Paragons of Supreme Love

In Sophocles' "Antigone", King Cleon prevents his nephew Polynices' body being given a proper burial because he had rebelled against him. Polynices has two sisters, Antigone & Ismene. Though Ismene is inclined to obey her uncle, Antigone protests in these memorable lines:

One husband gone, I might have found another,

Or a child from a new man in first child's place,

But with my parents hid away in death,

No brother, ever, could spring up for me.

Such was the law by which I honoured you.

So she gives him a proper burial & sacrifices her life.

In George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss", the siblings Tom & Maggie are very close, which continues into adulthood. When during a flood, Tom is entrapped in a building, Maggie takes a boat to rescue him, but both are washed away. "In their death, they were not divided" says Eliot.

In a story in Mahabharata, the legend of Savitri & Satyavan is recounted. In spite of knowing Satyavan's impending early demise, Savitri marries him. When the God of Death arrives, she impresses him with her previous austerities & argues with him successfully for a boon of Satyavan's life.

Here it is to be noted that "sibling bonding" as exemplified in the first two cases is no less strong than the "marital bonding" in the third.

Rabbit World - Utopian or Dystopian?

Even though in real life, rabbits appear cute, cuddly & immensely lovable, in fiction, only the "The Little Grey Rabbit", created by Alison Uttley, portrays her as a lovable, caring mother figure, who lives with & takes care of her friends Hare & Squirell. The books are illustrated by Margaret Tempest & beautifully produced.

In the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, the Brer Rabbit character has almost no redeeming virtues. He is vicious, sadistic & revengeful, going out of his way to cheat, bamboozle & otherwise harm his fellow creatures, mostly his natural predatory enemies, Brer Fox & Brer Wolf. Even Enid Blyton, the famous children's author, wrote many books on Brer Rabbit, one of which was correctly called "Brer Rabbit's a Rascal" which couldn't be more correct!

In Richard Adam's "Watership Down", some rabbit warrens (General Woundwort's) is shown to be organised like a human police state, with plenty of violence & cruelty. Even though the structure is classically inspired by Homer & Virgil, the military background of the author comes to the fore, when he describes the forays, attacks & battles between rival rabbit groups.

Little known Lithuanian Composer

Mikalojus Konstantin Ciurlionis (1873-1911) was a polymath, being a composer, painter, choirmaster, cultural figure & writer in Polish. In his short life, he composed about 400 pieces of music & about 300 paintings in the symbolic & art noveau tradition. He also produced many literary works & poems. 

He received a lot of posthumous recognition.

1944 State Museum of Art in Lithuania was 

          set up housing his paintings.

1957 Lithuanian community in Chicago

         opened Ciurlionis Art Gallery.

1964 Lithuanian alpinists climbed peaks of

          Pamir mountains in Tajikistan & named 

          the first one after him.

1968  Ciurlionis Quartet was formed.

1975  Crimean astrophysicist Chernykh          

          discovered a new asteroid & named

           it after Ciurlionis.

Two of his symphonic poems, "The Forest" & "The Sea" have been recorded & issued by the Russian label "Melodiya"