Blog Story Revision: Shiva's First Appearance
Often in their youth while wandering the seemingly endless corridors of their father's temple atop Mount Kailash, Ganesha and Kartikeya passed the time by admiring the ornate paintings which lined the outer walls of the tall and cylindrical stone cut building, and the intricate and statuesque stone carvings that framed them . On this particular day they found themselves captivated by a depiction of a roaring column of flames with ends that stretched far beyond the edges of the canvas and sides that enveloped the center third of the painting. To the left of the immense flame was a boar who seemed posed to begin digging downward and to the right was a hamsa with its wings spread wide, ready to soar upwards.
The boys both knew the history of this piece of art. It showed the time when their father, Shiva, and the two other great Gods of the trinity, Vishnu and Brahma disputed among themselves as to who was the most powerful.
"I think that Vishnu is the most powerful. For although Shiva's fiery form is tremendous, Vishnu had the foresight to know it must have roots somewhere and thus, he turned himself to a boar and began digging in search of them," said the young Kartikeya, who had grown very fond of Vishnu not only from his heroic tales and legends, but from his visits to Mount Kailash.
"Yeah, but he never found the roots, did he?" replied Ganesha, who himself thought that Brahma was the mightiest. "Brahma on the other hand was wiser and more cunning than Vishnu. He became a goose so that he might rise above the pillar of fire and gaze upon its peak and unlike Vishnu, he succeeded. He told me so himself!"
There then arose a loud crack of thunder and a powerful burst of heat as the pieces of red, yellow, and orange pigment that created the image of a flaming pillar began to blaze with the might of a true inferno. The now very real flaming column then burst from its confinement within the canvas frame and stretched from the pits of the universe to the edge of the heavens.
Ganesha and Kartikeya were frozen in place, both too horrified and astonished to move. They then saw in the midst of the blazing heat a form beginning to emerge. At first the shape was too shrouded in the bright and fierce light of the flames to make out. However, as the boys gazed on, they noticed the snake coiled around the figures blue neck and spotted the fiercely piercing third eye in the center of his forehead. It was then that they knew that this radiant power was their father's.
"Have I not taught you yet, my sons, that no power competes with my own? Vishnu dug for ages to no avail but at least he was honorable in his defeat. Brahma on the other hand lied, forcing me to appear in a tangible form for the very first time in order to claim my place as a supreme ruler of the universe. To this day he won't admit his defeat, but now you two have seen the truth,'' declared the mighty Shiva. "I will leave this image ablaze for the rest of time as a reminder to you children that you are descended from the mightiest of the Gods. Don't you children forget that my blood runs through your veins and thus, you too are destined for greatness. Now, come and walk the temple grounds with me. I shall answer all your questions, it's time you children understood the world of the divine."
As the three continued along the vast and beautiful halls, the boys eagerly envisioned all that was to be known, and all that was to come.
Authors Note:
I decided that this week would be a great opportunity to go back and reflect on how I've grown as a writer since I first started this story. I kept the structure the same as my last draft, but I tweaked some of the vocabulary and got rid of a few overly complicated sentences. I also changed the closing dialogue slightly to reflect the direction my project has taken as a whole. At first, I was going to make Shiva the main character and have his family simply be supporting roles, but as I read about this royal family and started getting ideas for future stories, I realized that emphasizing the importance of one of these Gods above the others wouldn't do the story any justice.
The boys both knew the history of this piece of art. It showed the time when their father, Shiva, and the two other great Gods of the trinity, Vishnu and Brahma disputed among themselves as to who was the most powerful.
"I think that Vishnu is the most powerful. For although Shiva's fiery form is tremendous, Vishnu had the foresight to know it must have roots somewhere and thus, he turned himself to a boar and began digging in search of them," said the young Kartikeya, who had grown very fond of Vishnu not only from his heroic tales and legends, but from his visits to Mount Kailash.
"Yeah, but he never found the roots, did he?" replied Ganesha, who himself thought that Brahma was the mightiest. "Brahma on the other hand was wiser and more cunning than Vishnu. He became a goose so that he might rise above the pillar of fire and gaze upon its peak and unlike Vishnu, he succeeded. He told me so himself!"
There then arose a loud crack of thunder and a powerful burst of heat as the pieces of red, yellow, and orange pigment that created the image of a flaming pillar began to blaze with the might of a true inferno. The now very real flaming column then burst from its confinement within the canvas frame and stretched from the pits of the universe to the edge of the heavens.
Ganesha and Kartikeya were frozen in place, both too horrified and astonished to move. They then saw in the midst of the blazing heat a form beginning to emerge. At first the shape was too shrouded in the bright and fierce light of the flames to make out. However, as the boys gazed on, they noticed the snake coiled around the figures blue neck and spotted the fiercely piercing third eye in the center of his forehead. It was then that they knew that this radiant power was their father's.
"Have I not taught you yet, my sons, that no power competes with my own? Vishnu dug for ages to no avail but at least he was honorable in his defeat. Brahma on the other hand lied, forcing me to appear in a tangible form for the very first time in order to claim my place as a supreme ruler of the universe. To this day he won't admit his defeat, but now you two have seen the truth,'' declared the mighty Shiva. "I will leave this image ablaze for the rest of time as a reminder to you children that you are descended from the mightiest of the Gods. Don't you children forget that my blood runs through your veins and thus, you too are destined for greatness. Now, come and walk the temple grounds with me. I shall answer all your questions, it's time you children understood the world of the divine."
As the three continued along the vast and beautiful halls, the boys eagerly envisioned all that was to be known, and all that was to come.
Authors Note:
I decided that this week would be a great opportunity to go back and reflect on how I've grown as a writer since I first started this story. I kept the structure the same as my last draft, but I tweaked some of the vocabulary and got rid of a few overly complicated sentences. I also changed the closing dialogue slightly to reflect the direction my project has taken as a whole. At first, I was going to make Shiva the main character and have his family simply be supporting roles, but as I read about this royal family and started getting ideas for future stories, I realized that emphasizing the importance of one of these Gods above the others wouldn't do the story any justice.
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| The Divine Family |
Hello there, George!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool and fun story! And I really admired it when I read the author's note. A lot of the time when we are writing a story, an email to a teacher or an essay for a class, we use words or phrases that are difficult to understand in order to look intelligent. I think being concise and getting to the point is always a better tactic!
Hi George,
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this story several weeks ago. It's awesome to see that you came back to it in a reflection post. Through each story, you've grown a little more as a writer, incorporating little things here and there that, when at the end product, is very significant towards the overall story! Great job, and hope you keep on improving!