. When Indra felt the surge of energy coming from Druva, he was very concerned. The source of this energy must be someone with incredible power. What did they want? What were they going to do with this power? Indra became more and more paranoid as Druva's meditation continued, utterly unable to understand why someone, especially someone so young, was putting out so much energy. The only reason Indra could think of was that Druva must be honing his power in a bid to become the new king of the gods, to take over Indra's own throne. And that simply could not be allowed. Indra would have to put a stop to Druva's meditation. Back in the forest, Druva was unaware of the powerful enemy he had made. The only god he was interested in reaching was Lord Vishnu. As he chanted, eyes closed, he noticed the sound of footsteps coming towards him. It was probably sage Narada, gathering fruit for himself. But then Druva heard a voice calling his name. Opening his eyes, Druva was surprised to see his mother, Suniti, standing before him. Before Druva had time to ask any questions like how did you find me, or what are you doing here? She ran up to him, crying with a relief for having found him, and drew him into a hug. A few minutes later, Suniti pulled back from her son, smiling, and said, "Come on, it was time to go home." But Druva simply looked at her, disappointment covering his face. He loved his mother, and he would have loved to just go home with her in that moment. But he couldn't. He had discovered something important about himself out here in the forest. He was on a journey that had not finished yet. He was devoted to Lord Vishnu, and he would remain right here in quiet meditation for as long as it took. Suniti's eyes began to fill with tears again, what did he mean? Surely, he wasn't going to stay out here in the dangerous forest. She pleaded with her son to give up, return home, they would be happy, even if Druva couldn't be king. She just wanted her son back. But Druva shook his head. It broke his heart to hurt his mother, but he could not turn back from his journey now. Suniti begged him to reconsider, but the boy could not be made to move. This place was right here, under this tree, meditating. Eventually Suniti stood up, turned from her son, and left the clearing. She walked a short way into the forest where Druva could no longer see her, and then she began to change. She grew taller and broader, and soon her whole appearance was changed into the form of Indra, the King of the Gods. It had, in fact, been Indra all along. He had taken the form of Suniti to try to convince Druva to give up his meditation and go home. Clearly, that had not worked. It was time to try something a little stronger. The following night, sage Narada was woken from sleep by a suspicious rustling at the edge of the clearing. He immediately sprung up to investigate the noise. Sneaking along the tree line, sage Narada saw a large, black snake, slithering purposefully towards Druva, who was, as always, still meditating in the middle of the clearing. His small body now glowing even brighter after his test by Indra. Narada leapt at the snake from behind, grabbing its head. It tried to fling its head around and bite him, but Narada's grip on it was too strong. He flung the snake out into the forest, away from Druva. He was going to keep this boy safe. But Indra had more than one snake at his disposal. Bigger and bigger snakes kept coming at them, in increasing numbers, and it was all that sage Narada could do to slow them down as they got closer and closer to Druva. When the snakes started to be joined by other monsters, bigger and stronger, Narada worried that he might not be able to do this. He could not keep back the tide of Indra's monsters, or by himself. Luckily, at that moment, help arrived. The ripples of energy coming out from Druva had reached the Saptavishi, or the Seven Sages, a group of wise and talented men. They had felt the power coming from the child, and had come to defend him from anything that Indra might send his way. The Seven Sages, accompanied by sage Narada, formed a protective circle around Druva, keeping monsters out of the clearing so that he could continue in his meditation. They fought off each of the snakes and evil creatures that came to attack the boy. And finally, Indra and the monsters conceded defeat. By that time, the energy pouring out from Druva was immense, and though the sun had only just started to rise, the clearing was bathed in blinding bright light, emanating from the boy. And that is when Druva heard another voice calling to him, a voice he had never heard before, but that somehow felt incredibly familiar. Open your eyes, Druva, said Lord Vishnu softly. Druva blinked his eyes open, and saw the most beautiful sight on earth. Lord Vishnu stood before him in all his radiance. Druva was completely speechless. Lord Vishnu explained that the power of Druva's devotion had brought him here, and that he would now grant the boy anything he wished. But staring into the face of the Supreme God, Druva felt that there was nothing more he could ever wish for. His problems forgotten in the face of such glory. Vishnu smiled and told the boy to return home. He would soon find that everything he had forgotten to wish for would happen. So Druva returned home, sage Narada guiding his way back through the forest. When they arrived back at the palace, Druva was surprised to find not only his mother, but also his father the king and his stepmother Saruchi, standing at the gate to welcome him home. And even more surprising was that all of them seemed genuinely thrilled to see him back safe. Almost as soon as he had left, the king had begun to feel guilty and miserable about what had happened to Druva. He had argued with Saruchi about her treatment of his son, and even she had grown to feel bad about what she had done, wishing that she had acted differently. As the group entered the throne room, sage Narada explained to everyone what had happened in the forest, and that Druva was a special child who had been blessed by Lord Vishnu himself. It was soon agreed by the king and both queens that not only did Druva now have the right to a relationship with his father, but also the right to sit on his throne, and far sooner than anyone expected. That day, the king announced his decision to follow in his son's footsteps and go into the forest to meditate. This would leave the throne open for his eldest son, Druva, to take his rightful place. Druva proved to be an excellent king, ruling over relatively peaceful and happy world for a beyond impressive 36,000 year reign. When his reign was over, Lord Vishnu granted Druva the honour of a place in the sky, transforming him into the star that we know is the North Star. That's where I'm going to leave the main story today, but of course here are some extra details that I think are good to note. Being an ancient religion that has spread over so much of the globe, and with well over a billion people currently following it, Hinduism is famously varied. The characters and stories have differences in different tellings, and can be interpreted in many, many ways. Indra, for example, appears in lots of different stories from Hinduism, but also in stories from Buddhism and Jainism as well. He's often a force for good, helping to remove obstacles for humans in several earlier texts, and his role as King of the Gods means different things to different groups of people. This is to say, today's story is not one of a good Druva versus an evil Indra, but it's instead a story showing a boy's journey to a relationship with his God. Similarly, there are other versions and pronunciations of the names in this story. I have been gently encouraged by an Indian friend of mine to just stick to the English pronunciations instead of attempting anything more authentic, which was definitely a wise choice, but I do apologise if listeners are familiar with other versions. Finally, if you were worrying about the second son, Druva's half-brother, who would no longer get to be King, he does appear in other stories from Druva's time as King, and the brothers are said to have an incredibly close relationship. So luckily, there were no hard feelings there. Polaris is one of the most famous and most studied stars in the sky. It has had a variety of names to different cultures, obviously including Druva, and is often referred to as either the North Star, the Pole Star or Polaris. Perhaps surprisingly, for being so famous, it isn't actually massively bright. It only just cracks the top 50 brightest stars in the sky. But Polaris isn't famous because of its brightness. As you may have guessed from its names, its position in the sky is what makes the pole star so important. Polaris happens to be almost directly above the North Pole. This is more noteworthy than it seems at first, because locating pretty much anything in the night sky is made harder by the rotation of the Earth. So as well as orbiting the Sun, Earth spins on its own axis, giving us night and day, but also making the positions of the stars constantly move. Imagine a massive stick stuck through the Earth, going in at the North Pole and out at the South Pole. The Earth is spinning around on that stick. So standing from anywhere on Earth, the view that you have looking out into the Universe shifts around with the spin. From Earth, we see that as the stars moving across the sky in an arc. The only star that doesn't seem to move is the one right above the stick. That's the pole star, while other stars seem to move around it, the pole star is fixed at North. There are some amazing photographs that use this fact. A popular style of astronomical photography uses long exposure times to catch what are called star trails on camera. This is when the camera is left in place for hours at a time, watching as the stars move around the sky. What you end up with is the star of Polaris staying roughly in the same place. It does move around a small amount. But surrounded by huge bright circles tracing the paths of the stars around it. These photos are really cool. I think especially when you can see these trails behind trees or mountains or other fixed things on Earth. I'll put an example of one on Twitter and Facebook so you can see what I mean. The North Star has been historically very useful for navigation, particularly at sea, as you can always find out which direction you're pointing in. But confusingly enough, the North Star hasn't always been Polaris. To make things nice and easy, the access that Earth rotates on wobbles like a spinning top. This means that sometimes it's other stars that are closer to the North Pole, taking the title of North Star. Usually, these other stars will also be part of Ursa Minor, the constellation that Polaris is part of, but could be others. But before you start worrying that even the most stable stars in astronomy are in fact all over the place, these changes take place on the timescale of thousands of years. We aren't expecting to have a different pole star by next Thursday. If you're trying to locate Polaris in the night sky, my absolute number one tip is to look North. To identify which star in particular is the North Star, it's useful to use a nearby constellation. Ursa Major is one of the easiest constellations to recognise in the night sky. Its large contains many bright stars and includes the very famous asterism, the plow or the big dipper. Once you found the plow, look for the two stars that make up the edge of the pan furthest from the handle. If you follow a line going through these two stars in the direction of the top of the plow, then you'll quickly come to Polaris. You can check you found the right star by looking for Ursa Minor. Polaris is right at the tail end of Ursa Minor, the little dipper. The reason I love today's connection between the story and the star so much is because clearly astronomical knowledge has had an impact. In the story, Druva's defining trait is his constancy in devotion to Vishnu. He refuses to be swayed from his spot, both physically and spiritually. It's no coincidence that this character was associated with the only star which does not appear to move around in the night sky, instead staying reliably fixed in one place. There's another connection too. The seven sages who formed a protective circle around Druva as he meditated are represented in the seven bright stars that form the plow. The plow is very close to Polaris in the sky, and over the course of the night moves around it in a circle. That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the show, please consider subscribing to it, and if you have time then rating or leaving a review on Apple podcasts would help me in the show out massively. You can also follow me on Twitter @TailSolestial, or like the Facebook page. A quick reminder to you that the deadline is at the end of December 2021 for completing the optional survey to help out the celestial tales in a research project. Thank you to everyone who has already taken part, and if you haven't yet, then please consider it. It's short, and there are no wrong answers. Join us next time and we'll be exploring the night sky through a yield-tied story, learning a bit about some Christmas traditions, as well as some of the astronomy it can be linked to. I'm Gemma Kerr, and this has been The Celestial Tales. Thanks again for listening. See you soon.