We very much enjoy your meme, ABC Wednesday Team, and though a little late, here’s our offering.
‘H’ is for Haiku Master
Haiku is a form of traditional Japanese poetry which has a lot of emotion condensed into just 3 lines and 17 syllables and is mostly about nature.
Haiku Master Basho, who helped establish ‘haiku’ as a serious form of Japanese poetry, is considered the greatest of all haiku Poets.
Basho was born in 1644 as Matsuo Munefusa. He adopted his name from the term ‘basho-an’ meaning ‘Cottage of the plantain tree’, a place he used to visit to find inspiration for his works.
Basho brought new life into Haiku by infusing his Buddhist beliefs into it. He took great interest in the small things around him and showed the connection between different things in nature.
Basho wasn’t always a poet but started off as a Samurai warrior. After the death of the master he was serving, he left his profession to pursue poetry.
During his travels around the islands of Japan, Basho composed many lovely works in his signature style which compares two separate events in nature. These are considered the best of Haiku Poetry.
Here are some famous works from this master:
‘On a withered branch
A crow has alighted: Nightfall in autumn.’
(This translated version has only 16 syllables, whereas the original has 17)
Basho’s poetry is often described by the word ‘Sabi’ which designates the love of the old, the faded and the little-noticed.
We missed ‘G’ last week but would like to make up today.
G is for Ganesha - an elephant God in Hindu Mythology. There is an interesting tale that tells us how he came to acquire the head of an elephant.
Ganesha, born to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati was a lovely, adorable little boy.
One day, after a particularly busy day, Parvati asked Ganesha to be on guard and not let anyone disturb her while she took a little nap. The little boy was very diligently minding the door when along came his father, Lord Shiva.
True to his duty, Ganesha stopped him and try as he might, the father could not get past his son.
Now, Lord Shiva was known for his fiery, destructive temper and it did not take him long to lose it!
He struck his son down and chopped off his head.
But once the deed was done, he was instantly very sorry. But naturally, no amount of cajoling and apologising could assuage Parvati’s wrath. She threatened to destroy all if her beloved son Ganesha was not restored to life.
Lord Shiva was left with no other option but to arrange for a substitute head, bring back his dead son to life, be finally forgiven and thereby save the world!
The head that he could manage to find was that of an elephant and thus, Hindu Mythology came to have it’s adorable, cuddly, cute elephant God!
Now, mummy isn’t much of a temple goer and doesn’t really believe in Idol Worship. She thinks we can find God in the world around us and it is about ‘being good and doing good whenever possible’ or some such ideology!
But then, she does like Ganesha very much. He is just so adorable.
In India, he is everywhere - as a cute piggy bank, a table-top decor, a wall-hanging or as a favourite subject for caricature, sketching or painting. He has been filmed as an adorable, trusty friend in many movies.
He is considered a symbol of good luck and wealth.
Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival that started yesterday celebrating Lord Ganesha. The festivities are designed to last for more than a week.
In India, mostly in the western state of Maharastra, he will be reinstated in the form of gorgeous, larger than life hand made terracota idols which themselves are marvels of workmanship.
We found all the photographs via ‘Google’ and they belong to whoever put them there. Thanks everyone.
Wags,
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