As the Story Will Tell Itself: To Become the Mouth Which Holds the Universe

Is Dharma another name for the god Yama? What if this thing with the deer people has the normal deer plead and warn by day, but then by nightfall, Bheema, who had not left or gave up the taste for deer is visited by vengeful anthropomorphic deer. It would end up like something from a horror movie. "...the world is in danger from dancing itself to death." from page 127. That reminds me of the dancing plague of 1518, where people literally were dancing themselves to death for unknown reasons. Mankanaka's blood had become green sap from eating only plants. Shiva's blood is ash. Arjuna is sent to acquire the bow of Gandiva by going to Shiva on Mount Kailash and meditating there without giving in to distractions. He sees bejeweled trees and an old man who offers peace and bliss, but Arjuna ignores these temptations. The old man, actually Indra, offers him a drink, and Arjuna accepts this. What if the drink was actually a potion? What if taking it was actually a bad

While it is sad to see the abused state that the snake ended up in, you can't say he did not deserve it. Imagine the grand place the hermits found as something too good to be true. It could all be an illusion or curse. How often does my mind wander to these tragic ideas? These Brahmins hanging around Guha sound like the mean, old, evangelical Christians seemingly everywhere. I though Hinduism was more open-minded about how one could worship the Gods. Even some of the gods themselves do not seem to care about this. I suppose in earlier times, like many things, this was partially used to control people. The image of a world tree where the three Gods make up it and all worlds are interconnected: it is like Yggdrasil. I guess the story of Guha really proves how Hinduism is more open-minded about how one worships, especially in his case to where kicking the statue of Shiva every day was considered worship. I still blame Gautama for his wife, Ahalya, choosing someone else who could

While the gods were captured and were slaves to Ravana, I do wonder if they are abused or treated well (for slaves) under Ravana. Indra did say they were "seduced" by Ravana. I have this image of Ravana being totally ruthless as he took over Heaven but then being a really cool guy afterwards in Lanka. Maybe he even pays them a living wage. That or I can see another scenario like the United States penitentiary system: full of abuse and exploitation. One could absolutely turn this into a think piece like that. The membranous egg-thing reminds me of that flesh lump that resulted in the Kauravas from the Mahabharata . But unlike them, this egg-thing is not a source of evil. The perfect way to personify and describe the Gods: Brahma is the distracted, hopeless romantic; Wishnu is like the handsome, "popular" Marty Stu; and Shiva is like an edgelord or just some guy who thinks he's better than everyone else. So when Shiva discovers Sati committed suicide because h

The image of ash-smeared sadhus riding motorcycles is kind of funny to me. I like it. I bet you when Shiva is not meditating or doing rituals these days, he is out riding a motorcycle. I can just imagine a scenario where Narada and Vishnu argue with each other like "I love you more" and "No, I love you more" just back and forth for longer than they should. Would it not be interesting if there was a scenario where Narada had a lot of trouble coming up with a new song for Vishnu? He lost his muse and has a bit of an existential crisis. Later, he may regain it after some exchange with Vishnu. Is the section about Vishnu set in the modern day? Did Radha originally become upset at Krishna after seeing him also dancing with the other gopikas at the same time? It is understandable that she did. With how much Narada claims to love and worship Vishnu, he certainly does not seem to understand Vishnu very well. Like in the case of Narada talking about celibacy, Narada ha

Kama, god of love, trekked his way up Mount Kailash to find Lord Shiva. He had been tasked with making Shiva fall in love with the mountain princess, Parvati. Lord Brahma promised that the child of those two would be the one who would help the devas liberate heaven from the asuras once more. Even as the god of love, this was an overwhelming task. Shiva was a scary, powerful dude. Kama's legs shook with every step. Finally, Kama made it to the clearing where Shiva sat in meditation. He felt his stomach drop. He began to lose his nerve. The god of love paced around the outskirts of the clearing and tried to psych himself back up. "Can I do this? Should I do this? What will Shiva do to me if this does not work? Ah, but the other devas are counting on me! We may all be doomed if I don't do this... No pressure or anything..." Kama stifled a shout of frustration. Then he noticed Parvati entering the clearing out of the corner of his eye. His courage returned. He could d

Coming from Brahma's forehead or third-eye is Saraswati. So trying to hide from his lustful gaze, Saraswati moved to four other sides of Brahma with each head sprouting to look at her, hence why every story in just words about this says he grew four heads to look at her from every direction. These comics do help visualize what is actually happening in these stories I have been reading. Sometimes some details may get glossed over either by me or the source material. I too would be upset if someone stared at me all the time with unblinking eyes. The fifth head sprouted to look above Brahma: an easy target for a chopping. I am concerned about where and how Brahma would sprout his head is Saraswati moved somewhere below him. A war rages between brahmins and kshatriyas that results in an all-consuming fire (vadavagni) that could destroy the world. The Devas ask Shiva and Saraswati for help. Shiva gave the fire to Saraswati, and she then merged with a plaksha (fig) tree from whic

Recall that Sati killed herself during a sacrifice that Shiva was not invited to, and she was reborn as Parvati. So Narada does go everywhere chanting "Narayan!" Narada tells Himavat, her father, she is destined to marry Shiva. Himavat then takes her to wait upon Shiva. Parvati seemed to tirelessly work to h1lep Shiva with his rituals, attended to him in every manner, and she began to fall in love with him. Taraka is an asura who takes over heaven. Brahma granted him a boon that made him super powerful. Brahma, why do you keep creating problems? Oh... He says the son of Parvati and Shiva will defeat Taraka. Kama has a flowery bow with flowery arrows that manage to cast Shiva under the spell of love for a moment. What if Kama and Rati gather together a team of a few other love gods from other pantheons to actually help succeed in making Shiva fall in love with Parvati? There is strength in numbers. Rati is the goddess of lust, right? I am sure I do not understand

Oh, the story of Mahisha that I know all too well by now. But I did not know he commanded that the worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva be stopped. I thought no one worshiped Brahma, especially since he causes so much trouble with all of his gosh dingin' boons. I also noticed that there was no mention of these asuras actually coming after any followers of Brahma like they did for the followers of Vishnu and Shiva. Is it just me, or do a lot of these characters seem whitewashed? Maybe it is just something to help differentiate asuras from devas and comic book style coloration. Hell hath no wrath like Durga. Mahisha also turned into a lion, an elephant, and a bull besides his familiar buffalo form. And in that form, partially the head and torso becoming humanoid again, he was killed by Durga. Perfect, a story and information about Shumbha, Chanda, and Munda that I need fairly soon. Uttering "hum" will result in the one it is aimed at to turn into smoldering ash. Did

Brahma creates the universe for a reason but forgets it? A God becoming enchanted by his own daughter sounds like something you could expect from Greek mythology. Ew... Was the goddess who kept changing her form to escape from Brahma Saraswati? I think I remember something across and reading that story somewhere. And the Goddess being upset brought Shiva's wrath upon Brahma, which resulted in one of his heads (the fifth one) being chopped off, which represented the ego. What is a lakh womb? "By controlling the world, he believe he will validate his existence." That makes me think of all those politicians, business people, and religious figures. They all push for control over the world and others for their own selfish desires (though these people may not truly believe or understand that said desires are selfish and even harmful). These things are temporary and unfulfilling. These acts and goals are not worthy of praise or worship. So I guess if a God is like this, neit

The explanation of why the cow is revered so much by the Hindus makes sense. Cows provide milk which provides sustenance, but one may easily forget the usefulness of their hides and bones. I think Vishnu's promise that humans will stop over-exploiting the earth-cow was broken. Humans seem to be exploiting and destroying the earth at an alarming rate more so now than ever. So Lakshmi does have a sister, Alakshmi. I encountered her not too long ago in this week's reading ( Krishna Krishna ) but under the name of Moodevi. Remember that she is misfortune. I may have never connected that the continuous growth of Matsya and the eventual destruction of the world be the result of too much kindness and no boundaries. Is Vaman the incarnation of Vishnu that is thought to be Buddha? The picture looks like Buddha to me, but it may not be. Okay, but the killing of someone for being attracted to somebody else is terrible. Even if a God did this act, it does not make it right. I would s

Bhama crept through the shadows. She was currently tailing her uncle, Prasenajit, while he was traveling to another country. Recently her father, Satrajit, claimed that he had acquired a jewel known as the Syamantaka from the Sun God that would give him fifty measures of gold per day. Bhama did not doubt the power of this jewel, but she did doubt her father's story of its origin. She knew he must have stolen it at some point while he had gone to visit those aboriginal people in the forest. Her uncle borrowed it because it also has the power to protect its holder from the dangers of the forest. She followed him now in hopes to recover it and return the jewel to its rightful owners. Suddenly a lion burst out from the brush in front of Prasenajit. He squealed in terror. "B-b-back y-you b-b-beast!" he yelled. He thrust the jewel out in front of him in the direction of the lion. It snarled and prowled around him in a circle. Prasenajit's legs were shaking wildly and unco

Krishna finds his double, Paundraka. Paundraka says Krishna is his reflection, and Krishna respond it would be funny to fight his own reflection. What one of them did? Like one is in a fun house or something. You can kind of look at the debate and “battle” between Paundraka and Krishna as a debate of religion and logic. Paundraka also seems like a schizophrenic is he believes that he is an incarnation of Vishnu. But as was said, the people around him did encourage him to believe this for one reason or another.  The exchange of youth for old age sounds like vampirism. But I have already used vampirism in a story. I guess this could be twist for Yayati could be like he has to feed on others as a vampire that rapidly ages physically because he was not faithful to his wife, and the only way to undo this curse would be to feed on one of his sons (i. e. an exchange of old age for youth). The sons could either just refuse or even kill him. There are five circumstances under whi