Epics re-mastered
"Time is like a flower, Krishna said once. I didn’t understand. But later I visualized a lotus opening, the way the outer petals fall away to reveal the inner ones. An inner petal would never know the older, outer ones, event tough it was shaped by them, and only the viewer who plucked the flower would see how each petal was connected to each others.
The petal of this afternoon opened like a red sigh..."
Some lines from Chitra Banerjee's book -The Palace Of Illusions.
A offbeat perspective to the epic called mahabharat from the eyes of Draupadi.
Been reading a lot of this kids of literature, books that offer a alternate view of our epics, differing perspectives and viewpoints, that are not limited by self inflicted religious dogma. Books that provoke the reader to think beyond the tutored notions of divinity, that make you think beyond what we have read, seen and been taught. Here, we are offered a view of the epic where the protagonists exhibit a humanity that we can identify with and where even the gods are not above human foibles. A world where the gods eat, laugh and scheme alongside their human companions, the plotlines more thicker than any bollywood script can aspire for.
Krishna: The god who lived as a man Another book on a similar theme that
provides a account of Krishna's last hours on earth, and the myriad thoughts that accompany his last moments, as he lies below a tree waiting for his soul to join his maker. The narrative revolves areound him and his relationships with the women in his life, Radha, Rukmini, Satyabhama, Kunti, Gandhari and Draupadi. At different points in the story we are given an insight into the complexities of Krishna's relationships with these women and how they influenced him during his time on earth. Finely etched characters, quite a refreshing departure from what we have been fed through our religious literature.
The Mahabharat is supposed to have been written around 3000-3500 BCE. Not much change since then, the way i see it. Brothers still bay for each others blood, houses and real estate affiliations are still much thicker than blood. The mahabharat war was supposed to have brought on the age of kali, the kaliyug. Or had it already begun? What will it take to end this present age? A bigger war, no less. Who will populate the world after that? Which super specie will be willing to begin from the very beginning, picking up the pieces of its' war mongering ancestors? Being bequeathed a planet sick and diseased can't be much fun.
The petal of this afternoon opened like a red sigh..."Some lines from Chitra Banerjee's book -The Palace Of Illusions.
A offbeat perspective to the epic called mahabharat from the eyes of Draupadi.
Been reading a lot of this kids of literature, books that offer a alternate view of our epics, differing perspectives and viewpoints, that are not limited by self inflicted religious dogma. Books that provoke the reader to think beyond the tutored notions of divinity, that make you think beyond what we have read, seen and been taught. Here, we are offered a view of the epic where the protagonists exhibit a humanity that we can identify with and where even the gods are not above human foibles. A world where the gods eat, laugh and scheme alongside their human companions, the plotlines more thicker than any bollywood script can aspire for.
Krishna: The god who lived as a man Another book on a similar theme that
provides a account of Krishna's last hours on earth, and the myriad thoughts that accompany his last moments, as he lies below a tree waiting for his soul to join his maker. The narrative revolves areound him and his relationships with the women in his life, Radha, Rukmini, Satyabhama, Kunti, Gandhari and Draupadi. At different points in the story we are given an insight into the complexities of Krishna's relationships with these women and how they influenced him during his time on earth. Finely etched characters, quite a refreshing departure from what we have been fed through our religious literature. The Mahabharat is supposed to have been written around 3000-3500 BCE. Not much change since then, the way i see it. Brothers still bay for each others blood, houses and real estate affiliations are still much thicker than blood. The mahabharat war was supposed to have brought on the age of kali, the kaliyug. Or had it already begun? What will it take to end this present age? A bigger war, no less. Who will populate the world after that? Which super specie will be willing to begin from the very beginning, picking up the pieces of its' war mongering ancestors? Being bequeathed a planet sick and diseased can't be much fun.
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