Bastet, the daughter and/or wife of the Sun god, became a national deity of Egypt in about 950 BC. She represents gladness, good fortune, music [cf. cat music and what violin strings are made of], dancing, healing, good motherhood, also protection by perfumes. Bast expresses qualities of the cat family, beauty of movement, caution and so on. Her major symbol is the sistrum, an ancient Egyptian percussion instrument. Also: the Uraeus, or Serpent of Wisdom. She also holds the ankh, a sistrum (musical instrument), or a papyrus wand.

Cats, her sacred animals, were highly regarded in ancient Egypt. They also protected the grain from mice and rats. Families owning cats took care that they got due attention and respect. Killing a cat was punished with death.

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Animals, Gods and Goddesses in India

Top Hog and others

In some myths a "Top hog" is God. In classical Hindu mythology God Vishnu (a Preserver) descended into animal form to do his work:

• In the form of a boar (varaha), Vishnu brought the earth out of the waters into which it had sunk, and laid it on a lotus flower, and thus saved it.
• As the fish Matsya, God saved the originator Manu from the deluge and restored to Brahma (God) sacred texts that had been stolen by a demon.
• As the tortoise Kurma he acted as a pivot to allow the gods and demons to churn the ocean to get the nectar of immortality (Amrita).
• As a Lion-man he killed a boastful king and saved that king's pious child Prahlada.

Vishnu saw it fit to change into a seducing woman too, on some occasion.

Be that as it may, Hindus reckon with ten avatars (descents) of Vishnu, including these four first ones. Apart from this they also think of partial avatars, and then there are those persons who express divine qualities - Hindus call some of them avatars for that reason. Thus we have titles like "premavatar" (love-incarnation, i.e., divine love descended into flesh), "jnanavatar" (wisdom-incarnation, i.e., divine wisdom descended into flesh), and so on.

An aside: Two survivors of the Great Flood

Manu survived a Great Flood in Indian stories, and Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha did too, in old Greek tales.

Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were Greek survivors of the Great Flood He was the son of the Titan Prometheus, and married Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. When Zeus decided to destroy the human race with the Flood because of man's wickedness, Prometheus told Deucalion to build an ark and stock it with food.

The Flood came. Deucalion and Pyrrha floated in their ark for nine days and nights until it came to rest on the summit of Mount Parnassus.

At last the rain ceased. They disembarked and made a thanks-offering to Zeus for their preservation. But now, as the only mortals left alive, it was their task to repopulate the world. On Zeus' instructions, they picked up stones from the earth and threw them over their shoulders. Deucalion's stones became men and Pyrrha's became women.

Deucalion and Pyrrha had several children of their own, most notably Hellen, who gave his name to the Hellenes. (From March 2001, 256-57)

Gods represented: animals

Vahana is Sanskrit for "that which carries, that which pulls". The word is translated into 'carriage', and often denotes an animal or mythical entity that is used as a vehicle and a means of transport, such as a ship, a beast for riding, flowing and so on. There are many meanings of vahana, understood as a cerntain deity's "mount". Deities are often depicted riding or mounted on their vahanas.

Other times, the vahana is considered as something used by the deity, even though the vahana may act independently in some ways. (WP, "Vahana")

Have you ever seen someone with a human body and an elephant head ride on a mouse? A certain imaginative ability is called for, presumably. There is much imaginative prowess of Hindu portrayal. Thus, when Hindu gods are portrayed as having one or more vehicles, it represents something to ponder for those who care.

In a world where old gods and various vehicles they are thought to use, are all around you, they could even sit on or ride on some of the creatures you see all around too . . . and "rise to the occasion".

Below is a very sketchy briefing of relationships, as the iconology of Hinduism is an intricate matter. The "Who is an animal of whom" in Hindu Mythology:

Such energies are dormant or present in man too. They are wild, animal energies. Compare:

Pekka and Taivonen visited Berlin during the Second World War. After a drinking spree till late at night they barely reached their hotel. In the night Berlin was bombed. Next day, when Taivonen woke up, he looked out of the window and turned terror-stricken to Pekka, saying,

"Pekka, we cannot pay for this." (Herzberg 1997:152)

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Animals, Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Egypt

Egyptian gods and goddesses are associated with animals in several ways, and for reasons that may be detected in ancient stories. Animals are given a reputation for being sacred by what they represent. So there is the sacred pig, the sacred frog and so on.

Many Egyptian gods and goddesses are connected with the same type of animals, and many different animals are seen as manifestations of a deity or serve as intermediaries between humans and gods. Further, some gods and goddesses are depicted with the heads or other parts of animals. Ancient Egyptian depictions of many of them are found on Wikipedia. Thus, the god Thoth (Djehuty, Tehuty) is often portrayed as a human with the neck and head of an ibis bird on his shoulders.

When a deity intervened in human affairs, it was said that the ba of the deity was at work. Ba is taken to mean the "impressiveness", "power", and "reputation" of a deity. Further, some species were seen as the baw (plural of ba) of the gods - for example, baboon for Thoth, crocodile for Sobek, cat for Bastet and/or Sekhmet, mongoose for Re, ram for Amun.

In other cases, only one living animal at a time was presumed to be the representative of a god. The example: the Apis bull.

Besides, some votive animal figurines - often cats, dogs, snakes, or falcons - are related to certain gods. (WP, "Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul")

Baboon: The dog-headed baboon - Allied: Thoth, the god of writing and recording; Khonsu, a youthful moon-god; Hapy, the son of Horus was depicted with the head of a baboon. Stands for: Eloquence, strength, fairness, responsibility.

Bull: Allied: Ptah, Osiris and the pharaoh (king). Stands for: Power, masculinity, fertility, regeneration

Cat: Allied: Bastet (Bast). Bast (Bastet). The sun god Ra, shown as 'The Great Cat of Iunu (On, Heliopolis)'. Stands for: Protector, defender, fertility, offspring, childbirth.

Cow: Allied: Hathor, Isis, Nut, Mehet-Weret, Bat. Stands for: Female fertility. --- The cow also symbolised the pharaoh's mother (while bulls represented the pharaoh).

Cobra: Allied: The cobra goddess Renenutet, Wadjet. Stands for: Justice, fertility, protection, royalty (protection of the king).

Crocodile: Allied: Ammut, a demoness; the deity Sobek; Taweret, a hippo goddess of birth. Stands for: Justice, power, respect.

Falcon: - Allied: Horus; Montu; Socar. Stands for: Royalty, protection, strength. --- In depictions, there was often a falcon with outstretched wings hovering over the head of the pharaoh.

Frog: Allied: the goddess Heget (Hequet), often shown as a frog-headed woman or as a frog. Stands for: Fertility and resurrection, and childbirth. Four male primeval gods - Nun (water), Amen (invisibility), Heh (infinity) and Kek (darkness) - were all frog gods.

Goose: Allied: the god of the Earth, Geb; his daughter Isis; the god Amon. Stands for: Strength. --- Geb, 'The Great Cackler', laid the egg from which the sun was hatched. His laugh was also thought to create earthquakes.

Heron: The Egyptian heron was thought to be the original phoenix, and thought to be the Ba of both the sun god Ra and Osiris.

Hippopotamus: Allied: Set, Ammut, Taweret. Stands for: Strength, protectiveness, justice, benevolence (female hippos), the household. --- The male hippopotamus was thought to be an evil animal. The female hippopotamus, on the other hand, was considered the manifestation of Taweret, the benevolent hippo goddess of fertility and childbirth.

Ibis: Allied: Thoth (Tehuty, Djehuty by other names). Stands for: Knowledge, a side to the soul. Thoth, the god of such as knowledge and writing, was often depicted with an ibis-head. (At other times he was represented by a baboon)

Lion: Allied: Aker; Shu; Tefnut; Hathor; Wadjet; Mut; Maahes; Sekhmet; Nefertem; Shesmu; Apedemak; Bes. Stands for: Strength, leadership, royalty, ferocity, war, healing, beauty.

Ostrich: Goddess: Ma'at Stands for: Order. --- In ancient depictions, an ostrich feather as headwear is a sign of Maat.

Pig: God: the god of chaos, Set; the goddess of the sky, Nut Stands for: chaos, sacrifice, sight. The sow, however, was identified with Nut. She was depicted having the teats of a sow, ready for her children to suckle (and a water jar as well.

Ram: God: Khnum (an equivalent of the ram-god Banebdjedet); the fertility god Keryshef; Amun, who also had a ram form, though this was a different species of sheep . . . Khnum was thought to be the creator of human bodies from clay on his pottery wheel. He later was described as Divine Potter and Lord of created things from himself. Stands for: Fertility, strength, birth.

Scarab Beetle: Allied: The scarab god Khepri, a solar deity of rising again and "come into being"; Amun. Stands for: Solar resurrection, new life, creation

Scorpion: Allied: the scorpion goddess Serqet; Shed, a god known as 'the saviour', Tabitjet. Stands for: Poison and protection; prevention and cure; virginity. --- The scorpion was sacred to goddess Isis, who was thought to have been protected by scorpions while her son Horus was young.

Snake: Allied: the water-snake demon Apep of the underworld; the four primeval goddesses Naunet (water), Amaunet (invisibility), Hauhet (infinity) and Kauket (darkness); Nehebkau. Stands for: danger and cure.

Vulture: Allied: Nekhbet, goddess of Upper Egypt; the mother goddess Mut. Stands for: eternity; monarchy, leadership; protection to the pharaoh.

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