Virgin birth (mythology)
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Virgin birth (more strictly, virginal conception), in the proper sense, is differentiated from other miraculous births in that it is
- birth from a mother who is a virgin; and
- no male seed in any form is involved.
Thus a birth resulting from artificial insemination of a virgin would not be classified as a virgin birth. Similarly, asexual births involving only a father, such as Athena's mythological birth from Zeus's forehead, would similarly not be classified as a virgin birth under this definition.
Many alleged virgin births in ancient mythology are probably more accurately described as miraculous births, since the mother is understood to have been impregnated by a god in either his own form or in an assumed form, as when Zeus impregnated Leda. For example, the births of Buddha, born from married parents, and Mithras, formed out of solid rock, were miraculous births, but were not the result of virginal conception by a virgin. The birth of Krishna is confounded with separate stories that include his birth as the 8th of a series of children, while ancient texts such as the Bhagavata Purana have him born without a sexual union, by "mental transmission" from the mind of Vasudeva into the womb of Devaki. Another was that of Quetzalcoatl in the Pre-Hispanic religion of the Aztecs and Toltecs of Mexico. According to legend, his birth, along with his twin Xolotl, was unusual; it was a virgin birth, to the goddess Coatlicue.
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[edit] Christianity
Jesus: The central figure of the Christian faith was conceived, according to the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, in the virgin Mary without a father through the Holy Spirit (see virgin birth of Jesus). This virginal conception is often confused with Mary's Immaculate Conception from her parents.
[edit] Hinduism
Virgin births are an common theme in Hinduism.
It is widely believed that the avatars taken by Vishnu on earth were virgin "births".
In the Mahabharata epic, Karna was born to Queen Kunti by the god Surya, before her marriage to King Pandu.[1] Because she called him, the god of the Sun gave her a child, but took care not to breach her virginity, as she was as yet unmarried. After marriage, Kunti's husband, King Pandu, was cursed by a childless Brahmin, who declared that if the King were to embrace either of his two wives, then he would die. Kunti called upon the charm she had used to bear Karna in order to call other gods to her and her co-wife. In this way, the Pandavas were bestowed upon them by the gods. The implication, then, is that all six of these heroes (the five Pandavas and their brother Karna, the tragic antihero) were the results of pure, virgin births.
Many centuries later, the poet Kabir was also said to have been born of a virgin widow (a Brahmin), through the palm of her hand. Like Karna, Kabir was sent down the river in a basket; he was found and adopted by a family of Muslim weavers, downstream.[2] [3] Presumably, this (presumably posthumous) account—which depicts Kabir as secretly descended from Brahmins—was intended to legitimise Kabir's religious authority in the eyes of the Hindu population who venerated his works. This story is absent from Muslim and Sikh accounts of Kabir's work.
[edit] Assyrian and Babylonian mythology
Zoroaster:[1] The story of Zoroaster's Virgin Birth originates in the common era and is a much later interpolation, possible to compete with the stories concerning Jesus[citation needed]
[edit] Greco-Roman mythology
Perseus: Perseus was the son of Danaë. She was locked away while a young girl, to prevent her having children, but Zeus came to her in the form of a shower of gold and impregnated her. The shower of gold has from ancient times been interpreted as a reference to bribery of those in charge of keeping her. The Greek Anthology has the following: ZEUS, turned to gold, piercing the brazen chamber of Danae, cut the knot of intact virginity. I think the meaning of the story is this, "Gold, the subduer of all things, gets the better of brazen walls and fetters; gold loosens all reins and opens every lock, gold makes the ladies with scornful eyes bend the knee. It was gold that bent the will of Danae. No need for a lover to pray to Aphrodite, if he brings money to offer."[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Solomon Alexander Nigosian, The Zoroastrian Faith, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1993 ISBN 9780773511446, p. 11
- ^ Ovid, Fasti, 5.231-232
- ^ J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, p.124
- ^ Book V, 217; cf. Cathy Santore: Danaë: The Renaissance Courtesan's Alter Ego in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 54 Bd., H. 3 (1991), pp. 412-427; and cf. Horace, Odes III, 16:1-11
