Palace of Illusions Reading Notes - Part G & H

The Palace of Illusions
A Novel, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Image taken from Indian Epics Reading Guides

The Economist: The Latest Craze Among Indian Readers

"Mythomania"

Did anyone see this article last week in The Economist about the craze among Indian readers (and writers) re-discovering the joys of Indian Mythology? Oh my gosh, what a timely read for me! In the article, it talks about Indian Readers finding their "Game of Thrones" type of books, and falling over themselves for them. The article mentions "The Palace of Illusions" by Divakaruni, which I am just now finishing, so it's a timely read. Especially for those of us finishing up the Indian Epics class! Also mentioned is that a 2-Part Disney Adaptation Movie is being made, drawing from the Mahabharata! What?! Yes! I am so excited to see this!

Here is a short list of the mythological novel-adaptations mentioned in the article (definitely adding these to my reading lists!):

• "The Palace of Illusions" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
• Eight Volume Ramayan series that began with "Prince of Ayodhya" by Ashok Banker
• Devdutt Pattanaik's "The Pregnant King"
• Amish Tripathi, author of "The Shiva Trilogy"
• Mr. Sanghi's "The Krishna Key"
• Krishna Udayasankar's "Aryavarta Chronicles"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Image of the Mahabharata depicting the Battle at Kurukshetra
from Wikipedia

Ok, So, I just kept listening and listening and listening to this book! It was so good! I didn't pause to take notes like I normally do, but a few things definitely stood out for me as I was finishing up the reading/listening of this novel.

•  Wow. Just wow. Divakaruni's writing style is the epitome of everything that we've tried to achieve in this class with our own writing: get inspire by the original story, but expound upon it. Divakaruni tried to stay pretty close to reality with fleshing out characters and they're likely true feelings, and I was floored by how true she stayed in this sense. When she could have easily gone down a path of frivolity, or over indulging in emotions or a part of the tale that would have been easy to embellish too much, she held back, keeping the same tone throughout the book. In the final scene of the book, up on the mountain in the cold snow, I can only imagine that Divakaruni must have laid herself down on her floor, and felt all of the things that she wrote in Draupadi in that final moment. She must have layed there, who knows for how long, and thought about what she would think about if her final hours were on her. I really, truly got a sense of reality and a depth of thought and consideration for the character that I have never, ever gotten close to being able to capture in my own writing. It was truly inspiring. 

Part G
34 Secrets -- The grandfather is proving to be a problem. Yudishtir proves his righteousness still. The  Battle of Kurukshetra rages on.

• FINALLY! WE FINALLY KNOW WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING BETWEEN DRAUPADI AND KARNA!!!! Ok, sorry for all caps, but that was a long, and drawn out, and tantalizing wait to find out what really hid in the heart of Karna. And Draupadi can't even respond! Ugh! The wait continues. I absolutely adore Divakaruni here, for accurately portraying the internal struggles of women: Kunthi, Draupadi, righteous, duty, what women must do to adhere to social norms, despite the true emotions inside. 

35 Avanlanche 
36 Wheel 
37 Owl -- This was an odd little vignette. I'm not really sure I followed what it meant, but it was interesting... How did she dream and know what was happening? Now that I've finished the book, and know that Draupadi is divine too, I can re-interpret this scene differently, but at the time, it seemed weird to be placed here.
38 Pyre Whoah... Whoah whoah whoah. The scene where Draupadi gets on the temporary dais and speaks to the bereaved women is really moving. It's real. It's not pretentious, or lofty in the imagery of the scene, although I easily would have embellished this part, Divakaruni keeps true to Draupadi's character here.

Reading H
39 Ash 
40 Snake The raising of the grandson is really interesting here. I find it sweet that Draupadi, his grandmother, and him have a close relationship despite her harsh treatment of him when she notices his anger rising up.
41 Reed Noooooooooo. Not Krishna's end!!! Say it isn't so!!!!
42 Snow How does Divakaruni write so beautifully here? Why does Draupadi choose this place to let herself die? Why let yourself die? Why not go on until you absolutely cannot anymore. She acknowledges that she could have gotten back up and gone up to the road, but she chose this way, dying by freezing, as her way to meet her end. Why? It's a beautiful end to the story, and I accept it the way that it is, but this seem like a giving up at the end on the part of Draupadi, after a life of choosing the harder paths and sticking to her guns and pushing through any tough time.
43 Fire
"I am buoyant, and always was so. Only, I never knew it." And then she took Karna's hand, and they went to the only palace that they needed: air around and sky above. (YES! YES! THEY GET TOGETHER IN THE END!!!! This is what makes it a satisfying novel to me, a woman, in the end. Ha.)

Reflections On "The Palace Of Illusions"

• I was repeatedly impressed at the full breadth of this novel. It included so many side stories that I didn't even know, or I remember exploring briefly during this semester, but had actually forgotten that this side story was attached to this character, that side story attached to that one. It must have taken long planning hours and lots of mapping out of each character to really weave the type of tale that she has made here.  She so deftly placed these extra little anecdotal scenes into the story that it seemed normal for us to get a little more history here, or there. It was seriously impressive and inspiring. How much time did she spend preparing for each chapter? Mapping out the book? Planning how in depth she wanted to go with each character? Repeatedly she references back to the familial history of the characters (thankfully, for me) so that we can more fully understand the perspective that each one is taking in their actions? 
• Overall, I really appreciated the feminist perspective that she took. I think it was brilliant to approach it from this angle. I was initially drawn in because I was curious: what would it have been like to be the wife to five husbands? How exhausting! is all that I could imagine. It definitely was a worthwhile endeavor to explore, but in the end, Divakaruni takes us even further than that. She takes us down the path of a woman's life, following it to completeness, to the very end. I suppose that's what good authors do, they fully flesh out characters and let us live those characters' lives through their writing. It certainly leaves me questioning my own ability to tell a story or spin a tale, or write, for that matter, but on that note, it leaves me with a one final thought: I've got a long way to go, and a lot of practice to do, to try and achieve that kind of level of writing. Bravo, Divakaruni. 

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni lives in Houston with her husband, and two sons. 

Image via Wikipedia

Palace of Illusions Reading Notes Part A

The Palace of Illusions
a novel, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
published 2008
Image from Indian Epics Reading Guides

• Krishna had an attempt on his life when his nurse-maid tried to poison him through her breast milk. Of course, he survived. 
• He has nicknamed Draupadi Krishnaa, which is the female name of Krishna, but also the one whose attraction cannot be resisted
• I loved her grandmother character here (Dhai)! So good! I want to use her to expand on this story in so many different ways.
• The feminist viewpoint/perspective here is so captivating. Divakaruni is doing a great job of reminding us of the origination of her inspiration for the story, the Mahabharata, while also fleshing out Draupadi to make her a real person, with a life story, wants, desires, insecurities, and a wondering about where her life will take her. 

Krishna and all of his women that he has seduced,
including, possibly, soon to be Draupadi as well
Image: 18th Century Indian painting via Wikipedia

I started listening to this book on AudioBook, but I wanted to have a better feel for the layout of the book, and how long it would take me. I'm actually really grateful that I looked this book up online, because there is a wonderful introduction that Divakaruni wrote that isn't mentioned in the AudioBook version at all. Divakaruni does an inspirational job at explaining why she wanted to write a story from the perspective that she did, and how she couldn't put away that nagging feeling of "If I ever write a book about this, I'm going to write it this way....." Very much like an Author's Note that we do at the end of our stories as well. 

Reading A
1 Fire
2 Blue
3 Milk

• Milk! Oh my gosh, Milk! Almost made me cry! A little boy hears from his friends how creamy, sweet, and delicious milk is, but his family is poor. He comes home and asks his mother to get milk for him also, so that he can know what milk tastes like. They're too poor to afford it, to she mixes some flour, water, and a hint of jaggery to it. The boy drinks it, is delighted that now he, too, knows what milk tastes like, and the mother begins crying. The pure, blind trust the boy has in his mother is beautiful, but it's the fact that she had to stoop to deceiving him that is heart breaking for the mother, and also nearly broke my own heart. I love this little vignette. 

4 Cosmology  -- This chapter is like a lovely review of the entire class so far -- all of the research, extra time exploring the intracacies of the Hindu gods are paying off here -- I'm able to sit back and enjoy the review. It's so good!
5 Smoke --- oooooooh, foreboding is being set up here! Yes! I love this! We later find out that this mysterious Sadhu-Ji is Vyasa. 

Brahma Dreaming Reading Notes

Brahma Dreaming
by John Jackson
Illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini
Published 2013
Image from Indian Epics Reading Guides

I *love* this book! This is a delightful collection of stories from Hindu Mythology with illustrations, pen and ink style, that are just breathtaking! I was originally planning on listening to this in Audiobook format, but on a whim, decided to see if I could track it down in the library. I am so glad that I did! The illustrations are captivating, and I have found myself pausing to dwell on just those alone, contemplating everything that is written about that particular illustration. I've actually been spending quite a bit of time with this book, I just haven't gotten around to writing up some Reading Notes about it, so these notes are going to serve as a sort of Re-Read for me -- but that's ok, because this book is totally worth it!

Reading A:

Tales of Creation: In the beginning, there was only the sound of Aum. It became power, and had form, and had 3 faces: Brahma (Creator), Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer.Then there were 7 wise men, and they were the beginning of humanity.

•  Brahma Dreamt the World. "It is the beginning of the first world," he said. And time began.

The Beginning
The CurseThe Milk Ocean: My favorite, favorite, favorite story I've come across in this whole semester. I could write so many offshoot stories about the milk ocean, what comes out of it, how it gets churned. 

• Things that have come out of the Milk Ocean's Churning:
• The Moon
• A thousand beautiful girls, who became the stars
• A White Horse
• Lakshmi
• A Mist of blue poison
• A gold bowl filled with ambrosia, carried by an old man, who was the 1st physician ----- this is really unique and interesting, and I've love to do a mash up of this idea with the old man who is the keymaker/keyholder from the Matrix movie

The Lie Kadru, the mother of all snakes, lies to her sister about the color of a flying horse's tail. She coerces her black snake children to latch onto the horse's tail, so she can win the bet, and her sister will become her slave. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. 
The Sons of King Sagara

• Down into the depths of the Earth, past: Nagaloka (snake home in the underworld), past the buffalo demon Mehisha, past the palace of V'ritra, King of Demons, past the graves, past the goblins (Pisachas) that eat the flesh of the dead, finally between the legs of the giant elephants holding the earth on their backs, and into the vaulted cavern holding the cauldron Kapila. 
• Interesting that in their creation stories, the middle of the earth is fire and hot lava, which is pretty accurate
• This is fleshing out the story of Ansuman praying to Ganga to come down and quench the ashes of his uncles to carry them back to life or to the afterlife. 

Matsya Avatar
The fish, the flood, and Manu
Wikimedia Commons

The Fish: Manu, the fist man, has pity on a fish and saves him by placing him in a jar of water. The fish grows, and grows, and grows, and finally outgrows the ocean. Moral of the story is have compassion, but not too much compassion, for there is an order to the world that is to be obeyed. 

• So, So, So interesting that this is similar to the story of the Great Flood, where a ship is built, and he has to watch all the earth be swallowed by water. The fish carries him to land and safety. 
• Manu came to make the beginning of the SECOND World this way

Twenty Two Goblins by Somadeva Reading Notes Parts A and B

Goblin
  from Warhammer

Baital Pachisi

Twenty Two Goblins

by Somadeva

translated by Arthur W Ryder

published in 1917

it is a translation of the Vetāla-pañca-viṃśati, 

a Sanskrit Classic

Available for FREE online from Project Gutenberg
and in AudioBook format through Librivox

A goblin is hanging in a tree, taking over a dead man's body. A good king is sent by a man desiring to become the King of the Fairies by retrieving the magical powers out of the goblin. The king is indebted to this man, because for many years, the man has been bringing him an offering of desirable jewels concealed inside of a piece of fruit everyday. The king asks him what he can do for him, and the man asks him to retrieve the goblin. 

The goblin tells tales to King every time that he is removed from the tree, and questions the King at the end of each tale. The King must answer honestly if he knows the answer, or his head will burst into a hundred different pieces. For 22 different stories, the King answers the goblin's tales, but on the final time, the goblin warns the king what the man who sent the King to him is really after. 

Reading Part A:

First Goblin: Well, these names are interesting. King Triple Victory, Ear-Lotus, Bite. I like that if the King doesn't answer, then his head will fly into a million pieces. I can't believe this how this whole thing got started though, and it's hard to believe a king would leave his duties to go and capture a goblin, but here we go.

Second Goblin: "Great-minded people do not waver until they have kept their promises, even at the cost of life." This is going to be a long journey with the goblin frequently escaping, I can see. 

Third Goblin: Usually women are bad, while only a few bad men occur here or there. Hummpppfff. I take offense to this. When was this story told, again? 12th century?

Reading Part B:

Fourth Goblin: "What good is life to me without my children?" And the father tried to cut off his own head, when suddenly a voice came out of nowhere, telling him to stop! I've been seeing this theme throughout a lot of old stories, lately. 

Sixth Goblin: The girl who transposed the head and the body of her husband and her brother. Ummmmm, interesting! What's going to happen here?! The king decides the head of the husband is to be her husband, for that's how we recognize people. True, it's how they think, and who really wants to kiss their brother? 

Seventh Goblin: The Mutual Services of King Fierce-Lion and Prince Good. I'm really loving these names here. This is actually one of my favorite stories: Ocean, sinking ship, dive in after the flag pole, sink down in the Ocean, discover a hidden city, and a beautiful maiden under the sea. **I really like the idea that the pool connects the two worlds. This is really similar to one of my favorite childhood books about a princess that goes between worlds through the decorative pond in her court, but I can never remember the name of that book.

                                               ~

Vetala Panchavimshati (Sanskrit: वेतालपञ्चविंशति, or Baital Pachisi is a collection of tales and legends from India, and was originally written in Sanskrit. "One of its oldest recension's is found in the 12th Book of the Kathasaritsagara ("Ocean of the Streams of Story"), a work in Sanskrit compiled in the 11th century by Somadeva, but based on yet older materials, now lost. This recension comprises in fact twenty four tales, the frame narrative itself being the twenty fifth." (From the Wikipedia Page Vetala Panchavimshati.

I read the text by Somadeva written sometime in the 11th Century in Sanskrit (I read the translated to English version, of course!), of which other stories related to this are presumably lost. Arthur W Ryder translated the text into English. Although, conflicting information shows that Arthur W Ryder used Dandin's version of the text, which was written in the 7th-8th Century. 

                                               ~

Scholarship is less than sense

Therefore seek intelligence.

— an epigram Ryder translated

 from the Panchatantra and quoted often.

Arthur W Ryder

Time Magazine described Ryder as "The greatest Sanskrit Student of his Day." He preferred to translate and publish works that interested and delighted him, rather than scholarly articles. He graduated from Harvard, and got his Dr. of Philosophy from the U of Berlin and the U of Leipzig, taught at Harvard and eventually landed at the University of California, Berkeley (one of my all-time favorite schools). 

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik Reading Notes Part D

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik
Image from Indian Epics: Reading Guides

Surasa's Children, Who Are Different :)
   So, dragons? Dinosaurs? Do we get Dragons here?

Immediately, we're treated to a story about Arjuna about to shoot a monster he happens upon, with all different parts of its body from different parts of an animal. It has one human arm though, and it raises its hand in blesses, asking Arjuna not to shoot. Arjuna decides not to shoot the monster, because just because it can't be imagined in a human mind, doesn't mean it couldn't have been imagined in the mind of god. Basically, the point is: CREATIVITY WINS.
Makaradhvaja

• That name seems made up, but oh well. Again, a very interesting story of how pregnancy happens. This time, Hanuman unknowingly begets a son when he is flying over Ocean to Lanka to rescue Sita for Ram. He drops a bead of sweat into the Ocean, and a fish swallows it and gets pregnant, bearing a 1/2 monkey 1/2 fish son. The son is appointed gate keeper of Patala, and no one is a match for him, except his father. And old monkey visits the land near the end of his life, and they wrestle, and neither can beat each other. It is then that Makaradhvaja knows that this is the father he has always longed for. 
• These bizarre pregnancy stories are definitely going to be used when my kids ask where babies come from. Cranes? Nah, kid, just don't get close enough to sweat on a girl, otherwise she'll become pregnant.

Satyr
image from GoodFreePhotos public domain

Parushmamriga

• Ok, I vaguely remember hearing this term before, so I'm curious to find out what it is. 
• 1/2 human above the waist, deer below the waist..... So, a centaur? No, that's a horse's body. A Satyr.... Like from A Lion, A Witch, and a Wadrobe... super interesting lores getting around the world here. 

Sarabha

• This is Shiva in the form of a terrifying beast: lion-like head with 8 legs, sharp claws, a pair of wings, and a very long tail. Shiva took on this form to challenge Vishnu, because Vishnu so enjoyed taking on the form of terrifying animals, that he would forget or neglect to go back to his original form. Shiva agreed to challenge his animal form, and he won, which reminded Vishnu to go back to his original form and to his abode on the Ocean of Milk. 

Hanuman

• Hanuman has another form that is worshipped... wait, what? Yep, apparently, he has 5 heads in this other form. He got trapped in the underworld of Patala (isn't that where his son, the 1/2 monkey 1/2 fish lives? I think so...) and to escape, he had to blow out five candles at once. In order to do this, he sprouted 4 more heads: a lion, a boar, an eagle, and a horse. This form is worthy of worship. 

Ganesha

• Ganesha, Ganapati, Gajanan, Vinayaka, maybe with the head of Airavata, Indra's white elephant mount -- He has a lot of names, this is confusing
• I love the story of Ganesha... his mom was lonely, so she anointed herself with Turmeric paste (love me some turmeric), and when it dried, she moulded a figure and breathed life into it. Hell yeah! Women making babies! Except Shiva got jealous, and lopped his head off, and then felt bad, and promised his wife to make her child better, so he just gave the kid the first alive head he saw... an elephant. Poor kid, lazy husband. Oh well, everyone loves Ganesha and his adorable trunk and belly. 

Finally, Human  VS Animals

• Ooooohhhh, interesting! Was Ram a Vegetarian or a Carnivore during his exile? Some say he only foraged berries and plants, but others say as a prince, he knew how to hunt deer, and ate their flesh, and wore their skin, and used their bones and horns for weapons. 
• The Pandavas, however, during their exile, definitely hunted animals and ate them
• The pain of animals does not go unnoticed. Yama records it in his great book where he records every action. "He who causes pain to animals has to pay for it, in one life or another."
• End times warning that the earth will be destroyed by a fire breathing mare who lives under the ocean. She makes the waters of the sea evaporate and turn into clouds, and then rain. If man does not protect the natural balance, then she will erupt in volcanic lava and destroy all of the earth, submerging the mountains and all humanity in the fire-lava. 
• Some say this mare will be the mount, or ride of Vishnu's final avatar, Kalki.
• Eerily similar to Judeo-Christian end-times warnings and predictions. 

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik Reading Notes Part C

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik
Image from Indian Epics Reading Guides post for MLLL 4993

Surabhi's Children With Hooves

• Gandharvas are celestial musicians who live inside flowers... interesting. First time I'm reading about their residence. 
• Raising of the Earth: once a demon dragged the earth under the sea, so the earth goddess cried out to Brahma for help. He breathed out of his nostrils a board who dove into the sea, speared the demon with his tusks, and lifted the earth out of the sea on his snout. The earth goddess clutched so tightly to the boar that we have folds in the earth, or mountains and valleys. The boar was Vishnu, and he buried his tusks into the earth, which is why mother earth produces plants and trees. 
• Ekavira Heheya: Again, we see that a woman (goddess) is cursed to live as an animal until she gives birth to a human child. It's interesting, they never state that a male child should be born, but it always seem implicit, and a male child is pretty much always born. Anyways, Lakshmi failed to listen to her husband, Vishnu, droning on and on as she was distracted by a beautiful horse. He cursed her to live as a horse, and so she left for the Earth immediately to do so. He missed her immediately (serves him right), so he too went down to the Earth in the form of a horse, impregnanted her, and she gave birth to a son, human, though he was named "son of Horses" and he grew up to be a hero. 
• Kadru and Vinata and Ucchaishrava's white or black tail: Kadru tricked her sister into becoming her slave by quarreling over whether the white flying horse was all white, or actually had some black in it's tail. She forced her snake children to get into the horse's tail, so when they checked the next day it would look like a black tail, and her sister would become her slave. Her children balked at the idea of cheating, but she kicked them, and forced them to obey her by threatening to allow them to be roasted to death in a fire if they did not obey. Ouch! What a cruel witch of a mother. 

Kamadhenu from Vikipedia
I'm laughing because I can't quite make out who it is, but there is definitely a god of the dung in this image. 

• Kamadhenu: celestial cow of the gods who not only produces milk, but can give you anything you desire. However, she is drawn to people who desire nothing, and so she likes to hang out with Rishi Vasistha. She had a daughter, Surabhi, who had a daughter Nandini. I met a lot of people in India named Nandini, and I always thought it was a pretty name. I also took a moment to pause and dwell on Kamadhenu.... while she can grant anyone anything that they like, she runs away from people who are greedy and desire too much. She much prefers to hang out with people who desire nothing... this is sort of like friendship, no? People who ask too much of us and just keep asking and asking and asking we tend to cut out of our lives, but people who don't need much and who are just there to support us are the people that we prefer to be around. 

Sarama's Children, With Paws

Some of the concepts in this book are just really, really out there. For example, Riskha, a male monkey who falls into a pond and emerges looking like a beautiful woman. Indra and Surya both fall in love with her/him, and she produces two children... sooo, she's completely changed genders. After a while though, she falls in the pond again, and re-emerges as her/his monkey form. No one recognizes him, and so he goes back to live in the forest. His human children eventually get raised by a sage, who curse them to live as monkeys, and they change into monkeys and go to the forest, where Riksha cares for them and looks after them... his own children.... Like, what? That's a lot of gender changes happening. 

Indra's Lore:

• Indra, the god of the sky and king of the devas rides the elephant Airavata who was six tusks, seven trunks and white skin

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Cat Lore

• "Many people in Bengal say that Shashthi is the goddess who helps mothers bear children and take care of them. She loves cats and their kittens. They also say that black cats follow Kali, the wild goddess of the forest, when she goes for a walk on new moon nights."
• I wonder how long black cats and their lore have been associated with the moon, specifically new moons? I'd love to write a story about Kali out for a midnight stroll through the forest with black cats darting around behind her. 

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik Reading Notes Part B

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik
Image from MLLL 4993 Reading Notes Guide

The Churning of the Milk Ocean!

 Probably one of my very favorite ideas from Hinduism

Image from Wikipedia

Vinata's Children Who Fly:

• Vinata/Vinita, who cares?
• Impatient with her eggs to hatch, she broke one early, and from it came Aruni, the shapeless god of dawn (charioteer of Surya, the Sun god). He was shapeless and angry with his mother for hatching him early.
• Her 2nd child was Garuda, the king of the birds
• He was once the slave of the nagas, the serpents, but he tricked them, and Indra granted him the power to eat the nagas as his natural food. From that day forward, he is always depicted with a snake in his talons
• Once their slave, now their predator

Jaimini Mahabharata

• I didn't know that another version of the Mahabharata existed, but apparently it does, and it's called the Jaimini Mahabharata. It's also apparently quite different than the Mahabharata that Vyasa wrote down. It's from 4 parrots who hatched under a bell in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and heard things in the hearts and minds of the warriors. The sages who came to clean the field when it was all over discovered them, and realized that they had heard things that no one else could have heard. They granted them the power to have human speech, and they told the stories, and their stories were written down by the sage Jaimini.

Goose has the power to separate milk from water. In other words, it has the ability to separate truth from falsehood. Saraswati is associated with the goose, and with herons, who are known for their concentration. 

Lakshmi/Alakshmi

• This is really interesting, because it highlights superstition around owls, which we have here in the West. If I am not mistaken, it is inauspicious to have an owl hanging around your house, right? From the Hindu perspective, Alakshmi, represented by the owl, brings quarrels to the household, if Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is not treated with respect. 

Turtle Island, from Pinterest and TugboatPrintShop

Kadru's Children, Serpents

I could find a lot of images with the earth resting on the back of a turtle, which is one of the ideas presented in Hinduism. Pattanaik also introduces the idea that the Earth rests on the hood of a serpent like a jewel. This serpent, Adi-Ananta-Shesha floats on the Ocean of Milk, and his coils are Vishnu's bed. I can also find a lot of images of this. However, I can't find many images representing the earth resting on the hood of a serpent.... "Naga-Mani" the serpent jewel, found in the hood of some special serpents, "it has the power to heal and bring fortune." "When Arjuna was wounded in battle against Babruvahana, the snake princess Uloopi secured this gem to save Arjuna's life."

World Elephant from Wikipedia

We also learned that 8 elephants hold up the earth, standing on the four cardinal directions and 4 other directions of the Earth, and they then stand on a turtle. 

We also learn that Nagaloka, the realm of the serpents, lives inside of the Earth. The whole spatial conception of how the Earth is held up and what's inside the earth, and where each of the realms sits compeltely fascinates me! Bhogavati is the underwater serpent kingdom also, where they rescued Bhima from drowning and cured him from the poison he had been fed. 

***"The Serpent Karkotaka stays coiled around Shiva's neck. As long as he is there he is safe from Garuda. 

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik Reading Notes Part A

Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik
Image from Reading Guides post MLLL4993

This week I am starting Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik. It is a mostly illustrated book detailing the animal tales from Hindu Mythology. I should mention that last week, I FINISHED (!!!!) 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik (via videobook format on YouTube!). He is a really great author, and while 7 Secrets was very informative, Pashu is lighthearted and fun! It's a perfect fit for right now, because all the small little stories seem like quick review of the more in depth stories I have been learning all semester (especially from the 7 Secrets book). I really recommend giving 7 Secrets a chance, especially if you're looking for a comprehensive overview of Hinduism. The Reading Notes I made on the whole 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art book-videos can be found here.

"Within infinite myths lies an eternal truth,

Who Knows it all?

Varuna has but a thousand eyes,

Indra, a hundred

You and I, only two."

Pashu: Pashu means animals in Sanskrit. Without animals in Hindu mythologies, the stories of gods, demons, humans and sages are incomplete. 

• All animals had a common father, Kashyapa (prajapati, father of all creatures), son of Brahma, but different mothers
• Timi gave birth to animals who swim
• Vinata........... garudas, to animals who fly
• Kadru .......... nagas, to animals who creep and crawl
• Surabhi........ to gentle animals with hooves
• Sarama ........ to wild animals with paws
• Surasa......... to animals who are different (monsters) :)
• Aditi.... gave birth to the devas
• Diti..... gave birth to the asuras -- demons who live under the earth

Origination Story of Humanity:

• "The first man, Brahma, saw the first woman, Shatarupa, and fell in love with her. He tried to touch her, but she laughed, and to avoid getting caught, she turned into a doe. Brahma turned into a stag, so she turned into mare, he became a stallion, she turned into a cow, he into a bull. She became a goose and flew up in the air, he followed her and took the form of a gander. Every time she took a female form, he took the male form. 
• This went on for millions of years, thus, over time, all kinds of beasts came into being...

Yogi Lore... Yogasanas

• "Shiva, the great yogi, was at peace with himself. In his joy, he assumed many poses, known as asanas. Many of these poses resembled animals. For example, ustra-asana resembled a camel. When Shiva took this pose, camels came into being. And so it was, Shiva stood in millions of poses, giving rise to millions of different kinds of animals."

Avatars

• Vishnu, who lives in the Ocean of Milk, sometime descends to walk the earth in the form of an animal avatar. "So the next time you see a fish, remember that it was once Vishnu." In memory of the many forms he took, various animals came into being.

Rashi

• constellation/zodiacs are called Rashi. Who came first? The stars or the animals, since the constellations resemble the animals? Did the design of the stars inspire the gods to create the animals?

Yoni

• Some Hindus believe that a being gets a human life after passing through 8,40,000 animal wombs. Astrologers say that one can find out which was the last animal's womb or yoni based on the time of one's birth. Your Yoni determines your personality, examples: elephant, cow, mare, snake, cat, dog, rat, monkey, tiger, goat, buffalo, and deer.
• This is a really interesting concept, and makes me think of the Chinese zodiacs and astrology with the year of the snake, or the year of the rooster. I would be really interested to know what Yoni I was born into. It's a shame that an old professor of mine was a Hindu temple priest and offered to read students' astrology's at the end of the semester. He read mine, but I had no framework for which to understand it, so sadly it was lost on me. I wish I could hear my Indian astrology again now that I have a better understanding about it.

Timi's Children, Who Swim

Manu

• 1st Human Being, Flood Story with Manu bringing all that is important to humanity on a boat. The giant fish he had saved (later revealed to be Vishnu) sprouted a horn and he tied the boat to the horn, and the fish took the boat to the highest place on Earth, Mount Meru. 
• Needs to be a balance between generosity and restraint (created civilization by saving the fish, but his generosity had destroyed the earth)

Parikshit's Wife

• Parikshit was the grandson of Arjuna, the famous archer. He was seduced by a frog princess (!!! sounds like a Disney story to me!), in her human form, and she made her husband promise that he would never let her see a body of water. Well, she saw a pond one day, and jumped right in, returning to her frog form. The husband ordered all the frogs to be murdered, and in order to make the murder stop, he promised to return his frog princess daughter to him as his husband in human form. She returned and followed him back to his house, but the love between them was never the same again. HA!

The Churning Of The Ocean

• I really like this story, and think it's really cute, but I've come across it a few times before already. Basically, the whole Ocean gets churned by a pair of enemies with a snake wrapped around a mount to stir the ocean, with a turtle as the base. Poison first comes up from the Ocean and threatens to kill everyone, but Shiva had compassion on them and swallowed all the poison. Next comes really magnificent beasts up from the Ocean. 

Adrika

• A fish cursed to live as a fish until she gives birth to human children! She went up to a man (a King called Uparichara) and drank his sweat, and became pregnant with twin human children. Someone found her and cut her open and that is how she gave birth to humans, but her twin children smelled dreadfully fishy! This is a story from the Mahabharata, and I think it is a darling little story to tell about how to become pregnant (instead of the tired old "Oh, the Stork delivered you" tale.) I could definitely see myself writing a story expanding on this cute little narrative. 

Image information: green cartoon fish from Wikimedia Commons and Dark fish from Pixaby

7 Secrets From Hindu Calendar Art: Brahma's Secret (Chapter 7, Part F) Reading Notes: EXTRA READING

7 Secrets From Hindu Calendar Art

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Chapter 7 -- Brahma's Secret 

(Video Part 1 of 2)

Via Video Book on YouTube

~

I'm finally finishing Devdutt Pattanaik's book, 7 Secrets From Hindu Calendar Art!!! After 6 long weeks! It has been so, so, so informative! This new "book medium," YouTube Video! (called "Video Book" format) is free and accessible on YouTube. The chapters have been broken down into chunks, and while quite dense, this chapter has two shorter videos instead.

I cannot stress how informative, useful, and helpful this book (Via Video Book!) has been for me. Each video is chocked full of information, but as I am nearing the end, everything is tying back to the earlier chapters quite well. I can definitely say that the first 1 to 2 chapters were a little overwhelming with information, and they took time to digest. However, now that I am finished!!!, I can actually sense that I have an understanding, a solid base, for Hinduism and what I am seeing when calendar art images are portrayed in the video before me. I truly, truly cannot recommend this book (video series by Epified) enough! 

~

Brahma's Secret (Part 1):

• Human Life is an opportunity
• Why is the Creator not given the same status as the Preserver, or the Destroyer?
• "When the word 'creator' is uttered, we take the Bible as the reference point and assume that since God is the creator there, it must be so in the Hindu world as well. But in the Hindu world, creation happens for a reason, and Brahma forgets that reason, which is why he is declared unworthy of worship."
• "Brahma created the world to understand who he was. The world was a woman, his creation, hence his daughter." 
• Brahma is unworthy of worship, and Shiva is everything that Brahma is not. 
• "The purpose of life is to realize the ego and overpower it — either destroy it as Shiva does or be detached from it as Vishnu is."

Hinduism + Astrology + Geomancy

• "Karma is manifested through nine celestial bodies, the Nava-Grahas, who rule time." [DP then discusses the Vedic art of Jyotish-shastra, the science of light, or astrology.]
  
  "Using gems and certain chants and rituals, one can increase or decrease the influence of a particular Graha in our life. Thus we can influence the future. It is not just fate; there is free will."

Vastu Parusha pinned down
by Oracle 125

• "Vastu Purusha was a demon who tried to rise from the earth and block the sky. The various gods pinned him down. Each god is ruler of the point where he still holds down the demon. [North is Kubera, South is Yama, East is Indra, West is Varuna, North-East is Soma, South-West is Surya, North-West is Vayu, South-East is Agni.]

7 Secrets From Hindu Calendar Art

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Chapter 7 -- Brahma's Secret 

(Video Part 2 of 2)

Via Video Book on YouTube

Brahma's Secret (Part 2): Human Life Is An Opportunity

• Nagas vs Yakshas (metals and gems), Yakshas reside in the north near himalayas
• Santoshi-maa-vrat: specifically a type of worship performed by women for maternity, end of calamity 
• "Seeking a boon and a blessing from a god, a God, a goddess, or a Goddess is considered a good thing, and the best way to overturn the vagaries of fate."
• Tragedies are signposts pointing us to find the purpose of life: of truly finding ourselves, the purpose which existed before Brahma sprouted many heads, the purpose of truly finding oneself, which Brahma forgot
• Hanuman: "Hanuman is called Sankat-mocham, the remover of problems. He is worshipped by people in the hope that he will destroy the problems in their lives the way he solved all of Ram's problems."

"If a monkey can become God, so can man. Thus, there is still hope for Brahma, the unworshipped God."

Reading Notes: Soordas The Blind Bard, an Amar Chitra Katha vol613

Soordas The Blind Bard
Amar Chitra Katha volume # 613
Image from DiscoverBooks

Today, I read an Amar Chitra Katha comic book. Have you heard of Amar Chitra Katha? I hadn't either, but they are incredibly famous in India, and generations have now been able to enjoy them. There are more than 400 titles, in more than 20 different languages, that retell stories from the great Indian epics, mythology, history, folklore, and fables in comic book format. It was originally created by Anant Pai, beginning in 1967.

Soordas:

• "Born 1478 A.D. to a poor Saraswat Brahman couple of Sihi Village, near Delhi."
• Born blind, everyone forgot his real name and began to call him "Soor" (Soor meaning blind)
• As a child, his parents and the world were cruel to him, and did not understand him. 
• His Brahman father taught his brothers Shlokas, verses in Sanskrit, and having heard a passing group singing Bhajans, Soordas went to his father and asked him to teach him Shlokas too. He did not.
• So, Soordas followed the same group singing Bhajans that passed by the next day. He followed them to the lake, they abandoned him in the morning. But, Soordas remained and sang devotional songs and ate whatever was offered to him by the villagers. He learnt from the Sadhus and the pilgrims on their way to Mathura and Vrindavan. 
• Deprived of one of his 5 senses, he was gifted with a 6th sense, and became a famous Diviner.
• Soordas divined where Zamindar's lost son would be located, so he came and honored Soordas and built him  a hut. 
• An ektara (musical one-stringed instrument) and vessels were given to Soordas, and disciples began to stay with him and serve him. 
• Soordas had a dream of Krishna with many disciples singing devotional songs. So, Soordas left to go wander the woods with his ektara and sing praise to Krishna. "Jai Gopal! Jai Jai Gopal!"
• He kept stopping and singing Bhajans and gathering large crowds, but each time he had to leave them to excape the world, finding unused paths. 
• He fell into a well, and a week later Krishna came to rescue him out of the well. 
• In his quest to find Krishna again, he stayed in Gow-Ghat near Mathura. Here he composed hundreds of Bhajans, acquired many disciples and his fame as the Singing Mahatma (Great Soul) spread far and wide. 
• Eventually, the greatest scholar-saint of all time, Vallabha Acharya met with Soordas, the poet-saint. Vallabha Acharya corrected Soordas from singing degenerating songs to Krishna to singing only of Krishna's life. Because Soordas was unlearned, Vallabha Acharya taught him all about Krishna so that Soordas might sing about him. He initiated Soordas as his disciple.
• "Shri Krishnah Sharanam Mama" - I take refuge in Krishna. Vallabha Acharya appointed Soordas as the chief singer in Shreenathji's Temple in Govardhan. 
• When Soordas sang of Krishna, the devotees could actually see Krishna in front of their faces, it was so vivid and lifelike. 
• His brothers visited him at the temple, and Soordas embraced them warmly as they apologized for not recognizing his greatness and perhaps causing him to leave home. Soordas would not leave the temple to go visit his parents, however, saying that all mankind was his family.
• His brothers soon realized that his Bhajans were on everyone's lips, and all mankind was indeed his family. 
• Even Tansen, the famous singer at the court of Akbar began to sing the songs of Soordas. 
• Akbar came to visit Soordas because Soordas would not sing outside the Temple of Krishna. Soordas composed a new song for him, and Akbar tried to give him some lands. Soordas would not accept them, and Akbar called him 'Indeed, he is a great Fakir.' (Fakir, derived from Arabic فكير means self-sufficient one who only possesses the desire/need for god. Also, poverty.)
• Once, When Soordas was at Mathura, Tulsidas came to seek his guidance.  The two departed from each other after a few days, and requested that each other sing of their god: '
• Tulsi, sing of Krishna!' 'Of course, but Soordas, sing of my Rama!'
• Soordas stayed in the Temple of Shreenath, yet his songs sung in Brij Boli (dialect of Hindi spoken in and around Mathura) became so popular that they were sung from Rajasthan and Punjab to Assam. 

Page 22-23 of Soordas The Blind Bard, Amar Chitra Katha vol613
Personal Photo, October 2016.

I could write about when he fell into the well and Krishna came to save him out of it. I could also write about his songs being on the lips of all of the peasants.

As far as including a piece of golden jewelry, he is quite poor and lives only on what is given to him. I will have to have a piece of jewelry gifted to him, probably around the time that his hut is built, by the Zamindar. Or I could have Vallabha Acharya gift it to him, since he taught him all about Krishna's life, and as Soordas' Guru, he would probably accept the gift from him.