Similar to that of any of my other posts, in class this week we have just begun to scratch the surface of the Eastern religions. This is mostly due to the fact of class being over half over and our time spent on the Western religions being vast. To begin we started by comparing the two. As I listened and took notes I noticed that some of what we were discussing was information I had some familiarity with due to different sources. One such source is my favorite television show, Charmed. In Charmed, many times the plot is affected my mythology, superstition, paganism, and other such things so it seems right that the show would involve some religious aspects as well.
One such episode that really “helped” me understand the Hindu topics being discussed was the first episode of the seventh season, “A Call to Arms.” In the episode two main characters that are married go to a Hindu wedding ceremony and while there get possessed by Shakti and Shiva. In class, we talked about the murti, facets/aspects of the impersonal force that is their god. In Hindu tradition they worship three murti: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. They are considered the tri-murti and they are all part of one force. Shakti, on the other hand, is the divine force that is manifested in the gods to promote balance and destroy evil. Shakti takes on many forms including Sati, Parvati, Durga, and Kali.
According to the episode, Shakti is the Hindu goddess of creation and Shiva is her lover and also the Hindu god of destruction. Paige and Phoebe decide the reason Piper and Leo were possessed by these two was the fact that they were magical beings and at a Hindu wedding ceremony. It must have been a proximity issue. They go on to say that the reason Shakti and Shiva are mentioned at weddings is because they are considered the ultimate lovers. Along with that they mention that these two gods consummating their love is what created the world and if they do it again the world will be destroyed.
I was interested in how much of this was myth and how much was elaborated upon for the show so I did my own research, because as I said we have only scratched the surface in class. I found a website that explains the marriage of Shakti and Shiva. The story was quite confusing but what I got out of it was: Shakti and Shiva were married but things came between them and Shakti immolated herself. After this, Shiva took her body and began to perform a destruction dance that could have wiped out the world. He was stopped and later on Shakti was reincarnated as Parvati. She did penance to win over Shiva and it took some major effort and time but it worked and the two were married. Every year the Hindu people celebrate their marriage, Mahashivratri, every year. In a way they are similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers who make major sacrifices to be together.
While my research didn’t say much about whether or not their love is what made everything, I do think that was at least partially based on myth because Shiva is the destroyer and also the god of sex and babies. One could only conclude from class discussion and lack of information in the research that they are at least mostly true about that as well. Another source said, “Shakti is inseparable from the one who beholds her, the Shakti-man, the masculine principle or Universal father. Shakti-man is called Brahman by the writers of the Upanishads. In the Tantric tradition he is called Shiva.” This too leads me to believe that the writers of this episode really wanted to be accurate in their telling of this myth. In the show, Piper and Leo get the gods out of them by casting a spell. The intriguing thing was even though they had the gods in them; they still thought and felt as though they were normal. The only distinguishing facets of the gods were their attire and a characteristic or two.
Charmed has always been one of my favorite shows for many reasons. One such reason is often times things mentioned in episodes or things that are the basis of episodes come in handy in different classes and generally. For more religious based episodes I would suggest watching the episodes: “Sin Francisco,” “The Fourth Sister,” and “When Bad Warlocks Go Good.” Sin Francisco is all about the seven deadly sins. The Fourth Sister is about Kali, who is an evil Hindu goddess. And When Bad Warlocks Go Good is about a warlock who wants to be a priest so he won’t be a warlock anymore. All Charmed episodes, in my opinion, are good and I am anxious to tie things from this class and others to more episodes. I feel television, movies, and other medias offer us perspectives and as long as we understand what is fictional, what is fact, and what is elaborated the media is a great source of information.
Works Cited
"A Call to Arms." Charmed. WB: 12 Sept. 2004. Television. 27 Oct 2010.
"Marriage of Shiva and Shakti." Mahashivratri: Celebrating the Night of Lord Shiva... . Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India (SCFI), 2009. Web. 27 Oct 2010. <http://www.mahashivratri.org/marriage-of-shiva-and-shakti.html>.
Marchard, Peter. "Shakti." Sanatan Society. sanatansociety.org, 2010. Web. 27 Oct 2010. <http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/shakti.htm>.
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