|| श्री गणेशाय नमः ||

If only we had the original manuscripts and texts, we'd be able to answer these questions. A lot of things get lost in translation, sadly ofcourse.

Reading is such a journey cz sometimes you know what you're reading and the story has a base but sometimes it's just mahabharat and you can do nothing about it.

literally sat down with clenched teeth and had to calm down myself after I started reading Sambhava Parva.

I've read until Arjun's birth if anyone's wondering

My thoughts until now:

Shakuntala deserved better.

no way you just said that

yes wayy you just said that! Slayyy

Ok so I was cheering on the wrong side apparently

So then Devyani was the earliest sister-zoned lady

Devyani is such a papa ki pari.

Sharmistha— girl— that's not how it's supposed to work and we all know it.

Brother find a therapist— wait did they have therapists back then?

It can't be that bad???

Oh it is sO BAD!— who allowed this?

I have absolutely zero idea if that's how it's supposed to work.

And what about that one time you lied to Devyani sir?mmmmmmmm sus

BHISHMA NO

BHISHMA YES

bhisma wait— what are you TALKING ABOUT!?

Satyavati what shampoo dyu use gurl— snatched an entire king

Me killed Myself kinda situation ngl

Hmmm earliest teenager guy.

oh he dies right

Yeah he died

Who is making these rules ohmygod

BLUER EYES HYPNOTISE TERI—

red heads? back then? is this mahabharat?

no way you just said that

no wait they seriously had blue eyes?

Wait no what

When i asked who was making these rules i didn't expect an answer sir

Oh wait so like this existed!?

I don't know whose side I'm on now so I'll just wait it out until krishna pops up and has arjun kill yall

The amount of things that make no sense whatsoever

Lmao Vikrodara and Duryodhan born on the same day twinsies

Aint no way a child cracked a mountin tho

No wait thats bheem were talking abt

Arjun was born the main character

Im dying

Wait— they mentioned a guy before but his name aint here

Aaaand he pops back here somehow...

Can't talk about any iconic bhakts of Maa Saraswati, but I've never heard a single performance of folk singers in Awadh not have a geet dedicated to Mata Sharda Bhawani. They sing her glories for she is the goddess of art and music.

And Maihar which is in Madhya Pradesh now, is the seat of Sharda Bhawani, and people in huge numbers go there from Awadh to worship her. I've never been there but I really wish to go there one day.

I am

Maybe

A teeny tiny bit salty there aren't like well known iconic Saraswati bhakts

Atleast not any that I know off

There's Mirabai for Krishna and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa for Maa Kali

Like c'mon dude,

I expected atleast a legendary poet or astronomer or mathematician

I'm sure that the ancient universities of India were busttling with Saraswati bhakts

But why didn't they write down any of their stories and lives :(

GURL SAME

Like where did all the Saraswati bhakts go?? Just disappeared into thin air??? 😭😭😭😭

Some or rather most universities were filled with Buddhist ideologies tho so I don't know how many were Saraswati Bhakts bit I'm sure there were some ofcourse

Also another reason could be is because Saraswati wasn't/isn't much worshipped, like in the way Kali, Durga, Vishnu, Shiva, Lakshmi and all are worshipped with temples and elaborate rituals throughout Indian subcontinent...

Like I can maybe name a few temples dedicated to Saraswati and only maybe the eastern side, have a dedicated day to worship her

So yeah... Its sad she doesn't gets the recognition she deserves tho :(

Oh not this again.

You know that Hanuman in Hanuman chalisa has been called "kapi" which means monkey.

Plus how do you explain Hanuman using his tail to burn Lanka? How do you explain Makardhwaj, half-monkey half-crocodile son of Hanuman?

And okay lets assume vanar were humans, then explain Jatayu? Was he a bird or was he human too?

But ofcourse go ahead and question it.

Imagine a Ramayan adaptation where the Vanars are not monkeys...

How'd the public react lol

For humanity’s sake, stop siding with abusers!

What makes you think the OP doesn't know their facts. They do know the history and they know who's in the wrong. It's just that they don't want to create a narrative where whoever is against them is wrong. And whoever they're supporting is in the right.

i’m reading these news as there’s a siren absolutely BLASTING outside my window because russia’s bombing my city again. this goes to say i’m showing solidarity with pakistan and reminding you that THE INVADERS ARE ALWAYS WRONG

A Durga Mata temple at Manali Mall Road

It was strange no one was visiting this temple on a Friday (I visited this on the 7th of Feb)

I love the little art on the golden plated doors of this temple. I can make out a few from this picture too.

|| ॐ नमः शिवाय ||

Sound ON if you want to listen to the sound of flowing water

This was on the way back from visiting the Mata Vaishno Devi.

Resource Masterlist: Indian Art

Cheap/Free resources:

Wkipedia:

Wikipedia of Indian Art: I'll recommend reading the subtopics from bottom up; it seems more relevant that way!

Wikipedia of Indian Painting: once you go through this article you should further look into whichever style you like, and learn it in depth. It also has links to vernacular art.

Rasa: the classical theory of Indian aesthetics

From Archive.Org (maybe scholarly and/or illustrative. In case illustrations are not there, simply Google them for reference):

Stone Age Painting in India by Romert Brooks

The arts of India from prehistoric to modern times by Ajit Mookerji (If you have no idea about Indian arts, START HERE; it's a short book full of illustrations)

Rajput painting : romantic, divine and courtly art from India by Ahluwalia, Roda

Indian Painting by C Sivaramamurti

South Indian Paintings by C Sivaramamurti

Approach to nature in Indian art and thought by C Sivaramamurti

[There are many books on Indian art, architecture and sculpture by C Sivaramamurti on Archive.org. It's basically a goldmine.]

Kalighat : Indian popular painting, 1800-1930 by Balraj Khanna

Art of modern India by Balrak Khanna [Again, you can check out other titles by Khanna.]

Indian Textiles by John Gillow

Traditional Indian Textiles by John Gillow

South-Indian images of gods and goddesses by HK Sastri

Myths and symbols in Indian art and civilization by Heinrich Zimmer (no illustrations)

The art of Indian Asia, its mythology and transformations by Heinrich Zimmer (with illustrations)

History of Indian and Indonesian art by Ananda Coomaraswamy

A Concise History of Indian Art by Roy C Craven

Deccani Painting by Mark Zebrowski

Indian Folk Art by Heinz Mode; Subodh Chandra

Women of India by Otto Rothfeld (this isn't about art but has few informative illustrations on regional costumes of women)

Dress And Ornaments In Ancient India by Mohini Verma and Keya Bawa

Classical dances and costumes of India by Ambrose, Kay

Cultures and Costumes of India and Sri Lanka by Kilgallon, Conor (o course i had to see other books on costumes)

Studies In Indian Painting by DB Taraporevala

Five Thousand Years of Indian Art by Hermann Goetz

Indian Painiting by Philip Rawson

The Art of Tantra by Philip Rawson

MS Randhawa (different books on Punjabi paintings Basohli, Kangra, Guler and General Themes in Indian Painting)

The imperial image: paintings for the Mughal court by Beach, Milo Cleveland

Wonders of nature : Ustad Mansur at the Mughal court by Dāśa, Aśoka Kumāra

Imperial mughal painting by Welch, Stuart Cary

Painted delight : Indian paintings from Philadelphia collections

India : life, myth and art by Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi

The heritage of Indian art by Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana

The adventures of Rama : with illustrations from a sixteenth-century Mughal manuscript

Indian paintings from the Punjab Hills by WG Archer

Art in East and West by Rowland Benjamin

Stella Kramisch (An American art historian and curator who was a leading specialist on Indian art, including folk art, for most of the 20th century. Also a Padma Bhushan awardee.)

The transformation of nature in art by Coomaraswamy, Ananda K

Books available on Libgen:

Art Of Ancient India : Buddhist, Hindu, Jain by Huntington and Huntington

The New Cambridge History of India, Volume 1, Part 3: Mughal and Rajput Painting

Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Heinrich Zimmer

Four Centuries of Rajput Painting: Mewar, Marwar and Dhundhar Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Isabelle and Vicky Ducrot

Ajanta by Yazdani

The Aesthetic Experience Acording to Abhinavagupta

TheHeritageLab is a free website to connect you to cultural heritage through stories, public engagement programs, campaigns, and free-access content.

Also if you're in Delhi, do consider getting a membership of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) library.

Folk art:

Folk art is an entirely different area that deserve a post of its own. But i love them so here is a long list by Memeraki.com. You can Google each and then look more into what you like. This website also offers very cheap courses in traditional Indian arts by the hidden and disenfranchised masters themselves! It's doing a great work in giving them a platorm. I myself have taken the Mughal Miniature course here. You can consider it.

Illustrated Books:

Note: These are coffee table books with beautiful illustrations that you'd love to looks at.

The Night Life of Trees: In the belief of the Gond tribe, the lives of humans and trees are closely entwined. A visual ode to trees rendered by tribal artists from India, this handcrafted edition showcases three of the finest living Gond masters. THIS YOUTUBE LINK shows the making of the book. The channel also features other works of Gond art.

An Unknown Treasure in Rajasthan: The Bundi Wall-Paintings:  This book celebrates the surviving wall-paintings at Bundi by presenting a stunning photographic survey

Painting In the Kangra Valley: Painting in the Kangra Valley is an attempt to survey the painting styles of Guler and Kangra, which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. The painting activity began with Kashmiri painters (...)

Indian Painting: The Lesser Known Traditions: India has an astonishingly rich variety of painting traditions. While miniature painting schools became virtually extinct with the decline of aristocratic patronage, a number of local vernacular idioms still survive and continue to develop.

Madhubani Art: Indian Art Series: Madhubani art's origin is believed to go back to the ancient era of the Ramayana, when the town was decorated by inhabitants of the region for the wedding of Lord Rama and Sita with elaborate wall paintings and murals (...) Primarily a significant socio-cultural engagement for the womenfolk of Bihar, this art was a welcome break from their daily drudgery.

Reflections on Mughal Art and Culture: Enter the splendid world of Mughal India and explore its rich aesthetic and cultural legacy through fresh insights offered by 13 eminent scholars.

Monsoon Feelings: A History of Emotions in the Rain: Through a series of evocative essays exploring rain-drenched worlds of poetry, songs, paintings, architecture, films, gardens, festivals, music and medicine, this lavishly illustrated collection examines the history of monsoon feelings in South Asia from the twelfth century to the present

Sita's Ramayana shifts the point of view of the Ramayana - the saga of a heroic war - to bring a woman's perspective to this timeless epic. Illustrated with Patua painting.

Adi Parva: Churning of the Ocean: a graphic novel that is a revisionist retelling of some of our oldest tales which have inspired and guided generations of people.

Ajit Mookerji, Sivaramamurti and Craven Roy's books are concise from where one can begin and then delve deeper into the subject of interest. Reading history and myths behind the work for context and listening to music from the given time/region alongside will make the exploration even more enjoyable!

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