In Tibetan tradition, the peace-loving Buddha took Lord Indra’s trident and bent its prongs together to form a scepter. The mythic bird made thunder with its wings and flashed lightning from its eyes or talons. The Norse thunder-god Thor carried a hammer.Īncient and indigenous cultures associated the onset of spring thunderstorms with the arrival of migratory birds and conjured a cross-cultural deity known as the Thunderbird, often a creator god. In West Africa the Yoruba god Shango carried a double-headed ax. The thunder god of the Dinka in southern Sudan was Deng, who carried a club that generated lightning. It’s impossible to know the true age of the archetypal thunder god, but he appears across cultures, often as a creator god. Lord Indra slits the dragon’s belly with a bolt of lightning and the rainy season begins. In a mythic tale about the onset of the spring rainy season, Lord Indra goes into battle with his trident against a dragon who’s hoarded all the world’s water. Storm gods in the Near East also used a lightning-generating trident in battle. Written about 3,800 years ago, Hindu texts describe Lord Indra wielding a trident that generates lightning bolts against his enemies. (Wikimedia Commons) Origins of lightning symbolism Grafitti in Sao-Luis-do-Maranhao, Brazil. The timing of the thunderbolt resonated with religious beliefs held by the band and the audience stretching back to Yoruba in West Africa and beyond. The thunderbolt came as Marley was inviting Seaga and Manley to the stage, where moments later the reggae superstar created an iconic image by joining the two bitter enemies’ hands above his own head.
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