RATS IN HISTORY

Before we can truly understand the criminal mind of today's pet rats, we really need to learn a little about their place in history. The following 5 accounts detail how history's rats have influenced cultures from around the world, and where it all began!

1: Ganesh and his pet rat

The rat makes a small, but positive appearance in Hinduism. In their beliefs, there is an elephant-headed god named Ganesh, or Ganesha, who was the son of Shiva and Parvati. There are several stories as to why Ganesh has an elephant’s head, the most common one being this:
Ganesh was created out of sandalwood dough so that he could stand guard whilst Parvati, his mother, went for her bath. When her husband Shiva returned, Ganesh, not knowing who he was refused to let him past, and Shiva cut off his head, killing him. When Parvati learned of this, she begged Shiva to revive her son, and he did so by taking the head of a passing elephant and using this to replace Ganesh’s.

If you look at statues and imagery of Ganesh, you will almost always see a tiny little rat sat at his feet. This rat is known as his ‘Vahana’ or vehicle, and was basically used as a mode of transport, after being tamed by Ganesh. It is said that the contradiction between the heaviness of the elephant, and the lightness of the rat is a perfect illustration of Ganesh’s role as one who brings about unity and harmony, and this is further demonstrated by the fact that Ganesh was able to tame a creature that was (and still is) considered vermin.

2: Karni Devi temple in India

If you pay a visit to this stunning temple made of white marble and gleaming silver, located in the Rajasthan area of India, the first thing you will notice is the myriad of ratty inhabitants scurrying across your feet! This is a temple where rats are considered sacred and worshippers often bring offerings of grain or milk for the rats. They believe that the rats are they temporary reincarnations of their ancestors, who dwell in the form of a rat until they can return to earth as people again.
Belief is such that if you were to accidentally kill one of the tiny residents by stepping on him/her, you would have to replace him/her by handing over a solid gold, life-sized, replica as an apology!
These rats have it all too easy if you ask me!

3: The Chinese Zodiac

The rat has even made it into the Chinese Zodiac!
Just like the western Zodiac, the Chinese Zodiac is also split into 12 animals, the first of which is the rat. There are several old stories as to why the rat is part of the Chinese Zodiac, but the story of the rat and the cat is my favourite one!

At one time in history, the rat and the cat were both friends. One day the Emperor decided to invite all the animals to a party, where he would select 12 of them to represent the 12 years of the Chinese calendar.
The day of the party soon arrived, and the cat decided it best to take a nap just before the event to ensure she would be on top form, and asked the rat if he would wake her up when it was time to leave.
The rat promised he would but soon thought to himself that he would never be selected due to his size, so he left the cat sleeping, and became elected.
The cat was furious when she discovered the rat's trickery, and this is why rats and cats despise each other to this day!

If you were born in either 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984 or 1996 then you were born in the year of the rat! Rat-people tend to be charming, hard-working and good with money, although they get angry quite easily! The other 11 animals of the Chinese Zodiac are: Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. You can find out more about them here

4: Bad times for rats: 1665

London, England, in 1665. Not somewhere you would want to be! This was the period in history where the bubonic plague, known locally as the 'black death', became a rampant epidemic. At it's peak over 6000 people per week were dying from the disease, which characterised itself in the form of large black swollen lumps and severe sneezing.
The rich fled the city while the poor and infected were barricaded within the city gates, and the Mayor, thinking that cats and dogs were spreading the disease, ordered that all the city's pets be destroyed.
However, this course of action seemed to make things worse, and it was not long before the people of London made the connection between incidences of plague outbreak, and rats!
The Mayor had unwittingly removed the only predatory source that had been keeping the swarms of London's rats in check, with the cats gone and the amount of food that had suddenly become available to the rats, their numbers soared.
People were convinced that the plague was being transmitted directly by the rats, and were terrified and disgusted at the same time, and this is probably where today's current lukewarm attitude towards rats comes from. However, the actual source of the plague was really the fleas which lived on the rats, and spread disease through the human populus when they broke the skin to feed on human blood.

Many people now mistakingly believe that the great fire of London in 1666 was the event which put an end to the plague's tyranny. But, it was actually the onslaught of winter which caused the plague germs to literally 'die-off'

5: Hamelin town in 1284

  Almost everyone over the age of 12 knows the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, although no-one really knows whether or not the story is true or just an embelished myth, as the oldest surviving document on the event was written 150 years later.
In 1888, Robert Browning made the story famous when he translated it from it's original German into an English book for children.
Here's a very brief synopsis:
Hamelin was a town overrun with rats, so much so the people were at their wit's ends. The rats were so vicious that they even terrified the cats that were brought in to deal with them.
On day a stranger arrived in town who claimed that using only his pipe, he would rid the town of all the rats for 1000 pieces of gold.
The people were so desperate to get rid of the rats that they all agreed, and they stared in awe as the strange Piper, playing on his pipe, led an army of rats along Hamelin's main street, and right along to the river Weser where the rats all jumped in and were quickly drowned.
The piper returned for his payment but the people refused. However, as revenge he sneaked back into the town early that Sunday morning and played his pipe once again, this time luring all the town's children to follow him away, where they were never seen again.