I'm disappointed that they didn't even touch on Balram's birth story in the show, as he was a "miracle baby" (my words) for Rohini, Devki and Vasudev. ⭐️
So here is my first contribution to the discussions about the real Shri Balram - his birth story, I guess mostly for anyone who doesn't already know it. It is said that Sheshnaag incarnated as Devki's seventh child after her first six sons had been killed by Kans, so that he would be born as Krishna's elder brother. But during Devki's seventh pregnancy, on the request of Shri Krishna/Vishnu,
Devi Yogmaya extracted and transferred the unborn Balram from Devki's womb into the womb of Rohini, Vasudev's first wife, who was living in/went to live in Nand's home in Gokul for safety. So Balram was born of Rohini rather than Devki, and for all intents and purposes, everyone at the time thought that Devki's seventh pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. This also confused Kans as to whether the child of Devki's eighth pregnancy (Krishna, or baby Yogmaya as they originally thought) was actually to be considered her seventh or eighth child.
This womb-transfer is also why another name of Shri Balram is Sankarshan (one meaning of the word "sankarshan" is "extraction"). This allowed Balram to be born safely and so be around to help Krishna for his whole life - the purpose of Sheshnaag's incarnation - and also,
there is a story that Rohini was a reincarnation/re-birth of Devi Kadru who is the mother of all snakes (including Sheshnaag), and that Sheshnaag wanted to honour his mother by having his incarnation be born of her in her then-current existence (which is so sweet!).😊
Devki is said to be a reincarnation of Devi Aditi, mother of the Devs, and Vasudev a reincarnation of Rishi Kashyap, husband of Aditi, Kadru and many others and father of practically everyone (Devs, snakes, asurs, etc etc). Krishna/Vishnu is said to have been born 3 times to this set of parents - there are a few versions of this story. One is that he was born of them first when they were Prishni-Sutapa, then Aditi-Kashyap (in his Vaman avatar) and finally as Krishna to Devki-Vasudev. Another version is that he was first born of them when they were Aditi-Kashyap, and then secondly as Shri Rama when they were Kaushalya-Dashratha (and Sumitra was a reincarnation of Kadru and gave birth to Sheshnaag's incarnation Lakshman), and then finally as Krishna to Devki-Vasudev.
And so Balram was born of Rohini-Vasudev, the reincarnations of Sheshnaag's parents, Kadru and Kashyap, but was still also considered to be the seventh child of Devki as well. And we can also consider Balram to be one of the first people to have 3 biological parents! 😊
Another point sometimes raised is that by having Balram be born of Rohini instead of Devki, Krishna could be born earlier on Earth than if Devki had given birth to Balram, although it is generally stated that Balram was 3 years older than Krishna, so I don't know about this speeding-up theory.
There are many interpretations of this story but hopefully you get my overall point - this is all written off the top of my head from my understanding of things that I have learnt.
I do wish they had at least mentioned this story a little bit in the show as is is so interesting and has much meaning!Coming back to the RK show, it kind of looks like they are insinuating (I think this is possible purely because they haven't actually said anything!) that Rohini is a second wife of Nand and that Balram is the son of Rohini and Nand here, which is unnecessary. It's fine that Balram calls Nand "baba" as he is his father figure but I do find it strange if they are actually insinuating that Balram isn't Vasudev's son (they might not be but it seems that way a bit), especially seeing as Balram knows exactly who he is (as well as who Krishna and Radha are) and so would then be aware of how he was born, etc etc. Not a major thing, but
this is one example when they have left out a really cool known story from the show, which could still be potentially unknown to many viewers, just to hurry up to getting the characters teen-aged to display the Radha-Krishna meaning-of-love theme.
I do like that Balram's teeka in this show is a plough, to have the iconography there constantly, with him being the God of Agriculture. ⭐️ Most shows have a snake teeka for Balram, which is fine when he is older, but I like the idea of the plough when he is younger and out working the fields etc. (They should show that some time!) I also like the unique snake ear pieces for the Sheshnaag symbolism. And I'm glad his costume is mostly blue, in keeping with Balram's iconography - in one mytho show they had Balram exclusively in red and gold and it just didn't seem "right"!
And to quote Basant from the article posted here earlier today: "Balram is not just a character, but the symbol of a common person for me. His challenges have made him a hero. Thanks to my directors and team, I was capable of pulling it off. I read books on Balram, and discussed a lot with my creative to get the right detailing" - this sounds like the reasoning behind why Basant is playing Balram as a mirror of the audience, with him reacting to things/asking Krishna things that we generally think when we're watching the goings-on unfold in the show. Good work, Basant - I always knew you were a smart cookie! ⭐️👏😃
Ok, so there's my contribution for today. Hope you enjoyed it and good night!
Edited by A-A-S - 6 years ago
Indias Got Talent 11
Cricket
Anupamaa
