New view on an old story
Nessie and Losy
New view on an old story
We all heard about Nessie (a lake monster said to inhabit the Loch Ness lake in Scotland) and not many of us know about Losy.
Losy is like the twin “brother” of Nessie, in Siberian mythology, a giant evil snake. In a Mongolian myth Losy lived in water and spent his time spewing venom over the Earth, trying to kill men and animals. In many Central Asian myths, Losy was called Abygra.
God decided to have the monster killed and asked for the task to be carried out by a creator god named Ortshirvani from Siberian mythology.
The god creator almost lost a battle with Losy. He fled to Sumer, the world mountain, where he was transformed into the Garide (Garudu) Bird. In Siberian mythology this was the fantastic bird that had defeated the evil giant snake Losy. The Garide Bird is a variant of the Garuda Bird in Hindu mythology.
Garuda, the devourer, was the same fantastic bird on which the god Vishnu rides. Garudu is the enemy of all serpents and the King of all birds. Garudu inherited his hatred for serpents from his mother Vinata, who had quarreled with Kadru, the mother of serpents (World Mythology and Legend, N.Y. volume 1, p.367.)
He seized Losy by his head and dragged him three times around mount Sumer, smashing the monster’s head against the rock.
Losy was so large that his body wrapped around the mountain three times and his tail was still in ocean.
The myth illustrates how the migration of the human race was going on around the world and how people brought with them their local legends and myths.
