Round the Herne

 My spin on a Hindu myth (really more of a fusion of several different versions) about the deity Khandoba who rides out with his two wives Mhalsa, lined to the merchant caste, and Banai, linked to the ancient shepherding caste, to battle two demonic brothers intent on carnage. The version I have opted for here shares much with one of the stories told of Kali. The devourer of demons, in this particular story, is Khandoba's dog. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to track down a name for this magnificent beastie, but if any Hindu readers are aware of it, please let me know. Today a new dog has become part of my life, renamed Bronntanas (Irish for "gift", and he is assuredly a gift from my old boy Gwynn). Bronn is a big old Malamute with the most beautiful eyes and I am sure he could flatten a few demons if the mood took him - so this story is to welcome him in to my life and into my circle. I was going to try and get him to appear in the video, but he is a bit camera sh...

I was going to record a dragon story yesterday (St George's Day) but struggles with the modern monster of technology consumed too much time. So, belatedly, here is a Hindu tale about a giant serpent demon which could be considered a dragon of sorts. The monstrous Vritra swallows up the rivers and causes terrible droughts and much death, till the god Indra comes along and sorts him out. In doing so he gains the title of Vritrahan, the dragon slayer. I am not sure who the artist is with the picture of Indra and Vritra inset. Should anyone be wondering, yes I do look that fat and unkempt - consider it the impact of quarantine! I was told yesterday that I look old and haggard, so there's no point denying it anymore! Once it is lifted I will be joining the long queues at the barbers and eating dust with Fat Fighters.

I recorded this in 2017 and was convinced I had uploaded it to the blog, but it seems that I haven't. It is a section from a Hindu epic involving the five Pandara brothers (who I have mentioned in another story elsewhere, told at the request of an Indian subscriber to my YouTube channel) depicting the devotion and loyalty of the dog... who turns out to be a great deal more than a four-legged friend. Nepalese Hinduism has an entire festival in November devoted to the dog, Kukur Tihar, which I have mentioned previously on this blog. When I told my hound about it he demanded a day or worship with a flower garland and a feast - typical!

About a year ago one of the people who subscribes to my YouTube channel, Akesh Suresh, requested that I record the story of Ashwathama, which forms part of the Hindu epic The Mahabharata - a poem so long and complex it makes Game of Thrones seem like 'Room on the Broom' by contrast. This is not the full story, just running from his birth up to the avenging of his father's death. Apologies to any Indian viewers for the poor pronunciations, but I haven't heard enough people telling these stories to get the pattern of sound. For anyone unfamiliar with the background plot, the short version is that the land of Kurukshetra descends into war as two rival dynasties (who are cousins) rip each other apart - the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Corpses pile up all over the place, including that of our hero's father. This carnage is the background to this short tale. The descriptions of the divine weapons do sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but I have tried to resist ...

A storyteller who is based in Bangalore, Simmy, suggested I record this story. This is my version of the battle that takes place between the goddess Kali and the demon Raktabija - I may redo this at some future point to add in the bits I left out (not having a great deal of time this evening). There are some amazing Hindu myths, but I've always had a place in what's left of my heart for Kali since seeing an impressive wooden carving of her in a number of British films (who must all have used the same props store) when I was a child. perhaps that's a testimony to the power of some images to imprint themselves on consciousness! I wanted to include a picture of it on this page, but cannot find it anywhere online - so went for the lovely blue-skinned image instead. There are a raft of ways to interpret this story, some of which I might add later. What is also interesting is the similarity between this tale and that of the Chinese deity Yu Huang, the Jade Emperor, who also f...

It's been a while since I recorded a story (crap month, but now it's December so let's try and move on!). Last weekend I told stories at a fundraising event in Suffolk for the Dogs Trust. The organiser baked up a plethora of excellent cakes and ran raffles and all sorts. The attendance wasn't big, and therein resides a tale in itself about community and why its like trying to get blood from a stone, but the hall hire was covered and some cash is winging its way to the Trust to feed a few hungry hounds. This short story is one that I didn't tell at the event, but it's nice and short - the account of how five brothers - the Pandavas - and their shared wife Draupadi (a rare example of polyandry) go on a pilgrimage up the Himalayas and encounter a seemingly very ordinary old dog. Things are never quite what the seem, and it always pays to be nice to wandering hounds (you never know who might be looking at you out of those big brown eyes).

On June 8 th this year West Suffolk College’s Religious Studies & Ethics department held a free conference on the role of animals in religion and ethics, which a number of pagans attended and spoke at. It’s an intriguing area and practically every religion has drawn on animal imagery to convey lessons and philosophical concepts. For example, take the regal lion. In the New Testament, Revelations 5:5 predicts a future descendant of the tribe of Judah: " And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof ”. Many Christians regard this as a reference to Jesus, though he is more usually depicted as a lamb – partly because they are very gentle creatures, but also because they were a common sacrificial animal at that time, and the crucifixion was seen as the final sacrifice. In Judaism the Meshach, or messiah, is seen as a far more forceful character who...

Today I went up to Norwich to give a talk at their Harvest Moon convention, held at the Puppet Theatre. It's a fascinating building ~ well, maybe not so much the building itself (which is a converted church of no especially remarkable nature), but the numerous puppets, marionettes and other effigies suspended from the walls. They were of all shapes and sizes, with warriors, kings, damsels, witches, animals and monsters. All staring down upon the proceedings. I cannot wax particularly lyrical about the Harvest Moon convention itself, largely because I missed a lot of it having got lost on the way and arriving late. My own talk (on poetry in early European polytheist cultures) seemed to go down fairly well. Aside from that I attended a short talk on nature spirits in Hinduism, which I found to be a fascinating topic, and a straightforward and humorous introduction to cabalism. One of the stalls sold rather good artwork, mostly painted on to slate. Puppets are a curious phenomena. O...