India – VoVatia (original) (raw)

Category Archives: India

Women and Demons

Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, by Natalie Haynes – I believe I first saw this book mentioned in a list of online recommendations, but it was also discussed on the Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! podcast. It focuses … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, Chinese, Christopher Moore, Feminism, Final Fantasy, Focus on the Foes, Gender, Greek Mythology, History, Humor, India, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Relationships, Religion, Roman, Video Games | Tagged adam and eve, aesop, athena, bible, demons, dragons, epimetheus, erasmus, final fantasy vi, force of fire, gorgons, hesiod, jason, kiranmala and the kingdom beyond, medea, medusa, natalie haynes, noir, pandora, pandora's jar, poseidon, prometheus, rakkhosh, razzmatazz, sayantani dasgupta, titans, zeus |

Pandering to Pandavas

I’d been interested in the story of the Mahabharata, even more so since reading the Aru Shah books, in which the Pandavas are reincarnated as teenage girls. So I checked out an abridged edition translated by William Buck. While much … Continue reading →

Posted in Board Games, Book Reviews, Dice, Dragon Quest, Families, Games, Hinduism, History, India, Magic, Mythology, Pachisi, Philosophy, Poetry, Prejudice, Relationships, Religion, Video Games | Tagged arjuna, aru shah, ashvins, bhagavad gita, bhima, dharma, dharma raja, dhritarashta, dragon quest xi, draupadi, duryodhana, gambling, ganesh, hastinapura, indra, karna, kauravas, krishna, kunti, kurukshetra war, luminary, madri, mahabharata, mohandas gandhi, moses, nakula, pandavas, pandu, remus, rick riordan presents, romulus, roshani chokshi, sahadeva, sargon, surya, vayu, vichitravirya, vyasa, william buck, yudhisthira |

When I Get to the Bottom, I Go Back to the Top of the Slide

I recently saw an update from Amanda Palmer where she mentioned playing Snakes and Ladders with her son, apparently what you do when your husband leaves you in the middle of a pandemic, or something. But what I actually wanted … Continue reading →

Posted in Amanda Palmer, Animals, Board Games, Games, Hinduism, History, India, Islam, Jainism, Music, Pachisi, Philosophy, Religion | Tagged asuras, candy land, chutes and ladders, devas, fatalism, gyan chaupar, gyandev, karma, milton bradley, moksha patam, morality, snakes, snakes and ladders |

The Monk and the Monkey

Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng’en, translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu – This classic of Chinese literature, first published in the sixteenth century, is quite loosely based on the real-life pilgrimage of the seventh-century Buddhist monk Xuanzang … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Buddhism, China, Chinese, History, India, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Religion, Taoism | Tagged anthony yu, buddha, change, chu pa-chieh, demons, dragons, guanyin, jade emperor, jade rabbit, journey to the west, lao-tzu, sanzang, sha monk, sun wukong, tripitaka, wu chengen, xuanzang |

Something to Get Off My Chess

It was almost certainly Through the Looking-Glass, which used a game of chess as its background, that got me interested in the game. I soon found, however, that actually playing the game could get a bit tedious. So I know … Continue reading →

Posted in Board Games, Chess, Games, History, India, Lewis Carroll, Middle East | Tagged bishops, chaturanga, dice, rooks, through the looking-glass |

I Play Some Pachinko, I Play Pachisi

One of the books I’m currently reading is something called Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, which Beth actually gave me several years ago. A fair amount of it simply explains the rules of the various games, which doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Board Games, Games, History, India, Monopoly, Oz, Oz Authors, Pachisi, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged akbar the great, board and table games from many civilizations, clue, cluedo, ludo, Mensch-ärgere-dich-nicht, parcheesi, r.c. bell, sorry, the royal book of oz |

This Buddha Was Made for Enlightenin’

It’s pretty well known that the founder of the Buddhist faith was a guy named Siddhartha Gautama, but how much do we really know about him? Well, not too much for sure. As with many figures known mostly for religious … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Historical Personages, History, India, Religion | Tagged bodhi tree, budai, buddha, communism, dalai lama, demons, eightfold path, fat buddha, four noble truths, hotei, karl marx, mahamaya, mahaprajapati, revelation, satan, shakya, shuddodana gautama, siddhartha gautama, soviet union, vishnu, yasodhara, zen |