Whose Democracy is it Anyway?

Corrupting Holi

The Story of Holi - The Legend of Prahlad

Last year, I introduced you to the concept of Holi. As is true of most religious festivals, there is a whole mythological background to Holi too. The most well-known aspect of Holi is the color play, and there is "evidence" of Lord Krishna1 (born around 3226 BC2) playing Holi with gopis (village belles). However, there is little or no indication of the origin of the ritual. There is, however, a mythological explanation for the origin of the festival itself and the ritual of the communal bonfire on the eve of the color play.

To begin at the beginning, the earth was submerged under water, stolen and hidden by an asura/daitya (demon) called Hiranyaksha, who had also stolen the vedas from Brahma3. Hiranyaksha was the most cruel & malicious king history had witnessed, and perpetrated unspeakable atrocities. To save the earth and the people, Vishnu4 decided to incarnate as varaha (wild boar) avatar. He killed Hiranyaksha, returned the vedas to Brahma and land to the people.

Now, Hiranyaksha had an elder brother Hiranyakashipu, who was understandably very upset, and vowed to avenge the death of his brother. He went to the Himalayas and performed the most strenuous tap (penance) for Brahma for years. When Brahma appeared before him5, Hiranyakashipu asked that he may be killed "neither by any weapon nor any creature made by Brahma, neither in the day nor in the night, neither on earth nor in the sky". Brahma said, "Tathastu (So be it)6" and granted him the wish. Swooning with the pride of immortality, Hiranyakashipu went back, reclaimed his kingdom, and went on to become the most barbarous ruler of all.

In the meantime, while Hiranyakashipu was away the sura/dev (deity) king Indra7 had invaded and plundered his kingdom, massacred his cousins and even kidnapped queen Kayadhu who was pregnant at the time. Indra had intended to destroy Kayadhu's womb so that she wouldn't give birth to a ferocious asura. Devarshi Narad8 stopped him, assuring him that the unborn would grow up to become a great devotee of God. Thus convinced, Indra released Kayadhu, who went on to stay at Narad's hermitage. While the baby was still unborn, Narad used to address the it and preach to Kayadhu everyday. Thus, the baby could never forget what it learnt, from Narad, while still in the womb. At the appropriate time, Kayadhu gave birth to Prahlad. Prahlad, the youngest among all sons of Hiranyakashipu, was also the most virtuous. Since childhood, he was a great devotee of Vishnu.

One day, as Prahlad sat in his lap, Hiranyakashipu asked him, "Son, what do you like the most?", to which Prahlad replied, "Father, I want that everyone must surrender himself at the service of Lord Vishnu". Hiranyakashipu thought that someone had misguided his son, so he laughed and sent Prahlad to be educated by Shand and Amark, the sons of Shukracharya, the guru of all aasuri (demonic) knowledge & arts. Shand and Amark started to teach him arthshastra (economics), dandneeti (law) and raajneeti (politics). Prahlad had no interest in these disciplines, but he never showed any disrespect for his teachers. When the teachers felt they had sufficiently educated and reformed their pupil, they took him back to the father.

Once again, taking Prahlad on his lap Hiranyakashipu lovingly asked,"Son, what do you like the most?" And yet again, Prahlad replied, "Listening to the virtues of God, recalling and reciting His name and plays, serving His feet, praying Him and having a sense of dedication for Him are the part of my devotions. By these devotions, focusing one's mind on the Lord is the best thing in my opinion, that the education can be imparted in this way".

Indignant, Hiranyakashipu threw him on the floor, and started to reprimand Shand and Amark. Prahlad got up and said,"Don't be angry, father, its not their fault. Lured by lust, the whole world is moving towards hell. Such people cannot meditate to God. They do not know that their welfare is possible only in respecting the Supreme Being. Whoever touches the feet of God, gets freed from the cycle of birth and death."

That his son worshipped Vishnu, who had killed his brother, infuriated Hiranyakashipu so much that he immediately ordered the execution of Prahlad. The asuras started to hack at Prahlad with their swords, axes and machetes. The weapons had no impact on Prahlad, who sat there meditating. His skin had become impregnable. This only enraged Hiranyakashipu further. He started to look out for even more formidable ways to kill his son. He got Prahlad trampled by mammoths, threw him in a snake pit with angry poisonous snakes, got him thrown off a high cliff, and made him drink poison, but all in vain. He even got Prahlad tethered to huge stone slabs and thrown into the sea. But Prahlad returned unhurt.

Then Hiranyakashipu turned to sister Holika, who had a mystical fireproof shawl. Donning that shawl, and taking Prahlad in her lap, Holika sat on a huge pyre which was then lit. As luck would have it, the fireproof shawl was blown off Holika and onto Prahlad. Holika was incinerated, but the boy escaped unharmed.

Since that day, the people started celebrating Holi, as Holika dahan (burning Holika) by lighting up communal bonfires on the day Holika tried to kill Prahlad.

Prahlad's tale didn't end with Holika, though. The asuras tried, futilely, their illusionary, magical and mystical powers to get rid of him. Shand and Amark even generated a mystical ogress Kritya to kill Prahlad, but she ended up killing them instead. The kind-hearted Prahlad prayed to the God and got his teachers revived.

Hiranyakashipu began to feel afraid and, in a last-ditch attempt, once again sent Prahlad to Shand and Amark's school. There, the 5-year old Prahlad would assemble his fellow disciples around him and preach to them virtues and devotion. The asura boys started following his preachings. Horrified, the teachers sent Prahlad back to his father.

Now, Hiranyakashipu decided to kill Prahlad himself and at dusk tied him to a pillar of his court. Sword in hand, he asked condescendingly,"O fool, with whose powers you have been humiliating me? Now, I am going to kill you. Call your God to save you".

Undaunted, Prahlad replied humbly,"Father, don't be angry. Omnipresent Vishnu is the protector of us all. I am not dishonoring you. One's own mind is his biggest enemy in the world. The God is all pervasive. He is in me, in you, in your sword and is also present in the pillar".

Prahlad hadn't even finished the sentence when the enraged king struck with his mace. The pillar shattered with a deafening crash. From the pillar emerged a creature no one had seen or heard of. The huge wereleo had the head and hands of a lion, and the body of a man. It was Vishnu's Narasimha (wereleo) avatar. Narasimha grabbed hold of Hiranyakashipu, and dragged him to the threshold. On his thighs, Narasimha placed Hiranyakashipu and tore him apart with his sharp claws. Thus, it was neither a creature of nature nor a creation of man that killed Hiranyakashipu, it was neither on earth nor in sky that he was killed, it was neither day nor night when he was killed.

When the rage of Narasimha did not subside even after killing the asura king, Prahlad fearlessly went to Narasimha and lied down at his feet. Overcome by affection, Narasimha picked Prahlad up, embraced him and asked for forgiveness for having taken that long in coming and for all that Prahlad had to suffer in the meantime.

He told Prahlad that he would grant him a wish. Prahlad replied,"O omnipotent, kindly don't put me on test by asking me to seek a boon. Those who seek rewards in exchange of their service are not servers but they are the traders. You are my true Lord. Even then, if you wish to grant me a wish, kindly bless me that never any desire may arise in my mind for anything". He even asked for forgiveness for his father, that Hiranyakashipu may be freed from his sins. The lord granted that wish, and made Prahlad the king of asuras. Prahlad went on to be the most benevolent, virtuous and just king.

------------------------------------------------------------
1 Lord Krishna/Kršna was an avatar of Vishnu and is part of the story of the Mahabharata, the world's largest epic, with 100,000 verses. Bhagwad Gita or The Gita which is widely, though incorrectly, believed by the west to be the Hindu Bible, is not a separate book, but a part of the Mahabharata.
2 The Mahabharata Chronology, Dr.K.N.S.Patnaik, The Hindu Net
3 The creator among the Hindu holy trinity of Gods.
4 The preserver among the Hindu holy trinity of Gods.
5 If you perform penance with a pure heart for long enough, the Gods are obligated to grant your wish, irrespective of who you are or what you might do with your gift.
6 Tathastu (So be it) is the typical way in which the Gods granted wishes.
7 Indra, the king of suras has been responsible for many villainous acts as per Hindu mythology. While suras/devs and asuras/daityas are typically classified as gods and demons for the simplicity of western understanding, a more balanced view would be look as them as two races almost constantly at each others' throats. While the west would like to think in terms of black and white, good and evil, things weren't as simple: there were some bad suras and good asuras.
8 Devarshi = Dev + Rrshi (the holy ascetic). Narad is an interesting mythological character and appears in subsidiary but important roles in many tales. He wanders about singing bhajans (devotional songs) & playing his lute, and doubles up as a messenger between warring factions. He is a mischievious character, and can even be seen encouraging some malicious asura kings in their devilish tasks so that their sins catch up with them, i.e. become so unbearable that God has to take action against them. He is also credited with the invention of the veena, the principal Indian stringed instrument.

Quotation of the Day

"Life is too short. There's no time to live. "
- yours truly The Maverick

Slow Dance - An Internet Forward

Today I am unoriginal. This is an email forward that I just received and decided to put on my blog. I first received this one about 4 years ago. It may have started circulating even before that. However, when I received it today, I felt very much like the poet who wrote it, and I'd like to say the same thing to some friends. Thus, I am putting it up. Of course, I will spare you the mass/chain mail stuff.

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"HI"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Who killed Ayn Rand?

America's Swadeshi Movement

Quotation of the Day

"The South is religious. The rest of the country is educated. "
- one of my MBA classmates

Democracy: The Political Communism

The Pirates of the Cyberia

Quotation of the Day

"I wonder what's gonna happen to the next generation of Indians born in the US" (referring to the 'losing of roots' among American Indians or American Born Confused Desis/ABCDs, as they are called)
- My friend and senior at the MBA program

"I am more concerned about a graver problem. What's the next generation of Indians born in India be like"
- yours truly The Maverick

Who killed my DVD?

DVRs like TiVo sent shock-waves down the spine of marketing managers and advertising agencies everywhere. After all, they provide time-shift television and weed out the ads, making it difficult to reach the consumers. I foresee in the near future a time where ad-neutralizing devices would be commonplace, and would cover all media including TV, theater, music, movies, print, radio and web. Does that mean the death of advertising? Hell, no! Apart from creative product placements, I foresee an era of on-demand advertisements...essentially an era of pull-advertising rather than push-advertising. This isn't very different from The Yellow Pages or a web-search.

However, that's not what inspired me to write this piece today. DVRs have also unsettled the media and entertainment industry in general, and not just for the fear of loss of advertising revenues. Film-studios, for instance, worry about losing out on DVD sales. The reason broadcast of movies on cable doesn't kill DVD distribution is time-inconvenience, push-ads and etheral character. DVDs are on-demand, ad-free and ownable. Though on-demand channels overcome the first two barriers, they trip on the third. As of now, human psychology allocates a premium on physical ownership. And that's not about to change in a hurry. That's one of the reasons that the Network PC and Applications-on-Demand/Application-rentals fell flat on their face.

DVRs change the scenario. They deal with all the three issues satisfactorily. So will the DVR kill the DVD? The current statistics make that question appear ridiculous. And considering the number of DVDs I own, I want to stay in denial, and laugh the issue off.

However, this is no laughing matter. VHS killed Beta in spite of having a poorer picture quality merely because of the longer play length. VCD eliminated the need to rewind and provided longer product life; that was the end of VHS. DVD murdered VCD with the better quality, single-disc and bonus features cards. So is DVR the next king of content?

I'll give a rather diplomatic answer. It depends. Current DVRs use Winchester-discs/hard-disks to store programming. I believe that is on its way out. I see the minimization of moving parts. I see the end of fragile discs like DVDs or hard discs. I see the onslaught of solid-state media. This onslaught has already started. My roommate has a 4GB Flash-drive (a.k.a. jump drive, thumb drive, pen drive, memory stick, and USB drive), the size of a matchbox. I have a 1GB SDRAM card 1/8 the size. Presently the economies are not good enough to make these the preferred software distribution media. Within 3 years, however, movies will be distributed on solid state memories. And THAT will kill the DVD.

For all their strengths, DVR can not achieve the coup-de-grâce for two reasons:
1. Portability. There are times when you want to carry around your movies. DVRs are no good in that area.
2. Scalability. DVRs have a fixed memory size. As a computer user, you'd appreciate that however large a hard disc you buy, it starts feeling small within a half and one year. As your collection grows, you will hate being constrained.
3. Searchability. For another generation at least, people will prefer going through colorful physical stacks of movies to searching on a tiny screen using a cramped keypad of a DVR.

To be fair, DVRs will evolve on their part. They will become smaller and lighter. They will facilitate better search, typically through connection with a computer or with a plug-in full-size keyboard. And they will start accepting solid-state memory. But that will just make them DVD-player replacement, not a DVD-media replacement.

In conclusion, watch out all you DVD collectors. Your collection is about to be rendered obsolete and useless.