Hindu Mythologies have been close and part of every grown up’s childhood either in the form of bedtime stories or in the form of religious teachings.
When something becomes an integral part of the spiritual life of a people — as the Ramayana has for the Hindus — mythological reality becomes inseparable from what is narrowly understood as ‘historical’ reality. Mythologies have been a way of attaining divinity for the generations older than us. Their mere medium of reception or medium of receiving knowledge of mythologies through story telling sessions with their grandparents or elders or through books. Characters of Hindu mythologies were considered to have an aura of divinity. For example the character Rama from Ramayana, Hanuman, Krishna and other such characters from the Hindu Mythologies. These Mythologies have been written long ago and have been told since centuries. And therefore the required interpretation and perception that the creator wants the audience or receiver to have is drastically different from what the audience interprets or perceives it. “In an insightful essay in India Today recently, U.R. Ananthamurthy, the Jnanapeeth laureate Kannada writer, wrote that the only “language” understood throughout the length and breadth of our country is the language of the Ramayana and Mahabharata” (More popular than the badshah-Sudheendra Kulkarni)
Powerful than a locomotive and able to leap and cover great distances such are the characters from the Hindu Mythologies and hence they could be called the Indian Superheroes. Who are no less in comparison than the western superheroes like the batman and the superman, who came into existence much later than the characters from the Hindu Mythologies. The characters like Hanuman who could leap to cover great distances and fly to catch hold of the sun were there and thought of before the west created their set of superheroes. He leapt into the sky and covered a the great distance to Lanka with an extraordinarily fast speed. He could pick up the entire mountain Sanjeevani and transport it to Lanka. He set fire to an entire kingdom with the help of his tail. Characters like Bheema, Arjuna, Krishna, and many more were capable of doing things that no ordinary man was capable of doing. These were the attributes the creator embedded the characters with.
There always exists a gap between the creator and the audience, even when they share the same cultural time and space. The problems of reception merely become more pronounced as the distance between them widens (modes of reception . Michael Watson) But today, times have changed and so has the reception of these very same characters like the Hanuman, Rama etc have changed as there is a huge gap between the creator and his time and between the audience’s today. In today’s generation where the children are exposed to varied media’s and technologies that are diverse, their accessibility to Hindu mythologies has increased. Children no more have to depend on grandmothers to tell them a story of Ramayana or of Mahabharata. Children today are exposed to movies, TV, books etc.
The super heroes like, Spiderman, Superman and Batman are in a stiff competition from Indian mythological character, whose supernatural powers are drawing and have drawn attention of children.
The reception study showed shocking inputs from children. The animated movies of Hanuman and Ganesha that are specially catered for children are not being really appreciated by them. They feel that they cannot relate to the fact that hanuman is ice skating and going to school. Though it’s entertaining it’s yet tough for them to compare them with the international super heroes. Children refer to Rama and Krishna as God even today because they were caring and virtuous. They did great deeds. Children feel that Hindu Mythologies are rich with culture. Therefore the characters from the Hindu Mythologies are ‘Culture Heroes’. They are culture heroes also because the tried to change the world through discovery, austerities and their virtuousness. They are a source of inspiration. They cannot be termed as mere heroes they are much more than that. Some children feel that Krishna is a source of divinity.
A typical culture hero is usually the most important legendary figure of a people. In some cultures, there are dualistic myths, featuring two culture heroes arranging the world in a complementary manner. Like in the Mahabharata where there are Kauravaas and the Paandavas. Krishna, Rama, Hanuman and many other characters from the Hindu Mythologies yet retain their power of Divinity. It’s not changed since generation. But when exposed to the scriptures that tell story about them they are yet treated as yet another story. The only reason some children feel that these are our Indian super Heroes, because they have supernatural powers in them.
Sneha Vijaykar 