Urban Harikatha

The House of Atreus suffered generations of violence and betrayal before Goddess Athena intervened. Using her wisdom and patience, Athena created a system of justice that absorbed the city’s fury and hunger for vengeance. In acquitting young Orestes, who had killed his own mother, she advocated “[O]nly peace—blessings, rising up from the earth and the heaving sea.

But sometimes the heaving sea throws up more than just blessings. When Captain Ahab convinced his crew aboard the Pequod to relentlessly chase after a white whale named Moby Dick, he craved pure, fatal revenge. In losing his leg to Moby Dick, the captain had lost his balance, too. But how does a man measure up to something three times his size, and who has no leg to lose? Is there a role for justice in the middle of the ocean?

From legs and oceans to fingers and forests. In north-east India, a once studious young man had become a murderer. He even wore his victims’ fingers around his neck, a rattling, rotting garland that gave him the name Angulimala. What evil drove him to this? And could the old monk passing him by—an easy target for another finger—could that old man curb his vengeful appetite?

Our latest harikatha was followed by a discussion about ending the cycle of violence that perpetuates itself in humanity. It begins at 57:57 and features South Asian American Policy & Research Institute, Chicago Desi Youth Rising, Apna Ghar, Indian American Muslim Council, and Her Voice Inc.