#mahabharat poetry

[musingsonthemahabharata]

on writing as an act of transcendence

the beautiful image is a painting of Sarasvatī that belongs to a set of sixty which chronologically depict a tale told in the Mahābhārata (as well as in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa and in the Śrīmad Devībhāgavata), that of King Hariścandra. this painting is one of two beginning the set, and it depicts the invocation of Sarasvatī, the Goddess of knowledge, speech and poetry, who is invoked as the flow of (and to flow the) words and wisdom of the telling. Gaṇeśa is invoked, as well.

in a seminar i recently went to, we discussed sacred texts, and the invocation of Gods & Goddesses in their openings - the muse in the Illiad, the deities in the Sanskrit texts etc. it made me reflect on writing as an inherently transcendental act. as in, it is not you who writes (or creates etc). it is being written through you, and it is therefore futile to take ownership for it.

as a 'writer', i oftentimes read my work and feel as if it was written by someone else. of course, my biases seep in (in editing, especially), but if i fully connect, the experience is that of it being written through me, and not by me.

i understand the invocation of the muses and Goddesses to reflect, in part, this understanding: that the act of creation subsumes and transcends the self or ego, even if only momentarily. that in creating, we tap into and open pathways within that we usually do not access customarily, when we are so entrenched in our sense of self that the energy can only flow in one way (that of sustaining our identity and the patterns which construct it). in creating, the energy can be freed to flow in new or in more ways. this is how i understand the surrendering to the muse or to one's art that is so lauded by poets. 🦢

#mahabharatam #mahabharata #mahabharat #writing #ganesha #saraswati #sarasvati #goddess #muse #devi #writer #poetry #poem #poet #sanskrit #hariscandra #indian art #hindu art #hinduism #hindu #hindu mythology #religion #itihasa #sanatandharma

[oyeevarnika]

इतिहास के पन्ने फिर ना दोहराएंगे

शस्त्र उठा लो द्रौपदी अब ना गोविंद आएंगे

Movie: Bulbul ( a thrilling fairytale)

#desiblr #desi tumblr #desi aesthetic #desi cinema #desi academia #desi movies #bulbul #mahabharat stories #mahabharata #krishna #indian mythology #mythological #indianwoman #indian character #indian aesthetic #hindi cinema #hindi poetry #poetry #aesthetic #movies #hindi lyrics #navratri #indian goddess #indian movies #durga puja #garbanight

[sambhavami]

Fire melted Stone

fire melted stone when justice smiled his smile fire melted stone and covered wind himself fire melted stone and beauty came running fire melted stone when wisdom gave in and fire melted when raindrops held her close.

#poem #original writing #mahabharat #original poetry #draupadi #ardi #arjuna #bheem #yudhishthir #nakul #sahadev #pandava #romance #desi tumblr

[khudrang]

(click for better resolution)

They call it a tale of brothers

But not a tale soaked in the fraternal blood

They call it a tale of familial love and rivalry

But not a skeletal view of sanguine bonds

Was it a war, or was it a claw?

Was it about the victorious righteousness, or its inherent desolation?

(ask the man who made it to the top of the mountain)

Was it the slip of a domino, or the dictate of a feather-crowned being?

When they say that words have a power of their own,

They whisper that the victors renamed their rivals.

Who, then, called it an epic, something so grand it cannot be contained,

when it is contained within each one of us?

-destiny

Sundaralekhan Day 9: Mahabharata @sundaralekhan

tagging me mates: @hindumyththoughts @ambidextrousarcher @kiriti-savyasachin

and event mod @allegoriesinmediasres

edit and poem by me

#mahabharat #krishna #sundaralekhan #hindu mythology #indian literature #asian literature #poetry #artists on tumblr #writers on tumblr #writers #desi academia #dark academia #desi dark academia #academia #mahabharata #destiny's rainboww

[awkcattodeactive5040]

So I have heard stories of Mahabharata from my grandmother (i love that part of my childhood sooo much) i have forgotten somethings

Yesterday i was listening to the podcast

So shantanu first married ganga ,she gave him Bhishma

Then shantanu married Satyavati , she gave him Chitravat and vichitravat

THEN WHERE DID VYAS AS A SON OF SATYAVATI CAME FROM

Like it's mentioned that vyas is son of Satyavati

Please someone help me and clear my confusion

#mahabharata #desi tag #desi tumblr #poetry #krishna #arjuna #mahabharat #indian epic #vyasa #draupadi #desiblr

[tanhachaand]

I'm Draupadi's open Hair, No longer symbolising oppression,

but freedom

I am not the endless piece of cloth lying on the assembly floor

I am Vasudev's Sudarshan chakra, Beheading Dushasana as he tries touch Draupadi

I'm not the cold silence, the looking away, the helplessness

I'm the burning rage and you won't be spared

I'm the woman,

The woman smudging blood reeking from her knife on the veil they handed me

; Smiling softly , as someone tells me how women must behave

And later smuggling daggers in my purse

I'm the bird flying over the horizon you think you've caged but you could never cage me

I'm not the colour of vermilion

I'm red, Blood red/ fearless laughter/soft smile/ staring straight into your eyes/Behind the curtains/ your recurring horror

#the palace of illusions #chitra banerjee divakaruni #draupadi #mahabharat #krishna #poetry #womenempowerment

[teanicolae]

Yajñasenī by Téa Nicolae

she who was born of fire

she whose beauty enticed even the sun

i garland thee

she whose blood spilled on royal floors of marble

she whose woe scorched the Kurus

i weep with thee

she who was touched yet remained stainless

she whose dishevelled hair holds the griefs of woman

i pray with thee

Draupadī,

she who cried the tears of the women who walked this earth

i am thee.

*poem published in Śabda Magazine, vol. II.

*collage i made of pooja sharma as the beloved empress. her performance is etched to my heart!

#draupadi #mahabharata #panchali #mahabharat #pooja sharma #yajnaseni #bhakti #devotional poetry #poem #sabda magazine #female #endurance #krishna #arjuna #kurus #sabha parva #empress #tea nicolae #poetry

[unhingedsadness]

Hum haal na pooche toh maghroor

Tum haal na poocho toh masroof

#desi tumblr #desi #india #desify #mirza ghalib #quotes #shaayeri #ishq poetry #lord krishna #radha krishna #hare krishna #religion #mahabharat #kanha #radha

[ajayamitabhsuman]

दुर्योधन कब मिट पाया:भाग-39

दुर्योधन को गुरु द्रोणाचार्य की मृत्यु के उपरांत घटित होने वाली वो सारी घटनाएं याद आने लगती हैं कि कैसे अश्वत्थामा ने कुपित होकर पांडवों पर वैष्णवास्त्र का प्रयोग कर दिया था। वैष्णवास्त्र के सामने प्रतिरोध करने पर वो अस्त्र और भयंकर हो जाता और प्राण ले लेता। उससे बचने का एक हीं उपाय था कि उसके सामने झुक जाया जाए, इससे वो शस्त्र शांत होकर लौट जाता। केशव के समझाने पर भीम समेत सारे पांडव उस शस्त्र के सामने झुक गए। भले हीं पांडवों की जान श्रीकृष्ण के हस्तक्षेप के कारण बच गई हो एक बात तो निर्विवादित हीं थी कि अश्वत्थामा के समक्ष सारे पांडवों ने घुटने तो टेक हीं दिए थे। प्रस्तुत है मेरी दीर्घ कविता “दुर्योधन कब मिट पाया का उनचालिसवां भाग।

#poem #poetry #poets on tumblr #poetsofinstagram #philosophy #kavita #hindi #spirituality #mahabharat #दुर्योधन #mythology #hindu mythology

[personallyoriented]

#power #truth #poetry #ramdharisinghdinkar #mahabharat #instagram #instagramposts (at Patna: Heart of Bihar) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpRc42vSWlx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#power #truth #poetry #ramdharisinghdinkar #mahabharat #instagram #instagramposts

[orgasming-caterpillar]

Intro post :3

I'm Madhav, people call me Madhu, Mads, and a madlad sometimes. If you've been here long enough you might know me as Guddu. I'm transmasc and genderfluid, my pronouns are he/they usually (like 90% of the time) and she/her on special occasions.

I'm a Krishna Bhakt to the core, he's my sakha, role model, and basically soul atp. Also a mahabharat nerd, so talk to me about it anytime.

My hobbies include writing poetry, drawing, singing, practising flute and reading books. I'm writing a novel of my own, Dancing On Your Heartstrings, so stay tuned. Follow @/madhav.ke.lekh on insta for edits.

I have a girlfriend, @tothemoonandbacklove , she's the most awesome beautiful prettiest smartest cutest most ethereal being to grace the face of earth. You should go follow her too.

My other blogs are:

@a-really-hot-caterpillar (my main blog, got flagged as adult content in June 2023 for no apparent reason. Just that Tumblr was mass flagging trans people that time)

@its-ya-boi-kaz (booklr, six of crows fan page mostly)

@thoughts-of-a-caterpillar (for my poetry)

@getosbf (anime blog, post a lot of anime stuff here)

@desiblr-hall-of-fame (the best posts of #desiblr)

@rajasthanofficial (gimmick blog, cuz I'm from Rajasthan hihi)

Here's the Masterlist, for all of my works on tumblr

And I also post a series, Mahabharat Characaters on Social Media, which you will find under the #mahabharat tag on my blog.

#intro post

[whippersnappersbookworm]

So I saw a lot of criticism by the Sanghis that Hindu mythology is not something one should write fanfiction about or that it's a religion, and therefore people shouldn't interpret and create stories of their own. But let me tell you something: the culture of fanfiction and re-interpretation of Hindu mythology is not at all new; it has been going on for decades.

So, as I said before in the blog, I am a Bengali, so most of the examples I will give are from Bengali literature. So Krishna is a huge part of these fandoms, and a lot of people write and draw things related to him. But this is definitely not a new thing; it has been going on since the time of Joydev's Geeta Govinda and Vidyapati's Vaishnav Padabali. There is a famous poem by Rabindranath Tagore:

শুধু বৈকুণ্ঠের তরে বৈষ্ণবের গান!

পূর্বরাগ, অনুরাগ, মান অভিমান,

অভিসার, প্রেমলীলা, বিরহ মিলন,

বৃন্দাবন-গাথা,—এই প্রণয়-স্বপন

শ্রাবণের শর্ব্বরীতে কালিন্দীর কূলে,

চারি চক্ষে চেয়ে দেখা কদম্বের মূলে

সরমে সম্ভ্রমে, —এ কি শুধু দেবতার!

Which translates to

"Are the songs of Vaishnav for Baikuntha alone?

Courting, attachment, sulkiness, sensitiveness,

Tryst, dalliances, parting and union, theme of,

The songs of Brindaban – this dream of love,

In the Shraban night on the bank of the Kalindi

The meeting of the four eyes under the Kadambatree

In blushing adoration - are these all for the Lord?

Most of the Vaishnav Padaboli and Radha Krishna Leela poets were very much influenced by their personal lives, which makes sense because they never really saw Radha Krishna with their own eyes, so obviously they need some kind of reference and muse for their works. For example, it is said that Vidyapati drew inspiration from the real relationship between a man and woman in that contemporary period for Radha and Krishna. He created the character of Radha from the very image of an adolescent, joyous young girl of that time period. His radha has a lot of human qualities. Then Chandidas, another important poet, apparently based Radha on his own lover, Rami. Rami was a lower-caste woman with whom Chandidas had an affair, but he couldn't marry her because it was not socially acceptable. Chandidas's Radha is portrayed as a sad woman, mourning for her lover from the very beginning, even before she meets Krishna, and it didn't change even when she was united with Krishna, as she was based on Rami, a woman who could never be with the man she loved due to society. Apart from them, the poets who composed Radha Krishna hymns during and after the rise of Sri Chaitanya in Bengal started including Chaitanya in their poetry. They wrote hymns dedicated to Chaitanya alongside Krishna; some of them even started crafting similar descriptions and personalities for both Radha and Chaitanya. It's from their narrative that Radha's love for Krishna symbolises devotees love for god; it was literally Krishna x Chaitanya. CHAITANYA FANFIC!!)

Apart from Vaishnav Padabali, we can also find examples of such works in Sakhta Padabali. For example, the whole concept of Durga pujo in Bengali is inspired by married women visiting their paternal family once a year with their children. The poets basically localised the mighty goddess Durga as a young girl married to Shiva, who is old and penniless. Several poets, like Ramprasad Sen and Kamalakanto (I don't remember his title), wrote hymns from the point of view of Menaka (Parvathi's mother) as she begged Giriraj (Parvati's father) to bring her daughter back. She chides Giriraj for marrying her young daughter to Shiva, who is old and penniless and roams in the crematorium with his ghost acquaintances. She worries about her young daughter suffering all alone in the Himalaya with no one to take care of. Isn't this also a kind of fanfiction? Where goddesses are made into normal women?

Also, if we talk about Mahabharat and the Ramayana, they also had fanfiction even before the rise of Wattpad and Tumblr. All the translations (except a few) adopted these epics in such a way that they could fit into their culture and contemporary society. It's a known fact that Tulsidas's Ramayan deviates a lot from the original one (Maya Sita, vegetarianism, etc.).

So in a way, it can be a retelling of some sort. So if we are shitting upon the culture of retelling and fanfiction, we should also talk about these examples, not only the modern ones. The truth is that retellings and fanfictions are necessary for these types of stories to survive. It makes sense that one modifies these age-old stories so they can fit into contemporary society. Every piece of ancient literature, be it the Greek epics, the Bible, or Hindu mythology, has its own share of retelling and fanfiction. These are not owned by a certain group of people; they don't have the right to gatekeep. People can and should explore these stories from their own point of view. They have the right to rewrite and retell the stories from a modern perspective. So before you chide a blog on Tumblr for writing Mahabharata-inspired fanfiction or incorrect quotes or bully them for writing a canonically incorrect ship,or critices them for writing self insert fic with Krishna stop and think for a second.

#desiblr #hindublr #anti hindutva #hindutva #fanfic #retelling #hindu mythology #history

[transgenderer]

the Vedas aren't primarily narratives though, they're layers of poetry (with the same principles depicted with varying mythological imagery), then ritual commentary, and then theological/philosophical accretion. this is very different from the Tanach, which is primarily (alleged) history with law codes.

there have been Veda-believing Hindu schools which deny the gods' existence outside of being ritual functions, and most if not all modern Hindus have a substantially different theology (centered on Vishnu or Rudra) from that the Vedas would seem to depict.

so what belief in the Vedas entails is very different from belief in the Tanach.

of course some call anything to do with the religion the Vedas, same way Jews call reading the whole corpus including the Talmud as studying Torah.

the Ramayana and Mahabharat are Itihasa, which is smirti rather than shruti, but their narratives are far more popularly known than the Vedas themselves.

hmmm. yeah. that makes sense. i was kind of conflating them. the rigvedas have narrative but not that much

[ramayantika]

So called devotees who spread hate here by saying you all are being offensive towards the gods by writing fics on ramayana, mahabharat, krishna need to stay away from my blog. I was 6 when I wrote about me and krishna teaming up and defeating rakhshas okay tumhari validation ki zarurat nahi hai i know my Gods.

Besides you all totally haven't read other devotional literature I think? Madhurya bhav vale poetry where they themselves have written amorous poems to shiva and krishna? Abhi mat aana bolne mere ask box saying you think you are those holy saints

I remember someone had written a very nsfw story on draupadi like a complete pornographic film but on paper with words everyone reported it. Aise bakwas harkate nahi karni

But yes you want to imagine how satyabhama and krishna spend time discussing about dwarka and going on a sea beach date? DO IT. Koyi nahi toh mein padhungi. You want to write about being sita's best friend? DO IT.

#samridhi speaks #mein apne bachpan ke stories yahan post karungi ab fr #krishna ne toh mujhe shraap diya tha for writing that we both were killing kamsa ke rakshas and later go on a boat ride #god people tire me sometimes

[khudrang]

Both of us, the product of our circumstances

Both of us, the product of our impulses

Both of us, the bearers of expectations

Both of us, the flames in our fathers’ eyes

Both of us, tormented by the fate of the Five

Both us, harbingers of their desolation

Both of us, trying to weave our paths,

Both of us, powerless to His wills (and especially His whims)

Both of us, born out of Divine necessity

Both of us, dead because of pure mortality

Both of us, stubborn as Yama’s bull

Both of us, bowing down to his design

Yes, indeed, it was the both of us

But, tell me so, wasn’t it all of us?

-destiny

for Havan, Day 3, "Relationship"

Rivals: Duryodhana and Draupadi

wanted to draw on the similarities between them bc i haven't seen it done often

tagging event mod: @chaanv @agnisuta

and the besties: @hindumyththoughts @ambidextrousarcher @kiriti-savyasachin

edit and poem by me

#havan #mahabharat #mahabharata #duryodhana #draupadi #indian literature #asian literature #desi academia #poetry #artists on tumblr #art #poem #writers on tumblr #writers #dark academia #destiny's rainboww

[awkcattodeactive5040]

Can someone please provide me the links where I can download or read Mahabharat online?

#mahabharat #desi tumblr #desi tag #poetry #krishna #arjun #mahabharata #indian epic #desiblr