Satan, Santa, Sanat, Sant

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

Anagrams are fun. They are also thought provoking. Reorganise the letters and the word takes a totally different meaning. Here are three such words: Satan, Santa, and Sanat. Remove one letter and you get Sant. And the four words could not be more different from each other.

Satan refers to the opponent of God in Christian mythology. He is imagined much like Pan, a god of Greek mythology, with horns and goat-legs. He is sexual and threatening. He is the serpent. He tempts Eve, and Adam, and makes them break God's laws. The first human couple eat the fruit of the forbidden tree and are cast out of Eden, much to Satan's delight. In Islamic mythology, Satan is referred to as Shaitan, a class of beings, who follows Iblis, the Devil, who was once an angel who rebelled against Allah when asked to bow to Adam.

Santa comes from modern Christian mythology, and is barely a century old, but has become the dominant theme of Christmas. Around the world, most non-Christian children are clueless that Christmas is a religious festival celebrating the birth of humanity's savior, Jesus Christ. Instead it has turned into a secular shopping festival whose mascot is the bearded obese man in red suit and cap, called Santa, who rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer. Like the Christian God, who rewards the faithful with a place in paradise, Santa rewards good children with gifts. Increasingly, in Western countries, Muslims are reminding everyone that Christmas is religious by refusing to let their children participate in it.

The idea of Devil and saviour does not exist in Hinduism. Hinduism is based on rebirth and eternity. There is no beginning. There is no end. The world is endless or Sanatan. Embodying this idea are the Sanat - the four child sages, who never grow up or old - but are always wise. They reveal the secret of the Veda to sages like Narad, and remind them to seek the deeper meaning beneath words and forms. Meaning is formless; word has form. Likewise the soul is formless; the body has form. Through the form, we access the formless. Through the mortal, we discover the immortal.

Remove "a" and Sanat becomes Sant, a word that is used in North India to mean saint since the 13th century, which saw the rise of Bhakti or devotional Hinduism. Though the Hindi word Sant and the English word saint sound similar, and have the same meaning, Sant and saint are etymologically no relationship. Saint comes from the Latin "sanctus" which means holy, while Sant is a colloquial way of saying the "Sat-nam" or the real word, or true name. The word became popular as a Hindu reaction to the increased prevalence of Sufi mystics of Islam, following the rise of Islamic rule eight centuries ago. The Sant would see God as the creator and saviour and master (karta-dharta-malik), and God as formless (nirgun) or with form (sagun). This simple doctrine appealed to common folk who found ideas like union with God an intimidating thought.

Modern Hinduism now oscillates between Sanat (the intellectual approach seeking independence) and Sant (the emotional approach assuming dependence). Meanwhile, Indian politicians, and activists, do seem to be enamoured by both Santa (who rewards obedience) and Satan (who glamorises disobedience).

The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com