Jambavan

We all know that, you know, there is this scene which is taking place.

The Vanaras and, uh, Jambavan and all of them are gathered on the s- shore of the other side of, uh, the ocean.

And they're wondering who is, who is capable of jumping across and going to, mm, uh, Lanka and looking for Mother Sita.

And everybody is telling yojanas, or the distance they can jump.

He does not say how much he can, uh, uh, jump.

The reason is, I think he has this curse because of which he's not aware of his own strength.

He's not aware how much he's capable of doing himself, right? So he's quiet and finally, I think Jambavan or somebody, uh, looks at Hanuman and says that, "You can do it.

I know that you don't realize that you can do it, but you really can do it." And that's how Hanuman is chosen, and he's sent across this ocean as emissary of Lord Rama to go and ma- meet Mother Sita.

Everywhere.

Everywhere they've existed in Hinduism, there's a king of bears called Jambavan who interacted with the Hindu kings and fought one of them.

And I mean, these stories are thousands of years old.

And in every culture where there's bears, they're so present in the mythology, right? In all the stories.

The Russian word for bear, medved, means honey eater or one who knows where the honey is, which is itself a euphemism that parallels the naming conventions found in Scandinavian and Germanic cultures.

In Hindu mythology, the god Jambavan takes the form of a bear.

And in several Native American traditions, bear clan membership carries specific ceremonial responsibilities and social standing.

The prevalence of bears in human mythology across such diverse and geographically separated cultures suggests something fundamental about the way humans perceive these animals: a combination of fear, admiration, and recognition that the bear, of all wild animals, seems in some ways most like us—omnivorous, curious, protective of its young, capable of standing upright, and inclined to use its intelligence to solve problems rather than relying solely on speed or stealth.

The Elgin Marbles, sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens dating to the 5th century BCE, include a famous frieze depicting a procession of riders and horses.

The horses are carved with extraordinary naturalism.

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir was the eight-legged horse of the god Odin.

Sleipnir could travel between the worlds of the living and the dead and was said to be the fastest and most powerful horse in existence.