Shinde Sweety's Blog - Posts Tagged "arjun"

“I feel pregnant!”

Truly, there is no other way to etch my feelings as my debut novel ‘Arjun: Without A Doubt’ inches closer home to publication.

I hold triplets within my womb. The idealist, the flame and the enigma.

They poured words into my pen, I put words onto their lips. They have morphed

and transformed. Multiple times.

“Its high time, Lady, set us free.” the fiery one insists, her imperial finger tapping on crossed arms. The patient one leans back - he knows he can outwait Eternity. The enigmatic one smiles, as always – he knows he orchestrates the whole drama.

Just hold on a while longer, my beloveds!

5 seconds for book cover and 15 seconds for back page text!

That is the average attention span to entice a book reader. That is the time span needed to convert a ‘maybe book buyer’ into a ‘definitely interested book buyer’.

This is my story, my exciting journey – as my Cover Design Artist and myself made a memorable foray into concepts, ideas and colors.

Premise & target audience

‘Aim high’ – I thought hopefully, when asked to state my target audience. Indians, NRIs, pan-Earth Mythology buffs, Aliens…

Mahabharata may be an Indian Epic, but its emotions, its philosophy and its characters are rich & relevant across religion, region, language and Time.

My book focuses on 3 protagonists of Mahabharata - Arjun, Draupadi and Krishn.

My book blurb had to condense a 96,000 word manuscript into 132 words.

My book cover had to complement those 132 words in a vivid 5 second vision. Easy , huh?

I found the perfect artist to capture my dream idea in Champa Srinivas, my exquisite Cover Designer. She is an Architect cum artist who loves to ‘capture the beauty of aesthetic spaces and colors’.

Concept, symbols, colors, ideas.

Symbolism: My 3 protagonists:

1] Arjun – The ace archer and superlative warrior.

2] Draupadi – his feisty Queen.

3] Krishn – God who walked Earth in human form.

Their symbols: Arrow, Blue Lotus and Peacock feather respectively.

Concept behind symbolism:

Arrow was a no-brainer, given Arjun’s authoritative excellence in archery.

Blue lotus (for Draupadi) , since she possessed the inborn fragrance of a blue lotus.

We tossed our coin over Krishn’s symbols – the flute (artistic, melodious, poetic) or Sudarshan chakra (his discus weapon) or peacock feather (his flamboyant characteristic head gear) – before finalizing the latter.

Color palette:

Silver Arrow : ‘Arjun’ in Sanskrit = spotless/luminous as silver; just like its sound-alike ‘Argentum’ in Latin. {Such an amazing coincidence!}

Sleek and honed like Arjun’s razor sharp focus. Yet – humble and understated in comparison to his 2 soul mates.

Blue Lotus : Apart from the fragrance factor, Draupadi was a dusky beauty with lustrous

In Bhagwad Gita, Krishn says, ‘Amongst army commanders, I am Skanda.’ Chp 10, verse 24.

Who is Skanda, the war-God? He is aka Murugan and Kartikeya.

He was Shiva’s son and Ganesh’s bro.



He was Indra’s commander-in-chief. Also, he was Indra’s son-in-law!

Thus, Kartikeya was Arjun’s brother-in-law! While Indra and Shiva were in-laws!

STORY: Indra’s daughter was named Indrasena.  Hence, Kartikeya is also called Indrasenapati, which has 2 connotations.

1] Husband of Indrasena   2] Commander-in-chief of Indra’s sena (army). [image error]

As expected, there are VARIATIONS to the story.

As per Skanda Puran, Devasena (Indrasena) = daughter of Vishnu. Now that means Krishn (Vishnu) and Kartikeya, both being Arjun’s brothers-in-law are also father-in-law & son-in-law to each other! Phew!

KARTIKEYA’S BIRTH: Shiva’s vital fluids (in alternate stories , Shiva’s 3rd eye sparks) were carried by Agni. He united them with 6 Kritikas, hence the name Kartikeya to the resultant son. Thus, Agni is also partially called as ‘Father of Kartikeya’.
MALLIKARJUN TEMPLE:


Myth has it that Kartikeya marched off to this place after a tiff with his parents. To console him, Shiva & Parvati followed him here. Hence the temple is called Mallikarjun { Mallika= Parvati, while ARJUNA= ANOTHER NAME OF SHIVA!}