Random art/history/spirituality/pop culture thread.
Finished a rewatch recently of A:TLA and Korra as well.
Avatar itself is a South Asian concept that in Sanskrit means Descent, as in descended from - signifying the incarnation/material appearance of a powerful deity or spirit.
Aang and Korra are literally that - the new incarnations of a long tradition of the Avatar being reborn to save/aid/guide a world.
The concept under the name, Avatar, didn't exist in Vedic literature, though, but post-Vedic (again by name, reincarnation and the meaning/point/mythic use did exist, as did a doctrine about the idea of avatars, but again, not the term used as such in some of the original texts).
Instead, terms like "from/of divine descent" - 19th century rising Western interest in Hinduism at the time led to Avatar being yoinked as a loanword to English. But what else?
Well, specifically in the rewatch, something I thought was rather sweet: The mention of Guru Laghima.
This happens in Korra where one of the villains (I shouldn't say no spoilers so far long after the show's ended but...polite?) when a big villain reveals their interest in the writings of this Guru and...it leads to this villain being able to fly.
Well, let's look into Laghima.
Now, there was no Guru Laghima in real life, obviously. But the last name here? It's really a word -- a concept.
Oooooo. A reference.
So, what is Laghima?
In a nutshell. "Lightness." It is "The Absence of Weight."
It is one of the 8 major Siddhis - the spiritual or supernatural abilities achieved by those who've reached the heights of spiritual mastery/divine arts, ascetism/ascetic arts.
If one mastered Laghima one in theory could attain a level of lightness so light in fact, you are truly weightless and can fly.
Don't recommend trying this. But, it was just something I wanted to nerd out about, share, and the nicety of seeing in a major IP.
It is still weird there's like only one Indian guy in the shows though and he's the "guru" monk in the mountains who shows up for one short tight moment to teach Aang about chakras (which btw...he did a damn good job on that though, real talk).
There's a huge thing with art here where a whole host of South Asian stuff is yoinked/altered/coopted more. And there's like...no south asians behind/with it?
To end on a wholesome positive cooperative and comparative note?
If this feels familiar and you're a martial arts film buff, or read wuxia, well, it's because it might strike similar to the use of "lightness" with Qinggong for martial artists to gain the lightness to leap like they in wuxia flicks. Run on water or up on walls. I might do a detailed thread on the 8 major Siddhis though when my brain is better.
