#it's a queue peepuls

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

I look at beauty in our world and think: in a world where Cliopher Mdang runs the mundial government, I could enjoy this beauty the way I want to.

And I'm aware I am romanticising things a bit, but also, the universal stipend was... It chokes me up whenever I think of it: it's sheer impossibility in this world. It makes me brimful... It makes me grieve the way no fantasy book has.

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

I decided on not reading 'The Pale King' and then Wallace comes at me with such lines and the universe expects my resilience! I bemoan this to my mother and she calmly forwards me critical praise for the book! I am surrounded by ill-intent, is all.

— David Foster Wallace, The Pale King

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

Someone write a Liang Bu Yi (No Doubt in Us) appreciation post, I'm begging you.

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

you mentioned harivansha and from what i know of scholarly stuffs it's much older than bhagavata purana so why do you think it isn't prominently considered for krishna's life? and what translations of harivansha do you use for your studies? i'm sorry if this seems too eager lololol

I'm answering this ask a year late, so I suppose that offsets your zeal (in a really horrible way)? This has been in my drafts, I just forgot about it entirely, thank you for coming to my inbox to remind me again. <3

Yes, Harivamsha was written much prior to Srimad Bhagavata Purana, and is considered some sort of appendix to the Mahabharata, which again is of greater antiquity. We can only speculate as to its relative lack of popularity, and I would like to mull over my own thoughts on this a bit more. I'll make a separate post, possibly. Let me just give a small introduction on the Harivamsha instead.

A Guide to Harivamsha

REFERENCES I USE IN MY STUDIES: (in no particular order)

1. Harivamsha Critical Edition (as edited by BORI, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute), EN-translated by Bibek Debroy.

Above-average translation quality. Compared to the others, the only benefit of this reference is that it lets one know what sections BORI cleaved—regarding which one must keep in mind that, as Debroy himself noted and as I observed in the course of reading as well, the editing of Harivamsha Critical Edition was in no way as well and expertly done as that of the Mahabharata Critical Edition (BORI).

2. Harivamsha Purana, Gita Press

The only complete and accessible translation (Hindi) of HV that there is. Great translation quality. You usually don't have to second-guess each line (like I have to, with No. 1).

3. Chitrashala Press edition of Harivamsa, Online EN translation by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao, A. Purushothaman & A. Harindranath. https://www.dvaipayana.net/harivamsa/harivamsa-cs-index.html

Very helpful, as you get the Sanskrit verses alongside the translated English ones, for comparison/tallying purposes.

4. Harivamsha Purana, EN-translated by M. N. Dutt (https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/harivamsha-purana-dutt)

Most accessible translation; no big differences from No. 3 in interpretations. (I will take this opportunity to recommend Wisdomlib to practically everyone in this fandom.)

5. Krishna’s Lineage: The Harivamsha of Vyāsa’s Mahābhārata. EN translation by Simon P. Brodbeck.

Good translation, good language, immensely well-organised. Has family trees in a genealogical appendix.

GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF HARIVAMSHA'S STRUCTURE:

The text is divided into 3 parvas, as follows -

Harivamsha Parva - This contains a lot of background information through the genealogies and stories interspersed in all the lineage talk. We get some important backstory for MBh, and we get some stories which you may find in most other Puranas. (Interestingly, this contains the Syamantaka incident. It was a really big deal, is all.)

Vishnu Parva - The main section of Krishna's non-MBh life-story, starting from his birth, the Mathura-era exploits (Kamsavadh, Jarāsandha's attacks), Rukmini-harana (my beloved), the Pārijāta story, and dealing with Pradyumna (his firstborn) and Aniruddha's (Pradyumna's son) lives as well.

Bhavishya Parva - The first chapters of this section are indeed about "bhavishya" (things that happen or "will happen" post-Swargārohana, prophecies about Kali Yuga, etc). Then there's a set of chapters that go into some of Vishnu's avatars (Varāha, Narasimha, Vāmana, in particular). These two sets of chapters are translated in almost all versions. Then comes the dicey part, the set of chapters translated only in Gita Press Harivamsha, and ironically, the most important part of Bhavishya Parva in my opinion (because it has major portions of Krishna's life-story. This section contains Paundraka's (and Ekalavya's) siege on Dwāraka, the killing of Hamsa-Dimbaka (Jarāsandha's closest allies that Krishna speaks of to Yudhisthira in MBh's Sabhā parva) etc. Invaluable for better understanding of Yādava politics, and kind of ties up some loose ends from MBh.

Lovers and collectors of obscure Krishna-katha (or even just Purana-katha in general), Harivamsha is the place for you! <3

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

every day I think of the Zuni reforms and Weep at cold hard reality

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

I'm perpetually afraid of Pradyumna-posting, like, bruh, I'll not know when to stawp

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

and NOW I'm crying about Viktuuri's Stammi Vicino: Duetto

omg medha, you multifandom mess, get a grip!

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

Throwing the Hindu fandom some bones of my choice before I come back and go gently rabid about them:

Mohini/Lakshmi

Rukmini/Satyabhama

Kalingasena/Somaprabha (go if you haven't read of them from Kathasaritsagar, you'll not have to bemoan not having ancient Indian wlw romances anymore)

Bhagiratha's unnamed (?) mothers from Krittivasi Ramayana

And others I can't recall right now (I've an exam, sorry)!

lets make this the year of yuri

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

ASDFGHJKLLKHDASHNFFBJDSUJVSHBXG

Gokiiiiiii I'm crying ohmigod?!?!?! This is so beautiful I don't know what to sayyyy and it's for me and— I'm so so sorry I didn't see this before my hiatus!!!! Not just because I'm sorry to have kept you and everyone waiting to reveal this magnificence to the rest of the hellsite, but also because I wasn't able to see this for so very long!!!!! And is that inspired by the theme of my blog as it is now?! That's sooooo... that makes me so emotional, looking at this after my long two-year hiatus, this glorious labour of love tucked into my tiny inbox, a love letter waiting for when I came back here, refreshed and healthy and... I just feel so loved right now! It's kind of overwhelming, to be honest. You've fulfilled many of my mandala art requests before, but this is just. even more special!!!

I might have said this before, I don't really remember, but it never hurts to reprise your admiration, so I'll just put it out there that I always love this effect that you bring to many of your mandalas, where they look like a cross between embroidery and fine chalk-work on a blackboard! It makes your mandalas stand out so much <3 And ooh, one of my favourites about this has to be the outermost lotuses, which are just angular enough to also look a bit like stylized tridents?!?! It's so, so very cool and elegant and beautiful — I'm utterly, helplessly in love with those! And the softness of this red is so...it's such a good choice, and to have the red curves and lines look so gentle as they interlock is... whoa!! And it's very tiny, but I really adore that very light touch of green you added!! It adds so much character. I really don't have much to say (I never really do, when it comes to your mandalas, as you know, because I tend to get very heart-eyed about them, as you know, eep!), so I'll stop now before I completely embarrass myself by squeeing too hard!

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

ohhh hello, you're alive, good

Yes! (Well, you knew that from Discord already though... *sniffs*)

And you're here again! Good to have you back, Adi-di. XD (No, I'm never gonna let go of that one) And somehow you're social now? Well, well.

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

Didiii you are back!!! Also the url is just 🤌🤌 Ki je bhalo laglo dash e dekhe ki bolbo. I love my old mutuals so much.

Also thank you for the compliments on the rain soaked kolkata video.

Miru!!! I'm back! The 2-year-long hiatus did me good, as is the case for most SNS hiatuses.

Thank youuuuu, yesh, I love this url, it's neat and so me; I'm so glad you Feel it. 😉🥰

Since the majority of my moots are non-Bengali: "raat jaaga paakhi" is, ah, there's no way to say it in English I can think of that's as lyrical, but it's a "bird remaining awake at night" (I didn't say "nocturnal" since that gives the vibe that it's more of a biological imperative for the bird's habits rather than a choice).

I love my old moots too, ahhh! I've missed everyone so much. There are some who have deactivated or are less/in-active now, but there are many others who aren't, and everyone has found other new moots, new hyperfixations, and just all around new loves like I have (including, certainly, the ones who aren't on Tumblr rn)—it's delightful to see, as it's heartening to see the ways they have remained the same!

The rain-soaked Kolkata video is easily one of the best things I've seen in the last few weeks (and trust me, there's a lot of competition there since I've been a mukto bihongo post-exams)! It gave me such a pleasant mixture of contentment and nostalgia and. Oh, I don't even know; your sense of beauty is remarkable, as always! So, you're very welcome, and it's my pleasure actually.

❤️

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

Ali Trotta, Six of Swords Becomes The Emperor

good poetry makes me want to kill myself by staying alive

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

heyyy what’s up? How were your exams ?

hello hello hello beloved! so good to see you in my askbox 🥺

exams went...as they go, in a very "hmm...hota hain, chalta hain" manner. we had 4 days off and back to uni for the last sem now. today was the first class (decent, is all i can say about it)

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

As soon as I'm done with this blasted sem, I'm so going to flood my dash with my QJJ hyperfixation (among others hahaha)

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

Desperate Plea: to all tumblr community – from Gaza🍉‼️ Dear humanity,Please Help Me "My son is suffering from a severe and life-threatening injury after being shot by Israeli drones. He urgently needs medical treatment outside Gaza.🍉"

I beg you, I kiss your feet, to help my son My Son May Die at Any Moment. .

Please Donate now:👇

https://gofund.me/46d97a28

🙏🏼

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

Dear friend

My name is Ghada. I lost my husband and everything we had in the war, leaving just me and my daughter to face these hardships alone. The donations we receive are minimal, and I am in desperate need of support to increase the number of donors who can help us survive.

Any assistance would mean the world to us.

With gratitude,

Ghada

https://gofund.me/42b35b77

My campaign is vetted by @gaza-evacuation-funds , my number is 330

Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #105 )

<3