a bird, maybe

In my Hozier era if u can’t tell

(a) a ritual

(b) a resurrection

(c) a haunting

(d) an apotheosis

(e) fate

(f) a labyrinth

fake hannibal quotes + nicola samorì

there are a handful of things wrong with the hindu motif of this episode. first of all, to use desecrated body parts to form a representation of a god? what the fuck! how can this not be seen as insensitive? idols in the form of pictures, statutes, and other iconography is essential to hindu worship. we set these idols up at an altar to show that that god is there with us, in the home. they’re an honoured guest. statue idols are cleaned and dressed and pampered, and showered with gifts. the idol is the central part of a hindu home or temple. to create an idol, mockingly, out of exhumed body parts is practically the biggest disrespect you could show to the hindu religion

if that wasn’t telling enough, it’s clear that the writers did little to no research on the subject of shiva. lets start with representation (which, as i’ve said before, is extremely important to hindus)

this depiction and the desecrated body are depicted with three arms on each side. what this says to a hindu is, “ah yes, they see multiple arms and think that’s all there is to it.” shiva and most other hindu gods are almost always depicted with either two arms on each side or one on each side. in fact, it’s more common to see shiva with just two arms than with four. i dont think i have EVER seen a depiction of shiva–or any other god–with six arms. i’m sure they exist, but the point is that it is not at all representative of the hindu image of shiva. that’s just blatantly laziness in their research (if they did any at all), as it would NOT take but a moment of looking at hindu depictions that they are almost always shown with four arms. this is a megalithic statue of shiva at the  shri murudeshwara temple in india:

in this episode, shiva is referred to as “the creator and the destroyer” and “the benefactor and the destroyer.” this is also just? completely incorrect? the three topmost hindu gods are brahma the creator, vishnu the preserver, and shiva the destroyer. the idea that the writers are trying to convey is that shiva is both good and evil. well, that’s just not right either. brahma creates mankind. vishnu protects mankind. shiva destroys mankind, but it is not an act of evil. shiva destroys mankind at the fated time, because the universe/mankind can only be regenerated if it comes to an end. shiva destroys so mankind can be born anew (reincarnation is central to hinduism, if you didn’t know). shiva does not destroy in malice, and he does not create. if you wanna read between the lines and twist it around all meta so the script actually DOES fit the correct info about shiva, fine, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s written in a blatantly misinformed way. if it was meant to convey the correct narrative of shiva, they would have done it correctly instead of twisting it into nearly incomprehensible meta.

i tried not to come off as super angry in this post, because i’m sure people just don’t know. but i can’t help how irritated i feel. if it was ANY other major religion, people would be infuriated by it. if it was antisemitic or islamophobic, it would (rightly!) ruffle feathers. hinduism is the 3rd most practiced religion in the world and yet hinduphobia is never spoken about. the biggest reason i’m upset is because this religious defacement simply doesn’t garner any attention. i’ve never seen anyone on here talk about it, which is surprising because tumblr usually has “problematic” things pinned the second they’re released. our gods are not just fairytale characters with which you can play with; they are sacred religious figures.