Legends and Myths

   In our childhood, whenever there was a thunderstorm, we were advised by our elders to chant the various names of Arjuna, the hero of Mahabharata. So we used to yell like hell: ARJUNA! PARTHA! PHALGUNA! till the storm dissipated itself. Why Arjuna, you may ask. Because he was the son of Indra who has many weapons of which lightning was one.

   And before the Armageddon at Kurukshetra, Arjuna did penance and got all his father’s weapons, presumably including lightning. So, you appeal to Arjuna for help and hope for the best. The Greek god of thunder was Zeus. Zeus killed his father Cronus with lightning! See the contrast between the two mythologies. In ancient Rome, there was a group of “officers” called augurs. They were like astrologers; they used to “interpret” natural events in terms of God’s moods.

   Thus, they used occurrence of lightning sometimes as a....