Week 13, Reading Diary A, Sita's Ramayana

Author: Samhita Arni

Artist: Moyna Chitrakar

Title: Sita's Ramayana

Year: 2011

Sita's Ramayana

pages 1-36

This is another graphic novel. I really love Sita so much, and I thought it would be fun to learn more about her in order to write more about her. So far, the many ways that I have read the story of Sita, they all really don't have as much variances as I had expected. The channel that the story is told is mostly what changes. 

This book is so vivid in color. More so than the comic books or the other graphic novel I read about Sita. Also, this one I checked out and could take home and the others had to be read in the library. I took more extensive notes on those because it was harder to be able to revisit them if I had questions.

"Violence breeds violence, and an unjust act only begets greater injustice."

In the beginning in the forest, Sita narrates that it was simple compared to where they came from. The temptations of evil came upon them and caused problems, first in the demon, then the deer. The minstrel that causes Sita to cross the ward of protection and be nabbed by the demon king Ravana.

"The Rakshasi, Trijatha, was kind and compassionate and had the gift of prophecy."

Hanuman shows up.

Week 11, Reading Diary A, Hindu Calendar Art, Ganesha's secret

Ganesha's Secret

Title: Hindu Calendar Art

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Year: 2009

For this weeks readings and the next as well I will be viewing the movie the 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art. 

The God Shiva and his Goddess wife Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya are the divine family. Ganesha and Kartikeya are gods with lower case to show they are lesser gods. Shiva is a God, but not The God.

I am really liking the movie so far. It is a nice change of pace from actual stories. This is super informative and philosophical. This appeals to me.

There are stories in this movie, like the story of the mango and the better son. Ganesha is wiser than his brother. His brother Kartikeya travels around the world, and Ganesha encircles his parents because they are his world. 

Ganesha removes obstacles and Kartikeya leads other gods in battles. Ganga, the river that springs from Shiva's top knot is a goddess of the river she embodies. Shiva is a destroyer, the world ceases when Shiva closes his eyes.

"Divinity is formless, but as humans we require forms to understand it." 

The four headed male deity is Brahma. His existence implies the existence of his counterpart, but where is she? The Vedas are a book of hymns,timeless and universal, not of human origin and during a drought they had been forgotten. A Sage named Vyas remembers them and compiles them. Suka (means parrot) is the parrot headed Sage, the son of Vyas. There is an image of Brahma blessing Suka and the energy (of formless knowledge) is the implication of Saraswati the mother of the vedas.

Brahma did not create the vedas, no man can create without a woman. Not even God.

Four heads represent the 4 expressions of the vedas, the four goals in life.

1) dharma- right conduct

2) artha- economic activity

3) kama- pleasure pursuits

4) moksha- spiritual practice

There can be local manifestations of the cosmic god. People who can become holy men that can transcend human limitations can be worshipped. This is how they get a god and a God. They serve different functions.

Vishnu- a pan-Hindu God, a king who reclines on the coil of a serpent that floats on the ocean of milk. Unlike Shiva who is a menidcant that lives on a snowy mountaintop.

Parvati is also Shakti. There can be goddesses and Goddesses.

Two hands in an image indicated that the person is human. This is important because sometimes great people have been elevated to a status of worship.

Vishwakarma is a god that is nearly an equivalent of the Roman deity Hephastus, he is a Vulcan god for potters and metalsmithing etc. There is also a deity that is like the love god, cupid, named Kama. There is also similarities to the deity Zeus in the god Indra. This gives the appearance of relatedness of the Greek myths and Hinduism, but  this is not the whole truth.

Greek subjective truth is different than the Hindu subjective truth. The Greeks have times where the gods are overthrown by titans and fear humans etc, this is missing from the Hindu myth.

Hijras are men who feel themselves to be women and are outsiders to society. They dress as women and live with others like them, begging and also prostitution to survive.

The goddess Bahuchara is tolerant of the gender challenged and has a following for some that have turned themselves into eunichs and has a myth about turning a boy into a woman, they fall into the pond and it happened because the goddess Bahuchara was there.

The goddess Annapurana is the kitchen goddess, the one who feeds,and she becomes the goddess Lakshmi.

Ganesha's elephant head- no known enemies in the animal world.
Pot belly- excess resources, nobility
Rat- an annoying pest, but is his pet
Ganesha represents a life of power and prosperity without any problems. Hid form is a container of an idea. This is an ideal that Hindu's aspire for.

Week 10, Reading Diary A, Sita Daughter of the Earth

Bibliography :

Author: Saraswati Nagpal

Artist: Manikandan
Year: 2011

                                                Title: Sita: Daughter of the Earth

pages 1-45

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This is the first graphic novel I have ever read. Since it is on reserve in the library, like the comic books I read in week 9, I am making a more complete set of notes of what is going on in the story to be able to go back and reread it. Usually if I forget something I can easily pull it back up because of the easy links we set up as crumb trails. The next two blogs are longer than normal for this reason. As far as I can tell, the graphic novel does not really differ from the storyline of the one I read. It was just a different experience seeing the story illustrated.

In the beginning, Sita is telling the her story. It started in a time cycle called the Treta Yuga, an age of magical powers and the gods and demons walked alongside the mortals.

Sita's parents were perfect king and queen but lacked a child, so they prayed to a wise guru lady and Janaka, Sita's father used a golden plough after they meditated for 7 days, gave away wealth and received blessings from Rishi's.

Sita is born, the name means daughter of the earth. She became the Princess of Videha. Then she had a sister, Urmila. As a child, she is told to stay out of the room that holds the sacred bow that no one has been able to lift. Sita accidently loses her ball in the room and in order to retrieve it, she moved the bow by barely a touch.

She also  grew up with her cousins and a young uncle. She loved to study history, law, philosophy, tradition, logic and wisdom. She cherished the time spent with the goddess Bhudevi, the one her parents prayed to for her earthly incarnation.

When she is 16 she goes to the courts to help her father with the issues of the people. She wants to be trained to fight, but her father tells her no. She is of the Kshatriya class (warrior/kingly) but not allowed to fight, and Sita has issue with this paradox. That night Bhudevi comes to her in a dream and tells her it is not her destiny, she will meet the prince who will kill demons. He will be her husband, and she is obsessed with the idea. 

The Prince of Ayodhya is Rama, the guy of Sita's dreams. He is known for attacking the Rakshasas in the forest. Sita plans a test for the man who is to be her husband. He has to lift the great bow and string it at her swayamvara (party). Her sister tells her that Rama and his brother Lakshmana are coming to the party.

Many qualified men of all ages came to the party to take the test and claim Sita as his wife. Sita prayed to Bhudevi that only Rama would be able to lift the bow because she was in love at first sight with him. Likewise, her sister only had eyes for Rama's brother. Her father was upset, thinking that Sita had asked an impossible task and would remain unmarried because of course all the men could not budge the bow.

Rama handled the bow like it was a toy. The two royal families, Ayodhya and Videha were glad to be joined and they arranged for Lakshmana's twin to marry and also Bharata to marry Sita's other two sisters. Four brother's and four sisters. Big family alliance. All the women would have to leave their family and join their husbands kingdom. As Sita is saying her good-bye's to her mother, her mother gives her important advice about the laws of Ayodhya being her priorities now.

Rama's father, King Dasharatha has a bad dream and knows he is going to die soon and needs to name his successor. He names Rama. His Queen Kaikeyi's hatching a plan to manipulate the plan of Rama being a king, because she fears being made a lowly servant under his rule. So she is reminded that the king long ago swore to give her two boons, and she was calling them in. She wanted the king to renounce his plans and make the brother, Bharata the king. And also that Rama be banished for 14 years to the forest to live as a hermit.

Rama and Sita have no choice because of their honor code but to obey, and so does the king. Rama does not hold a grudge, but understands why the queen is acting out of fear and also knows that his brother is innocent. Rama feels bad for Sita. She is supposed to be a queen, not live in the forest. It is dangerous and Rama urges Sita not to go, but she insists her place is with her husband.

Rama's brother also feels it is his duty to go to the forest with his brother. Lakshmana goes along. They go across the river and find a nice spot to build a cottage. Rama's father dies of a broken heart and the family comes for a visit. His brother is angry at the queen for creating drama and refused to rule. But Rama makes peace with the queen and urges his brother to as well and tells his brother he has to go do his duty. His brother is sad because he will be in luxury and Rama will be living in poverty. Rama only cares about keeping his duty.

The group visits an ashram and is told to go deeper into the forest. They meet a Rakshasa and it grabs Sita and Rama and his brother kill it.

Week 9, Reading Diary A, Star-Crossed Lovers

Amar Chitra Katha Vol 661

Star-Crossed Lovers

Image found on Google ppvx.finolib.top

This is a very new experience for me. I am not familiar with reading comic books at all, much less one from another culture. So, I am going to move out of my comfort zone of doing the same thing and do something brand new.

This story caught my attention because I love the idea of soul mates, twin souls, soul monads and that we reincarnate over and over with our loved ones. I have felt in my life that I have been star-crossed with more than one person.

So what I am noticing is that things move very quickly in this story. There is the villain side that is battling the good side and the bad guys (Asuras?) know this guy, Shukracharya, who knows the art of bringing the dead back to life ( Sanjivani) and the good guys do not have this knowledge.

The valiant Devas (the good guys) go to ask, Kacha, the son of Brihaspati, to go and learn this art in order to be able to win in the unequal battles.

Meanwhile, it appears that Kacha is smitten with a lovely lady, Devayani who appears to be the daughter of his Guru?  And then he romances her and she is also smitten with him.

Kacha studies with the Guru and the Asuras grow suspicious of his motives, they plot against him and eventually killed him, cut to  pieces, fed to dogs. His lover, Devayani notices that he does not come home on time with his cattle. She worries that he is dead.

The Guru brings Kacha back to life and Devayani scolds him for worrying her. But he tells of the Asuras killing him and then coming back to life. Time passes and Devayani asks Kacha to go to the forest and bring her flowers and Kacha is ambushed again by the Asuras and is killed, his body in the water. Once again when he is late coming home his lady and Guru miss him and Guru brings him to life. The Asuras again know that he lives. The Asuras get him again and burn him, put him in wine. They give the wine to the Guru and he drinks it.

Devayani knows he is dead and asks Guru to bring him back, he tells her there is no point. So then Devayani decides she does not want to live with out Kacha.

The Guru cursed himself by drinking the wine, and now it's forbidden for those engaged in pursuit of wisdom. Kacha is going to come out of the Guru but it will kill him an Devayani is upset that he will die. So he teaches her the craft of Sanjivani, Kacha also knows the art now. Kacha brings the Guru back to life. The Guru goes to scold the Asuras, because he believes that Kacha loves his daughter.

Kacha learned what he came for and decides to leave the girl and the guru. They had both hoped he was going to stay and marry. But Kacha feels his duties are greater.

The girl forgets about the boy and life goes on.