Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 00:15:41 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Viktor Lazlo <viktorlazlo@telus.net> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Tridents (was Re: FreeBSD Version Release numbers) Message-ID: <3EE97A1D.62E0D6DE@mindspring.com> References: <20030612162640.N24605-100000@haldjas.folklore.ee> <20030612213152.I26939@njamn8or.no-ip.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Viktor Lazlo wrote: > > > Actually, in this case I am. Have you heard the latest? Militant > > > Hindu groups are training kids as "warriors" against Muslims, > > > Christians, etc. and presenting them with... tridents. > > > > > > > any non-fringe media reports? There is a (symbolic) reason why they might > > use tridents, except it doesn't bring up the image of an efficent modern > > weapon. > > Various Hindu milita groups have been carrying them as symbols equivalent > to the Sikh kirpan knives at least since the Sikh massacres in the 80's if > not before. I haven't heard of any dramatic new developments, someone in > the media may just have dredged up reports of these groups to provide > cheap copy. They are not technically tridents. They are a symbol of the Hindu god Vishnu. The news report from Reuters, which was echoed by Yahoo, incorrectly confuses Vishnu with Shiva, and calls Vishnu "god of destruction" (as opposed to Shiva, who is also known as "Shiva The Destroyer"). The three tines represent creation, destruction, and rebirth. Philosophically, this has nothing to do with the ancient mediterranean gods "Poseidon" or "Neptune", depending on you being, respectively, an ancient Greek or an ancient Roman, who was god of the sea and of earthquakes. The original purpose of the trident was for the spearing of fish -- it was the ancient equivalent of a fishing pole (hence the association with sea gods). The trident was never really a weapon of war; instead, it was used as a weapon in gladitorial combat, shortly after the introduction of the Circus Maximus; like the short sword (a "gladius", from which "gladiator" is derived), it was not very efficient as a weapon, since, like the gladius, it was really intended to provide a prolonged battle (oh yes, the modern word "circus" derives from the central Rome arena "Circus Maximus", but I don't see anyone suggesting that Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey rename their show!). FWIW, the trident was only one of three weapons given to a specific type of gladiator called a "Retarius". The other two were a net and a dagger. When a killing blow was called for (a "thumbs up" meant "death" and a "thumbs down" meant "mercy"; the modern "thumbs up" originated from aviation ground crews in WW I being unable to OK a checklist verbally over noisy engines), it was the dagger that was used -- surprise: 7-8 foot pointy sticks are generally not useful in the necessary close combat). I always like to think of the BSD Daemon's trident being used to keep trouble at a distance, as the trident was used in gladatorial combat to keep the enemy at a distance until they could be snared with the net and finished off (if necessary) with the dagger. I guess you could also make a case for a fishing metaphor, too, particularly for, say, the early lpd, which trolled a spool directory looking for files to write to the printer device. Of course, you needn't take my word for it: I'm sure this is all out there on the Internet somewhere. -- Terry
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3EE97A1D.62E0D6DE>