Anant Pai (1929–2011)

23-June-2018: Picking this up again as research for my second novel in which my aim will be to take readers to historical India, to a world of royal opulence and hedonism, treachery, heartbreak and love against the odds. And yes, it will be a gay fantasy, only with handsome brown heroes. :)


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Highly recommended for lovers of epic mythology and warfare, where the gods fight with men, warriors are granted divine weapons, and queens embody strength, majesty and grace to inspire love show more and respect and, in some cases, fear. Anyone who enjoyed the Iliad and is interested in reading about different cultures will likely enjoy this epic, set against the panorama of Indian royalty and mythology.

The Mahabharata is a sweeping tale of political intrigue, heroism and feats of supernatural ability. Add in beauty, love, divinity, nobility, and flawed characters pitted against each other in devastating conflict (both psychological and physical) and you get the ultimate triumph of good over evil. It covers just about every human emotion and act one can imagine. It even has LGBTQ themes (Shikhandi who's a badass trans prince(ss) warrior, Ardhanarishvara, who's a hermaphrodite formed from the joining of Shiva and Vishnu).

Seemingly banal events are often allegorical. E.g. Princess Draupadi ends up being married to all 5 Pandava brothers because their mother told Draupadi's original (and only) husband, Arjuna, to share his winnings with his brothers, not knowing it was a wife he had won. Easy-peasy polyandry, right? Not really :) We learn that this happened because Draupadi had asked Lord Shiva for a boon--to be married to the perfect man. However, as there is no ONE perfect man, she had to be married to 5 different men who each exemplified different virtues: justice & morality, strength, dedication, love & beauty, and intelligence.

It's an utterly brilliant tale and the Amar Chitra Katha illustrated, hardbound trilogy is one of the easiest and most entertaining versions of this epic to consume. And it's a great introduction to a rich and vibrant eastern mythology. Highly recommended, even though I said that already. show less

The Ramayana was composed over 2500 years ago by the author/sage Valmiki. Imagine my surprise when the professor of my Hinduism class announced that we would be reading the epic tale Ramayana and proceeded to distribute comic books to the students. In the Hindu tradition, the actual story itself is what is sacred, not the form it is presented in. The comic book version of the Ramayana is actually one of the versions that Indians are most familiar with.

The story follows the life of the young show more prince Rama, who was banished from the kingdom on the day of what was supposed to be his coronation. He leaves to live in the forest with his wife and an extremely devoted younger brother. While in the forest, his wife Sita is kidnapped by the Demon King. Of course, Rama must save her and makes war upon the demons, aided by the monkey people and the monkey Hanuman of divine ancestry.

Experiments in Reading show less

All those Christian comic books that try to help you develop your personal relationship with Jesus H. and Muslim comic books that try to reassure you they're no terrorists AND HEY there is no god other than God (Ashhadu an la ilaaha illa llah) should take a cue from the Hindus: This is how to do it right. The only good religion is a superhero-based religion.

I am in love with blue gods, and Lord Vishnu was the original blue god, the inspiration for James Cameron's Na'vi. I've grown up reading about Vishnu, writing stories about him, drawing pictures of his incarnation, Krishna, and so an illustrated book that chronicles his ten (dasha) incarnations (avatar) has to be at the top of my legends-and-mythology list.