THE PYTHIA OF BENARES

The Pythia, the famous oracle of Delphi, priestess of the temple of Apollo Delphicus, enjoys a vast array of European and Asian colleagues and imitators. After all, the art of divination has always been in great demand throughout history. The Italian imitator of the Deified Pythia is the equally famous Cumaean Sibyl. Both operated in places of contact with the depths of the earth, from which orifices were released vapors and chthonic energies that made prophecies possible by lending their voice to that of the divinity: The temple of Delphi was in fact located near the Omphalos, the navel of the world. While the Sibyl pronounced her prophecies in a state of trance or “furor”, in a cave located near Lake Avernus. Like her deified colleague, the Sibyl was also a young virgin priestess consecrated to Apollo. As we move eastward, we find sibyls and pythias, perhaps under a different name, a bit everywhere: in Egypt, the Middle East and Asia Minor.
In my imaginary journey into the world of prophecy, I imagined a “Pythia Indica”, based in Benares (Varanasi), a holy city on the Indian continent. I did not fail to provide her with her indispensable attributes of youth, ecstatic trance and magical vapors that come out of her throat together with the divine warning!
S.B.