Mahabharata

Beginning at a young age, we all start to hear narratives and after a while the stories become embedded into our minds. The stories represent much more than simple tales, rather they provide us lessons about ourselves and the world around us. Narratives offer a way to teach, without lecturing. The details in the story stay in our memory, making it much easier to remember the morals the tale exemplifies. Every culture has their own tales that tell their history or beliefs. For example, we have…

In David A. Lemmings book, The World of Myth, I learned more about the importance of the many gods and goddesses. Lemming explains the relationship between the stories of gods and humanity. He states that “their relationship is a human relationship, their family is a reflection of our families, their hierarchies mirror ours” (Pg. 87). Lemming believes that the deities are there to help us learn how to get over problems that we face in our own realities. He also believes that mythology give…

The television series, Mahabharat, is a 94 episode Hindi series that is based on the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. Although there are 94 episodes in this entire television series, I will only be focusing on episode 72 which corresponds to the near beginning of the Bhagavad Gita text. Episode 72 of the Mahabharat television series begins with a short dialogue between the blind king, Dhritarashtra, and his advisor, Sanjaya. Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya to tell him what had happened on the battlefield…

Rivers are regarded with love and reverence and fig ure prominently in the epic and folk literature of India. K. R. Srinivas Iyenga r suggests that the river stirs “an attachment almost personal”, in the Indian: “The ri ver in India is a feminine power and personality and the land (and men living on it) must woo her and deserve her love if their hopes of fruitfulness and security are to be realized” (Iyengar 323). The 96 Narmada and the Ganga from the saptsindhu – group of seven major rivers –…

2.2 Image of New Woman The new Indian women are making their presence felt in a striking way by means of self-assertion with roots in modern education, exposure to development, cultural contacts and exploitations of one’s capabilities and mental resources. They are searching for new horizons and new orientations to re-position their status in the patriarchal framework. Against this background it is necessary to find out whether the women depicted in the plays of Girish Karnad are able to attain…

on they were lower because in government women had no place in the military and no influence in politics. In India women were lower because only men could be priests, landowners, and warriors which were the top castes, and religious texts like Mahabharata and Ramayana portrayed women as weak and emotional considering the best women to be dutiful to her husband. While patriarchy was formed by religion in India, it was formed by government in China. In India the caste system developed sub-castes,…

him in the Hindu tradition by the actual unknown author(s) or compiler(s). The author of the shorter version, the Laghu-Yogavasistha, is generally considered to be Abhinanda of Kashmir. This is one of the longest Hindu texts in Sanskrit after the Mahabharata, and an important text of Yoga. In Chapter 2 of Book VI, titled as the story of Iksvaku, the text explains the state of nirvana (liberation). The practice of atma-vichara, "self-enquiry," described in the Yoga Vasistha, has been popularised…

The Bhagavadgita is a tale of duty in war and why it is necessary to perform one 's duty despite the cost. However this raises the question of whether the war in the Gita was justified. The god Krishna who performs the role of charioteer for Arjuna believes that the war is just and convinces him to fight. There is a theory known as the “just war theory” which details the legitimacy beginning a conflict and proper actions during the conflict. This theory consists of two major parts (Jus Ad Bellum…

Many believe that there is a connection between morality and religion, but do ethics truly require a religious or supernatural foundation? The answer to this question is no. Morality is independent of religion, and morals exist primarily to keep us safe and protect us from harm. Various religions each have different commands given by their God, but why is it that these commands exist? While some believe that these commands exist purely because God wants them to, the commands would seem arbitrary…

Through this trajectory of learning to be … while making and doing… I have always been more attached to the effort of trying to meet the needs of the artist as a person. I have learned that the art can survive only as long as the artist does… and my life in art and design began by serving those vulnerable creative communities who were tenacious enough to withstand the colonial legacy of destruction followed by our own apathy and indifference towards homegrown talent. I took a decision NOT to…