Throughout its six seasons, Xena: Warrior Princess featured an enormous array of world mythologies, but my absolute favorite was the four-episode arc dealing with Gabrielle’s spiritual quest in India, which is why that particular storyline earns the most esteemed award we here at TheTorchOnline can bestow:

The India Storyline

Five Torches (Out of Five)

The first episode, called “Paradise Found,” takes place before they even arrive in India, but introduces the element that most affected me: Gabrielle begins to feel peace by focusing on her breathing and practicing Yoga. Sure, it sounds hippie-dippie and new age-y, but anyone who’s truly thrown themselves into the practice of Yoga understands its healing and soothing effects.

Unfortunately, Gabrielle is guided along the beginning of her path by a guru named Aiden, who is actually a demon who feeds off the goodness of the people who come to his island paradise. As his victims sink deeper into a meditative state, they turn into blue stone and he absorbs their essence.

So, that part’s not so great. But the Yoga? We’ll keep that.

When they finally arrive in India in “Devi,” they encounter a man who will be very important to them: the Christ-like Eli,who at first glance seems to be just a street magician. Gabrielle is possessed by the demon, Tataka (man, can’t Gabrielle ever catch a break?) until eventually being rescued by Eli.

The next episode, “Between the Lines,” showcases a theme that will continue on for the remainder of the series: Xena and Gabrielle are more than just best friends. They are soul mates, and this is evidenced by the fact that every time their souls are reincarnated, they always find each other. They learn about the concept of karma, and how everything you do in this life affects what happens in future lives.

In this episode, they are sent into the future where Xena is the “Mother of Peace,” and Gabrielle is a male warrior. They fight the sorceress Alti in the future, before being pulled back into the present for a grand finale smackdown. (In this tussle, Alti grabs onto Gabrielle’s hair, and Xena uses her chakram to free Gabrielle of her grip, thus giving Gabby the short haircut she would wear for the rest of the series. Unfortunately, this is also the haircut that Xena keeps seeing in an earlier Alti-inspired vision of her and Gabrielle’s deaths.)

Finally, in “The Way,” Xena and Gabrielle again meet up with Eli, who we discover is being hunted down by the demon Indrajit. Eli teaches Gabrielle about The Way, a philosophy that emphasizes love and non-violence over all else. Gabrielle soon learns that this is not an easy pursuit in a world torn asunder by violence. After all, how do you defend yourself if you can’t ever fight back?

When Gabrielle and Eli are captured by Indrajit, Xena must do something she’s never done before in order to rescue Gabrielle: pray.

Unlike the petty, all-too-human Olympian gods, when Xena encounters the Indian deity Krishna, she finds him to be noble and serene. He explains to her that the way to purify her karma and rescue Gabrielle is to be true to her own Way, which is the Way of the Warrior (in this life). He endows her with the spirit of Kali, the goddess of destruction, allowing her to defeat Indrajit and rescue Gabrielle and Eli.

Aesthetically, the show never looked better, incorporating the exotic beauty and majesty of Indian culture into the set and costume designs, and of all the “looks” that Gabrielle sported throughout the series, her sari costume was my favorite.

At this point the show was at a creative peak. As could only happen on Xena, the writers took the simple art of mehndi, the beautiful body art made with henna, and gave it into a supernatural element, thus showcasing a real element of Indian culture with a truly Xena-twist. Cliche images like flying carpets were incorporated into the story as props in action sequences. And though the number of gods in the Indian pantheon is literally in the hundreds, these episodes allowed us to glimpse a few, when so rarely are Indian gods even acknowledged in most fantasy stories.

Aside from being a fantastic yarn (and they make excellent repeat viewing), it was this batch of episodes that gave me two gifts. The first was the doorway into Indian mythology, which for a myth-geek like myself, weary of Greek and Norse legends, was a true prize. And the second was an introduction to Yoga, a practice that to this day remains a large part of my life.

Fortunately, I never had a teacher that tried to turn me into blue stone.

Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.