Reading Notes: PART A: Gaia's Secret 1-2

For this weeks reading I did another video series. This week was the Seven Secrets of the Goddesses, Epified series. This first week focused on Gaia and female Goddess. I thought this video was really interesting. One story that caught my eye was not even an Indian story. It was an example of how female deities are frequently brutalized and sidelined by their male counter parts. This was a story from an Inuit tribe telling the story of Sedna. she is married to a seagull and begs her father to take her away in his kayak. When they leave they are attacked by seagulls and her father throws her in the water to save herself. When she tries to climb back in he cuts of her fingers. When she tries again he cuts of her arms. She then sinks to the bottom of the ocean and her dismembered body turns into all of the animals= in the sea. This story was really dark and intense. I would like to find a way to relate this back to the Epics. It would be neat to possibly relate this story to Sita after she is rescued by Rama. This series does a good job at explaining the mythology in a quick way. However it can be a bit confusing to follow along. I also liked how they parallel the Indian stories with that of other religions. The second part focuses more on femininity and prostitution. I thought the part dealing with sacred prostitution was interesting and the aspect of desperation due to this being the only thing they had control over, and even that was taken away.

Mean Seagull
maxpixel

Seven Secrets of the Goddess
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Playlist Link