Originally posted by: sashashyam
I agree completely with your reference to the ashtanga yoga.DKD Mahadev is a mythological with deep philosophical overtones and undertones, not a Shiva-Parvati or Shiva-Sati love story alone, and it has to be taken like that. At least, unlike the run of the mill serials, they do not change the storyline for the sake of TRPs!
Moreover, the Jalandhar track is fascinating, above all because of the character of Jalandhar. He is a curious mixture of many qualities.
-Innocence - part of him is still that 8 year old whose life was centred on his mother. I simply loved that little boy, and the courage with which he coped with the crippling trauma of his mother being murdered in front of his eyes.
-Great strength, great courage and even greater prowess as a warrior, plus the intelligence of a strategist who can match the devas in both tactics and strategy.
-Arrogance, not the arrogance of power but the arrogance of excellence. He cares only for excellence, and that is why, in a reflection of modern ideas of democracy, he does not want a hereditary monarchy for the asuras, but to have their kings chosen only for being sarvashreshta.
-A deep sense of responsibility towards the asuras who have made him their own and accepted a matsyakanya's son as their king.
-Unquestioning devotion towards the guru who took charge of him, saved him from Indra, and made him what he is today.
-Integrity and a sense of honour, in life and in war.
-An almost reluctant love for Vrinda, which is the first feeling he has ever had for himself, and which he, despite being so introverted, is able to confess to her directly and with amazing gentleness.
-Finally, the burning desire to be revenged on the murderer of his mother.
He is a superb king and would have been a very good husband and father, but I expect that his whole personality will soon be overtaken by what the ancient Greeks called hubris,or overweening pride and vaulting ambition. He will thus overreach himself, go over and beyond what his guru Shukracharya, himself a devotee of Mahadev, advises him to do. In the process, he will probably destroy himself, but then his end, as he is a Shivansh, will be a relatively gentle merging back into the whole of which he is a part, Shiva.
One has to appreciate such a complex personality, which is not black or white or even grey, but a shifting blend of colours.
Vrinda too is not the usual coy, blushing maiden, but a woman professional in her own right, to use modern terminology, with enough courage to face the arrows without flinching, and enough spirit to stand up to Jalandhar. I was a tad disappointed yesterday that she did not make the slightest effort to get what she really wants, either thru telling her father directly, or telling Jalandhar to take care of it in a way that would not hurt her father's honour. But then she is not really a modern girl, for all her professionalism and her courage, but an obedient daughter who is bound by the sanskaars she was brought up to follow.
All in all, an unusual and very interesting couple.
I do not at all mind the number of weeks being devoted to the three tracks that are ongoing at present - the astanga yoga track, the Jalandhar track, and now the Mahakaal track. The footage is divided roughly half and half between the first 2 tracks, and I find both absorbing.
You are absolutely correct, good things take time, like fine cooking. One cannot always eat only fast food!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
Enjoyed reading the interesting analysis of Jalandhar's complex character.
