One of the Mhb.’s hooks is its staunch anti-war stance and vivid descriptions. An illustration of hell on earth and a lesson how fragile a surface peace is for humans to maintain given their subterranean inclinations to primate violence. War has always been a dangerous fire to play with. Like a gasoline, once lit not easily extinguished. With mounting concern I see a world today that has discarded this wisdom and some of its Democratic leaders fooling around with war as participants like it ain’t no thing.
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Bhishma attacked Arjuna with a force of elephant-warriors, chariots and cavalry all well-armed. Avanti attacked Kashi. Bhima fought Jayadratha. Yudhishthira with his son Pratavindhya fought Shalya. Vikarna fought Sahadeva. Chitrasena fought Shikhandi. Duryodhana and Shakuni fought Virata. Drupada, Chekitana and Satyaki fought with Drona and Ashvatthama. Kripa and Kritavarma fought Dhrishtadyumna.
- Dutt. Bhishma Vadha. chp. 71The five Kekaya princes, with Dhrishtadyumna, supported by a division stationed themselves on its left wing. Dhrishtaketu and Chekitana stationed themselves on its right wing.
- Dutt. Bhishma Vadha. chp. 74
Chess economy may help illustrate by sorting a relative importance of the many main characters and shades in the Mahabharata (mhb). The thought process was, how to diagram so many different characters in a complicated text description of battle? answer: glyphs w/ nametags. how to illustrate their relative importance/strength? chess, with its clearly defined economy in units of measure of pawn in Fibonacci(ish) weights 1,3,5,9 (pawn, knight&bishop, rook, queen, respectively) character strength was good enough. then, of course, how to describe their chariot flag standards? a: glyphs.
Wanton Prompt On
I get it. The downsides of AI. And I cry. But consider the upside… may be... AI generated video may be the democratization of the film?
Similar to what the printing press did for the common person with respect to written text - taking the medium and the messaging out of the high priests of mythmaking that controlled the information of past, present and future in tightly scrolled script. AI film may mean we see a renaissance of films from all parts of the world, made by people who may only have access to a computer to make their message, and without access to anything like a studio budget would not otherwise express their perspective in film making. That seems like a clear leap ahead for any un-deadhead.
In closing,
Under the thick clouds of dust in which the whistling weapons flashed like lightning, the sounds emitted by the chariots and beasts roared like thunder. - Manmatha Dutt. Mahabharata. Bhishma Parva. Chapter 70
Iravat killed Anuvinda’s four steeds. With two more arrows Iravan cut down Anuvinda’s standard and bow. Anuvinda abandoned his chariot and jumped onto Vinda’s chariot. The pair fought as one showering arrows down on Iravat. Swift flying arrows decked with gold flew blocked out the sun. Iravan killed their charioteer. The charioteer fell and the chariot was dragged in all directions by its uncontrolled horses. - Dutt. BV. chp. 84
Every battle seems there is always a Vinda and Anuvinda (get it - a new Vinda). ha. The original two from Avanti are Krishna’s half-brothers cousins, and Arjuna aces them both with Krishna as his charioteer. Iravat is Arjuna’s son by Ulupi. Arjuna’s sons are Iravan, Abhimanyu by Subhadra, and Shrutakirti by Draupadi.
Etc.
Closing - in addition to the notion of film above, I find feeding literary or historical prompts into these machines generate interesting results. Like the above - these are a vivid depictions of source texts. I experimented with this in the Native People’s History project to effulgent effect. Could AI serve as useful educational tools? From what I have seen, yes I believe so. If these technologies in the hands of students provide an innovative path for interactive engagement with historical or literary material like the Mahabharata, Native American wars, or whatever else then all profit for it. Homework assignment - generate 5 images for Romeo and Juliet, or make new visuals for the textbook chapter. Maybe we’ll see.
Close the loop
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