• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Login
NRI Affairs
Youtube Channel
  • News
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Culture
  • Visa
  • Other
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Culture
  • Visa
  • Other
No Result
View All Result
NRI Affairs
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Indians and mythology

The single ‘sacred’ lens through which we view the richness of our ancient stories and myths is possibly a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, muses Kedar Anil Gadgil.

Kedar Anil Gadgil by Kedar Anil Gadgil
June 3, 2022
in News, Views
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
0
Indians and mythology

Image by jyoti pandalai from Pixabay

144
SHARES
1.3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Advertisements

Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother who, in spite of having a short temper, stayed away from the war at Kurukshetra, was travelling through the country on a pilgrimage when he came to Naimisharanya (the Naimisha forest) where he found a clutch of sages listening to the Puranas narrated by Romaharsha, a Kshatriya with a Brahmin wife and hence, a son who was designated a ‘Suta’ (yes, there are different names for children born to mixed caste parentage, as would be expected of this intricately designed system of oppression; but that is not the point of this post). Romaharsha was either slow to act or did not recognise Balarama as divine or for whatever reason, did not wish him with folded hands as everyone else did. This angered the demi-God and he killed Romaharsha, much to the chagrin of the other sages who had promised him a long life. Balarama, to pacify them, blessed his Suta son, Ugrashrava (also called Sauti) with the boon of being the teller of Puranas, and specifically a particular story.

Sauti narrated a story to Shaunaka, who is considered the first Sanskrit grammarian (and wrote the Rgveda Pratisakhya, which is a detailed guide to pronunciation) and who was present in Naimisharanya to teach the other sages a specific yajna. In this story, Sauti talks of a previous sage Vaishampayan narrating the story of the lineage of King Bharata, the son of Dushyant & Shakuntala to King Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit, grandson of Abhimanyu, and the great-grandson of Arjun. The stage is a sacrificial yajna being conducted by King Janamejaya to eliminate all snakes from Earth following the death of his father from a snake bite. Within this story, called Jaya, sage Vaishampayan, the narrator, tells King Parikshit about a great war that his ancestors fought. The story of this war is called Mahabharata.

But that is not the end of the story-within-a-story-within-a-story-within-a-story narrative. All of this is actually an epic poem that is dictated by Vyasa muni (another sage, the first, and illegitimate son of Satyavati, later the wife of Shantanu, the great grandfather of the Kauravas & Pandavas), who is supposed to be an immortal partial incarnation of Lord Vishnu and also the compiler of the mantras of the Vedas into four Vedas, as well as the author of the eighteen Puranas and the Brahma Sutras. And I am not even including a million other side stories and details in my short post.

Advertisements

How utterly fascinating is this! How deep and sumptuous is this vein of literary, philosophical, spiritual, historical, and cultural gold that can be mined indefinitely for unlimited stories and insights, for great entertainment and art, for literature and philosophy! How poor would Shakespeare’s contribution to the English language and Anglo-Saxon culture look and how bland GRR Martin and JRR Tolkein seem in comparison were we to view this as mythology and literature instead of religion, or worse still, moral guides! Oh, the misery of a small mind!

Now, tell me, if we Indians weren’t so stupid as to consider this history and the story as religious (and hence, sacred), would this not beat literally any Greek or Roman mythology hands down? Would it not be an understatement to call it Shakesperean? Would this not be epic (both literally and figuratively)? How fascinating would this be if only we didn’t effing deify everything? Why must we associate every goddamned thing with the divine, and hence untouchable? Why are we so humourless, thin-skinned, quick-tempered, and righteously indignant about every slight slight, whether real or imagined, mostly imagined? I think we are poorer for it. And as an ancient civilisation, rich in history, mythology, languages, cuisines, costumes, cultures, traditions, storytelling, art, music, literature, science, philosophy, statecraft, war, architecture, agriculture, mathematics, racial diversity, and shared experiences of millennia, isn’t it rather sad that being poor in our perspective of life takes away everything we have gained over the past few thousand years?

I say it’s just tragic.

Follow NRI Affairs on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube.

India changed my life forever: Samantha Graham
Advertisements
Share58Tweet36Send
Kedar Anil Gadgil

Kedar Anil Gadgil

Kedar Anil Gadgil is a startup and entrepreneurship consultant, currently based in Pune. His business expertise is in fields as wide-ranging as technology, trading, media, pharmaceuticals, aviation, luxury realty, finance, retail, hospitality, FMCG, and manufacturing. An avid golfer and an animal lover, he is also interested in food, politics, and reading. You can see more about Kedar on https://about.me/kedargadgil.



Related Posts

Resolution seeking probe into Father Stan’s death introduced in US House of Reps
News

Resolution seeking probe into Father Stan’s death introduced in US House of Reps

July 6, 2022
Australia commits $5.8 million to India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership
News

Australia commits $5.8 million to India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership

July 6, 2022
Rishi-Sunak-and-Boris-Jhonson
News

‘Blow to Boris Johnson’: UK’s Indian-origin finance minster Rishi Sunak quits

July 5, 2022
Next Post
Tarini Logan

How Indian American spelling bee dominance may fuel educational inequities

Indian- origin engineer led U.K team invents artificial skin that feels “pain”

Indian- origin engineer led U.K team invents artificial skin that feels “pain”

Western Australia has added additional occupations to the list in the graduate stream. Over 120 occupations have been added, making it a comprehensive list.

Visa Update: New Western Australia occupation list

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Delhi Airport PBNS

India overtakes Britain and the US to become top destination country for Australians

2 months ago
Hindus have a special responsibility to denounce hate speech and violence by Hindu Nationalists

Hindus have a special responsibility to denounce hate speech and violence by Hindu Nationalists

6 months ago
Indranil Halder

10 months and 50 authors later, ‘The Light At the End of the Tunnel’ is out

2 months ago
COVID-19 vaccination certificates will be available on MyGov from 19 October for international travel

No ‘close and continuing’ association: Australia refuses citizenship to Indian national and a citizen’s spouse

6 months ago

Categories

  • Literature
  • Multimedia
  • News
  • nriaffairs
  • Other
  • People
  • Top Stories
  • Uncategorized
  • Views
  • Visa

Topics

#religion Air India Australia Canada caste COVID COVID-19 cricket Diwali Europe Geeta genocide Hindu Hinduism Hindutva immigration India Indian Indian Students Khalistan lockdown London Melbourne Modi Muslim Neetu New Zealand NRI NSW Pakistan Poetry quarantine Russia Singapore trade travel UAE uk Ukraine US USA vaccination Victoria visa women
NRI Affairs

© 2021 NRI Affairs.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Culture
  • Visa
  • Other

© 2021 NRI Affairs.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT