Sunday, February 24, 2013

Mythological Mashups..


Just how many times have we heard of it?
Krishna being the Hindu equivalent of Cupid.
Buddha's teaching were implied as seminal
to birth of Christian beliefs.
One reckons if it were not just one of many
legends that have been shaped and forged by varying and eternally evolving cultures,we would have one singular mythological mold of "legends" that gave birth to the various religions and sects coming into the fore through the ages.Mythological tales have traversed through lands,languages.
They have been conformed,twisted,reformed and retold over and over again.
Its like watching spin offs of the same movie.
Its not just a thing of ancient or medieval times,its also been here
in the present.Modern modes of entertainment and hackneyed
story lines have ensured that mythological mash ups exist here and now.
We hear about such caricatures,don't we?
Movies and makers face censorship every time somebody crosses the line.
While its a hard one to advocate,one must always ensure that
celebrating the revered has its downside of hurting vulnerable sentiments.

Likewise, we have our own answer to Saint Valentine's Day-
(although not remotely related in anyway) Saraswati Puja.
A day that is primarily celebrated to propitiate the Hindu Goddess of
knowledge,has somehow been sheared into a day of romance for the yuppie clan.
Its no big an issue, people have their reasons to celebrate, but somehow one gets the
feeling that its the Occident that keeps devouring our society as a form of cultural imperialism.
The idea that must resonate that while cultures may evolve, mythologies translated,there must not be a mash up of the two.Its just not good-neither for them nor for us.