More thoughts on After Kurukshetra
Some time ago I published a review of Mahashweta Devi's After Kurukshetra . Two issues have been bugging me for long, since they were to be added to the review but were not. One is about the story of Nishadins and the other about the attitude towards life that was prevalent in India's past. In a book called myth=mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology , (which I will hopefully review soon) I found a story about the origin of the Nishadas. I want to look at this story by putting it beside Devi's story "Kunti and the Nishadin". The story is called Pruthu and the Earth-Cow and goes like this: King Vena did not respect dharma. Angry, the earth-goddess refused to bear fruit. When the sages realized what was happening they picked up blades of grass that turned into weapons and killed Vena. The sages then churned his dead body. The polluting elements were cast away. This substance turned into a nasty-looking creature and was driven into the forest. The creature was