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New super tiny hiei just dropped

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it’s insane how quickly your life can just. suddenly improve. i used to be so miserable but now i own 5 swords

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South Asian and Hindu Influences in ATLA (Part 2)

disclaimer: i was raised culturally and religiously hindu, and though i've tried to do my research for this post and pair it with my own cultural knowledge, i'm not an expert on hinduism by any means. should i mess up, please let me know.

please also be aware that many of the concepts discussed in this post overlap heavily with religions such as buddhism and jainism, which might have different interpretations and representations. as i'm not from those religions or cultures, i don't want to speak on them, but if anyone with that knowledge wishes to add on, please feel free.

Part 1

In the previous post, I discussed some of the things ATLA got right in its depictions of desi and hindu cultures. unfortunately, they also got plenty of things wrong - often in ways that leaned towards racist caricatures - so let's break them down, starting with...

Guru Pathik

both the word "guru" and name "pathik" come from sanskrit. pathik means "traveler" or "he who knows the way" while guru is a term for a guide or mentor, similar to a teacher.

gurus were responsible for the very first education systems in ancient india, setting up institutions called gurukuls. students, referred to as disciples, would often spend years living with and learning from their gurus in these gurukuls, studying vedic and buddhist texts, philosophy, music and even martial arts.

however, their learning was not limited merely to academic study, as gurus were also responsible for guiding the spiritual evolution of their disciples. it was common for disciples to meditate, practice yoga, fast for days or weeks, and complete mundane household chores every day in order to instill them with self-discipline and help them achieve enlightenment and spiritual awareness. the relationship between a guru and his disciple was considered a sacred, holy bond, far exceeding that of a mere teacher and student.

aang's training with guru pathik mirrors some of these elements. similar to real gurus, pathik takes on the role of aang's spiritual mentor. he guides aang in unblocking his chakras and mastering the avatar state through meditation, fasting, and self-reflection - all of which are practices that would have likely been encouraged in disciples by their gurus.

pathik's design also takes inspiration from sadhus, holy men who renounced their worldly ties to follow a path of spiritual discipline. the guru's simple, nondescript clothing and hair are reflective of the ascetic lifestyle sadhus are expected to lead, giving up material belongings and desires in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment and, ultimately, liberation from the reincarnation cycle.

unfortunately, this is where the respectful references end because everything else about guru pathik was insensitive at best and stereotypical at worst.

it is extremely distasteful that the guru speaks with an overexaggerated indian accent, even though the iranian-indian actor who plays him has a naturally british accent. why not just hire an actual indian voice actor if the intention was to make pathik sound authentic? besides, i doubt authenticity was the sole intention, given that the purposeful distortion of indian accents was a common racist trope played for comedy in early 2000s children's media (see: phineas and ferb, diary of a wimpy kid, jessie... the list goes on).

furthermore, while pathik is presented a wise and respected figure within this episode, his next (and last) appearance in the show is entirely the opposite.

in the episode nightmares and daydreams, pathik appears in aang's nightmare with six hands, holding what appears to be a veena (a classical indian music instrument). this references the iconography of the hindu deity Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge. the embodiment of divine enlightenment, learning, insight and truth, Saraswati is a member of the Tridevi (the female version of the Trimurti), one of the most respected and revered goddesses in the Hindu pantheon... and her likeness is used for a cheap laugh on a character who's already treated as a caricature.

that's bad enough on its own, but when you consider that guru pathik is the only explicitly south asian coded character in the entire show, it's downright insulting. for a show that took so many of its foundational concepts from south asia and hinduism and yet provided almost no desi representation in return, this is just rubbing salt in the wound.

Chakras

"chakra", meaning "circle" or "wheel of life" in sanskrit, refers to sources of energy found in the human body. chakra points are aligned along the spine, with energy flowing from the lowest to the highest point. the energy pooled at the lowest chakra is called kundalini, and the aim is to release this energy to the highest chakra in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment and consciousness.

the number of chakras varies in different religions, with buddhism referencing five chakras while hinduism has seven. atla draws from the latter influence, so let's take a look at the seven chakras:

Muladhara (the Root Chakra). located at the base of the spine, this chakra deals with our basest instincts and is linked to the element of earth.

Swadhisthana (the Sacral Chakra). located just below the navel, this chakra deals with emotional intensity and pleasure and is linked to the element of water.

Manipura (the Solar Plexus Chakra). located in the stomach, this chakra deals with willpower and self-acceptance and is linked to the element of fire.

Anahata (the Heart Chakra). located in the heart, this chakra deals with love, compassion and forgiveness and is linked to the element of air. in the show, this chakra is blocked by aang's grief over the loss of the air nomads, which is a nice elemental allusion.

Vishudda (the Throat Chakra). located at the base of the throat, this chakra deals with communication and honesty and is linked to the fifth classical element of space. the show calls this the Sound Chakra, though i'm unsure where they got that from.

Ajna (the Third Eye Chakra). located in the centre of the forehead, this chakra deals with spirituality and insight and is also linked to the element of space. the show calls it the Light Chakra, which is fairly close.

Sahasrara (the Crown Chakra). located at the very top of the head, this chakra deals with pure cosmic consciousness and is also linked to the element of space. it makes perfect sense that this would be the final chakra aang has to unblock in order to connect with the avatar spirit, since the crown chakra is meant to be the point of communion with one's deepest, truest self.

the show follows these associations and descriptions almost verbatim, and does a good job linking the individual chakras to their associated struggles in aang's arc.

Cosmic Energy

the idea of chakras is associated with the concept of shakti, which refers to the life-giving energy that flows throughout the universe and within every individual.

the idea of shakti is a fundamentally unifying one, stating that all living beings are connected to one another and the universe through the cosmic energy that flows through us all. this philosophy is referenced both in the swamp episode and in guru pathik telling aang that the greatest illusion in the world is that of separation - after all, how can there be any real separation when every life is sustained by the same force?

this is also why aang needing to let go of katara did not, as he mistakenly assumed, mean he had to stop loving her. rather, the point of shedding earthly attachment is to allow one to become more attuned to shakti, both within oneself and others. ironically, in letting go of katara and allowing himself to commune with the divine energy of the universe instead, aang would have been more connected to her - not less.

The Avatar State

according to hinduism, there are five classical elements known as pancha bhuta that form the foundations of all creation: air, water, earth, fire, and space/atmosphere.

obviously, atla borrows this concept in making a world entirely based on the four classical elements. but looking at how the avatar spirit is portrayed as a giant version of aang suspended in mid-air, far above the earth, it's possible that this could reference the fifth liminal element of space as well.

admittedly this might be a bit of a reach, but personally i find it a neat piece of worldbuilding that could further explain the power of the avatar. compared to anyone else who might be able to master only one element, mastering all five means having control of every building block of the world. this would allow the avatar to be far more attuned to the spiritual energy within the universe - and themselves - as a result, setting in motion the endless cycle of death and rebirth that would connect their soul even across lifetimes.

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Traumatic event on a shirt, but there’s so many so it’s a shop at this point

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Every so often I see this YT short that's like "what's a not-so-well-known fact" and every single time it includes "mummies weren't rare until the Victorians started eating them" and this quote it drives me insane.

I need you all to know that when the Victorians first entered Khufu's tomb at Giza, Khufu was not in there. Grave robbers had already removed his mummy and destroyed it. Additionally during Khufu's lifetime we have scribe records that his father's tomb had been looted, and by the time the palace guards had apprehended the grave robbers, they had already destroyed the body. These reports are all over records in Ancient Egypt.

The Ancient Egyptian process of mummification is extremely effective at preserving a body, but it also makes the body extremely brittle and fragile. Additionally, part of the process of wrapping the mummy in linen included adding talismans-often made of gold and semi-precious stones-between the lines of the bandages.

Also I just need to note: remains classified and recognizable as Egyptian mummies aren't all that rare for a selection of remains predominantly accessible by the upper classes. Many of Egypt's remaining mummies are back in their tombs where they go, and most of the rest are on display across the world.

Twenty-one museums in the United States have Egyptian mummies on display, thirty-seven museums in the United Kingdom do, many of those museums have multiple mummies on display. The Royal Ontario museum has nine mummies in its collection. The Wikipedia page documenting the list of museums with Egyptian mummies in their collection notates 46 prominent mummies, none of the ones noted belong to the British Museum, which has a collection of 140 mummies and coffins.

Victorians eating mummies didn't magically make them rare, you just can't see most of them because they were either destroyed before Victorians even came to Egypt, are on display in a museum you've never been to, or they were already re-interred.

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just because someone can articulate their point better doesn’t make them right, it makes them articulated. 

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Knowledge is empowering

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some photos i took from emerson college’s encampment for palestine. most of these were taken only a few hours before the boston PD attacked hundreds of protestors and brutally arrested 108 students, most of whom were poc, jewish, and/or queer.

anyone who spent any amount of time in the encampment will tell you just how much it brought us all together—there was always food, music, arts and crafts, and hundreds of messages of support written in chalk.

after the BPD was done brutalising us for peacefully protesting, they power washed down the walls of the encampment—all of these messages are gone. theyre trying to erase what happened, but they’ll never truly be able to. everyone saw, and everyone will remember.

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My cousin's face is all over the news as one of the Emerson student protestors and of course the news camera is zoomed and centered on the one brown man in the courtroom. he's indian catholic!! but of course they are gonna put his life and career in jeopardy for clicks!!!!

we're texting now and he says he was doxxed by one of the newspapers. What is wrong with people!!!!!!!

All in the name of shaming young adults gathering on their campus they pay 60k/year to be on, protesting colonialism and genocide???

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woke up to my period. devastating

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i'm not even a swiftie but i am a country music fan and this is the most bizarre criticism i have seen in my life!

i mean???

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it's so mindboggling to think that this time tomorrow i'm gonna be the human sacrifice for my friends' Dionysian sex cult. i have a bachelor's degree from hundreds of hours spent translating ancient debauchery, a major I only pretended to be interested in during my senior year of high school in an attempt to seduce my nerdy Latin tutor, ended up falling in love with the archeological side of things but because it was a blowoff class for me until i was sexually motivated I don't know shit about the language. Still, as we all know my contributions to Ao3's Hugo include my Latin-language erotica hit Grumio Delectat (2014) and a whirlwind romance featuring fellow cultist Pythagoras, Now I'll Never Know If I Was Triangles (2013). i've been inside the ancient brothels of Pompeii, viewed "Pan copulating with goat" with my green and gold eyes, and myself performed cunnilingus on a leather-hard human sculpture—the latter of which I received graphic death threats on tungle.corn herself, as well as the aforementioned ao3. I never really thought that when I made my 2016 new year's resolution "to suck a dick" despite being a lesbian it would domino effect into, well, getting bent over the alter by maenads to the beat of music i wrote for our sapphic pagan transgender sex cult. Which is exactly what is going to be happening to me in <24 hours.

Um.... all this to preface... Does anyone have any advice for being in this situation???

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ugh i will upload the lyrics when i get to my computer, Tumblr app hates formatting

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btw this is the demo i made last night that i have been obsessed with lol