Buddha, Volume 1: Kapilavastu Book

Few months before, I read Sidhartha to know more about Buddha and eastern philosophy. That book gave me cancer. This is my first course towards recovery.

Manga felt a bit childish at first, on a wtf level, like Dragonball with a messiah complex. Even locusts from Leviticus made an appearence. Well, once I made peace with the weirdness and explicitness, this Eisner award winning comic soon became an adorable run.

This is a variegated and unique interpretation against the historical one we are familiar with, with completely fictional characters and accords, so far at least. Geography and cultural background is very similar to what I've been exposed to, and by the look of it, manga seems to be following the Mahayana tradition associating Siddhartha with divinity and halo. So far, Buddha has just made his appearance in the story, and I am reserving my opinions to further installments. Unlike the usual treatment of caste system with 'dharma', individualism and conceptual obligation towards 'moksha', this narrative gives it a morbid take of oppression and privileges. And the comic cleverly distracts readers off this morbidness and pain with lively drawings, lovable characters and occasional humour. It is stupidly funny at times, I spilled my coffee at a scene where a sixth century BC Doctor made his appearance with stethoscope and a lab coat.

One minor issue with this issue though, the characters kinda look like Astroboy.