Guest guest Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 The poor low caste villager who was so poor and sick she decided to marry a snake. The media seems to always concentrate on the absurd in the Hindu religion. One does not normally see this kind of bias against ISLAM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, or even BUDDHISM. http://news./s/afp/20060602/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyleindiasocietysnakemarriageoffbeat;_ylt=Ai1PIf9bciuhxhg1.24QKXw5bg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2 JANARDANA DASA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 It's not surprising she married an earth deity in Bhuvaneshwar. - Janardana Dasa Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:20 AM Another Example of Media Bias Against Hinduism The poor low caste villager who was so poor and sick she decided to marry a snake. The media seems to always concentrate on the absurd in the Hindu religion. One does not normally see this kind of bias against ISLAM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, or even BUDDHISM. http://news./s/afp/20060602/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyleindiasocietysnakemarriageoffbeat;_ylt=Ai1PIf9bciuhxhg1.24QKXw5bg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2 JANARDANA DASA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Aren't Nagas (serpents) considered water deities? -- Len/ Kalipadma Llundrub <llundrub (AT) cox (DOT) net> wrote: It's not surprising she married an earth deity in Bhuvaneshwar. - Janardana Dasa Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:20 AM Another Example of Media Bias Against Hinduism The poor low caste villager who was so poor and sick she decided to marry a snake. The media seems to always concentrate on the absurd in the Hindu religion. One does not normally see this kind of bias against ISLAM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, or even BUDDHISM. http://news./s/afp/20060602/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyleindiasocietysnakemarriageoffbeat;_ylt=Ai1PIf9bciuhxhg1.24QKXw5bg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Not sure about that, but in discussing this story with my daughter she reminded me that according to the legends in India and those adjoining areas that used to be part of PUNYA BHUMI (thailand, Burma, Malaysia, etc.) NAGAS in some instances, actually transform themselves into the most attractive/beautiful humans. It is said that sometimes some humans are granted the boon of witnessing this. So this may be the hidden part of the story that makes this story, on the surface, seem foolish to the casual/mundane observer. Therefore, from an esoteric viewpoint this may not be as dumb as it seems. JANARDANA DASA Len Rosenberg <kalipadma108 > wrote: Aren't Nagas (serpents) considered water deities? -- Len/ Kalipadma Llundrub <llundrub (AT) cox (DOT) net> wrote: It's not surprising she married an earth deity in Bhuvaneshwar. - Janardana Dasa Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:20 AM Another Example of Media Bias Against Hinduism The poor low caste villager who was so poor and sick she decided to marry a snake. The media seems to always concentrate on the absurd in the Hindu religion. One does not normally see this kind of bias against ISLAM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, or even BUDDHISM. http://news./s/afp/20060602/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyleindiasocietysnakemarriageoffbeat;_ylt=Ai1PIf9bciuhxhg1.24QKXw5bg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Just depends where they are and what tradition. - Len Rosenberg Monday, June 05, 2006 6:43 AM Re: Another Example of Media Bias Against Hinduism Aren't Nagas (serpents) considered water deities? -- Len/ Kalipadma Llundrub <llundrub (AT) cox (DOT) net> wrote: It's not surprising she married an earth deity in Bhuvaneshwar. - Janardana Dasa Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:20 AM Another Example of Media Bias Against Hinduism The poor low caste villager who was so poor and sick she decided to marry a snake. The media seems to always concentrate on the absurd in the Hindu religion. One does not normally see this kind of bias against ISLAM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, or even BUDDHISM. http://news./s/afp/20060602/wl_sthasia_afp/afplifestyleindiasocietysnakemarriageoffbeat;_ylt=Ai1PIf9bciuhxhg1.24QKXw5bg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 , "Llundrub" <llundrub wrote: > > It's not surprising she married an earth deity in Bhuvaneshwar. > > > - > Janardana Dasa > > Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:20 AM > Another Example of Media Bias Against Hinduism > > > The poor low caste villager who was so poor and sick she decided to marry a snake. The media seems to always concentrate on the absurd in the Hindu religion. One does not normally see this kind of bias against ISLAM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, or even BUDDHISM. > Then.... lets turn it all around to our advantage. Instead of getting so upset over these, why not somebody make an attempt to explain the whole rational behind all these rituals. Have you seen a maiden marrying a banana tree, or trees getting married. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Hey Nora: Sorry; I just replied in a similar vein before seeing your reply here. In fact, the Bengali-American novelist Bharati Mukherjee explores precisely this issue in her 2004 novel, "The Tree Bride." In that book, there is a very pragmatic social explanation for the title character (supposedly the narrator's great-aunt) being married to a tree: Her young fiance is killed by a snakebite during the wedding procession. His family demands the bride's dowry in compensation (she, they say, being the cause of his bad fortune), and says they will take her as a widow (i.e. a free housemaid to use and abuse for life). To save her from this fate, her father weds her to a huge banyan tree outside her village. Thus the tree takes the dowry (i.e., it is held in trust for the bride) and the dead fiance's family is sent packing. The novel -- after beautifully evoking the strange midnight wedding in poetic stream-of-consciousness from the young bride's point of view -- goes on to trace how this circumstance actually freed the girl socially. As all of her childhood friends -- "blessed" with conventional marriages -- disappear into the daily grind of childrearing and housekeeping, the Tree Bride becomes renowned for her spiritual accomplishments, her power as a healer, her innovations as a educator, and ultimately her contributions (using the tree dowry) to the Indian nationalist movement! A very good book -- and one that will definitely throw some light on some of these odd practices that seem nonsensical at first glance, but -- once the social, religious, economic, political and cultural contexts are understood, begin to make a certain kind of sense. DB , "NMadasamy" <ashwini_puralasamy wrote: Then.... lets turn it all around to our advantage. Instead of > getting so upset over these, why not somebody make an attempt to > explain the whole rational behind all these rituals. Have you seen a > maiden marrying a banana tree, or trees getting married. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Yes, exactly. I was about to say that far from being benighted superstition, such customs often represent liberatory workarounds to ward off oppressive custom. (But couldn't think of an example offhand.) And it is done by reaching back to the Sacred Ground of Prakrtii... Max >Her young fiance is killed by a snakebite during the wedding >procession. His family demands the bride's dowry in compensation (she, >they say, being the cause of his bad fortune), and says they will take >her as a widow (i.e. a free housemaid to use and abuse for life). To >save her from this fate, her father weds her to a huge banyan tree >outside her village. Thus the tree takes the dowry (i.e., it is held >in trust for the bride) and the dead fiance's family is sent packing. > >The novel -- after beautifully evoking the strange midnight wedding in >poetic stream-of-consciousness from the young bride's point of view -- >goes on to trace how this circumstance actually freed the girl >socially. As all of her childhood friends -- "blessed" with >conventional marriages -- disappear into the daily grind of >childrearing and housekeeping, the Tree Bride becomes renowned for her >spiritual accomplishments, her power as a healer, her innovations as a >educator, and ultimately her contributions (using the tree dowry) to >the Indian nationalist movement! -- Max Dashu Suppressed Histories Archives Women in Global Perspective http://www.suppressedhistories.net New poster: Our Reproductive Rights! http://www.maxdashu.net/shamanic/reprorights.html Beautiful, multi-issue, empowering 11 x 17 laser print Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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