Sundara Kandam

Whereas Mahabharata's Bhagvad-Gita is taken as a philosophical guide, Ramayana's Sundara Kãnda is sought for spiritual solace; many believe that reading it or hearing it recited would remove all hurdles and usher in good tidings! Miracles apart, it's in the nature of this great epic to inculcate fortitude and generate hope in man for it’s a depiction of how Hanuman goes about his errand against all odds. Besides, it portrays how Seetha, on the verge of self-immolation, overcomes despair to see life in a new light? With rhythm of its verse and the flow of the narrative this sloka to sloka transcreation of the canto beautiful of Valmiki's adi kavya - the foremost poetical composition in the world, Hanuman's Odyssey that paves the way for Rama to rescue his kidnapped wife is bound to charm the readers and listeners alike. Interestingly, as the following verse illustrates, this epic was the forerunner of the magic realism of our times – “Gripped she then him by shadow / Cast which Hanuman coast to coast, Recalled he in dismay then / What Sugreev said at outset / That one fiend had aptitude / To grip its prey by mere shadow.” On a personal note, my paternal grandfather, Bulusu Thimmaiah-garu, like many in his time, was a life-long practitioner of Sundara Kãnda parayana (the epic’s daily recital in part or full), whose spirituality could have providentially guided me in this, rather an effortless, trans-creative endeavour.

"A thousand eye's beseech the heavens, Why must the mortals suffer through the endless cycles of predestined samsara? A million feet have gouged the earth, Why must the resentful souls rest peacefully within the ground?” A desolate shadow desperately grasps the air, Why can the heart bleed without the slightest touch?" Ahantzi "Ahazu/Haz" Sundara Al-Tawas goes through each day as an apathetic dreamer, barely clinging to the lingering vestiges of his current existence, each day another mind-numbing struggle, within a monotonously unchanging world. But one day, a single divergence in his clockwork reality occurs, and his unexpected response to that single moment, leads to a rippling cascade of unpredictable events, and a brand-new world, full of passion, of betrayal, of sorrow, anger, grief, and joy. "Master, this world is not like the old one. This is a reality based on desire and want; brimming with unrepentant lust, and where love and hate are closely entwined. This is a world of fantasy and beasts. This is [Pandemonium]." Follow Haz/Hassan as he is reborn into this world, along with his loyal AI, [MIRROR], and the mysterious spirit, Babel, as they’re swept along in the turbulent tides of his fate, as he struggles to survive, and ultimately, ascend into prominence in this chaotic world. "When entering the cycle of karma, do not falter beneath heaven's eye’s. When entwined within the chains of morality, Punish good, and reward evil.” When confined within the stagnant earth, Shatter the pillars of unyielding change, and set alight the ocean of fiery rebellion."