Hmm…trying to decide…

Hmm...trying to decide whether to have garudas or dragons in my YA fantasy novel. They'd be serving a similar function either way -- large flying beasties for my characters to ride into battle. It's a Sri Lankan-ish setting, but I can make a good argument for dragons showing up too, one that makes sense within the context of the book.

I do (rather madly) love dragons. And I just saw How to Train Your Dragon on Jed's recommendation, and loved it, and am feeling even more fond of dragons at the moment as a result. But there's a case for sticking to cultural coherence too. Hmm....preference? Which would you rather read?

5 thoughts on “Hmm…trying to decide…”

  1. I am personally fonder of dragons than garudas—but I nonetheless would rather see garudas in the context of this particular book; I like cultural coherence, and I think they would work well here.

    Save the dragons for the next book!

    P.S.: I’m glad you liked the movie!

  2. Although I too love dragons, I think garudas would fit in better. (You should read the Adamantine Palace for a new take on dragons, fabulous new book)

  3. I don’t think dragons would be out of place at all, depending on how you define “dragon.” South and southeast Asian mythology is populated by nagas, large, serpentine creatures that typically inhabit pools and waterways and, like medieval dragons, guard treasure. Given that Sri Lanka was (is?) a Buddhist society for much of its history, the image of the Buddha seated on the coils of a naga is common iconography.

    BTW, where’d you find that image? It’s a Thai movie poster; “Paksha-Vayu” is from Sanskrit and means “Bird of Storm/Wind.”

  4. Mary Anne Mohanraj

    I’m actually thinking I might have both — garudas on one side of the battle, nagas on the other. Since garudas are supposed to hate snakes, right?

    I just googled ‘garuda’ for images, and that one popped up. Love the drama of it. Almost looks like a gargoyle too, which is also cool.

  5. Do nagas fly? I honestly don’t know; all the descriptions of them I’ve seen have been landbound (or swimming in water), but I don’t know a lot about them.

Leave a Reply to Mary Anne Mohanraj Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *