Skip to main content

The Crown that Corrupts


We know from the Hindu epics and mythologies that after ruling the kingdom of Hastinapura post Mahabharata war the Pandavas retired to Himalayas. Yudhisthira handed over the throne of Hastinapura to Parikshit, who was son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjuna. Parikshit was a pious king. His reign saw the beginning of Kala Yuga or the Dark Age which began soon after Lord Krishna left his mortal body and went to Vaikuntha. In the Puranas the dark age is personified the demon "Kali". He symbolises corruption, evil, suffering and everything bad. When the Kali Yuga began, the demon Kali entered Parikshit's realm. When Parikshit stopped him the demon asked Parikshit to name few places where he can dwell. Parikshit granted him five places to reside amongst which was gold. Kali immediately entered Parikshit's golden crown and began to corrupt his mind. This made him arrogant and made him do wrong things. When he went to a sage who was meditating, he threw a dead snake on the sage because he was not responding to Parikshit's call. This led to the sage's son curse Parikshit which later caused his death by a snake bite. Parikshit was succeeded by his son Janamejaya who was enraged by his father's death and decided to eliminate all the snakes from the planet.

The Crown here stands for power. Power has the ability to turn a pious and good person into arrogant and corrupt. It makes a person do things which goes against their own set of ethics and morals. In a democracy we see that political parties keep on changing their stands depending on whether they are in power or in opposition. Every opposition party tries to connect with the people but when they return to power their attitude change. The more time they remain in power the more arrogant they become. That is why Mark Twain once said - "Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."

The demon Kali can be witnessed everywhere around us. It is not only in politics, but also in corporate sector, media, film and television. We all are the users of Parikshit's crown at some point in time.

Good day!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Speculative Hindu Temple Architecture: Modern style

India has a wonderful variety of Hindu temple architectures. Each style evolved from previous one during a particular era and under a particular cultural influence. But after colonial period, the style stopped evolving further and all later modern temples we see today have borrowed heavily from the styles that existed before. Although there are a few hipster styles today, but still it’s little bland if you compare it with the kind of architectures that existed before. So, how would’ve been Hindu temple architecture of today’s India if we follow its pattern? But first let’s check out all types of Hindu temple architecture styles in India and abroad. You definitely must be aware of the most common styles – the north Indian ‘Nagara’, the south Indian ‘Dravida’, and its blend known as ‘Vessara’. But there are many regional styles which often get unnoticed by the common folk. Let’s check them out. Types of Hindu Temple Architecture Early Nagara Shikhara with Gavaksha Dravida Vimana Vessar...
1 comment
Read more

Indian Festival(s): Diwali

Diwali also known as Dipavali, which is festival of lights. Although the present scenario in cities of modern India (@least in Mumbai) contradicts the meaning of the festival. The festival of lights is celebrated as festival of noise. Fireworks were used as they gave lights, which were followed by bombs & other crackers which gives 2% light, 48% smoke and 50% noise. It seems like the main intention of celebrating a festival is to trouble people around. Many people have asthma problems; many people mostly due to old age have timid ears and can even get a heart attack after listening the kaboom noise of the crackers. Even during marriages and Ganpati visarjan , traffic jam and making loud noise with weird dances on the streets are common. They don't care if an ambulance have to pass by or if there is hospital in that area.  Indian festivals have now became the best examples of mockery. Festivals are celebrated by troubling other people. Not ju...
8 comments
Read more

Indian Mythical Creatures II

My earlier post “ Indian Mythical Creatures ” stated the similarities between the mythical beings of India and that of the western countries. Now I have found more similarities. These mythical beings are very commonly seen but we ignore them. Hollywood filmmakers still use these creatures in movies and hence they are part of the Popular Culture just like ware-wolf and vampires and witches. These are Griffin, Sphinx, dragons etc. They also had Indian counterparts as well. But as we have not preserved and presented them in movies properly these creatures and unknown. The European creatures and their Indian counterparts are as follows: Indian Griffin Griffin(European):- Griffins are partly eagle and partly lion with body of lion but wings and head of an eagle. These creatures were and still are used in emblems, coat of arms of European countries and also in stories and movies like Harry Potter series. Sharabha [ शरभ ]:-   This Indian counterpart of Griffin is mentioned in the Hi...
Post a Comment
Read more