A new illustrated script book based on the Indian epic Mahabharata by Grant Morrison, the writer of comics like All Star Superman, Batman & Robin and the Invisibles is set to hit the US market in August. Grant Morrison's 18 Days is a re-imagining of the great Indian epic, Mahabharata and tells the story of three generations of super-warriors, meeting for the final battle of their age, Dynamite Entertainment and Liquid Comics said announcing a publishing partnership to release the book.  "18 Days follows the course of the climactic war that concludes the Third Age and begins the Dark Age we all now live in. It is the prototype for every war ever fought - and at its heart lies a warning for all of us and a message that can change lives." Though the animated series remains in pre-production at Liquid Comics and co-owner Perspective Studios, the illustrated hardcover book featuring the original scripts created by Grant Morrison for his animated project will allow readers a first glimpse into the mythic universe created by superstar writer. Grant's groundbreaking story is matched perfectly with dozens of original illustrations created by acclaimed Indian artist, Mukesh Singh (Devi, Gamekeeper, Shadow Hunter). Grant Morrison commented: "18 Days is a labour of love made all the more exciting by having a collaborator as original and groundbreaking as Mukesh. His techno-Vedic superheroes and spectacular scenes of cosmic warfare bring a dazzling new and contemporary dimension to one of the world's greatest stories." Full story here NDTV |
Showing posts with label Mahabharat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mahabharat. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Superman author's new book based on Mahabharata
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
REVIEW: Krishna's Mandala
REVIEW
Krishna's Mandala - Bhagavata Religion and Beyond
D. Dennis Hudson
Oxford University Press
Rs. 725
ISBN: 9780198062769
Hardback
Blurb
This posthumous volume brings together seminal essays by one of the foremost American scholars on the religions of India. Exploring the ancient Indian milieu with an innate sense of mandala, ‘the surround’, D. Dennis Hudson’s writings constantly engaged with the core of Bhagavata dharma—Krishna as preceptor and lover in the real world. Hudson was driven by a desire to understand how this ancient vision of Vishnu’s forceful, subtle activity managed to stay alive in south India as rulers, poets, and ordinary people changed.
This collection is divided into three parts. The first part, ‘Tales of Two Cities’, deals with the physical, conceptual, ritual, and moral layouts of two ancient Tamil capitals—Madurai and Kanchipuram. The second, ‘Reading Bhagavata Texts—Temples and Tomes’, proposes radical interpretations of two familiar texts, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, and shows how they connect to temple architecture. The final section, ‘Andal and the Sri Vaishnava World’, explores the connections between Bhagavata religion and gender, underlining the example of Andal, the only woman Alvar saint.
In the introduction, John Stratton Hawley highlights the crosscurrents in Dennis Hudson’s writings and situates this collection in the larger context of Hudson’s academic and personal world. The foreword by Romila Thapar depicts a vigorous, passionate scholar ‘not driven by scholarship alone’
Reviews
Chaotic confusion Hindu
Among the foreign Dravidologists of recent times, Dennis Hudson has a special place. He did have varied interests in south India's religious world (Christianity, Buddhism, Vaishnavism and Saivism), but his centre of literary research was the Vaikuntha Perumal temple in Kancheepuram. Krishna's Mandala is a posthumous publication edited by John Stratton Hawley, who is himself well known for his work on the bhakti poets of North India. Hawley's detailed introduction to the assorted essays presents Hudson's style of work in its proper “surround,” which had its accent on relating Hindu temples to the text of bhakti poetry. Hudson had linked the Vaikuntha Perumal temple to Tirumangai Azhvar's decad. A natural extension of this line of reasoning led him to study Andal's poems and the Srivillipputtur temple. The outcome of this research forms a substantial portion of the book.
Unfortunately, by falling in line with the style employed by some of his U.S. colleagues in the discipline of religion (Jeffrey Kirpal and Sarah Caldwell, among them), Hudson slips into the Serbonian Bog of Freudian analysis. “Historical interpretation of poetry necessarily requires conjecture,” he says. But how far should speculation be stretched?
D. Dennis Hudson
Oxford University Press
Rs. 725
ISBN: 9780198062769
Hardback
Blurb
This posthumous volume brings together seminal essays by one of the foremost American scholars on the religions of India. Exploring the ancient Indian milieu with an innate sense of mandala, ‘the surround’, D. Dennis Hudson’s writings constantly engaged with the core of Bhagavata dharma—Krishna as preceptor and lover in the real world. Hudson was driven by a desire to understand how this ancient vision of Vishnu’s forceful, subtle activity managed to stay alive in south India as rulers, poets, and ordinary people changed.
This collection is divided into three parts. The first part, ‘Tales of Two Cities’, deals with the physical, conceptual, ritual, and moral layouts of two ancient Tamil capitals—Madurai and Kanchipuram. The second, ‘Reading Bhagavata Texts—Temples and Tomes’, proposes radical interpretations of two familiar texts, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, and shows how they connect to temple architecture. The final section, ‘Andal and the Sri Vaishnava World’, explores the connections between Bhagavata religion and gender, underlining the example of Andal, the only woman Alvar saint.
In the introduction, John Stratton Hawley highlights the crosscurrents in Dennis Hudson’s writings and situates this collection in the larger context of Hudson’s academic and personal world. The foreword by Romila Thapar depicts a vigorous, passionate scholar ‘not driven by scholarship alone’
Reviews
Chaotic confusion Hindu
Among the foreign Dravidologists of recent times, Dennis Hudson has a special place. He did have varied interests in south India's religious world (Christianity, Buddhism, Vaishnavism and Saivism), but his centre of literary research was the Vaikuntha Perumal temple in Kancheepuram. Krishna's Mandala is a posthumous publication edited by John Stratton Hawley, who is himself well known for his work on the bhakti poets of North India. Hawley's detailed introduction to the assorted essays presents Hudson's style of work in its proper “surround,” which had its accent on relating Hindu temples to the text of bhakti poetry. Hudson had linked the Vaikuntha Perumal temple to Tirumangai Azhvar's decad. A natural extension of this line of reasoning led him to study Andal's poems and the Srivillipputtur temple. The outcome of this research forms a substantial portion of the book.
Unfortunately, by falling in line with the style employed by some of his U.S. colleagues in the discipline of religion (Jeffrey Kirpal and Sarah Caldwell, among them), Hudson slips into the Serbonian Bog of Freudian analysis. “Historical interpretation of poetry necessarily requires conjecture,” he says. But how far should speculation be stretched?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
High five for Draupadi
Beautiful,brave and controversial,the heroine of the Mahabharat continues to fascinate ...
The idea of one woman having many husbands makes most men feel inadequate,not least her husbands.Little wonder then Draupadi is one of the most popular and controversial heroines of Hindu mythology.A woman who knows her mind, speaks her mind,refuses to be cowered by her husbands, asserts her will and admonishes them when they fail her. She is, in many parts of India, a goddess, worthy of sacrifice.
But Draupadi is not the only polyandrous woman in Indian mythology.Her mother-in-law,Kunti,knew many men: four gods (Surya,Yama,Vayu and Indra) besides her husband, Pandu. But unlike Draupadi, her association with the gods was not public knowledge. It was whispered in corridors, not announced in courts. And they did not really count as they were not husbands, just child providers. The scriptures refer to other women who had many husbands: Marisha, who married the ten pracheta brothers and Jatila,who was the wife of seven sages.
In early societies with high infant mortality rates and short lifespans,polygamy was preferred to polyandry. When a man had many wives,the family could have more children than when a woman had many husbands. This is one of the reasons why women were usually kept away in seclusion and safety, a practice that eventually led to the throttling of women rights. But polygamy had benefits too - sharing a wife assured sharing of property and no division of the land.
Full report here Crest
The idea of one woman having many husbands makes most men feel inadequate,not least her husbands.Little wonder then Draupadi is one of the most popular and controversial heroines of Hindu mythology.A woman who knows her mind, speaks her mind,refuses to be cowered by her husbands, asserts her will and admonishes them when they fail her. She is, in many parts of India, a goddess, worthy of sacrifice.
But Draupadi is not the only polyandrous woman in Indian mythology.Her mother-in-law,Kunti,knew many men: four gods (Surya,Yama,Vayu and Indra) besides her husband, Pandu. But unlike Draupadi, her association with the gods was not public knowledge. It was whispered in corridors, not announced in courts. And they did not really count as they were not husbands, just child providers. The scriptures refer to other women who had many husbands: Marisha, who married the ten pracheta brothers and Jatila,who was the wife of seven sages.
In early societies with high infant mortality rates and short lifespans,polygamy was preferred to polyandry. When a man had many wives,the family could have more children than when a woman had many husbands. This is one of the reasons why women were usually kept away in seclusion and safety, a practice that eventually led to the throttling of women rights. But polygamy had benefits too - sharing a wife assured sharing of property and no division of the land.
Full report here Crest
Thursday, February 25, 2010
'There's no distortion of the epic in my Draupadi'
Telugu writer Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad won the Sahitya Akademi award this year for his novel Draupadi. The award announcement was followed by protests in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere against alleged misinterpretation of the mythological character. Prasad, who is the chairman of the AP Hindi Academy, talks to Faizal Khan about his book and the controversy.
What is your book about?
It is a novel based on the character of Draupadi from the Mahabharata. I wanted to explore different facets of Draupadi's phenomenal character, like her exalted individuality, laudable self-confidence and exemplary good nature, which made her worthy of the crown of the feminine world. It is a novel but there is no distortion of the epic. I researched for two-and-a-half years and read more than 100 books on the subject in Hindi, English and Telugu before I started writing.
What is different in your representation of Draupadi?
I believe that Draupadi and other characters like her in the Mahabharata, who are incarnations of gods, had to behave in the same manner as human beings. I wanted to bring out the human qualities in them to portray them as such. From Draupadi's time to even today, women are the worst sufferers in any world. I delved into the inner feelings of Draupadi to understand the contemporary woman better.
Full interview here Times of India
It is a novel based on the character of Draupadi from the Mahabharata. I wanted to explore different facets of Draupadi's phenomenal character, like her exalted individuality, laudable self-confidence and exemplary good nature, which made her worthy of the crown of the feminine world. It is a novel but there is no distortion of the epic. I researched for two-and-a-half years and read more than 100 books on the subject in Hindi, English and Telugu before I started writing.
What is different in your representation of Draupadi?
I believe that Draupadi and other characters like her in the Mahabharata, who are incarnations of gods, had to behave in the same manner as human beings. I wanted to bring out the human qualities in them to portray them as such. From Draupadi's time to even today, women are the worst sufferers in any world. I delved into the inner feelings of Draupadi to understand the contemporary woman better.
Full interview here Times of India
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sahitya Akademi Award to Telugu novel controversial
Draupadi is a great character shown in Mahabharat epic but in the book Draupadi has been described to be a woman of low character and is cited with sleazy expressions and attributed with immoral laisons to the great characters including Sri Krishna who was the incarnation of Sri Vishnu. The fundamental right of freedom of speech and expresson cannot hurt the religious sentiments.
PRAGNA Bharati, a voluntary organisation (a forum of intellectuals) based in Hyderabad, publishing an English monthly magazine Bharatiya Pragna, approached Human Rights Commision, AP, under the chairmanship of Justice Subhashan Reddy seeking withdrawal of award to Mr Yarlagadda Laxmi Prasad for his novel Draupadi. The learned judge issued an order bearing no HRC no 247/2010 dt 11th day of January 2010. The operational part of the order read as follows.
Freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (a) of Indian Constitution but has got limitations under clause (2) of the said Article 19 in the context of public order, decency or morality apart from other limitations stated therein. Draupadi is a great character shown in Mahabharat epic but in the above book has been described to be a woman of low character and is cited with sleazy expressions and attributed with immoral laisons to the great characters including Sri Krishna who was the incarnation of Sri Vishnu. The fundamental right of freedom of speech and expresson cannot hurt the religious sentiments which in turn result in breach of public disorder, decency or morality. Hence, the Commission calls for report from the Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Union of India, New Delhi by February 11, 2010. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at New Delhi is directed to consider postponement of the said event of presentation of the award and also publication of the same into other languages till this Commission finally decides the matter.
Full report here Organiser
PRAGNA Bharati, a voluntary organisation (a forum of intellectuals) based in Hyderabad, publishing an English monthly magazine Bharatiya Pragna, approached Human Rights Commision, AP, under the chairmanship of Justice Subhashan Reddy seeking withdrawal of award to Mr Yarlagadda Laxmi Prasad for his novel Draupadi. The learned judge issued an order bearing no HRC no 247/2010 dt 11th day of January 2010. The operational part of the order read as follows.
Freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (a) of Indian Constitution but has got limitations under clause (2) of the said Article 19 in the context of public order, decency or morality apart from other limitations stated therein. Draupadi is a great character shown in Mahabharat epic but in the above book has been described to be a woman of low character and is cited with sleazy expressions and attributed with immoral laisons to the great characters including Sri Krishna who was the incarnation of Sri Vishnu. The fundamental right of freedom of speech and expresson cannot hurt the religious sentiments which in turn result in breach of public disorder, decency or morality. Hence, the Commission calls for report from the Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Union of India, New Delhi by February 11, 2010. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at New Delhi is directed to consider postponement of the said event of presentation of the award and also publication of the same into other languages till this Commission finally decides the matter.
Full report here Organiser
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