What was in the blood of Kali?
- Thread starter Sankara25
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Montana Smith
Active member
Dr.Jonesy said:
...and lots of caffeine...
michael
Well-known member
Great question, nobody could really know I guess. (unless it's written in the novel adaptation, which I haven't read yet.) Anyone?
What about pig or boar blood....?
Taken from Wikipedia:
The Indiana Jones movie is notable for Amrish Puri's villain, who is shown chanting lines such as "maaro maaro sooar ko, chamdi nocho pee lo khoon" - literally "Kill, Kill the pig, flay his skin, drink his blood".
Some sort of hallucinogenic was involved as well.
DON'T DRINK! IT'S BAD! SPIT IT OUT!
What about pig or boar blood....?
Taken from Wikipedia:
The Indiana Jones movie is notable for Amrish Puri's villain, who is shown chanting lines such as "maaro maaro sooar ko, chamdi nocho pee lo khoon" - literally "Kill, Kill the pig, flay his skin, drink his blood".
Some sort of hallucinogenic was involved as well.
DON'T DRINK! IT'S BAD! SPIT IT OUT!
Montana Smith
Active member
michael said:
There's no recipe in the novel. The novel is, however, excellent in describing the effects of the Black Sleep of Kali.
It could be a man made hallucinogenic concoction. Or it may really be blood empowered by Kali. Like so many things in these movies, detail and explanation are withheld.
Peganum harmala (Wild Rue) mixed into pigs blood. Don't make me detail it here.
Simply put the pharmacology produces Dimethyltryptamine...
Simply put the pharmacology produces Dimethyltryptamine...
Montana Smith
Active member
Dr.Jonesy might have been closer to the truth when he wrote, "Just a spoonful of sugar..."
This is a quote from the West End Games Temple of Doom Sourcebook:
"The aspiring Thuggee also had to be willing to go through an initiation ceremony involving both Thuggee and Priests of Kali. The ritual involves the newcomer's ingesting of the consecrated Cozur, or heart, of Kali. This is either a piece of sugar or a mixture of sugar and water that has been blessed by the priests to represent the blood of Kali."
This is a quote from the West End Games Temple of Doom Sourcebook:
"The aspiring Thuggee also had to be willing to go through an initiation ceremony involving both Thuggee and Priests of Kali. The ritual involves the newcomer's ingesting of the consecrated Cozur, or heart, of Kali. This is either a piece of sugar or a mixture of sugar and water that has been blessed by the priests to represent the blood of Kali."
Montana Smith said:
Okay, but which "plant" donated the sugar?
Montana Smith
Active member
Pale Horse said:Okay, but which "plant" donated the sugar?
Beet or cane?
The WEG book is implying that the substance is immaterial to the 'blessing' it receives. Without the blessing it would just be sugar. Seems pretty tame, doesn't it? Not even real blood.
Stoo
Well-known member
michael said:
The adult & junior novels simply refer to it as blood. (What type of blood is anybody's guess...) Some alternate speculation regarding hallucinogens arose in this recent thread: Poison?Montana Smith said:
Very fitting. I've been meaning to comment on this topic and was going to start with "Dr. Jonesy, you may be more right than you realize..."Montana Smith said:
Pale Horse said:Okay, but which "plant" donated the sugar?
Lumps of unrefined CANE sugar (a.k.a. 'jaggery')...In Thug terms, the consecrated 'gur'. At this very moment, both you & Pale Horse are chumps!Montana Smith said:Beet or cane?
Stoo said:Lumps of unrefined CANE sugar (a.k.a. 'jaggery')...In Thug terms, the consecrated 'gur'. At this very moment, both you & Pale Horse are champs!
Indeed. Champs we are. When we work together, nothing can stop us.
Stoo
Well-known member
Someone must have slipped some Blood of Kali in my Dr. Pepper yesterday!Pale Horse said:
Please know that I was just fooling around, eh?Re: the words 'aspiring', 'willing' and 'newcomer'. While there were exceptions, being a member was something a person was born into and eating the sugar wasn't a one-time thing. It was a regular custom.West End Games Temple of Doom Sourcebook said:
The portrayal of the Thugs in the film is so far removed from historical accounts of the real cult that it's difficult to apply the actual facts. Apart from the name, in Indy's world the Thuggee bear little resemblence to how they dressed, operated, etc.
Maybe I'll revive this thread: A Thuggee Ceremony (which went nowhere except for a bunch of jokes and general silliness).
Quite possible but that would require A LOT of herbs or fungi. Whole lotta squeezin' goin' on!Sankara25 said:
Montana Smith
Active member
Stoo said:Someone must have slipped some Blood of Kali in my Dr. Pepper yesterday!
Stoo said:
Admittedly we have to take our Indy with a big pinch of salt!
Stoo said:Maybe I'll revive this thread: A Thuggee Ceremony (which went nowhere except for a bunch of jokes and general silliness).
The WEG Sourcebook has some pages on the Thuggee, from what we have to assume is an Indy-world perspective. I never expected their description of the Blood of Kali to be simply sugar, and it doesn't mention what they used to achieve the colour of blood.
Stoo
Well-known member
I'm very interested in what the book has to say about Thugs in general but let's save that for another thread. (I'm going to start a new one. The subject deserves it!)Montana Smith said:
Closer scrutiny of the text in the James Kahn novelization reveals these descriptions: "foul liquid" and "bloody elixir".
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (sorry it's not Oxford
)Elixir: a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring
From what we have to go with, the possible/likely ingredients are:
- unrefined cane sugar
- blood (source unknown)
- hallucinogen (type unknown)
- alcohol? (doubt it...but you never know in IndyLand)
Please do!Pale Horse said:
Montana Smith
Active member
Stoo said:I'm very interested in what the book has to say about Thugs in general but let's save that for another thread. (I'm going to start a new one. The subject deserves it!)
Closer scrutiny of the text in the James Kahn novelization reveals these descriptions: "foul liquid" and "bloody elixir".
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (sorry it's not Oxford
Elixir: a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring
From what we have to go with, the possible/likely ingredients are:
- unrefined cane sugar
- blood (source unknown)
- hallucinogen (type unknown)
- alcohol? (doubt it...but you never know in IndyLand)
But, what if...?
What if there was no active ingredient? No hallucinoge? As argued in another thread, TOD was the one Indy movie where the humans have an active role in calling upon mysterious powers. In keeping with Mola's heart extraction, and the victim living for a time without his heart, and Indy's invocation of Shiva that causes the stones to glow, the Blood of Kali may be nothing more than 'blessed' sugar. The active ingredient would be occult and undefinable.
The powers in TOD were inspired by voodoo, with the idea of zombies being controlled by a master. In the real world it would require chemical substance, but in the context of TOD it could be as magical as the Maharajah sticking pins into the voodoo doll.
HovitosKing
Well-known member
I always figured it was just a placebo effect.
Stoo
Well-known member
I'm with you on the 'undefinable', Smiffy, and forgot to add it to my list of ingredients!Montana Smith said:
This is why I say: Applying 'real world' facts about the Thuggee doesn't work in IndyLand.
Similar to Voodoo but not the same...Again, gross artistic lisence taken in this regard. (Please no one take this as a bash. "Doom" is my #2.Montana Smith said:
)Montana Smith
Active member
Stoo said:I'm with you on the 'undefinable', Smiffy, and forgot to add it to my list of ingredients!
To quote the venerated Pale Horse: "When we work together, nothing can stop us."
Stoo said:This is why I say: Applying 'real world' facts about the Thuggee doesn't work in IndyLand.
As a definition of pulp "gross artistic license" is pretty good. It helps me to shift all of Indy's adventures into an alternate reality: it helps with the anachronisms and the physics.
I see pulp as based on a few simple ideas, designed initially to provide a vehicle for high adventure. The Blood of Kali is one of those simple ideas, not explained on screen, yet we're expected to go along with it.
However, the act of opening these ideas up and trying to explain them is the fun part. Like pulling a complex clockwork toy apart to see how it works, and then trying to put it all back together again so that it still works. The four movies form a very complex clockwork machine, but in our world we'd have a hard time making it work after dissecting it! I think the term is 'magical realism' - where magic operates in the world as an accepted, yet unexplained part of science. Hence the Blood of Kali.
Good explanationMontana Smith said:To quote the venerated Pale Horse: "When we work together, nothing can stop us."
As a definition of pulp "gross artistic license" is pretty good. It helps me to shift all of Indy's adventures into an alternate reality: it helps with the anachronisms and the physics.
I see pulp as based on a few simple ideas, designed initially to provide a vehicle for high adventure. The Blood of Kali is one of those simple ideas, not explained on screen, yet we're expected to go along with it.
However, the act of opening these ideas up and trying to explain them is the fun part. Like pulling a complex clockwork toy apart to see how it works, and then trying to put it all back together again so that it still works. The four movies form a very complex clockwork machine, but in our world we'd have a hard time making it work after dissecting it! I think the term is 'magical realism' - where magic operates in the world as an accepted, yet unexplained part of science. Hence the Blood of Kali.