Topic Brainstorm
Weapons of the Gods: I think that magical weapons would be an excellent topic for the storybook project. I always loved stories of Greek heroes who overcame all the odds with the assistance of a divine tool and I want to explore this topic in Indian culture. I think if I chose this topic I would want to focus on the weapons as a whole and how that kind of supernatural power would effect the mortal world as opposed to one specific item. It could be fascinating to research the specifics of these weapons abilities and the Gods and mortals who wielded them. I found a great overview of the weapons I could write about here.
Divine Iconography: I am an orthodox christian and a big part of my upbringing in the church was an understanding of the role of iconography within the liturgy. I know that every brush stroke in an icon is symbolic and purposeful and I'm curious to see what prompted these choices in the Indian Iconography tradition. For example, in orthodox icons, the eyes and ears are painted slightly over scaled and the lips are painted smaller because theologians wanted to highlight the value of listening and watching over speaking. What values of Indian culture are embedded in their religious art? I don't always trust wikipedia but this was the best outline for this topic I could find.
Reincarnation: The topic of reincarnation is one of the most foreign and fascinating topics to me. There is little I know about reincarnation beside the fact that in most cultures, a noble life leads to a better reincarnated form. I wan't to discover more about the intricacies of rebirth and how the belief in reincarnation effects the choices of those who life in accordance with the beliefs structure. This site gave a good basic understanding of the ideas and structure of reincarnation.
The Gods: I considered focusing this topic down to a single deity and delving specifically into their story but I was too interested in all of them to choose just one. As I've said before, I loved stories of the Gods of Olympus growing up and I want to learn not just about the traits of one God, but the relationships and dramas surrounding them all. I found that a good source of information for this topic could be found here.
Divine Iconography: I am an orthodox christian and a big part of my upbringing in the church was an understanding of the role of iconography within the liturgy. I know that every brush stroke in an icon is symbolic and purposeful and I'm curious to see what prompted these choices in the Indian Iconography tradition. For example, in orthodox icons, the eyes and ears are painted slightly over scaled and the lips are painted smaller because theologians wanted to highlight the value of listening and watching over speaking. What values of Indian culture are embedded in their religious art? I don't always trust wikipedia but this was the best outline for this topic I could find.
Reincarnation: The topic of reincarnation is one of the most foreign and fascinating topics to me. There is little I know about reincarnation beside the fact that in most cultures, a noble life leads to a better reincarnated form. I wan't to discover more about the intricacies of rebirth and how the belief in reincarnation effects the choices of those who life in accordance with the beliefs structure. This site gave a good basic understanding of the ideas and structure of reincarnation.
The Gods: I considered focusing this topic down to a single deity and delving specifically into their story but I was too interested in all of them to choose just one. As I've said before, I loved stories of the Gods of Olympus growing up and I want to learn not just about the traits of one God, but the relationships and dramas surrounding them all. I found that a good source of information for this topic could be found here.
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| I love how unique and identifiable all of the Hindu deities appear in this depiction |
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