Week 10 Reading Diary, Continued: Pattanaik's Calendar Art

For this post, I continued on with my viewing of Pattanaik's Seven Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art which consisted of Ardhanari's Secret, Shiva's Secret Part 1 and Shiva's Secret Part 2.

My favorite parts from this portion of the viewing were all from the videos about Shiva. I like the concept of a Destroyer God. Shiva seems to be a very complex god, with his desire to remain unmarried and many forms.

My favorite story was about how Shiva consumed the poison that arose from the churning of the Ocean of Milk. As a Destroyer God, one would expect Shiva to not care about the fate of the world, but he shows that he can also be a protector in this story. After Shiva consumes the poison, he is then saved by Parvati when she clasps her hands around Shiva's throat, preventing him from swallowing the deadly poison. This clasping of the throat turned Shiva's neck blue and earned him the name Neelakantha (the blue-throated one). I think this could make for an interesting retelling with a few modifications.

Source: The Churning of the Ocean of Milk