Ancient mythology of the Greeks  has many interesting tales and one of them concerns the super hero Heracles or Hercules. Who was Heracles? He was the son of Zeus, the king of gods, more like Indira in Hindu mythology. Heracles was his son, but he was not given the status of a god as he was born from a union of Zeus with a mortal woman. Yet, Zeus loved Heracles very much.

There are many versions of the legend of Heracles and dragon monster Hydra. The Hydra was a 9 head monster who had supernatural powers. Hydra was almost immortal as all it's heads had the power of regenerating if cut and thus to kill the Hydra, it was important to strike at the main head. This was no easy task as the Hydra exumed poisonous fumes that could kill an opponent. In addition anybody looking at the Hydra in the eye was turned to stone. Indeed the Hydra was a terrible monster and it became the duty of Heracles to kill it. The monster had his abode  in a dark murky swamp called Lerna and that gave him greater invincibility.

Heracles set out to kill the Hydra and was careful not to look at the monster in the eye. But before everything he had to draw the monster out of his swamp. This he did by firing flaming arrows at the monsers head. the Hydra emerged from the swamp and herecles engaged it in combat. The son of Zeus was aided by his nephew  Iolous in this battle. Incidentally the killing of the Hydra was the second labor of Heracles. he was ordered to complete 12 labors.

As the battle commenced , everytime Heracles cut one of the heads of  the Hydra, it was immdeiately replaced. Heracles was in despair  but he continued his battle. Slowly one by one he cut of all the heads of the Hydra and finally destroyed his immortal head as well. It was a great battle and I can't help feeling that it was a fight between good and evil.

I wonder if one can draw an analogy and relate it to the Islamic state( ISI) headed by Al Baghdadi. The ISI despite heavy bombardment by the western allies is not destroyed. It has also suffered heavy casualities, but it is recieving a steady supply of recruits and replinshments from people who are swayed by it's ideology. The IS is recieving fighters from the very source that is combating it, namely UK, France and the USA. This has made the IS a formidable force and like the Hydra dead warriors are replaced by fresh recruits.

The recent attack on Paris was a well cordinated affair and shows the reach of the Islamic State. It also shows that France is the soft underbelly of the Western powers. It was attacked earlier as well and as yet has not been able to solve the problem. The bigger bugbear is the large Muslim minority in France, that is not loyal to the republic. One can draw lessons from what is happening in France and apply it to India. For surely at some stage the ISI is going to train its guns on India.

The Hydra was killed and one can hope that at some stage the IS will also be vanquished. In fact the battle with the IS is the Third World War. It has commenced and one hopes victory comes to the force opposing the ISI , but for this  greater perseverence and determination is the need of the hour