Epics of India Blog

Chapter 2: Kali's Secret: Nature is indifferent to human gaze 2.1 -Kali= most dramatic form of Devi in Hindu mythology: naked, loose hair, standing on Shiva, and necklace of male heads, thirst for blood -rise of Devi worship after post-Buddhist phase -before, images of bulls next to bejeweled women: representation of struggle between wild and domestication -1500BCE cattleherd migration into populated areas--> long tension       - worship of cloud-dwelling gods and rejection of the only woman god figure -rejection of materialistic society grew: meditation= freedom--> Kali appears -Kali-like goddess emerge, associated with rage and violence -300 CE: Kali= discrete from Shiva, causes destruction -appearance of more and more versions of Kali as represented by 3,6,9 or even 64 goddesses acting together-> benevolent and morbid versions -deep appreciation of nature -1000BCE: Kali as one instead of a collective--> perfect and most primal -it is told then ...

Continuing with the 7 Secrets of the Goddess, I am going to pick up at Gaia's Secret Chapter 1.3 and 1.4, where the narrator talks about treatment of women through the ages. 1.3: -urban culture: value of obedience which showed a man's control, enforced obedience in women -culture weighted above nature--> hierarchy instead of yin and yang--> culture domesticates nature            Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Hindu -seen also in mythologies of the above cultures (like Zeus) -women seen as those who break rules, cause problems -men began to gain value from their possession like women-> isolation for their own good - higher isolation= more valuable--> Snow White, an equivalent also in Indian mythology -Greek and Hindu mythology and Christianity point to women as honorable figures -but then they are later dehumanized to symbolize masculine honor--> rise of Patriarchy 1.4 -more urbanization--> disgust for material things -ea...

Gaia's Secret 1-2 Chapter 1:Male anxiety is outdated 1.1 -Gaia+Uranos--> Kronos, Aphrodite, and others Kronos eats sons, except Zeus, who overpowers him, and the story goes on; idea of female deity "side-lined" by powerful male deity is prevalent in many mythologies -through Egyptian, Eskimo, and Indian mythologies -females have to "womb" which is pure, but the males must compete -pastoral communities realized not all males were necessary -in matriarchal societies, to ensure males could not dominate, the males were sacrificed -in much earlier times, "virgin" meant a woman who was ready/ open to have children, and "prostitute" meant a woman who was free to go to any man 1.2 -Yami and Yama, brother and sister and other mythologies show a relationship of death with sex, sex with pleasure, and pleasure with women, leading to an association of women with vulnerability -rejection of women--> strength and freedom of suffering -wo...

Through Part A of this Epified: Krishna series, we are introduced to Krishna, the 8th child of Kamsa's sister who was prophesied to kill Kamsa. With the help of the gods, Krishna's father was able to trade Krishna with another child, hiding Krishna from Kamsa's wrath. We watch Krishna grow up as a mischievous boy exemplifying god-like powers, overpowering demon after demon sent by Kamsa to destroy him. Now I will go through Part B. Krishna Humbles Brahma: Once while Krishna was with his friend, Brahma (creator) appeared and found Krishna sharing food with his friends. To test Krishna, Brahma took the cows they were watching and then kidnapped his friends. With his power he knew Brahma was behind this, and played a trick on him in turn. Krishna's copy of his friends and cows convinced the other villagers that nothing was wrong for a whole year. Brahma learned of this, acknowledged Krishna's powers, and returned his friends. Krishna Rides Hastin: Krishna's brot...

This week I decided to explore the tales of Krishna through the resource of Epified: Krishna ( source ) Introduction: A man was born with many enemies who destroyed everyone in his family. He grew up and became a king. As king, he made many powerful allies and protected his loved ones. But no one truly understood that he was not a part of their world. Kamsa: When Arjuna was born, another man was born who would guide the Pandava sons and bring an end to an age. Kamsa cruelly ruled a kingdom called Mathura. He was told that an 8th child would be born from his own cousin who would end his cruelty. He threw his cousin into prison and resolved to kill all of his cousin's children. When she was carrying her 8th child, everyone felt the light and purity of a god coming to earth, and her child was the 8th incarnation of Vishnu. Vasudev Meets Yamuna: The father of the child, Vasudev, held his newborn while fearing the future. However, the guards and all who opposed them had been put into...

Reading Epified: Mahabharata videos Part B Kunti was blessed with the ability to call on any god. She was then blessed with a son with the sun god, with earrings of gold, but had to give him away since she was not married. Pandu and wife Kunti source Pandu, the brother of the ruling King, was married to Kunti and Madri, and took them into the forest to live for a while. Pandu decided to go hunting one day and killed a disguised couple. Because of this, he was cursed to die in the embrace of one of his wives. Kunti tells Pandu of her blessing, and she calls on gods to give her sons, Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. She then summons a god for Madri, and Madri gives birth to twins. Pandu helped raise the 5 sons, but eventually grew tired and embraced Madri, which resulted in his death as well as Mardi's death. Kunti took their 5 sons to live in the forest out of sadness connected to the city. When word of Kunti's first pregnancy reached the kingdom, Pandu's brothe...

Epified: Mahabharata Part A This version of the Mahabharata provides a lot of insight on parts I didn't understand before. In Episode 1- Shantanu the Unfortunate, the narrator proposes that the Mahabharata is a showcase of how karma functions. In my experience from reading the chapters, I can agree with that proposal. The Mahabharata showed account after account of how certain actions have certain outcomes. He explains how the River Goddess married King Shantanu agreed to give birth to the 8 cursed vedas and then kill them to free them from mortal life. But since Shantanu asked about the last child, she did not kill the 8th veda. This Veda named Devavrata became prince and heir of the throne of Shantanu. King Shantanu meets River Goddess Ganga source King Shantanu falls in love with a different woman, but cannot marry her because of Devavrata. The king's son sees his father's sadness and give up his birthright, vowing not to marry, claim the throne, or have child...

Just before this reading, the battle is beginning between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Bhima, as general of the Kauruvas but as a major father like figure to both sides, knows the power that the Kauruvas face. As Duryodhana sees his forces loosing he wants to replace Bhishma with his more faithful right hand man, Karna. At long last we see Amba revenge come to pass, from Part A, who is made a man now, and slays Bhishma. (will come back later, only fatally injured but still gets to decide the day he dies). Here the writing turns to rhymes and is a little difficult to understand. The new general Drona vows to take Yudhishthira prisoner and leaves tons of dead bodies in his determination. In another part of the battle, Arjuna's son is trying to defend himself alone while Karna and Jayadratha prevent Arjuna and his brothers from coming to help. Alone, Arjuna's son was slain, which fueled Arjuna's will to fight even more. He found the man who killed his son and with th...

In the Mahabharata Reading Part C, we see the continued struggle between the Pandava brothers and the Kauruva brothers. The eldest Kauruva Duryodhana tries time and time again to triumph over the Pandavas out of pure jealousy. He challenges the Pandavas to a game of dice, with the stakes of the loser being sent to exile for 12 years. As we know from Part A and B, Duryodhana is not an honest man, and uses loaded dice to win the game, and the Pandava brothers are sent into exile with Yudhishthra's wife Draupadi. In the forest, Draupadi becomes increasingly angry at Yudhishthra for not protecting her, and constantly insists that Yudhishthra must take action to succeed in taking the kingdom back. But Yudhishthra refuses, remaining honest and insisting against violating the exile. In the first part of their journey in the forest, they are blessed by brahmins, who also tell them tales of people who have learned much from exile. After a little while, a god visits the group and advises...

In the Ramayana, I thought that the gods had fairly little involvement in the mortal world aside from being reborn as humans. Yes, Rama and Sita were supposedly a god and his wife reborn, but in their earthly endeavors, the other gods would only visit for a bit of advice, then leave.  Part A of the Mahabharata started off slow, with a lot of introductions to various characters. We learn about the background of each character, their personalities, and how each relates to the next. The first half of the reading sets up the background plot points that lead to the main conflict of the Mahabharata.  For the first several stories, the various characters are fairly normal. Devavrata vows to never marry or bear sons, initially starting as the first as a condition by his mother to be wield the 8 Vasus's power and later as a vow to his father to allow his father to marry a woman that he loves. The other characters make human like mistakes, acting with the best intentions but maki...

This week, I chose to watch Sita Sings the Blues to get a feel of another version of the Ramayana. The style of animation was very interesting, and I noticed a few differences between this version and the full story. Also, I thought the side-plot of the couple from San Francisco was a bit unexpected but had a good connection to the Ramayana. 0:00 introduced to the cosmos with Shiva, Brahma, Kakshmi, and Vishnu; see the beating heart of the universe 5:00 San Francisco: we see a happy couple, Nina and Dave, living their daily happy life with their cat 7:00 introduced to 3 narrators, who will tell the story of the Ramayana together. They introduce Sita, who is also named Janaki and Vaidehi. 9:00 king sends Rama into 14 years of exile because of his wife Kaikey 11:00 Sita insists on coming despite Rama's warnings of demons (rakshasas) Here, we see the first song of the story. Sita sings of their life in the forest, her with Rama, and Rama fighting off demons. I also noticed that ...

During week 3, I was unable to complete the Ramayana Reading Part A, but I got a quick update from a friend and just decided to continue on with the rest of the reading. For the first reading this week, I decided to go back and take notes on the parts I missed. I tried to separate the major plot points for later reference.  Notes: - The Ramayana begins in the life of Dasharatha, King of the Kohala kingdom, living in the kingdom's capital, Ayodha. While the kingdom was prosperous and happy, the King was given no heirs from his 3 wives. - The King decides to perform a ritual to the gods, and after a long year of preparation and a successful ceremony, the gods blessed his first wife Kaushalya with a son, his second wife Kaikeyi with a son, and his third wife Sumitra with two sons. They were named Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna respectively. - Meanwhile, the gods were having trouble controlling the demon king Ravana. He had become too powerful after performing many ritua...

Over this whole portion of reading, I saw a lot of beautiful imagery through the many fight scenes. In the first portion, we see Ravana's brother Vibhishan side with Rama's forces. Rama learns from the King of the Ocean how to build a bridge to Lanka. Through the course of the battle that ensues, the demons and Rama's army fight many times. Its seems that the demons have an advantage with their arrows that are guided by magic, which is very interesting. In the course his quests, Rama has had quite a bit of difficult when confronted with demons because of this magic. Initially, Rama's armies are wiped out by Indrajit, one of Ravana's sons. But a helpful man named Garuda swoops in (literally) to heal the armies. The tide switches when the demons wake up their biggest demon brother Kumbhakarna. The demons thought their brother should help them win if anything but because of his size. But Rama meets him head on and slays Kumbhakarna. Thenn, yet again, Rama's arm...

The stories in the Part C reading of the Ramayana continued to show the heroics of Rama, and how he made acquaintances with some new characters to help get Sita back from Ravana. In the story of Sugriva and Hanuman, Rama seeks refuge from his exile and inadvertently meets a man in the same situation as him. Sugriva was run out of his own kingdom by his prideful brother who also took his wife as well. Rama saw the injustice in the details of this story, and sought to right the situation by helping Sugriva win back his kingdom and wife. Vali, Sugriva's brother, is very angry at the challange, and not heeding the wise words of his wife Tara, charged quickly into battle. In a strange twist where Rama shoots Vali in the back, Vali was defeated and Sugriva was returned to the throne. Sugriva then agrees to return the favor by helping Rama. He sets up search parties to find Sita, and they are lead by the brother of Jatayu, Sampati, in the right direction towards Ravana's island king...

I took quite a few things I took from the second half of the Ramayana. I saw a theme of loyalty in the story of Bharata. Through his adventure, He seemed to be a very honest and loyal son. Next, I went through the story of Rama and Sita. I saw this set of stories as showing the "hero arch" of the epic. I see a lot of opportunity of with this story for one of the story topics I was looking at last week, Divine Iconography. He seems to be a major character in this epic. Later in the reading, Ravana, the king of demons, fights Rama in a war. His goal is to exploit the weaknesses everyone close to Rama in order to kill Rama and prove that he is not weaker than Rama. In order to do this, he must ennlist the help of his brother, Maricha, who turns into a golden deer to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita. In the course of the next story called  Ravana and Sita , Sita is left alone and opens up to the disguised Ravana, and after he reveals himself, Ravana steals Sita away as she ...

The Jataka I liked the most was The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking  by Ellen C. Babbitt. It's a fairly short story but it says a lot. Plot : In the course of the story, the author creates a friendly relationship between the geese and the turtle, so in the climax, I found myself hoping for the turtle to succeed. So the final event was mostly expected, but the style of writing seemed to create a flicker of hope for the turtle. I see the active characters in the story as essentially three good friends, two of them trying to help the third, but the third friend is not the smartest. If the children hadn't said anything, there's a possibility that the turtle could have made the journey successfully, but since we know the turtle was talkative, there's still some doubt present. The threat in this story was death by falling to the ground. I can see a story where this threat is something more physical, in a situation taking place between 3 mice and a cat who is initially d...

Starting to look at the materials for the week 3 reading of the Ramayana, I think I've decided to go with the online version. I really enjoy illustration and audio when reading, and I'm excited to see the different styles of writing. And of course, as a college student lacking money, the free option is often a great way to go. The first story that caught my interest is Ghatotkacha: The Chivalrous Demon from the Mahabharata. I found this comic interesting because it has many different parts to the story that I can imagine working with. I also find the original story intriguing and I like the basic moral of the story. The next story I found interesting is Kumbhakarna from the Ramayana. This story about a sleeping giant seems curious at first glance, and reading the guide kept me wanting to know more about the story. One of the videos I'm interested is to  Indian and Greek Mythological parallels . I have always been very interested in Greek mythology, so to see the parall...