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Archive for September 15th, 2008

sitproperly on Sep 15th 2008 Gaudia Vaisnava, Geeky Things

Ramayana Action Figures and cuteness by Kridana!

If you attended the Philly Ratha-yatra, hopefully you took notice of the pretty amazing action figures and plushies of the Ramayana by the newly founded toy company Kridana.

Their first series of action figures includes Rama and Hanuman – but these aren’t your naani’s Rama and Hanuman!

These are pretty tough looking. Especially Hanuman. He looks like he’s ready to take on Lanka all by himself!

One thing that devotees will notice is that Rama is blue. Most Gaudia-Vaisnavas consider Rama to be green. But after Olivia bluntly asked “why is Rama BLUE?!” the nice fellow who co-runs Kridana explained that his grandmother told him that Rama was blue, also that there are many sects of Hinduism that consider Rama to be blue like Krishna. Really, it’s not a big deal.

Each of the two figures come with a mini-comic book that gives some background on just who they are. This will continue into the next series with Ravana and Laksmana.

Because I was limited on funds, I didn’t pick up the action figures. I should and I bet that I will. However, what caught my eye was the cuteness factor of the plushies.

Daka and I hide from the black abyssThere was Hanuman (who was bought by Olivia) and Jatayu (the bird) and another bird who turned out to be Jatayu’s brother Sampati (I wasn’t familiar with Sampati, only Jatayu). And the fellow who caught my eye: Daka, the Indian Palm Squirrel. I wasn’t familiar with him, either, but that hardly mattered.

Daka, it turns out, helped build the bridge to Lanka. He carried small stones and dirt and basically cemented it all up. Go, Daka, GO! To thank him and so that all humankind would remember Daka’s efforts, Rama petted little Daka on the back, giving him three white stripes on his back.

I bought him and he’s sitting right next to me as I type this.

Also, Jambavana is on his way!

Before stumbling upon Kridana, I hadn’t heard of them before. Sure, they’re new, but you’d think some devotees would have picked up on Ramayana action figures! Maybe I’m an early adopter.

We talked to the two people running the table (and, I believe, the company) and they were great. Wonderful folks.

They told me that after they finish with the Ramayana, they’ll move onto the Mahabharata! That’ll be really fun.

Also they told me about a dance contest for children. It’s also up on their website, here.

Here’s quite a large and glowing write up about the action figures and a bit more about the company.

So check them out and give them a bit of support, ok? They’ve got a good thing about to get going.

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