Anar QueenI was googling my name and came across a Hindu story (from a sacred text I believe) . The story is called the The Wanderings of Vicram Maharajah.
Here's a snippet:
In a country some way from Rajah Vicram's there lived a little Queen, called Anar Ranee (the Pomegranate Queen). Her father and mother reigned over the Pomegranate country, and for her they made a beautiful garden. In the middle of the garden was a lovely pomegranate tree, bearing three large pomegranates.
They opened in the centre, and in each was a little bed. In one of them Anar Ranee used to sleep, and in the pomegranates on either side slept two of her maids.
Every morning early the pomegranate tree would bend its branches gently to the ground, and the fruit would open, and Anar Ranee and her attendants creep out to play under the shadow of the cool tree until the evening; and each evening the tree again bent down to enable them to get into their tiny, snug bedrooms...
I LOVE the idea of a Pomegranate country! It reminds me of what an auntie was telling me the other day, about a pomegranate deh (village) that her friend's family used to own in Iran. She wasn't talking about a pomegranate bagh (a large garden or orchard), but a friggen pomegranate village! How incredibly amazing that must have been. Pomegranate trees, especially the blossoms, are BEAUTIFUL.
So, the Farsi (Persian) translation of my name would be Maleke Anar - and of course, Iran being the land of this fruit's origin, I figure there MUST be Iranian stories involving pomegranates. So, I came across this Iranian story that is somewhat similar to the Hindu one above.
And here's a snippet...
In the garden of the palace there grew a pomegranate tree with only three pomegranates; their seeds were fabulous gems that shone like lamps by night. When ripe, the pomegranates would turn into three beautiful girls who were to become the wives of the three princes. Every night, by the king's order, one of his sons guarded the tree lest anyone should steal the pomegranates...
My great-grandma used to tell me a similar story that involved a princess and a naranj (sevillian orange) rather than a pomegranate - same idea though, just a different fruit. I wonder what is up with these stories involving our women and fruit???
anyway...
If you know of more pomegranate stories out there please let me know!
On a totally different note...
Here's an article by Norman Solomon regarding the Moveon.org opposition to a nuclear attack on Iran.
(Moveon.org and it's supporters)
Say NO to a nuclear attack on Iran!
A conventional attack?
Sure, why not.
(Pomegranate Queen)
What the fuck is wrong with people?!
And they call this "progressive" political organizing.
They need to take their "consensus" approach and shove it up their ass.
posted by pomegranate queen at 4/18/2006
8 Comments:
well that explains a lot...i was wondering why all the news i was seeing was suddenly talking about bombing with nuclear weapons. i was like, bombing is bombing, why are they all of sudden concerned with nuclear bombs??? but that make sense. it's the perfect way to keep military action off the radar screen while at the same time, reeking havok everywhere.
fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
i hate "progressives".
notice they're all men (the move on folks)--and from what i've seen, they're all white...not one of them gave a damn about grassroots basebuilding all this time between presidencies--why do they care so deeply now???
I didn't realize they were all white men! not surprised. UGH!
i agree with you, it's like why do they care now??!
and what the hell is up with their "consensus" approach...it's so effed up.
okay...that was a joke right? Seriously, I might have to remove myself from move on "list" or if I made the goddanm time I'll write then a freaking letter.
Yes, what the hell can we do about this? I really want to see how this full time working, tired ass mama can align her time and concerns to saying what the fuck...hell motherfucking NO.
And while we're at it hold the moveons, codepinks, and other groups accountable to their jargon that fails to address the inherent racism in their organizing and in their tactics. Hello, wake the fuck up~! Bombs, nuclear or not are targeting people of color--why the hell do they turn a blind eye to that fact...
Sorry for all of the cursing...it is easier than being very articulate, PC than standard academic English that is intended not to make folks feel uncomfortable. Screw the comfort...it's costing too many lives, and you know what if we don't give a crap about that than might as well their (our) lives should be very well on the line too.
Well said. I'm saying, our lives *will* be on the line one day. The world is too small for a superpower and its economic supporters to continue arrogantly sanctioning and threatening their/our so-called "others", whether we wanna "keep on rockin' in the free world" or not.
PQ, keeping up with your discussions and verse every day. Always heartening to see what you post.
Delighted by the Pomegranate Queen mythologies, as old school as their representation of gender and creativity is.
With you and the *real* voices of reason and compassion against action of any kind on the Irani people, though brief words don't do that sentiment justice.
Don't... don't... don't believe the hype.
(Sade is love.)
O my fucking god. are they serious? this humanity has gone completely mad.
i feel like the 'progressives' and 'liberals' are just a better masked and equality-bullshit-versed, emperialist, capitalist, white supremacist kkk.
sure, why not bomb the whole world as long as it's 'conventional' warfare and won't fuck up "our" health, climate and environment.
mothafakaz!
shit, i feel that people are color are fucked in all the possible ways from the beginning of times and till the end. and is there really a way to ever end this oppression and domination? no matter what we object and how much we try to be heard, ultimately we're but sand and ants against their unstoppable, the all-mighty capitalist, imperialist, militarist, white-supremacist machine "with their tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns" (for some reason the lyrics came immediately to mind)... and their perfected, elaborate brainwashing systems.
did the peace marches and all other global anti-war actions stop them from invading afghanistan or iraq? something tells me nothing will stop them here either - painful past experiences, maybe?
who's in the global, big-guy world where the peace and war decisions are made, going to even dare or care to stop them? no one. if the shrub desides he wants this war, he will get it - that's the painful and ultimate truth. and never mind the hundreds and thousands of lives and destinies (of POCs, needless to say) destroyed, irreversibly traumatized and shattered for generations to come. and never mind the already fucked-up american economy going completely bankrupt and the already poor and marginalized people (of color, again) being left without jobs, even more deprived of educational opportunities, social programs, medical care, food.
i know america has always had the power-mania and insecurity issues that's driven it to stick its fucking nose in everybody's sovereign (legally independent) business, but with the coming of the shrub - man, has it's reached its zenith.
i have to say i'm happy to observe that this empire is declining because of its own decadence and over self-indulgence. i wonder how long it's gonna take for it to destroy itself completely? or will they manage to exterminate the rest of the world first?
oh, and regarding the anar mythologies:
i was completely fascinated to read them. for a lot of reasons, but also because your culture is so close to mine, and whenever you write about it it strikes some warm, very sensitive intrinsic cords in my soul and heart. that's my inherent cultural identity being flattered and reinforced by my non-forgetting.
by the way, are those words you mention (bah, deh, anar, etc.) in farsi? because they all are words with the exact same meaning in my native Uigur. i don't speak farsi or arabic, but because i knew all the words i thought that maybe they come from the turkic side of your family that you'd mentioned before. curious...
but in general, i find so many cultural, linguistic and folklore similarities and intersections (on many different levels) between various cultures of the middle east, caucasus, south black sea, central asia and parts of south asia. i'm sure we're all mixed together in one way or another due to the large nomadic migrations and conquests over the centuries. hence, our mythologies are reminiscent of each other's as well.
we, too, have a lot of stories about anar trees, pears, watermelons, grapes... and beautiful, young, innocent, modest girls/princesses. too bad they all end up marrying sultans/shakhs/princes - and subsequently joining their harems, of course. never another pretty girl or princess ;) hhhmmmm.
that's a pathway to my 'blog against heteronormativity' post.
interesting post about the anar rani. like skyscraper said, when you wrote about the Iranian story, some of the words and images seemed very familiar to me, too, being of south asian background. but we've already talked about this tons of times, right PQ? oh, and skyscraper, you might want to check out a book called _Sakhiyani_, it's all about lesbian desire using south asian mythology and culture. an amazing read; i ripped through it in like a day when i was in my undergrad and desperately seeking out queer of colour stories.
wow, thanks, visha(kha)! the book sounds like a must-read for me - i'll be sure to get a hold of it ASAP! seriously, i never heard of anything remotely gay/queer in traditional eastern fairy-tales (well not the ones i grew up with...)
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