Ahem. #Ashwathama is trending here, and I had some time to kill. Following is a Bible story about Cain, Adam & Eve's first born. Just another comparison post like #105. Cain was a farmer, his brother Abel a shepherd. God wanted a sacrifice from both, so Cain gave the produce of his farm while Abel, his sheep. God preferred Abel's offering over Cain's as Abel was the most righteous of the two brothers and him who firmly believed in God. Cain felt immensely rejected and lured his brother away to the fields. Abel's pleadings did not affect Cain (it is believed he was guided by Satan) and he killed his brother anyway. The Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother? And he said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil. And so, cursed shall you be by the soil that gaped with its mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it will no longer give you strength. A restless wanderer shall you be on the earth." And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is too great to bear. Now that You have driven me this day from the soil I must hide from Your presence, I shall be a restless wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me." And the Lord said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain shall suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the Lord set a Mark upon Cain so that whoever found him would not slay him. (Cain and Abel + Curse and Mark of Cain) "Ashwathama, the Kaurava warrior after the kurukshetra war, was cursed by Krishna - to be immortal and roam the earth without love, respect and social acceptance from anyone until the end of time." Sound similar? Cain committed the world's first murder, over a quick jealous rage without much rational thinking (just as Ashwathama?). Condemned for his crime with immortality curse, Cain lived rest of his life in deep regret and guilt. He wondered forever as a nomad and wanted death but the 'Mark of Cain' (Ashwathama's gem wound like?) protected him from any harm, apparently making him indestructible every way. "Then Abel saw it meant the life; But, in those days, there was no Knife: So he up with his big bull-goad instead, But -- Cain hit first and dropped him dead! The Herd-bulls ran when they smelt the blood, An' horned an' pawed in that Red Mud. The Calves they bawled, and the Steers they milled, Because it was the First Man Killed; An' the whole Herd broke for the Land of Nod, An' Cain was left to be judged by God! But, seein' all he had had to bear, I never could call the Judgment fair!" - Rudyard Kipling. Hmmmm!
I did a search for the game character "Amaterasu" but Google returned the wiki for a God instead. In the Kojiki tradition, Amaterasu is the sister of Susano'o, the god of the sea and storms, and of Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. I enjoy good bedtime stories anytime, so read more. Siblings rivalries of course, and at some point... Susano'o destroyed Amarterasu's rice fields, threw a dead pony into her loom, and killed one of her assistants in anger. For this, Amaterasu, sad, angry and scared, went to hide inside Ama-no-Iwato, the "heavenly rock cave", so the Sun was hidden and the world became dark for a long time. The Oni (devils of Japanese mythology) came out to the dark world, and the gods could not make Amaterasu come out of the cave. The intelligent goddess of happiness, Ama-no-Uzume (天宇受売命), took a big bucket, turned it upside down near the cave entrance, and began a dance on it, tearing off her clothing in front of the other Kami. They thought this was so funny that they laughed happily. Amaterasu heard them and looked out to see why the gods were laughing. When she opened the cave, she saw her wonderful reflection in a mirror Uzume had put on a tree, and slowly came out of the cave. At that moment, the god Ameno-Tajikarawo (天手力男命) closed the cave behind her, so she could not go back in. Another god tied a magic rope across the entrance. The sun goddess was then asked by the Kami Ame-no-Koyane (天児屋根命) to go back with the gods. She agreed, and the light came back to the earth. Lol, funny and sweet. And, I wondered... Maybe if Rambha, Urvasi, and Menaka had performed, Indra would have come out sooner...! I didn't like the story when I heard it the first time as a kid, neither now. Do we have to shoulder his guilt through yugas for no fault of women? Damn him, damned are us for having to go through what not in the name of whatever. Sigh. Hm. Kukoo would have been happy to hear about the #377verdict I guess, had she lived on. A respectable portrayal of a third gender personality and their story, many kudos.
#Doglores! I had not read about Sarama previously, good to know. Enjoyed the detours too while exploring more on the topic. Thought to share some of the mythology parallels that interested me, blame my off days if you have to! In Vedic terminology, I read, Sarama means "Intuition". The traveler who will follow the (straight) path of truth to seek the truth, without fear and confusions. "She must be a forerunner of the dawn of Truth in the human mind". Sarama is "the traveler and the seeker who does not herself possess [the Truth] but rather finds what is lost". - Sri Aurobindo. The Dahomey African tribes believe in a myth (Book ref: Original Dog Bible) that once upon a time a dog was granted the gift of three blessings from three gods after he helped mediate an argument. The three blessings bestowed on him made dogs the guardian of women, leader of spirits, and guide to all men. Hermes in Greek mythology is the messenger of the gods. He is also the god of searches and helps those who seek things that are lost or stolen. Hermes is identified as Mercury in Roman mythology. A contrast I noted is that Hermes gets cunning once and steals the cows of Apollo, as opposed to Sarama, who tracks stolen cows on behalf of Indra. Sarama is the Mother of dogs and leads the Vedic dogs of death. Cerberus (Greek), Garmr in Norse mythology and Cŵn Annwn from the English folklore are the equivalent death omens. In Zoroastrian, Sraosha is one of the three guardians of the Chinvat bridge, the "bridge of judgment" that all souls of the dead must cross. Sraosha alone accompanies the soul on their journey across the bridge. "In many Indo-European traditions, the dead are compared to a herd, shepherded or hounded by a divine or demonic dog, with the god of the dead as their herdsman. The dogs of the dead generally moved around in pairs. When they were not twins, they could be represented as two dogs in one, as in the case of Cerberus. Most often, one of these dogs was black and the other white, symbols of a path that led not only from a past life to a present death but also from death to a future life." (Book ref: Myths of the Dog-Man) Indian Sylina and Sabah, the Germanic Geri and Freki (of Odin's), the Armenian Spitak (white) and Siaw (black) hounds, the Iranian pair Sraota and Rag, Chardas and Botos (Yakut) are some more examples. "At the border of this world and next, between life and death, hope and fear, and also (given its pairing with the dog of life) between good and evil. For this role, the dog is perfectly suited, being the domestic species par excellence, the tamed carnivore who stands midway between animal and human, savagery and civilization, nature and culture. The growl of the hellhound is yet another expression of this liminal position, for the growl is a halfway station between articulate speech and silence. It is a speech filled with emotion and power, but utterly lacking in reason. Like death itself, the hellhound speaks, but does not listen; acts, but never reflects or reconsiders. Driven by hunger and greed, he is insatiable and his growl is eternal in duration. In the last analysis, the hellhound is the moment of death, the great crossing over, the ultimate turning point." - (Original source unavailable, will link whenever). It is said that because wild dogs were/are used in hunting by huntsmen (including the gods), they tend to be associated with death often; but not all "Hounds of God's" are demon dogs. Some are benevolent, sacred and protecting spirits too. My personal, all-time favorite... Bhairavar. Back to the episodes... Saif seeks (on the path of truth and intuition, without fear) to rescue his PI Nayanika from Bunty's hold, and in the flashback, his father rescues a lost puppy (if I remember right) - the 'sarama'(s) here? Guess that justifies the choice of the title and the dog symbolism. Nice. While on #Hounds_Of_Hell, here is a joke I like. "Holy sh!t," I breathed. "Hellhounds." "Harry," Michael said sternly, "you know I hate it when you swear." "You're right, sorry. Holy sh!t," I breathed, "Heckhounds!" Lol.
That was some dense reading, a lot more to explore deep on the topic. Damnnn I know nothing in Hinduism. Good learning today. In the episode... couldn't watch beloved Katekar die. I loved the scenes with his family, a sweet portrayal in a very gritty show but all good things come to an end! Sighhh. Anyways... Saif ends up killing Katekar's murderer, putting his "Athma to Shanti" I guess and, his own mind is at peace too? In the past, Nawaz figures the moles in his gang and shoots them dead. Liked his wife's characterization and their story together. Post the killings, his mind is at rest finally and, he is a man again. The 'last ritual fire' is a symbolism for troubled souls being put to rest? Here, it's the troubled minds of Nawaz and Saif? I'm reminded of a Chinese folklore about a loyal assistant, and his master paying his last respects to him. May I? Jie Zitui was a minister to Chong Er. During a civil war, Prince Chong Er and Jie fled and, were in exile for 19 years. According to legend, Jie was so loyal that he even made broth out of the flesh of his leg to feed the prince when they were short of food during the exile. When Chong Er later became king, he rewarded those who helped him when times were tough; however, he overlooked Jie. Jie packed his bags and relocated to the mountainside. When Chong Er discovered his oversight, he was ashamed. He went to look for Jie in the mountains. The conditions were harsh and he was unable to find Jie. The king set fire to the forest to force Jie out but Jie didn’t appear. When the fire was extinguished, Jie was found dead with his mother on his back. He was under a willow tree and a letter written in blood was found in a hole in the tree. The letter read: .....An invisible ghost under a willow Is better than a loyal minister beside my lord..... To commemorate Jie’s death, Chong Er created the Hanshi Festival and ordered that no fire could be set on this day. Meaning, only cold food could be eaten. One year later, Chong Er went back to the willow tree to hold a memorial ceremony and found the willow tree in bloom again. The willow was named ‘Pure Bright White’ and the Hanshi Festival became known as ‘Pure Brightness Festival.’ On this day, Families reunite and travel to their ancestors’ gravesites to pay their respects. #Cold_Food_Festival. In similar fashion, think Greeks' and Romans' had #FuneralGames (and Olympics) to honor the dead of their times.
#RudraTandava. Of the many Tandava types found, I'm personally familiar with 'K'ali Tandava and... Gauri Tandava!! Kidding. Rudra (Shiva) - Rudrani (Kali). Kāla / Mahakala / Bhairava - is the male personification of Kali. Bhairava-Bhairavi, Mahakala-Mahakali are the dark counterparts of the Shiva-Shakti unity. Recently I came across this religious dance form from the Kathmandu Valley region - supposedly danced by Bhairava and Kali - depicting the creation of the universe through their cosmic union. Kali destroys and prepares to create new life from Shiva. The "Bhairav Kali Charya" Dance. Speaking of Kali... We know her story... that Ma Durga was unable to tackle the many dupes of Asura Raktabija and the battle was becoming unmanageable with the many minions of him sprouting from his every falling blood drop. At some point, she lost it and summoned her "Kāli" form. "...filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas." Thus Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, saving the gods from destruction but... ...The taste of blood and the thrill of destruction made Kali insatiable. She was unstoppable by any power, including the gods. She dances on the corpses of the slain. Each step of her joyous dance causes a terrible earthquake. Shiva being aware this might cause an Earth-Shattering Kaboom, shields the earth with his body. This causes Kali to stop her victory dancing, as she realizes she's stomping on her husband - A representation of Kali commonly known as Daksinakali. A noted parallelism is the story of the Egyptian goddess, Sekhmet. It was around the end of Ra's rule on the earth and Ra sends Hathor as Sekhmet to destroy the mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not satisfied at the end of the battle, that she went destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra had to resort to drug her to stop her rage rampage. He poured out beer dyed with red ochre or hematite so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the manslaughter deed and returned peacefully to Ra. "And, the world was saved by Alcohol!" Lol, an all-time favorite material. Back to the series... According to Vijesh Rajan, "This episode is about Gaitonde's rising anger. He is angry about his wife's death - about getting thrown into jail and beaten up. The city is angry because of the Bombay bomb blasts. This is where a storm starts brewing in Gaitonde and he becomes the personification of Rudra." And, the mystery Assassin in the present, who kills Radhika and cuts off Saif's thumb - a Rudra here? Too bad both (or say all the important) women had to die. No like.
There is a similar Scandinavian legend. According to Heimskringla, Aun the Old is a mythical Swedish king who had ten sons, nine of which he was said to have sacrificed to Odin, in order to prolong his own life. He is identified with "Ongentheow" of the Beowulf narrative. When Aun had sacrificed a son for the seventh time, he was so old that he could not walk but had to be carried on a chair. When he had sacrificed a son for the eighth time, he could no longer get out of his bed. When he had sacrificed his ninth son, he was so old that he had to feed, like a little child, by suckling on a horn. After ten years he wanted to sacrifice his tenth and last son. However, the Swedes refused to allow him to make this sacrifice and so he died. He was buried in a mound at Uppsala and succeeded by his last son Egil. From that day, dying in bed of old age is called "Aun's sickness". In Upsal's town the cruel king Slaughtered his sons at Odin's shrine -- Slaughtered his sons with a cruel knife, To get from Odin length of life. He lived until he had to turn His toothless mouth to the deer's horn; And he who shed his children's blood Sucked through the ox's horn his food. At length fell Death has tracked him down, Slowly, but sure, in Upsal's town. Aun - Wikipedia. Back to the series... According to Vijesh Rajan, "This is the episode where Gaitonde meets his third father - the father who brings him death in episode 01, just like in the story of Yayati." So Guruji is the Yayati and Nawaz is the goat. Saif's father delivers a phone to Nawaz in jail setting in motion this whole series of events that are coming back to Saif now. So he is a goat as well? Beginning of the doomsday in the present and, of Nawaz too in the past when he met Guruji? I know. Phew. You probably know the stories and stuff already, I blahed away anyway. Lol. #Whatever. #T/O. Ta and, Ta-Ta!
#Timepazzz The mention of "buffalo-headed demon" on the 100 Days of Positivity thread reminded me of 'Hudur Durga' - the alternate Mahishasur story, where he is "the good king" and Ma Durga ("the bad") tricked him into defeat and death. So thought to share. A Navratri Spl "dump"! In some parts of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal tribe communities worship/celebrate Mahishasur as their great king and ancestor. The Asurs of Jharkhand and Santhals of WB believe they are the descendants of ‘Hudur Durga’ (/Mahishasur) and consider him their "Kulguru". For this section of people, Durga Pooja is 'Mahishasur Martyrdom/Memorial Day' and observed on Sharad Purnima, usually the fifth day after Dussehra. Their festival is called 'Dasani', a celebration of sadness. Excerpts from an interview with a tribe representative: Q: So it is a ‘martyr day’ for the Asura; tell us a bit more about its history. ...In the ancient times, there was a great leader of us, who fought with the foreign invaders... Those days our ancestors did not fight women. The Aryans used this information to trick him into a marriage with an Aryan woman... Hudur Durga was killed with the help of his newly-wedded wife, our ancestors lost their only leader... We commemorate him and call him Hudur Durga. Dasani is a celebration of his memory... Dasani festival existed even before Hudur Durga’s death. But at that time it was a celebration of happiness; full of dance, music, and merriment. When he died... Dasani became a festival of mourning. Q: During your festival in Purulia (WB), you claimed that the tradition of placing the idol of Mahishasura or Hudur Durga at the feet of Durga should change. Tell us a bit more about that. ...Yes. Let them worship the goddess... But since Hudur Durga was our ancestor, it hurts us to see him at her feet during her worship. During Dasani, we Santhals dance and remember our history. And it is our norm not to see the idol of the goddess Durga during the Durga Puja... Yes, he lost. But establishing such a stereotype out of that for centuries is not fair. Interesting. The stories are mostly oral folklore, no historical records are found yet to ascertain their authenticity but the tribes refuse to accept the mainstream "Durga vs Mahishasura" narrative that rest of India reveres as the story of good triumphant of evils. The Asurs believe 'Devi Mahatmya' epic is just biased. To follow means is to lose their identity. "That’s just sad if we and our ancestors are still considered as evil—be it Mahishasura or Ravana." According to them, it's a "crooked conspiracy” by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva to defeat Mahishasura, with the help of Durga, as he had a boon that no man or god could kill him. “...We don’t like to see the Durga Puja. We have a separate puja ceremony remembering and mourning our forefathers on Mahalaya, Sashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, and Dashami [the six days of Durga Puja]". “...For others, Durga Puja is a festival of joy but for us it a festival of sorrow... We don’t buy new clothes or cook delicious food at our home rather we express condolences and grief for our very lost leader." # There are NGOs, tribal representative committees, activists etc who support the 'Hudur Durga' beliefs and are working on joint missions to voice out and, bring awareness about "repressions of tribal culture and, religion". The book 'Mahishasur, Ek Jan Nayak' highlights tribal perspectives on Mahishasur, questioning Hindu faiths and, proposes 'Hudur Durga' as people's representative who fought for the oppressed - in an attempt to reintroduce Mahishasur in a positive light as a brave hero. "It is unfortunate Mahishasur is considered a demon and a mythological character when he was a hero who fought valiantly against invading Aryans". Good to know. If you observe all their versions, it has repeated emphasis on "Aryans" and "Invaders" - makes one wonder isn't? To sum up, again, Mahishasur is killed fighting the "supposed Invaders" as a responsible leader of the indigenous people. He was real and, a battle hero too. It was only the "dominant (Aryan)" community that made him an evil demon in their stories - to elevate their own men as gods and superiors - as a means to suppress the locals, conquer lands and, establish their "dominant (Aryan) culture"? ...Like History is what the winners write, Mythologies too? To think, yes the Dead and defeated have become the demons and evils in all the mythologies equally. Well, to each their own beliefs. Without concrete proofs (until there is) it's probably yet another political propaganda, after all, to inflict communal divide among communities. Given that back in those times tribals were mostly illiterate it was easier to take advantage of them. Also, their status in the Indian social hierarchy, the long history of the same, could have made it convincing for them to reject those faith systems that were the basis for the discriminations and, look for alternates that reflected their life and struggles close enough instead...? There could be bits of truth in all of the versions, for different stories happened at different times and, at different places too. Or maybe it's all just "amalgamation of imaginations"! Lol. Weren't the "Dravidian Rakshasas" something of a similar kind, who the "Aryans" made villains in their epics? Hmmmmm! ...Just my silly wonderings.
Not feeling enthusiastic much today... distraction could be useful. So, round 2! Lol. Just some more crisscrossing thoughts and blahs. The curious case of Odyssey... How we showed Homer's Odyssey is not pure fiction, with a little help from Facebook. ...The obvious conclusion is that The Odyssey is an amalgam of real and fictional characters. ...As is often the case in fiction, it seems that Homer was not just telling stories but reflecting events and characters that existed in ancient Greece. Keeping the above theory in mind, Maybe "Hudur Durga" is not entirely imaginations or some made up character but sub stories (arguably)(conveniently) lost in time and translations? Guess my culture explorations got a tiny bit political up there. Well, It is what is and how it is back home, Hinduism and Hindutva-ism, the lines are getting blurry day by day. Would you blame me? Below texts caught my attention. From an article discussing parties and their strategies for the upcoming India elections 2019. ...The other major initiatives are cultural, seeking to appropriate caste icons as defenders of Hinduism. For instance, the BJP has adopted and promoted the story of Suheldev, an eleventh-century king... to secure the communities’ votes. Suheldev is portrayed as a king of Bahraich who rallied opposition to Mahmud of Ghazni’s army after the sack of Somnath. ...Such iconography, however, once promoted by one party, will be appropriated by every other... May gain from a community assuming the role of avengers of the plunder of Somnath, indicating Hindutvisation. Likewise "Hudur Durga", the Martyr for marginalized communities. No wonder. Back then stories won hearts, now votes..... #Nevermind. I rest my case. Also read about an artwork, reflecting a similiar idea of "mythological inversions", the myth of Medusa being reimagined. Garbati grew up in Italy among classic renditions of the snake-haired woman as a monster and wanted to reimagine her as a victor. "...There are lots of depictions of Medusa, and they are always describing the myth at its worst." “...What would it look like, her victory, not his? How should that sculpture look?” “...This difference between a masculine victory and a feminine one, that was central to my work. The representations of Perseus, he’s always showing the fact that he won, showing the head…if you look at my Medusas…she is determined, she had to do what she did because she was defending herself. It’s quite a tragic moment.” Interesting. A representation of Medusa's / feminist rage? #PowerShift #ThumbsUp! And, what about our own Sita's anger (that which some of us wonder ourselves often about)? Something on those lines that made sense to me, in sync with the current women rights scenarios... ...When I called attention to these hateful threats, many critics accused me of just playing the victim and refused to themselves describe the attacks as misogynistic. This was again a patriarchal tactic—the dismissal of gendered threats of violence—designed to intimate and silence women. Unsurprisingly, most of my critics focussed on the perceived insult to Lord Ram, without much consideration for Sita and her point of view. Such is the logic of modern misogyny that it demands female voices in the grand Ramayana tradition remain subordinate to male feelings. In order to understand Valmiki’s text, it is important to recover Sita’s voice and to resist any soft-pedaling of it despite our own prejudices. - Silencing Sita in the Ramayana. “A society that does not respect women’s anger is one that does not respect women—not as human beings, thinkers, knowers, active participants, or citizens.” #ParadigmShift #TimesUp!
