Spring 2018 Indian Epics

Vishnu rests on the serpent Ananta while Brahma appears within a lotus flower emitting from Vishnu's navel Image Source: Wikimedia Commons I like starting things at the beginning. Anything with more than one episode or book I refuse to begin unless I can start where the story does. The wild array of characters, gods, goddesses, demons, people and places found in Hindu mythology was bewildering, and so I chose to try starting at the beginning. That did not work as well as I had hoped, but I learned quite a bit more than I intended. Creation and Recreation I quickly discovered that the Hindu origins of our world were every bit as complex and detailed as the rest of Hindu mythology. Rather, the world as we know it belongs to a cyclic existence and has been created and destroyed many times over, each cycle referred to as a Kalpa, or aeon, and lasting 4.32 billion years in length. In each Kalpa there is a new creation, which is why there are so many creation stories present ...

Negative feedback (in the case of constructive criticism) works far more efficiently than positive feedback for me. I hate to make mistakes, and I hate being told of my mistakes even more, but I pay far more attention to feedback which indicates an error or an opportunity for improvement than I do to reading "Great job!" No one enjoys having their errors pointed out, but I try to see each instance as a chance to learn.  I was not always like this. The article 14 Signs Your Perfectionism Has Gotten Out Of Control  provides an apt summary of my earlier self. In fact, there are several statements which I still identify with today. Most accurate would be a constant knowledge that I am never finished; there is always another paper to review, another graduate school to apply towards, another set of vocabulary flashcards to review, and a fridge full of slowly rotting produce because I don't make enough time to cook what few healthy foods I buy. These things, and so many...

There lived a monkey tribe in the Himalayas, and their leader was Devadetta. His consorts were many, but his sons were few, and cursed. None lived to the age of adulthood, and he despaired at finding an heir to his kingdom, a prosperous and wholesome land. What Devadetta did not know was that among his consorts there hid a Rakshasi, a wily shape-changing spirit who schemed to take over his kingdom, seeding her curses through the land and preventing any other heirs from interfering with her plans. This Rakshasi waited until she carried the king’s child, then spirited him away to a far forest. She raised him with falsehoods of the king’s depravity and awful deeds. The child grew to hate his unmet father. When the young monkey reached his coming of age, she rejoiced in his strength and courage. “See, my son, how valiant and cunning you are,” she told him as they journeyed back to the kingdom of Devadetta. “Your evil father cannot stand against you.” When the young...

I chose to focus on The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses  for this week's reading. Translated by Robert Chalmers in 1895, it is one of myriad tales contained within The Jataka, Volume I . There were parallels within this story to Cronus, a mighty titan who chose to eat his offspring rather than allow them to one day usurp his throne. In that story, the mother of the children protected one of them and spirited the child away to grow up strong and safe away from a dangerous father. Also too, in that story the child returned (as Zeus) and defeated Cronus. The monkey son, who is actually the Bodhisatta, upon meeting his father realizes his life is in danger. Sent to gather colored lotus flowers from a lake haunted by a terrible ogre, the monkey observes that footprints only lead down to the lake. The image of a monkey whizzing across a lake surface gathering flowers without entering the water is comical, but still better is the mental image of this terrible ogre returning with th...

The World's Largest Bird Sculpture - Jatayu Nature Park Image Source: Youtube Jatayu and Sampaati These two brothers seem to provide an intriguing parallel for the Greek story of Daedalus and Icarus; I would very much like to read further to find out which story came first. The beautiful sculpture shown, a rendition of Jatayu, is part of the Jatayu Nature Park, located in Kerala, India. The brothers are eagle demi-gods, who when young competed regularly for height accomplishments in flying. Apparently Jatayu flew too high and started to lose his wings, and Sampaati flew above and shielded him, forever losing his wings in the process. Panchatantra One of my favorite things to do is seek out similarities in ancient stories. Did you know that the Sumerians, the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Assyrians, and the Hindus all recount stories of an enormous flood, a single man, and the divine instruction to build a vessel to survive the deluge? What I find most fascinating is tryi...