My dear Shruthi,
What a snazzy new ID photo! Very nice.
Now for your post. It is well argued, lucid and coherent, especially the part
@blue. I know that you have been saying this from Day 1. I agree with you in the main, but with some reservations.
I do not think that Shiva's acts of omission are due to his valuing things over people, or that Rudra's latest decision is a choice of people over things.
It is more a question of different assessments as to how the garuds can prevail in the end, and what they will need to be able to do so. This, given that they are facing a chicken or egg sort of puzzle, is a very difficult assessment to make, for whichever path they choose, they are likely to go wrong.
Before I get to that, I must note that I can also understand Rao's serious reservations about letting the
nagas have the two Books. I do not think he believes that once they are gone, Rudra, for all his almost casual confidence that he will be able to get them back again, will really be able to do so.
I do not believe it either; Dansh is not Greyerson, to be beaten up and bullied into letting Rudra take the First Book. Though I
was surprised at how keen Dansh is that Rudra should not be able to track them down thru his Garuda Locator.
So once the Books are gone for good, what would be use of Shivanand on his own? Probably nothing.
To my mind, Rudra is taking a calculated gamble this time, of getting the brains trust of the
garuds back, which he knows is vital for their mission. He believes that then, if they can get the Two Books back, well and good, but even if not, he is confident that Shivanand can cobble something together from his memory that will help them protect the
amrit.
What he forgets is that Shivanand has never seen the First Book, and can thus have no memory of its contents to fall back upon in its absence. So, if the garuds get Shivanand back without the books, they will be in the same situation as they are now: facing a dead end. Nor can Rudra be sure that the snaky Dansh will actually hand over Shivanand once he has the Two Books, though in his arrogant shortsightedness, he might well do so, assuming that the Books would be sufficient by themselves and Shivanand will not be needed. But if the
naga guru takes a look at the Books, he will immediately reach the same conclusion as Rao, and warn Dansh against letting Shivanand go.
If that happens, what then? Rudra will be minus the Books and minus the brains trust as well, and he will have to fight it out in hostile terrain, and on his own.
Coming to Shivanand, he seems at times to be unbelievably dumb, and
that is not necessarily because he values the material things, like the Books, over the rakshaks. It is more because he has no imagination, especially as to what hostile forces would be doing and what they are capable of.
In 1989, he does not have the good sense to anticipate the virulent hostility of the 'Veshes and take some precautions to protect his family and himself. He goes around with his kid on his shoulders as if he had not a care in the world, and he ends up in hell on earth for 24 long years, with his family scattered and his home destroyed.
Now, after he realises that with the
naga poison, the
nagas too have arrived at the Mahakumbh, what does he do? Does he think of protecting Rudra or himself? No. Instead, he goes and sits at the Sangam to do the Mahamrityunjaya
yagna because his mother wants him to do that. It never occurs to him to tell her how dangerous the situation is and how short of time they are, and act to protect them all, his family and the
garuds.
Even after he hears Daadi's cry of appeal, and Punnu goes off to investigate, what does Shivanand do once the
yagna is over and all the others have departed? He does not go into hiding and try to find out what is happening. Instead, he skulks behind thee boats on the open beach, babbling that his fear that the
nagas had arrived was correct, and th Book should never be allowed to fall into their hands. It is pure distilled folly, no more. No wonder he is grabbed at once, and lands back in hell,only an even worse one this time, leaving his fellow
garuds between the Devil and the deep sea.
So, to my mind, one cannot say that Shivanand is wrong because he values thing over people, and Rudra is right because he values people over things. He can be just as wrong as Shivanand was earlier. But to do him justice, Rudra is now in a horrible bind, and he has to decide one way or the other for the buck stops with him. And he makes his choice.
Since this is not real life, we know that he will prevail in the end. Not many leaders have that luxury!
Shyamala Di
Originally posted by: shruthiravi
Last Thursday we saw the Garud Pramukh taking the decision to save thousands of people over and above his father. This week we again saw Garud Pramukh pushed to another decision. If he wants Shiva, he has to give the book to Nagas.
And indeed this time Rudra chooses Shiva over and above the book. Dr Rao says if it was Shiva he would have given life, but not the book.
This is where I tell Shiva and Rudra differ. Shiva gives importance to material over people, protection of material becomes important over protection of self and the people near to him. Amrit ki Raksha is important, but no measure taken to protect the Rakshak who will protect Amrit. This is exactly the reason he ends up in captivity and gets tortured. The knowledge people are important over and above material is yet to dawn on him completely. It is not that he doesn't respect people. He does, but his priority somehow ends up in protecting material things like book, Amrit etc..
For Rudra protection of Rakshak comes first, because he feels if all the Rakshak are together Amrit can be protected. Last week also he tells they all have to come back alive. Yesterday also he decides to go alone, but his team concerned about his safety is planning to protect him without his knowledge.
Rudra evokes trust, there are people willing to lay down life for him, because he is willing to put his life at risk for them. And in the end you need people to accomplish things. Materials like books is only a means to achieve it. They are needed , but they are not over and above the right people.
Rudra feels if he has Shiva, through him whatever knowledge in that book the Garud team can have or atleast as a team they can work together to get the right info. But having the book and no Shiva they are left with little means to interpret those books.
So Rudra once again rises above the ordinary in making choices in difficult situation. And I also liked the fact after making decision, he raises his concern with MB who adequately guides him and gives him confidence to go ahead.
Edited by sashashyam - 10 years ago
Arjun
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Indian Mythology
