Avatar- A Reincarnation of the Hindu Mythos

Avatar was one of the most hyped movies of last year which everyone was looking forward to. Made by James Cameron with some superb CGI effects, it definitely had a lot to live up to. Unlike its name ‘Avatar’ which comes from the Sanskrit word avatara meaning descent from heaven or simply reincarnation, the script was not a reincarnation of anything previously done- or was it?

 
One of the first things that I noticed when watching Avatar was the blue skin that the people of Na’avi had. It reminded me a lot about Hindu mythology where we have several gods with similar blue skin tones (Rama, Krishna etc). In fact the large V that the protagonist so proudly displays on his forehead is similar to the U shaped tika we see on Rama’s forehead. However this is not where the similarity stops. The concept of avatar or the immortal deity entering a mortal body is known as ‘parakeya pravesham’ Thus the protagonist Jake entering the new body of the Na’avi is similar to this idea. Pandora is one of those utopian worlds which we strive for and look up to. However it is in danger of being destroyed and its natural habitat lost. It is around this time that Jake enters their lives and fights with them to save it. The ‘Bhagavata Purana’ and the Ahirbudhnya saṃhitā; talk about Vishnu coming back in one of his avatars to save the earth whenever evil rules supreme and the world needs a protector. He comes to earth to bring back dharma.
 
Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.
In order to protect the good and punish the wicked,
In order to make a firm foundation for righteousness,
I come into being age after age.
 
This is exactly what Jake’s avatar was doing in Pandora. I was also pretty startled to see how the Na’avi people sported tails. Anyone familiar with Hindu mythology will know Hanuman and his army of vanars (partial monkeys).The Na’avi were also extremely tall and large- all characteristics that we read about Hanuman. Cameron seemed to have fused the Vanar entity on his avatar. A hybrid version of the Ramayan.
 
The idea of the Hindu gods coming from an alien species is something that was first proposed in Chariots of the God, where the author claims that Krishna might have been an entity from a different planet who was sent to Earth to help human beings gain knowledge and that his blue skin colour was actually a marker of the fact that he was non human. Again a concept Cameron seems to have played with. The avatars are initially created not to destroy but to teach the Na’avi people their language and also for them to learn a bit about the native Na’avi culture. At this point it is possible to do a colonial reading of the film- the White man’s anxiety towards the native culture and his will to colonize the Land and gain control of its natural resources. But I will stick to my present reading of the film. The battle between the humans and the Na’avi was also strangely an echo of the Battle of Lanka. If one remembers- Ravana had some of the most advanced weapons and artillery to combat Rama’s forces whilst Rama relied completely on his Vanar army. In the film too we see the same thing repeating only this time instead of the Vanars we have the Na’avi.
 
The philosophy of the Ramayana is deeply ingrained within the film. Rama takes on the role of the preserver to demonstrate the path of righteousness to the mortals. In James Cameron’s film, the main character inhabits his Avatar and affects real-change in the Navi tribe. His Avatar’s actions have real-world consequences. In Vishnu Purana and later in Ramayana we don’t find any links between the two entities other than stray references. It is only through secondary sources that we can construct their cosmic interconnectedness. YD in his ‘Origins of the Avatar’ where he deconstructs the film says that in the film the human character of Jake was more connected to his Na’avi avatar but in Hindu mythos. Vishnu is not as concerned with his avatars. The tribulations that Rama goes through are his alone. I would slightly differ from this argument. In the hindu mythos- when the immortal enters the mortal body, he leaves behind all his immortal markers and his memory of the ‘Swarga’ (Heaven) It is only through certain divine connections when he is reminded of his purpose on earth that his divinity comes to the forefront. In this regard Vishnu not thinking of Rama is an absurd idea.
 
Before I wrap up this article, one last similarity which I think will seal my point that Cameron hjad either read the Ramayan (albeit a very abridged children’s version!) or heard it from someone. The Na’avi people carried bows and arrow as their primary weapon. Look back at the Ramayan- what do we see in Rama’s hand? A bow and arrow. For me watching the film was a step back into the world of the Hindu mythology in a more Europeanised modern setting. Cameron has definitely made a brilliant film, one just wishes the Ramayana connections were more widely acknowledged.