Devdutt Pattanaik Works with gods and demons who churn nectar from the ocean of Indian, Chinese, Islamic, Christian, even secular mythologies
Credit: DH illustrations
Harry Potter ends with a great war. So does Lord of the Rings. So does every Marvel Comic. Good wizards fighting bad wizards. Elves fighting orcs. Superheroes battling supervillains. Angels fighting demons. For the past thirty years, that is what we have been consuming from Hollywood. Life is war. We are eternally under threat. We need warriors to protect ourselves.
This idea is based on Greek myths and Norse myths, where gods are in power, having kept their enemies at bay -- but the enemy is always at the gate, waiting for an opportunity to strike. This becomes the stuff of serial movies and serial books. This is also the stuff of the Bible and the Quran. For there is a great war anticipated at the end of the world, between forces of good and evil. The Apocalypse.
Violence is glamorous. And now, we are seeing great wars unfolding before our eyes, on live television. We watch helplessly as cities are bombed, children are maimed and orphaned, women weep over dead husbands and brothers. Each side argues their case well. Their violence is justified. The enemy is the aggressor, the coloniser, the occupier, the terrorist. The other needs to die. Genocide and terrorism are perfectly justified, if you have a great lawyer.
As humans, we have the burden to justify acts of violence. But animals do not. Animals use force and cunning to get what they want. This is what politicians do. This is what Bollywood films are now promoting -- violence and trickery are the tools we have to get what we want. The winner is Alexander (jo jeeta, woh Sikander, as the Hindi proverb goes). The winner is always right. So the point is not to be right; the point is to win.
These are the values we are giving our children, who are spending all day competing, in classrooms, in sports arenas, surrounded more by rivals than friends. Their videogames are also all about violence. You have to kill the zombie, the alien, the barbarian, the other. Even social media is competitive: How many followers do you have? How many likes do you have?
Everything is gamified. It is evident in social media. The Left is arm-wrestling with the Right. Each party derives delight in the other party’s defeat. WhatsApp groups have become warzones with pseudoscience winning the war against science, religion claiming triumph over logic. We see family members delighting at the sight of poor homes being bulldozed, corrupt politicians becoming heroes once they change party lines, people being beaten up in public, justice system serving the powerful, data being fudged. The point is to win!
We are told this is global culture. Even Hindu scriptures valorise war. Aren’t Ramayana and Mahabharata about war? Doesn’t Rama fight to rescue Sita? Doesn’t Krishna encourage violence in the Gita? Aren’t the devas constantly fighting asuras? This narrative is popular amongst modern mytho-fiction writers of India. Check the covers of their book. Every god looks angry, muscular and violent. Wisdom is now replaced by triumphalism. The tone of gurus in their lecture is to evoke pride and arrogance and victory. Kindness is boring. Contentment is unrealistic.
But what distinguishes Hindu myths is the idea of karma. Actions have reactions. Consumption results in debts that everyone has to repay. This idea is missing in Western myths. In the many Ramayanas of India, Rama is cursed by the widows of villains he kills. Tara, widow of Vali, curses him. Mandodari, widow of Ravana, curses him. Rama therefore spends the last days of his life alone, without a wife or children by his side. Mahabharata is not just about the victory of the Pandavas; it is also about the price of war. All children of Draupadi are killed in the war. All children of Krishna are cursed to kill each other. Contrary to popular belief, good deeds do not always have good rewards. Hence Krishna says, focus on actions, not results. We cannot control the outcome.
This idea of outcome, of repercussions, of reactions, is a hallmark of Indian mythology, which is based on rebirth. Christian and Islamic mythology speak of a climax, a happily ever after, orchestrated by an all-powerful God. God is not cursed in Middle Eastern stories. They are in Indian stories. Those who identify themselves as scientific and secular, also secretly believe that one day all problems of the world will be solved, though they prefer the rational route. Right now, many in the Hindu elite believe the rise of aggressive Hindu nationalism will establish Hindu Rashtra forever. They do not read their own scriptures, where even Krishna’s glorious Dwarka is washed away because of the curse of the mother of the Kauravas.