Sunday, February 24, 2008

Enemy positions

(PARENTAL GUIDANCE ALERT)

I’m pleased to report that raunchy passages aren’t the exclusive preserve of Hindu mythology. Here’s more on the adventures of Amar Ayyar, prince of tricksters (first mentioned in this post), from a passage in the Hamza epic where Amar has sneaked into the enemy camp and rendered everyone unconscious by drugging their wine. He then sets about having fun with their supine bodies:
...Amar shaved Bakhtak and Bakhtiarak’s beards and whiskers as well, and made seven plaits in their hair. Then he lined Bakhtiarak’s hair with minium, fastened his legs around Bakhtak’s waist, and after oiling the latter’s penis pushed it a little way inside Bakhtiarak’s ass. Amar then played the same trick on Zhopin and Bechin, leaving them similarly positioned. In short, nobody escaped disgrace at his mischievous hands...

In the morning the unconscious men regained awareness and those who had been drugged came out of its effects. Because Bakhtak’s eyes were still shut in stupor, when he felt his member hardening, he began pushing it deeper and taking his pleasure, thinking he was inside a woman. Bakhtiarak began shouting and wailing, “For shame! For shame! You act thus toward me even though you are my father!” Upon hearing his cries, people gathered and saw this marvel of marvels: a father sodomizing his own son and carrying on like a beast.
I love the “marvel of marvels” in the last sentence. At any rate, when you add such passages in the Dastan-e Amir Hamza to the many fruity episodes in the Puranas (Brahma lusting after his own daughter and getting a hard-on when he sees Sati at her wedding, Agni swallowing Shiva’s seed, Indra seducing a rishi’s daughter and acquiring thousands of vaginas all over his body, sages spilling their jism in pots and such) as well as the Old Testament, it’s safe to agree that myth-writers across religions have generally been a naughty group of people. Maybe it’s just the nature of the beast? A "with a stylus in my hand I felt like a man" sort of thing.

(Note: most of my reading of late has been around The Adventures of Amir Hamza, so be prepared for more posts in this vein - cleaner ones, though.)

13 comments:

  1. Holy crap.

    I wonder if the Hamzanama tradition has survived in Iran. Can't imagine the clerics would be too happy about this sort of thing, though then again Shias can be much more socially liberal than Sunnis on some matters (e.g. Iranian govt pays for sex change operations).

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  2. "Holy crap" is a good description of a few other passages - such as the one where the gluttonous Aadi goes to relieve himself after eating a huge amount of fruit, and ends up nearly submerging the king of Egypt (who's been hiding in the toilet) in "his ordure".

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  3. Clearly I have to read this ASAP. Is it available at most decent bookstores in Delhi?

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  4. SP: I think it should be - it's a very mainstream publication, well-produced and published by a major company (Random House India). Also, you have to consider the context of the scatological content - the victims/butts of jokes in most of these passages are Hamza's enemies, the infidels. So I'm not sure if it would be offensive to clerics in the way that, say, an explicit portrayal of the Shiva-Agni incident in the Siva Purana might be to conservative Hindus.

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  5. Even if the butts (ouch!) of jokes are infidels, I'm guessing the authorities wouldn't be too happy about buggery-incest being spoken about openly. And fundies do seem to specialize in wiping out the more popular, folk forms of religious expression when they come to power. Khomeini in his early years actually brought all the famous old seminaries under state tutelage and changed their curricula, licensing, etc. to ensure they conformed to his thinking on velayet-e-faqih.

    Then again, a lot of the Zorastrian monuments have been allowed to stand.

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  6. jairjun singh,

    FOR CRYING OUT LOUD:
    HINDUISM IS THE OLDEST RELIGION IN THE WORLD. IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE MAN WAS JUST ABOUT GETTING IT.
    WHEN THE FIRST RAYS OF CIVILISATION WAS JUST ABOUT TO DAWN.PAGAN WORSHIP, SEXUAL OVERTUNES,POLYGAMY,UNSCIENTIFIC CONCEPTION.. EXPECT ALL THIS AND MORE IN TH EOLDEST RELIGION. YOUR CYNICAL GENE CAN BE TRACED BACK ALL THOSE YEARS AND IAM SURE YOUR GRAND GRANDEST FATHER WAS JUST THE SAME. SO WAS MINE. DAMN IT.
    CANT YOU SEE ITS UNCOOL?

    PS:okay iam just hoping i'll make it to your comment list 2008:)

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  7. as usual insulting hiduism ...looks like u r frustrated ...read playboy instead

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  8. So what's "Hiduism"? Is it a religion based on the practice of "hiding" under an anonymous identity?

    (Btw, being catholic in my tastes, I read Playboy and ancient texts. Both very satisfying.)

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  9. christanity is very new. hinduism evolved around the time the first civilisation formed.
    what do expect from such ancient minds?
    of there will be sexual pervation .
    but these people still hold some of the most farsighted messages of all time. the bhagavat gita message is ahead of its time.

    hinduism is unscientific , true but its our oldest heritage. it has also evloved . i find my hindu friends so much more spiritually ahead of me.

    jabberwock when i visited the golden temple i didn't stand in the line for hours to see your holy men wave a fan over some old book. i can always make fun of the fact that you guys keep one book in a temple and sing bhajans instead of having a real guru.
    instead i was touched by the devotion around me.

    its sad that a journalist of your stature continue to hurt religious sentiments.
    a writer ought to understand sentiments.

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  10. Very powerful thing, this business of sentiments, eh? Us secular/non-religious people have sentiments too and deep values connected with our secularism. If religious folks are willing to allow us the right to censor them or protest loudly whenever they say things that hurt our secular sentiments, I'm perfectly willing to return the favour on religious sentiments. But I get the sense that religious sentiments are usually trotted out as a one-way argument, to ensure that one set of beliefs is protected from any others.

    If I can get pedantic on this point, I'd suggest reading this essay:
    http://www.india-seminar.com/2003/521/521%20pratap%20bhanu%20mehta.htm#top

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  11. ...you guys keep one book in a temple and sing bhajans instead of having a real guru

    Anon: Who are these "you guys"? Speaking for myself, I've never kept a book in a temple and sung bhajans, not even in praise of FSM. If you're talking about religious Sikhs, please do go ahead and make fun of them, or of anyone else you please.

    Btw, if we're talking about writers' responsibilities now, I think a major concern of any serious writer is to question accepted wisdom and to give us new perspectives through which to view our lives and beliefs (if only so that we can develop a sense of humour about the things that are important to us, rather than carefully nurture our "hurt sentiments" and make life difficult for ourselves and others).

    P.S. taking SP's comment further, what if I were to protest that you've hurt my atheist sentiments with all this religious talk?

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  12. Also, Anonymous, you're so preoccupied with the idea of someone insulting Hinduism that you appear to have overlooked one thing: this post is primarily about scatological passages in a much-loved Islamic work. Maybe you should find a few words to say in defence of that religion now!

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  13. :) thats was very silly of me.

    doesn't make much difference . if its hindu or islam.
    jabberwock we all need to beleive in something, even if its a flying spaggetti.
    we need some lifeline to go on.

    the sivalinga is the most preposterous religious symbol in the world.
    the practice of fanning a book day and night clearly points to the fact there are no
    real gurus in sikhism to guide the fold.
    there are a thousand loopholes in christianity also.

    but then man invented gods.it was a way of reaching out to the best in all of us. we coined this
    ideal so that we have something to live by.


    but why are you so uncomfortable with such passages. my son i have giggles when he reads
    the song of solomon.i can understand that.

    sex is normal as breathing. its so much a part of us and lets be comfortable with the fact.

    a holy text is after all a guide to life and sex is part of all our lives.
    (and during ancient times maybe it was much more fun.)

    i admire your writnng and thought if you could write with such understanding maybe you should grow up
    a little when it comes to poking fun at something you have never experienced(i am talking abt god)

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