Happy Independence Day

Friends, Indians and Countrymen, lend me your ears,
I come to bury the dirty politicians, not to praise them,
I want to evoke the sense of responsibility in every Indian, who care so much about rights
I want to remind one and all, that it is not for such times that people laid down their lives, for the present crop of leadership are not all that honourable.
 

My countrymen, its for you and me to ensure change, it won't happen by itself.

For now, let us see, hear and feel, let us keep a track of it all.

Come elections, exercise your right and be responsible.
Don't fall prey to politicians seeking change, that is change for themselves, not us
Be the change, that we want, and change there will be!

I am wishing all, a very Happy Independence Day, this is to ensure that the next ones are truly HAPPY, not just an adjective to the phrase Independence Day!

(adapted and localized from Shakespeare's play, Julius Ceaser)

Independence Movement & the Myth of Markandeya

In an earlier article, I had mentioned how Hindu mythology has played a very significant role in the Indian Independence movement (dated Aug 14, 2010). The then freedom fighters had made a very creative usage of themes from mythology to express to their fellow-Indians the plight of the country.

The depiction of Bharat Mata, a personification of Mother Goddess, in chains has been a recurring theme in many a poster or old movies. With a budding printing industry, owned by the Indians, patriotic themes were transformed into images which were more evocative, expressive and communicative.

I would like to take one such instance which is supposed to have had a huge impact on people in those days, and that is the myth of Markandeya. According to this myth, Rishi Mrikandu and his wife Marudmati were devotees of Lord Shiva but didn’t have any children. They worshipped Lord Shiva and sought the boon of a son. Shiva gave them a choice of an intelligent son with a short span of life or a not-so-intelligent son with a long life. The Rishi opted for the first option and soon they were blessed with a son, who was named Markandeya, who was destined to die on his sixteenth birthday.

A Painting by Raja Ravi Verma

When Markandeya learnt about his impending death, he created a powerful mantra which is known as the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra, an incantation which could win over death. On his sixteenth year, Markandeya embraced the shiva-linga and uttered the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra non-stop. When the messengers of Yama, the god of death, came to take him they were unable to take him due to the power of the Mantra. This made Yama himself come to take Markandeya’s life. In his anger he threw the death-noose at Markandeya, which unfortunately fell on the shiva-linga. This angered Lord Shiva to no end and he rose from the linga to rebuke Yama. After a battle between Shiva and Yama, in which Yama lost, Markandeya was made immortal. Shiva is thus also known as Kalantaka or one who ends death. Since then it is also said that the continuous utterance of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra, keeps death away.

In the adjoining picture, we can see the same myth being used for a different purpose. A close scrutiny of the picture shows Bharat Mata in place of Markandeya who is seeking divine intervention from the evils unleashed by the British (who replace Yama here and are thus compared with death). From the shiva-linga emerges Gandhiji who was seen as a saviour in those days. Gandhiji is shown with four hands, and each hand has aspects associated with him, his charkha, the spindle and his most important weapon, his writings, which are shown in the form of a newspaper. The four hands and the crescent moon on his forehead lend him a divinity due to the enormous task he had undertaken, that of eliminating the British from India. Another significant change is that Yama’s bull gives way to a cow in the second picture, which is again a sacred animal for the Hindus and a British sitting on it would have raised the passions of an ordinary Indian adequately.

Such imagery was perceived as a necessity in the pre-Independence days, as many were not educated enough to read the articles written by the stalwarts of the Freedom movement. Also, many of the writings were either not printed and if printed, were soon banned. Further, in India everybody is well aware of their myths and any association with such myths always has an easy recall and an immediate understanding. Such deification might not go down well in modern India, but way back then; such instances were not seen as an act of sycophancy, but sheer need to communicate with the masses which was largely illiterate.

This is one of the best examples of how mythology served such an important function in our Independence movement, especially at the grass-root levels. India was a land of many languages and writing and translating articles in many languages to all sets of people was a herculean task when information dissemination was not a simple activity as it is today. In such a scenario, a single picture could do what thousand words couldn’t.

With this, here’s wishing all my readers a very happy Independence Day!!

Olympic Medals

A fortnight back the world’s largest and by far the most extravagant sporting event started and tomorrow it comes to an end. During this last fortnight, the one single thing that was discussed the most were the medals that winners received, be it gold, silver or bronze. The larger the haul, the greater it is.

Let us take a closer look at the medal below is the two sides of a medal which has been handed over in the London Olympics 2012.

Two sides of London Olympics 2012 Medals

On the right hand side is the depiction of a goddess. This is Nike. Since 1896, Nike has always been depicted on one side of the medals at the Olympics.

Nike is the Greek goddess of victory. She was the daughter of the Titan Pallas and the river Styx. She is always depicted as a winged goddess who carries a palm branch, a wreath and the staff of Hermes. She is also sometimes shown hovering around victors in a competition.

According to a legend, when Zeus was getting ready for a battle with the Titans, Styx brought her children to Zeus to side with the gods. Nike was appointed as his charioteer, and thus though she was the daughter of a Titan, she fought on behalf of Zeus in the war between the gods and the Titans. In classical Greek art, Nike is shown flying around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame.

According to another legend, the victory of the Battle of Marathon was to be communicated to the home city some 26 miles away from the battle-ground. The messenger was so exhausted that on reaching the destination, all he could say was “Nike”, implying victory, before he died out of exhaustion. Coincidentally, this is also the origin of the marathon as a long-distance race.

Today Nike has been made famous by the well known shoe company which took the concept of victory and associated it with their goods!

With this, its curtains down on London Olympics 2012 and so it is with my series on Olympics. 

Krishna and Karna Meeting

On the occasion of Janamashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna, I would like to take up an aspect from the epic Mahabharata, for which he has been much maligned.

This refers to the meeting between Lord Krishna and Karna prior to the war of Kurukshetra, where Lord Krishna reveals to Karna his parentage. Many have questioned the timing of this act, since it was just before the war and have accused him of trying to ‘buy’ the support of Karna. Was this not an emotional blackmail, which would have weakened him just when he needed to be strong? Was this not an act of extreme selfishness, especially when Karna was the greatest adversary of Krishna’s protégé, Arjun? Also, was it ethical to lure him with Kingship and all that was Pandavas to be his (surreptitiously speaking, Draupadi too)?

To understand this act in perspective, it is important to understand the background. Lord Krishna was always against the war as he was well aware of the quantum of destruction of human lives. He had made all efforts to avoid a war, much to the disagreement of many who see him as a God.

Right at the beginning, when the war was first proposed in the city of Virata, it was Krishna who had advised against it. When Arjuna came to seek his participation in the battle, he wowed not to take up arms in the battle and that he would not fight. But even that did not stop the war. All who have done justice to the epic would vouch for his earnest effort to stall the war. Seeing no alternative, he proceeded to Hastinapur hoping that he would be able to broker peace by meeting the seniors of the Kuru clan there. The meeting was not fruitful; rather it was quite acrimonious when Duryodhan ordered that the ‘cowherd’ be arrested. Thus this last effort too was wasted.

Krishna never doubted the ability and the sincerity of Karna. One would also agree that Karna was a major strength of Duryodhana. If Karna’s assistance was not forthcoming, Duryodhana would never be so forceful for the war. If he felt that Karna was with his enemies, he could have refrained from the war and that was Krishna’s major objective of trying to stall the war. The offer to Karna to defect and all that was offered to him was not to ‘buy-him’ but to make the last–ditch effort to stop the massive destruction which only he could foresee.

Needless to say, that this was in the interest of all. First, it was in the welfare of Karna, as he would become the King and would also be in the right company which he so deserved. Second, this would benefit Duryodhana too as in the event of a war; there was a distinct possibility that he would not only lose his kingdom, but his kith and kin too. Third it would also give Kunti a chance to accept Karna her first born and allow some legitimacy to the much-insulted Karna on his parentage. It was in the interest of the Pandava’s too as with the avoidance of war, the Pandava’s would be absolved of the barbarous war and slaughtering of their kin. This single act of revealing to Karna his identity was an act of supreme righteousness and goodness as the advice would save innumerable human lives.

Was this a selfish act on the part of Krishna? It is pertinent to mention here that if Krishna’s intentions were malicious, then he could have revealed Karna’s parentage in public. If he didn’t achieve his prime objective of stopping the war, at least he would have had him broken in public. It could have created some rift between him and Duryodhana and Krishna would still have benefitted. But he did nothing of that sort. Krishna gave the brave his due and did not compromise with his sense of privacy right till the end of the epic.

It is important to see certain things in the right perspective, though it is quite interesting to see things tangentially. Tangential vision creates for juicy controversy and gossip. But an educated and matured mind should see things in the right perspective, especially since we are talking of an important character in Mahabharata. Detractors and sceptics abound in this world and there are a many. But readers of this Blog are encouraged to see things the way they are and ought to be.

Anybody disagreeing can write to me with their views, as debate is the foundation of a matured society, as against outright criticism.

Happy Janamashtami to one and all, believers and non-believers!!

Earlier articles on Janamashtami -

This is Utkarsh Speaking: Arjuna's Dilemma
This is Utkarsh Speaking: Krishna

Team Anna has Lost

It is tough and sad to accept that Team Anna has lost the battle against corruption and those who beget it, but it is extremely important for all to accept that they have lost.

Team Anna

Introspection is always important after an event, more so if it is a failure.

• They lost because the Gandhian philosophy of peaceful protest has lost its significance
• They lost because the modern Indian has a short attention span and thus could not sustain focus on the movement for too long
• They lost because people like you and me got busy with our personal duties as against our national responsibility
• They lost because what seemed like a movement with a great tag-line did not 'seem' that interesting when seen from close quarters
• They lost because the politicians managed to create a good illusion of chinks in the armour of Team Anna, where there were none
• They lost because sections of this untrustworthy ilk who had promised support, decided to withdraw it when they realized that the political mileage they wanted had been achieved
• They lost when they saw that there was a greater movement coming from the Parliament as a response to a small (maybe irresponsible) comment by a member of Team Anna, irrespective of the fact that such comments and worse have been uttered by every thinking citizen of India everyday and Bollywood has been spewing such venom on screen since ages
• They lost when their single-minded focus got diluted for the occasional controversies that the members of Team Anna were embroiled in as a part of a well-orchestrated strategy by the politicians
• They lost when irrelevant issues took centre-stage against important issues
• They lost when all and sundry wanted to be a part of the movement and Team Anna welcomed all (even who did not deserve) with open arms

Please re-read all the above by replacing ‘They lost’ with ‘We lost’, because that’s what it is.

Team Anna has not lost; it is we who have lost a great opportunity to do a world of good to ourselves. 

• We lost the chance to improve the condition of our own selves and our next generation
• We lost our face in front of the next generation, who will ask us tomorrow as to what kind of irreparable India have we left for them?
• We lost the chance to call ourselves, part of a matured democracy
• We lost the last chance of raising our head high with pride in the global world
• We lost……

I can go on…..but then you too need to think, right?