Thursday, August 23, 2007

Harry Potter & the India connection

Reading the Harry Potter series, there are a number of links back to India and Indian mythologies. First, there is Nagini, Voldemort's constant companion, directly derived from the word Nagin- a snake. Secondly the Harry - Voldemort relationship has plenty of similarities to Krishna - Kamsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamsa). Kamsa hears a prophecy about a child yet to be born that will kill him; Voldemort hears one too. Kamsa imprisons Krishna's parents so that he can kill every child born of them; Voldemort kills Harry's parents. Kamsa imprisons his father; Voldemort kills his. Kamsa is unable to kill Krishna when he is born; through divine help, he is smuggled out and replaced with another baby. Voldemort is unable to kill Harry on his first encounter. Kamsa continues to worry about Krishna through the years and devises plans to kill him which fail; Voldemort does the same. As a teenager, Krishna goes to Kamsa for the final confrontation and kills him; Harry does the same. Of course, Krishna is divine while Harry is not.