Deepam
06-11-2007, 09:34 PM
Ulupi - the Naga princess
Hello friends!!!
It is great to be a part of this challenge coz I love mythological stories the characters, the environments, the lessons; we learn from them, also one more factor I realized in this topic that it is a nice way to understand what kind of characters we have in our mythologies means their anatomy, body language, their costumes, expressions etc.
According to the challenge, we have to choose a character from the two mythologies:
Either Indian or Greek
I have chosen Indian mythology (Mahabharata); the reason of selecting this is, first I am an Indian, so much familiar with it. I am listening, reading and watching about Mahabharat since my childhood.
The Hindu epic Mahabharata is more than simply a story of kings and princes, sages and wise men, demons and gods. I have found lots of fact about Mahabharat, but here I just want to establish a plot from where the character I have chosen came in light. The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kaurava and the Pandava.
The Concept:
Arjuna is one of the heroes of this legendary epic Mahabharata. The third of the five Pandava brothers, Arjuna was one of the children borne by Kunti, first wife of Pandu. Arjuna or Partha was a master archer traveled the length and breadth of India during his term of exile (12 years). He leaves the city of Indraprastha a major northern city in ancient India that was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas in the Mahabharata epic.
The first stay of his journey was the source for the river Ganges called Gangotri. He decided to travel all the religious stations of the country. Wherever he went, did some Hawan-Poojan there.
One day, as per his regular activities he went to take a dip in the holy river Ganga. Suddenly he found his leg stuck in the river, he was unable to move his leg; thinking of some magical thing was happening there. After some suffering, he lost his balance and asleep into the water.
After some time, when he opened his eyes; found him on a bed in a very beautiful room of that great palace. Which was too deep into the water. When he was wandering in that palace he saw an image of a lady. She came near to him. By seeing that very beautiful young lady, he couldn’t say a single word to her. After Looking for a while he just asked, “Who are you?”
“Ulupi”, she replied.
Here comes the concept I have taken to work on.
Ulupi – the Naga princess was the daughter of the Nagaraja Kauravya who born in the family of Airavata. She became infatuated with Arjuna. She caused him to be abducted after he had been intoxicated with potent concoctions and had him conveyed to her realm in the netherworld. There, Ulupi induced an unwilling Arjuna to take her for a wife. She was the mother of Iravan. She later restored Arjuna to the lamenting Chitrangada, one of Arjuna's other wives. She played a major part in the upbringing of Arjuna and Chitrangada's son, Babruvahana. She was also able to restore Arjuna to life after he was slain in battle by Babruvahana.
The Creation:
Before explaining what I going to do in my creation. Lets know about “Nagas” in the mythology.
Nagas of the Underworld:
The Nagas are a race of serpent beings. Most often they manifest themselves with half-man, half-serpent bodies, although sometimes they assume the shape of a dragon, or appear in the guise of a cobra. They can take many different forms including snakes, humans with snake tails and normal humans, often-beautiful maidens. A precious gem is embedded in their heads endowing them with supernatural powers including invisibility. Some are demoniac, some neutral or sometimes helpful.
So here is my idea - I will create may be 18 to 23 year old young lady who has human body from head to groin and the remaining part will look like a snake body (middle to end). As we know that she is a Naga princess, she lived in a fabulous palace so I will dress her with some ornaments or props belonging to the Naga culture.
One more thing, as I mentioned earlier Ulupi was also able to restore Arjuna to life after he was slain in battle by Babruvahana. The reason behind this is that, that she has a magical gem called “Naagmani” which has a power to give life to any dead body. So the Naagmani will also be a part of my sculptor.
Position of the character is not decided yet, may be after some time.
That’s all for now,
I hope you guys enjoyed all my stuff. The Indian mythology has a huge collection of characters. I found it so interesting to search out things what I was thinking of. I took 2 days to decide which character I should take, along with doing preparations the holy festival “Deepawali”.
Best Wishes to all the artists participating in this great challenge and also the creators of this concept, it’s like creating some legendary sculptors.
Thanks !
Hello friends!!!
It is great to be a part of this challenge coz I love mythological stories the characters, the environments, the lessons; we learn from them, also one more factor I realized in this topic that it is a nice way to understand what kind of characters we have in our mythologies means their anatomy, body language, their costumes, expressions etc.
According to the challenge, we have to choose a character from the two mythologies:
Either Indian or Greek
I have chosen Indian mythology (Mahabharata); the reason of selecting this is, first I am an Indian, so much familiar with it. I am listening, reading and watching about Mahabharat since my childhood.
The Hindu epic Mahabharata is more than simply a story of kings and princes, sages and wise men, demons and gods. I have found lots of fact about Mahabharat, but here I just want to establish a plot from where the character I have chosen came in light. The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kaurava and the Pandava.
The Concept:
Arjuna is one of the heroes of this legendary epic Mahabharata. The third of the five Pandava brothers, Arjuna was one of the children borne by Kunti, first wife of Pandu. Arjuna or Partha was a master archer traveled the length and breadth of India during his term of exile (12 years). He leaves the city of Indraprastha a major northern city in ancient India that was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas in the Mahabharata epic.
The first stay of his journey was the source for the river Ganges called Gangotri. He decided to travel all the religious stations of the country. Wherever he went, did some Hawan-Poojan there.
One day, as per his regular activities he went to take a dip in the holy river Ganga. Suddenly he found his leg stuck in the river, he was unable to move his leg; thinking of some magical thing was happening there. After some suffering, he lost his balance and asleep into the water.
After some time, when he opened his eyes; found him on a bed in a very beautiful room of that great palace. Which was too deep into the water. When he was wandering in that palace he saw an image of a lady. She came near to him. By seeing that very beautiful young lady, he couldn’t say a single word to her. After Looking for a while he just asked, “Who are you?”
“Ulupi”, she replied.
Here comes the concept I have taken to work on.
Ulupi – the Naga princess was the daughter of the Nagaraja Kauravya who born in the family of Airavata. She became infatuated with Arjuna. She caused him to be abducted after he had been intoxicated with potent concoctions and had him conveyed to her realm in the netherworld. There, Ulupi induced an unwilling Arjuna to take her for a wife. She was the mother of Iravan. She later restored Arjuna to the lamenting Chitrangada, one of Arjuna's other wives. She played a major part in the upbringing of Arjuna and Chitrangada's son, Babruvahana. She was also able to restore Arjuna to life after he was slain in battle by Babruvahana.
The Creation:
Before explaining what I going to do in my creation. Lets know about “Nagas” in the mythology.
Nagas of the Underworld:
The Nagas are a race of serpent beings. Most often they manifest themselves with half-man, half-serpent bodies, although sometimes they assume the shape of a dragon, or appear in the guise of a cobra. They can take many different forms including snakes, humans with snake tails and normal humans, often-beautiful maidens. A precious gem is embedded in their heads endowing them with supernatural powers including invisibility. Some are demoniac, some neutral or sometimes helpful.
So here is my idea - I will create may be 18 to 23 year old young lady who has human body from head to groin and the remaining part will look like a snake body (middle to end). As we know that she is a Naga princess, she lived in a fabulous palace so I will dress her with some ornaments or props belonging to the Naga culture.
One more thing, as I mentioned earlier Ulupi was also able to restore Arjuna to life after he was slain in battle by Babruvahana. The reason behind this is that, that she has a magical gem called “Naagmani” which has a power to give life to any dead body. So the Naagmani will also be a part of my sculptor.
Position of the character is not decided yet, may be after some time.
That’s all for now,
I hope you guys enjoyed all my stuff. The Indian mythology has a huge collection of characters. I found it so interesting to search out things what I was thinking of. I took 2 days to decide which character I should take, along with doing preparations the holy festival “Deepawali”.
Best Wishes to all the artists participating in this great challenge and also the creators of this concept, it’s like creating some legendary sculptors.
Thanks !