Durga | ✓

41. The Yakshas Potbelly

Durga looked at Rudra. They both were in her house as Rudra was craving for homemade food. Rudra actually wanted the recipe of her rasam, was watching keenly how she was preparing it.

"Now, you keep this vessel to boil. Turn off the gas supply and ta-da your rasam is ready."

Rudra looked shocked. "That's it! This recipe is so simple."

Durga smiled. A question was pestering her mind.

"Durga, your idea is working perfectly but my brain is already tired thinking of what our next topic should be."

"Don't worry, Rudra. We will definitely find some or the other topic to write. We should be alert and draw our inspiration from the surroundings."

Rudra said, "Talking about being alert, I think rasam has started to boil."

Durga rolled her eyes. "By Devi Shakti, look carefully. Only bubbles have appeared. You don't know when it boils."

Rudra looked sheepishly at Durga. Durga smiled and turned towards the gas stove. Her back was facing Rudra.

Rudra asked, "You wanted to ask something. Why don't you ask it?"

Durga stared at the vessel for sometime and she said, "Rudra, promise me that you won't laugh."

"Promise."

Durga was glad that she wasn't facing Rudra. "Will you continue to love me even when I become fat."

Rudra looked at her with utmost disbelief. "What?"

Durga repeated her question again. "I asked whether you will continue to love me even after I put on weight."

Rudra chuckled. Durga was now fuming. What's wrong with this man? He promised that he won't laugh. Look at him, anyone can mistaken him fot a lunatic.

Next time you ask him to take Dashrath promise.

"Tell me first, why did that thought occured to your mind?"

Durga turned off the stove. Their dinner was ready. Replying to Rudra's question, she said, "I have heard that..."

"That?"

"... that when wife becomes fat or when husband becomes rich, he stops loving his wife or finds her ugly. I wanted to confirm it once."

Rudra sighed. "Turn around."

"Huh?" Durga asked. This wasn't the answer she was expecting.

"You wanted me to give you an answer, then turn around."

Durga turned around slowly. Rudra looked into her innocent black orbs and said, "What they say is wrong. Nothing can make me stop loving you. Even our Scriptures emphasize the beauty in being fat."

Durga was surprised. "How?"

"I will tell you tomorrow."

***

Next day, Durga couldn't find Rudra in the office. Ramaiah told her that he had locked himself in his room and wouldn't come out till he had finished writing something.

Durga was going through a few pages of nuclear weapons when a page popped out.

"Read this Durga."

"By Devi Shakti, Rudra, you scared me."

She took the paper from him and started reading.

The Yakshas Potbelly

We live in times when men and women dream of having a body without fat. Female models in fashion shows become famous when they look thin and starved. Male models and Bollywood heroes become famous because of musculature, especially a six-pack abdomen. A far cry from the traditional notions of beauty.

To be fat, in ancient and medieval times, was a sign of affluence, that one had enough to eat. Musculature was associated with being a laborer, thinness with poverty.

Hermits could be thin, servants could have muscles, but the beautiful had to have soft rounded bodies and the rich had to have potbellies.

The modern notions of male beauty have its roots in Greek sculpture where heroes were shown with well-toned bodies, each muscle depicting artistic precision. These have spread via media to our homes. Bollywood heroes today therefore emulate Greek gods. Even modern poster paintings of Hanuman and Ram and Shiva show them with musculature befitting a body builder, very different from the soft delicate features that Raja Ravi Verma painted.

In sacred songs, Hindu goddesses are described as having 'deep navels', 'full breasts' and multiple 'love-handles' on either side. To have a bony frame was the sign of an old witch and associated with fearsome Tantrik goddesses like Chandi and Dhumvati. Temple images show goddesses as being of ample proportions, full but not fat. Modern notions of feminine beauty, is also influenced by Western ideas, where softness has been replaced by firmness, as the feminist movement saw the former as a sign of weakness.

Kubera, treasurer of the gods, is visualized as a potbellied deity. His protruding stomach embodies a bag that is bursting with money. In traditional India, to have a potbelly was seen as a sign of prosperity. Men and women who did not become fat aftermarriage were seen as belonging to a loveless or unsuccessful marriage where there was not enough food to feed. Today, a potbelly is seen as a sign of disease, the accumulation of abdominal fat that leads to heartdisease.

This medicalization of the potbelly has hurt Ganesha the most. Ganesha, the most popular Hindu deity of the 21st century, is lambodara, the one with a huge belly. It is the container of wealth. He is the god who removes all scarcity and provides food for all. He is associated with vegetation and wealth. His favorite sweet, the modaka, is shaped like a moneybag. His belly represents a warehouse of a farmer that is full of grain. Around the belly is the snake that stops rats from stealing the grain.

Increasingly, artists are visualizing him with muscles and a flat abdomen, in keeping with modern notions of beauty. It is ironical, that symbols associated with poverty in traditional India are becoming images of health and beauty in modern times. Softness and roundness is acceptable only in comedians and villains, while heroes and heroines tend to be more firm and sharp. Perhaps this shift indicates a shift towards a culture that is less gentle and more aggressive - celebrating the gym more than the dining table, muscle more than fat, protein more than sweets.

"Great article Rudra. Did you get this idea after I asked that stupid question?"

"Stupid? Because of that question, I have written this article."

"I have found the topic for our next article," said Durga with shining eyes.

***

Glossary:

Dashrath promise: A promise or an oath which cannot be broken under any circumstances.

Do I have to say it again? Still, this article is taken by the article published under the same name in Devdutt Pattanaik's website.

Thank you for reading.