I took a lane to nostalgia and was browsing through my old blog posts and landed upon this post on Mahabharata and Perspectives. It’s quite amusing to find that the perspective as mentioned earlier has changed, indeed (developed, rather!) into another form. Given the path that I had to travel over the years after the post, it’s no wonder that perspectives change.
Reblogging! And new post in draft. To be posted at the earliest!
Mahabharata is one of my all time favourite ‘experience’. I term it an experience because, quite often when I get to read/hear/watch retellings of the great epic, a thought process occurs, which gives rise to new perspectives, new vistas, new ideas, which are experiences that need to be savoured deeply! I had grown up listening to Mahabharata […]
I had been away for a long while, as my personal and professional commitments had taken a higher priority. And I’m back to my good world of blogging, which sadly had to take a backseat.
Writer’s block, I should say, is one which anyone would hate, when trying to type out a good post, and that too after an exile. And I keep thinking, observing, little bit of rolling too, to come out with something worth posting about, to celebrate my return to Words and Lines. And there, I get a sudden flash from a block of memory.
The holy nights and celebrations of Navaratri have started and it’s supposed to be the time for spiritual ‘reconciliation’. Well, if one is ready to explore the unknown and is ready accept the outcome, any time would be a good period of celebration, for such reconciliations and realizations that follow.
The Navaratri celebrations signify the victory of Goddess Durga over the tyrant Mahishasura, the victory of Sri Rama over Ravana, or more precisely the victory of ‘good’ over ‘bad’
The concept of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ has always been and should always be debatable. What’s seemingly good to one is bad to another and the vice versa holds good too. What’s good in a situation might be a bad one in a different situation, from the same point of view that held it as good, earlier!
Mahishasura, a strong willed, tough devout, noble enough to receive boons of greater strength and power, turned into an arrogant bundle of vile, to unleash his powers over the unparalleled. Well, the neurons inside Mahisha’s brain would justify how being a ruthless tyrant, would be for a noble cause! That’s how perspectives work! But rising over good, bad, right, or wrong, one level headed cause must create a balance from every known and unknown relativity, which is denoted here by Durga, who adorns a third eye over her forehead, that could see the unseen and foresee the not to be seen.
Anyway, the twenty eyed Ravana couldn’t view the better horizons as seen by the ‘dual’ eyed Rama, and it paved way for his victory, or more aptly, the balance as denoted by the bow he carries! A similarly different perspective, with a differently similar example!
So, in my ways, Navaratri can more aptly be put as a celebration of the restoration of the erstwhile fallen balance, than the victory of ‘good’ over ‘bad’
Such realizations, celebrations culminate in on the eve of Vijayadasami, the last day of the Navaratri, and the day for new beginnings.
Preparations under way for celebration of Dasara/Navaratri at Mysore.
Festivals are about celebrations, relationships, realizations, knowledge, colour, food, pomp, splendour, sharing, giving, receiving, and so many other things, abstract. And for a long festival, the preparations for which begin even long before, there is so much to do within.
I wish a Happy Navaratri. I also seek blessings for more knowledge, and time, and to blog regularly.
This work of words comes from my level of knowledge and understanding. I’m always ready for any correction or discussion.
I woke up today, as usual, to a lazy morning. And then struck a sudden poetic thought, “..the demons of darkness have slept, as the spirits of light are waking up..” These lines were echoing in my mind, all day, only to realize that we tend to associate ‘darkness’ with demon, and ‘light’ with spirit. And deepening further, that demon must mean something bad though spirit should mean good, and dark is bad while light is good! The prejudices, mental setups cheat and mock us on a narrow lane, though we claim to be broad minded. Now this should make a quite serious post. But i wanted to write something different and came my attempt in poetry (after a long time) Dawn!
Dawn and Dusk follow each other, and in way to represent them, I wished to repeat the first words of every line of the poem, in a symmetrical fashion. And here is my Dawn (literally, as i’m waking up from a stint from blogging!)
The spirits of dark, are to rest. And then woke up, those of light, warm and bright. Their warriors shining, upon the world, as we know. The chants of song, of the lore, by the priests, to the light, rendering charm and glory, rendering beauty, to the faith, by the folk, of the soul. The wind blows, as light rises, upon every tower, their spire, warm with the ray, those reaching and shining, are who, The spirits of light.
Mahabharata is one of my all time favourite ‘experience’. I term it an experience because, quite often when I get to read/hear/watch retellings of the great epic, a thought process occurs, which gives rise to new perspectives, new vistas, new ideas, which are experiences that need to be savoured deeply!
I had grown up listening to Mahabharata stories from my grandma, watching the B.R.Chopra teleseries (the re-telecast actually! i’m not that old 😉 ) – Mahabharat (1988 TV Series), reading the English translation of Mahabharata by Rajaji – Mahabharata and an illustrated modern retelling by Devdutt Pattanaik – Jaya. In an earlier post, I had written about this modern retelling – Perspectives. There are various anecdotes associated with Mahabharata, which also provide varied insights and knowledge on it. Take off the religious angle, and it can beat a story of any genre, hands down!
It is generally said that, if something isn’t mentioned in the Mahabharata, then it doesn’t exist at all! And that’s because there are numerous retellings, abridgements, expansions, addition of ideas, commentaries, exclusion of ideas, folklores, corrosions, misunderstandings, etc on this already grand epic!
There are episodes in this narration that tease the logical part of our mind, and then there are portions that tease our illogical parts. And it is up to us to judge if a character in this epic is good or bad, or neutral, and that depends on how we view the scenario. This is the reason that there are many flows in the Mahabharata. Now this should explain the title – Changing Perspectives.
In my younger days, I preferred the action and grandeur of the narration, to the philosophical arguments. The fighting sequences, the grand palaces were more fascinating than the Bhagavad Gita and the other tenets. But now, I yearn for more of philosophical tenets, the varied perspectives that they provide, the various commentaries that have been written pondering over the realms known and unknown. The action and grandeur just seem normal and do not excite me anymore. This gives another meaning to the title – Changing Perspectives.
Mahabharata was nothing more than a religious story, for me in childhood. Only to realize later, that it is a lesson on how to lead life, and also how not to lead life. Probably I might realize something else, in future. Changing perspectives again!
My thoughts on the Kaal Trilogy book series authored by Sangeeta Bahadur.
It was a fine but boring Friday evening in the last week of October 2013. With not much of assignments, I hopped into the Landmark showroom (sad the Landmark showrooms are closed for long, now) at the office cafeteria. It was there that I saw this book ‘Jaal’. The book was unheard, and I hadn’t known about its author Sangeeta Bahadur too. Jaal was the first book in the Kaal Trilogy series. The book’s synopsis seemed good, the reviews in GoodReads were few but promising, and I went ahead to buy it.
Honestly saying, I read, re-read, and re-read the first 100-120 pages of this novel of about 450 pages, for almost 20 times! The narration started midway, and ended abruptly. There wasn’t any link between the chapters, and it was really tough maintaining a connection with the flow. But the fruit of this effort was more than the energy spent. The pace picked up after the first quarter of the book. The loose ends got taut, and all things made sense, and only increasing the suspense and the thrill of what comes next!
Jaal is about a teenaged boy named Arihant, who is sent on a journey by his parents. The purpose of the journey is unknown to us, and Arihant too! Along the journey, he discovers several facts about himself, about life, makes new friends, experiences several adventures, loses the path, and so on. We travel with him along too, to experience all these emotions. There are few subplots, which only enhance the mystery of the journey.
There are slight similarities to The Fellowship Of The Ring, with the protagonist going on an adventurous journey, with some friends. But in Jaal, the final destination is unknown, the purpose of the journey is unknown too, to Arihant and us! Jaal started with a whimper, and ended with a majestic bang, leaving behind a great suspense, thrill and expectation of what is going to happen? what should happen? who is going to make it happen?
The old book and the new book. Differences are so obvious!
I loved this book to a great extent, though I have a feel that, this book wasn’t marketed well! So much that the second book in this series Vikraal was launched in May 2015 without any fanfare, and I came know of it, last week (unlike the other books, trilogies, etc; not mentioning or specifying any in particular 😉 ) My instant reaction was to order the book, and had it delivered today.
I’m yet to start reading this book, and would definitely return back after finishing, with what this book contains (oh but, no spoilers! you can thank or scold me for that 🙂 )
The previous Shiva Trilogy series by Amish Tripathi caught the interest of many into reading alternate mythology. I’m not a big fan of alternate mythology, yet the beginning of the Shiva Trilogy was very interesting, though I felt the ending was mediocre. Now the author has come up with the Ram Chandra Series and first book of the series, Scion Of Ikshvaku was released on 22nd June. I had preordered my copy and received it right yesterday. Received with a metallic bookmark. Happy!
‘Kaushik’ is an important character in the series 😉
Coming to the book, the story is an alternate mythology (or can be said a fictional story too), based on the Ramayana. This book elaborates on the beginning part of the Ramayana. It can be loosely said that this book covers Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda and Aranya Kanda. As it is an alternate mythology, there are twists, characters, drama, sub-plots added by the author. Some of these are very interesting and some not-so.
There are some philosophical conversations that are present in this book, which are highly thought provoking and interesting. One for example…
‘Exactly!’, said Ram. ‘If He is my God, if He picks my side over someone else’s, He is not the One God. The only true One God is the one who picks no sides, who belongs to everything, who doesn’t demand loyalty or fear; in fact, who doesn’t demand anything at all. Because the Ekam just exists; and His existence allows for the existence of all else.’
Those who have interest in philosophy, mythology would find this book interesting, though those who follow orthodox way may not. Taking apart the ‘religious’ angle, the book can also be a good fictional read. Waiting for the next book in the series.
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