Evil in the West v. Evil in Indian culture

I love watching horror movies. The thrill that comes with watching paranormal happenings has always attracted me. In the last decade or so, I watched nearly horror movie ever produced; Hollywood, Bollywood, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Finnish, Thai, Mexican, you name it. Fortunately, I always find someone who is willing to invest time in watching these movies with me. However much I enjoy them, I can never endeavour to watch them alone.

One fine day, while sharing this hobby with a fellow horror-genre lover, I got aware about a profound truth. It struck me that I don’t watch these movies for the thrill but to overcome the fear of evil. Right since childhood, my mind experienced dichotomy when it came to evil. Growing up in a Hindu home, my grandparents and parents would narrate the tales of Lanka King Ravana and the atrocities he would unleash on his subjects. The tales of Kansa and how he killed several new born babies of his own sister. The tales of Mahishasura and how he was slayed by Ma Durga. And similar tales from Panchatantra and tens of those which were passed down by their grandparents. Interestingly, each of these evil characters had a few common traits. A few of them which I could identify:

1. They all were learned and well read
2. They all were experts in one or the other shaastras
3. They all had a common aim: to seek ishvara-kripaa
4. They all pushed the righteous people of the society to spread righteousness (through their negativity of course)
5. They all wanted to get rid of their rakshasa-yoni
6. They all were a medium to re-establish sanatana values
7. They all were a mirror to the learned and the wise of their times
8. They all carried an intrinsic value; without evil why would the wise and the learned seek the good?

When I got exposure to cinema and TV, evil took a different form. It was from another world. There was no purpose that I could identify with the modern-day projection of evil. I could not superimpose any of the eight points on the evil of the present times. Evil had now entered the realm of entertainment. Evil for Indians (and South Asians in general) was now based solely on the concept of Christianity. There was Satan. There was Devil. There was Hell. There was Nun. Exorcisms were performed. The Bible was read out loud. Latin became the language to tame the beast. And after a two-hour spine chilling experience, we would discuss the movie, rate it, and wait for its sequel. Hollywood had indeed made billions of dollars in playing on our fear psychosis.

This realisation got me thinking.

A few weeks ago, I started exploring Surya-Siddhanta, a treatise which was narrated by Surya-purusha (an avatar of Sun) to a daitya (asura) named Mayasura. It has been mentioned in adhyaya (chapter) 1 of the treatise —

अल्पावशिष्टे तु कृते मयनामा महासुरः | रहस्यं परमं पुण्यं जिज्ञासुर्ज्ञानमुत्तमम् || (सूर्यसिद्धान्त 1 | 2)

A few pages into the book, I got intrigued by daitya Mayasura. He was an architect, a sculptor, and an artist as was mentioned in the introductory part of the treatise. For hundreds of years he prayed to Surya so as to get comprehensive knowledge of jyotishavidya from the Lord himself. Upon reading further, here is what I found about Mayasura —

1. He designed and constructed all palaces, gardens, assemblies in daitya-loka.
2. He penned down a sacred piece of literature on architecture and design. It is called Mayashilpam.
3. Maharishi Valmiki in Ramayana has spoken at length about the creative genius of Mayasura. Descriptions of Lanka, which was designed by Mayasura, can be found in Sundara-kaanda, Yuddha-kaanda, and Uttara-kaanda. The marvel of Lanka spans over fifty chapters of the epic.
4. Mayasura is also credited for designing, planning, and developing Indraprastha. And also Yuddhishtira’s palace, which was called Maya-sabha. The palace of illusions, which left Duryodhana baffled.
5. He is revered in the Matsyapurana. There are eighteen aacharyas who detail on vaastu-jnana in the text, and Mayasura is the most important of them.
6. He married off his daughter Mandodari to Lanka King, Ravana, who was another rakshasa, with exceptional brilliance.

Isn’t this unravelling? Not one evil spirit could I recall from Hollywood or other cultures which could match up to the genius of Mayasura. Not one evil from the West I could recall which had the quest for getting liberated from the shackles of the netherworld.

My love for horror movies has started fading away. I realise I don’t need to feel scared to be able to overcome the negativity within me. (Everyone has negative forces within them. These are represented by Rahu in the natal jyotisha charts).

Evil in Indian culture had a very different purpose and presence. It was to tame the negativity within us. It was the yin to the yang. It was meant to teach us that good and God eventually oust the evil. Every evil story from Indian glorious sanatana culture had a bright end. Unlike the ones manufactured in the West.

It is time we re-think why we watch what we watch.

(Image of Ma Durga slaying Mahishasura. Obtained from Google search results)