Since we are at a point where politicians are being compared with gods, I think it is only fair that we remind ourselves that according to Hindu scriptures, it is not just gods who incarnate on Earth.

According to the Bhagavad Purana, Vaikuntha - the abode of Vishnu - was visited by the four Kumaras. But Jaya and Vijaya, who guarded the gates to Vaikuntha, stopped them from proceeding.

The Kumaras, who were sages so pure they looked like children, protested and insisted that access to the lord of the universe should be free to everyone. But the arrogant Jaya and Vijaya did not let them enter. In their anger, the Kumaras cursed Jaya and Vijaya and said that the two will have to be born in the realm of men and live as mortals.

When Vishnu came to know of the curse, he announced that he himself would descend to the mortal realm to free Jaya and Vijaya from the curse each time they are born.

And so it was that in the age of Krita - the first age - the two were born as Hiranyakashyapu and Hiranyaksha and were slain by Vishnu’s Varaha and Narasimha avatars respectively. In the second age of Treta - the time of the Ramayana - the two were born as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and slain by the avatar Rama. In Dwapar - the third age and the time of the Mahabharata - the two were born as Shishupala and Dantavakra and were slain by the avatar Krishna.

In each age there were two. They always came in pairs and they always stood opposed to virtue and freedom and created reigns of domination and despair. According to Hindu scripture, this is the last age of Kali - the age of confusion. So naturally, things get mixed up sometimes.

Mythological analogies aside, it is important to remember one simple truth - all that glitters is not gold, and all that incarnates is not god.