1	Now, Become, Death,, Destroyer, Worlds

The Bomb

It was in the morning of July 16th, 1945 that the first nuclear bomb was detonated at the "Trinity" test site in New Mexico. J Robert Oppenheimer, one of the principal architects of the then most powerful bomb in the world, was a witness to the test and later recalled his feelings on seeing the awesome explosion:

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed... A few people cried... Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form, and says, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

Indians don't need to be told the context of the quote that from the Bhagavat Gita ("The Song of the Lord"). The scene is the battle ground of Kurukshetra where two opposing armies face each other.

The Battle

On one side, there's our hero the warrior Arjuna, who has as his charioteer Krishna. Krishna is one of the 10 avatars of Vishnu. (Incidentally, avatar is an Indian word which means an incarnation of some deeper reality, which has now been adopted by the world to mean a cute little picture that stands in for you on them internets.) Oppenheimer knew Sanskrit of course as he was a student of Hindu scriptures. So he mentions Vishnu instead of Krishna. Anyhow, just when the great war was to start, our hero Arjuna is beset with doubts.

What, he wonders, is his duty? How should he live? What is the meaning of it all? Why are we here? What's the meaning of this great big drama that we are part of? Isn't it better to not fight instead of all this killing and bloodshed that will inevitably result? What's the use of all the conquest when in the end you end up committing violence? He lays down his weapons and tells Krishna that he's not going to fight. He needs answers to his doubts.

Well, Krishna, his chariot driver, is just the right guy to answers Arjuna's doubts. So Krishna becomes his teacher and teaches Arjuna yoga. Yoga, the way to attain the supreme realization, the ultimate knowledge of the universe. Since Krishna is the Brahman, the truth behind ultimate reality, he should know. Anyway, Krishna teaches Arjuna the basics of dharma -- Maya, Karma, and so forth. At one point Arjuna asks Krishna to show him what Krishna really looks like, his Cosmic self as the Supreme Lord. Krishna says OK and shows him a form that is like a million suns and says, "Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Time."

Destroyer of time, destroyer of worlds -- what's the difference. Space and time are a continuum and you cannot destroy one without the other.

Moving on, in the Hindu trinity, there are the Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva -- the three aspects of the Ultimate Reality, or Brahman. The first of the trinity is Bramha, the creator; the second, Vishnu is the presever; and finally, Shiva the destroyer. Shiva is the Nataraja ("King of Dancers") and his dance, the Tandava, is the dance of creative destruction. You cannot have one without the other.

The Extinction 

So here's the final story. The KT event. There was a great big cataclysm in the history of the earth. About 65 million years ago, the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary -- KT -- event occurred. A huge big asteroid slammed into the earth. It created havoc and that led to a mass extinction. The dinosaurs were among those who left the stage. That destruction opened up the ecological space for other life forms to emerge -- that led to among other things, the evolution of apes such as ourselves. Shiva works his magic. The wikipedia says "that a 5 to 15 kilometer (3 to 9 mi) wide bolide hit in the vicinity of the Yucatán Peninsula, creating the 170 kilometers (110 mi) wide Chicxulub Crater and triggering the mass extinction." Now there's another theory. Dr Chatterjee of Texas Tech University thinks that was not the main event. In an article titled "I am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds", the Economist reports:

Dr Chatterjee has found a bigger crater—much bigger—in India. His is 500km across. The explosion that caused it may have been 100 times the size of the one that created Chicxulub. He calls it Shiva, after the Indian deity of destruction. Dr Chatterjee presented his latest findings on Shiva to the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon, on October 18th. He makes a compelling case, identifying an underwater mountain called Bombay High, off the coast of Mumbai, that formed right at the time of the dinosaur extinction. This mountain measures five kilometres from sea bed to peak, and is surrounded by Shiva’s crater rim. Dr Chatterjee’s analysis shows that it formed from a sudden upwelling of magma that destroyed the Earth’s crust in the area and pushed the mountain upwards in a hurry. He argues that no force other than the rebound from an impact could have produced this kind of vertical uplift so quickly. And the blow that caused it would surely have been powerful enough to smash ecosystems around the world.

The next time I am in Mumbai (later this week) I will check out the ocean close to the Worli sea face (where I stay when I am in Mumbai) for Shiva's great big under-sea mountain.

The article concludes with, "what really killed the dinosaurs was a string of the most atrocious bad luck." Bad luck for them dinos but it was good luck for the little shrew-like creatures that lead to the mammals we all love so much -- us mostly.

Related Posts:

Tandava, Shiva Dance of Cosmic Creation and Destruction. (I took those pictures in the post.)

Billions and Billions. (A very old post.)