I wasn't sure where to post this.
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Shiva = Dracula
Ganesha = Renfield

I don’t know what this means. But for some reason Bram Stoker has used Hindu myths in his work Dracula. I don’t know if was intentional. But I’ve seen no mention of it elsewhere. As far as I know I am the first to have spotted it.

A few things about Shiva:
He is lord of the vampires. He stalks graveyards. He has white skin. He is the personification of death. His domain is on a mountain top. Shiva’s throat is poisoned by the giant snake (dragon?) Vasuki.

I don’t need to point out there is obvious similarities with fang face Dracula here. Not forgetting that Dracula’s castle is situated ON A MOUNTAIN TOP. And do I need to point out the significance of a damaged/poisoned throat? (by a fanged creature)

Ganesha is Shiva’s son. He is the remover of obstacles. He has an elephant’s head.

Compare this text from the book:

Chapter twenty (XX)
Dr Seward’s Diary.

(Dr Seward and Renfield is talking about his desires to eat living things.)

“You want big things that you can make your teeth meet in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?”
“What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!” He was getting too wide awake, so I thought I would press him hard. “ I wonder, “ I said reflectively, “what an elephant’s soul is like!” The effect I desired was obtained, for he fell from his high-horse and became a child again.

“I don’t want an elephant’s soul, or any soul at all!” he said.

Ganesha’s elephant head is explained in a myth. Ganesha is set on guard outside Parvati’s (his mother) chamber door as she takes a bath. He is ordered to let no one enter. Shiva tries to enter her chamber and Ganesha attacks him. Shiva chops his head off. Then he replaces it with an elephant’s head.

In chapter 21 (XXI) we see a re-enactment of the myth. Dracula wants to get to Mina Harker who is staying at Seward’s asylum. He cannot enter the building as, like all vampires, he cannot enter a home unless asked in. So he tempts Renfield with promises of power and souls to feast on. Renfield is in a sense the guardian of Mina.
He allows Dracula to enter, but once he sees that Dracula means to feed on Mina he attacks Dracula. Dracula breaks Renfield’s neck.

The Renfield character is a servant of Dracula. In his many incarnations through numerous films he is the human protector of his master. He sorts things out for him. A remover of obstacles.

In the book he removes the obstacle that stops Dracula getting to Mina.

Shiva is said to have destroyed Kama (love) and recreated him as Maya (delusion).

Dracula is able to make women, and sometimes men, love him with the force of his will. A deluded love?

Shiva bears the mark of Soma (the moon) on his forehead.( the 3 lines) Dracula is a night person.

Ganesha is said to be very fond of eating. Once he ate so much he burst and had to have a snake tied around his belly to stop his guts falling out.
Renfield’s entire raison detra is eating. We all know what he eats too. Bugs. He goes on and on about it through the book.

Ganesha is associated with rats. He is said to ride one, or simply that the rat is his motif.
In Dracula Renfield is tempted by the vampire with the souls of hundreds of rats. Their eyes glinting in the dark.

There is probably more. I first noticed these similarities some years ago. I forgot to write them all down.

Still, maybe you could find some more. (I also recollect that the same themes are mirrored in David Lynch’s film FIRE WALK WITH ME)

What does it mean? I don’t know. Is Shiva Dracula? Was Stoker saying something? Do the stories of the Gods still force their way into our modern worlds? Through books? Films? Unseen by the authors? Are these emerging stories actually corrections on the distorted myths.

Didn’t Jung say something about all this?

OK where did you get this from. More research is needed on hinduism for you i think:

Shiva is lord of outsiders - meaning that outcasts like vampires, demons are still able to pray to him as he is said to be lord of both what people with a dualistsic mindstate think of as 'bad' and what they think of as 'good' - he is beyond polarities he is not just 'lord of vampires' you could equally say he is lord of beggars, lord of lepers, lord of thieves so to take that as proof of your theory just doesnt work at all.

Secondly Shiva has BLACK skin, not white - this is possibly owing to an african origin as shiva was worshipped primarily by the descendents of the Sudroids and Dravidians - who are the darker, lower caste groups in india - and the counterpart of the son of shiva in mythology MURUGAN is worshipped in africa as MURUNGU. This is why shaivite principles transferred well to the Rastafari such as the use of cannabis as a sacrament - they both have links to africa. The picturing of Shiva as a white skinned god is more of a recent thing to tie him in with the racial ideas of white = better that was introduced by the vedics and disguise his origin as a non vedic god. The use of the black lingham is another indicator of his original form as well as the story of Bhairiva where it is specifically said that he is dark skinned.

Shiva was a pre-vedic god as well, in the form of Rudra who was originally the god of the pre-vedic indus valley culture. He is referred to as being dark skinned, and his worshippers as being dark skinned in indian epics such as the rig veda. The other colour that you could possibly associate with him is the color red which is where his name derives from.

Every god ever has been located on a mountain top. So to say that mountain god = Shiva, is just selectively ignoring all the other gods at the top of mountains. Zeus for instance. That could equally as well be compared to dracula.

Also shiva is not the god of death or death personified. The correct name for the hindu god of death is YAMA, who reports to shiva, Shiva is the god of destruction and resurrection - like how the universe is said to be destroyed and recreated many times in a second - shiva is more like that than some western fearful grim reaper. A recycling process

Also Shivas throat is not poisoned by a giant snake. It is poisoned when the gods drop an elixir of immortality into the ocean, they churn it using vasuki as a rope to get the elixir out and a poison emerges from vasukis pain - Shiva drinks it to save the rest of the world. Where is the dracula similarity?

your story about shiva destroying love and recreating him as delusion is also completely out of context. Shiva is meditating when kama shoots his arrows of desire at him. This disturbs shivas meditation, so he unleashes his third eye which destroys Kamas physical form. however shiva recreates him as the emotional state of love. Shiva kills him in the first place because the delusion is stopping his meditative clarity.

Renfield = slave
Ganesh = Son

unless you can find the bit where dracula churns the ocean with a giant snake to get the elixir of immortality then drinks the poison to altruisticly save the world, or the bit where dracula sticks an elephants head on renfield after killing him then resurrects him. Or where dracula is meditating and shoots cupid with a beam from his third eye it just seems like you are randomly picking and mixing bad theological knowledge and making comparisons that dont hold up to the light of day.

great post count shivula

I think you got it all wrong, the closest comparison to vampire in Hinduism would be Kali, not Shiva or Ganesh.

do some research on Kali, she is the known blood drinker in Hindu myths.

thanks worldwatcher - shiva is my specialist subject!

find me any image that portrays Shiva as light/white skinned????

you call that white

Shiva is a blue skinned god, like Krishna, Blue skin depictions in Hindu art means dark skinned indians, madrasi, lankansm, etc.

I'm telling you, if you want any sort of blood drinking vampire correlation to Hindu gods, look up the goddess Kali.

True it is a statue lol, but if he was black they could have made it out of obsidian, I guess.

edited for correct sex of Shiva, I guss, not sure they all look like girly men to me lol!

[edit on 13-9-2006 by cibolog]

KALI IS ASSOCIATED WITH SHIVA.

And if you knew anything about Hinduism then you'd know that means that Kali IS Shiva.

Just as Parvati is inseperable from Shiva.

That doesn't mean they like each other a lot.

It's to do with how our souls are all one soul.

I don't think that is true for every statue ever made.

and it's a HE not She.

He is paler than most gods. It stands to reason that the god of death is pale.

Apparently he smears on ash from graveyards to make him pale. Dracula is pale because he is dead.

I certainly think this needs looking into. And not being childishly discarded by CIA pimps.

HAVE AN OPEN MIND.

[edit on 13-9-2006 by albie]

But getting back to how great I am for spotting all this.

Shiva's lingam. Funny that the best way to kill Dracula is a stake through the heart.

Long things.

And yes I know a lingam is a penis.

also SHANI IS THE GOD OF DEATH NOT SHIVA

And a lingham is normally a small round stone that has been smoothed over completely - how the HELL are you supposed to stab someone with one?

And you spelt shiva wrong in your 666 calculation