Indian Epics

For these final reading notes, I decided to read what is described as the Indian version of Aesop's Fables. I loved reading the fables growing up, and even translated some of them as practice for Latin classes I took in grade school. Many of the stories were one or two paragraphs long, which made it fun to just quickly go through them. Some of them had very clear morals stated at the end, others you had to infer what you were meant to learn. Overall, they have the same charm and brevity that Westerners know and love with Aesop's fables. I greatly enjoy this style of writing and story telling because they're like little bites of wisdom you can take with you, told in a way to make you smile. Some of the other stories meant to teach you morals end on a much more serious note, and while those are also enjoyable, the silliness of these fables is fun to read. My favorite of all of them was the Poor Man and the Flask of Oil. The basics of it are that a poor man is given a flask o...

For this reading , I read: The Divine Brothers, Snatched from Death, and By Itu's Favor. The Divine Brothers was my favorite, maybe just because it was the first of this type of story I've read. It was fascinating for all three of the stories to read the traditions they address. I didn't know, for example, that during the rainy season there are unbearable infestations of snakes in all the villages. This was the supposed origin story of the worship of the snake gods and their iffy alliance with man. Although they are rash and violent creatures, this story seems to say that if you're a good enough person, they won't mess with you, and might even reward you. I couldn't find any images that were directly related to the story of The Divine Brothers, which was my favorite, so here is some jewelry in the shape of a snake to symbolize the riches that were poured on Lahana for being so good and obedient.

This reading was the story of Shakuntala as interpreted by Richard Wilson. His title is "Shakuntala and Dushyanta." This tragic but ultimately happy story was told so poetically - I am sad that I did not discover Mr. Wilson or Ms. Devee's interpretations earlier on in the semester when I had more time to mull over them. I've bought both books though, so hopefully in the future I'll be able to enjoy them like they deserve. This story of Shakuntala is a bit different from the one in Ms. Devee's book, but still essentially the same. While she had more detail than the others I had read before her, Mr. Wilson really turns it into more of a novel, which I appreciate. The story moves a lot more smoothly in the way he tells it.  I can't imagine the despair Shakuntala had to have been feeling at first of all being left behind for so long, and then knowing for sure that the love of her life had forgotten her. Her strength throughout all of it and her graciou...

Visvametra refusing to give up his asceticism, despite a beautiful goddess being sent to try and convince him to enjoy life. The gods feared that his determination would eventually give him power over them. The first of the stories for this reading was "Sabala, The Sacred Cow." Not to start out too critically, but the story begins with a very generous and successful king being unhappy because his life and kingdom were too peaceful, and he didn't have anyone to fight with. Of all the silly things. And then when he tries to put together an army, everyone flocks to his side and he actually has to go and try to find someone to pick a fight with. I really liked one piece of wisdom from this story, said by the stage with whom the cow lives: "There is no credit in virtue which is not assaulted by temptation." While it is said in the context of the king trying to come up with reasons for the sage to give up his holy cow, it still holds a lot of wisdom. Another ...

This will be the last of my reading notes on Nine Ideal Indian Women, so I'll be going over the last stories about Damayanti and Uttara, but mostly just talking about the book as a whole and wrapping up my thoughts about it. Damayanti was the miracle daughter of a maharajah who had not had children for most of his life. A phrase that I really loved in the beginning of the story that described his happiness all blighted by this one sorrow of being childless:      "A crumpled leaf lay in his bed of roses, and whichever way he turned he felt it, for no child had come to bless his manhood and his whole being yearned for the joy of hearing the name of father fall from baby lips" (page 175). I loved that quote because it was the most poetic and graceful way of showing the sorrow of being childless I had seen out of all of the multiple instances in the stories I've read throughout the semester.  This story was also more poetic than most of the others throughout. It remin...

The story of Sita is the longest in this book at 43 pages, so this post will be solely about her story. As of the first page, I already have a few thoughts. First, this is the first story in this particular book that is broken up into sections, and from what I can tell, they're all indicative of the author's breakdown of the phases in Sita's life. Second, I had no idea what Sita's origin was. All of the stories I've read about her so far only tell her story relative to Rama, so I'm glad I found this book so that I could read about her in her own story. In this version of her origin, her maharajah father found her in a golden pitcher while plowing a field, which I thought was quite fascinating. All of this and I'm only through the first paragraph... It also makes me happy that in this story, Sita was the first child, essentially adopted, and then three sisters were born who were the biological children of the king and queen, but there was no bad blood. The ...

I read the stories of Shaibya and Promila. This is a depiction of Shaibya with her child.  The story of Shaibya seemed to have a lot more references to modern day locations than many of the other stories. I appreciate when authors include the old and modern names of places because it creates more of a connection to the stories. It also stood out to me that this story had a personified Debt - it made it much more similar to modern fables and tales, and even reminded me of the Christian allegorical book A Pilgrim's Progress. This is the first time I have noticed that a vice was named and interacted with a character directly, rather than just being described as coming from within, or being a main characteristic of another character. A depiction of Promila. This story stood out to me because it was the first one where the main female character is glorified for NOT being docile and quiet. She was worried about her husband, so she donned armor and went and told Rama tha...

I read the stories of Sakuntala and Savitri, both incredible women. A depiction of Sakuntala in the river. I found the story of Sakuntala interesting at first because, unlike the others, the story goes on for a few pages without even mentioning her. This is of course because she had not yet been born, but in the other stories the main character appears much sooner. I thought also, how heartbreaking it was that her mother left her as a baby to die, since she could not go back to heaven with a human child. The story of Sakuntala is much closer to some of the modern fairy tales we have today, and seemed to me to be told in a similar fashion. The way she's described as blushing and being teased when the Maharajah first comes and talks to her, and her interactions with the world seems more familiar than many of the other stories I've read. I love when these stories talk about the origins of something we still see today, whether or not they are accurate. This story held the...

For the second set of readings this week, I've elected to move on from Jataka tales briefly and talk about two tales by Maharanee Sunity Devee. I came across this book earlier in the semester and immediately ordered it. I was curious to look into the ideal woman according to these old myths, and wondering whether their standards for women are consistent in any way with our current standards. These tales I'll be working through come from the book Nine Ideal Indian Women,  and as they are considerably longer than the Jataka tales, I'll only be doing two or three at a time. These stories also have more complex timelines and more characters involved, so I think having more detailed discussion is appropriate. A depiction of Sati being decorated for her visit to her father that would ultimately be her mortal downfall. This is an original print from the books illustrations. The first story I read was that of Sati, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy king, who married the ...

For this week's reading, I'll be going through Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat Khan. Although I have done many of my reading notes on Jataka tales, each author's interpretation of them is so different that I learn new things from them each time. The first ten stories are The Monkey Bridge, The Guilty Dogs, Banyan, The Tortoise and the Geese, The Fairy and the Hare, The Golden Feathers, The Young Parrot, The Empty Lake, The Swan Kingdom,  and The Master's Test.  Right off the bat, I loved Inayat's interpretation and story-telling style. Her stories have a flow to them that was missing from some of the other versions of the Jataka tales I've read, which could sometimes tend to be more brief. Hers take on much more of a poetic sound, turning the stories into tales rather than short fables to learn from. This, to me, makes them more memorable and enjoyable to read. Another thing I enjoyed greatly was her attention to detail. They add to the reader's abil...

Part A begins with The Birth of Krishna and ends with The Lifting of the Mountain. I so greatly enjoyed the descriptiveness of Sister Nivedita's writing. She is masterful, not only with helping the reader envision the surroundings and setting of the story, but also with eliciting the desired emotions in the readers regarding the characters, especially that of the new arrived earthly incarnation of Vishnu. Even in the very beginning with that brief moment when they saw their new-born as the powerful celestial being he was, the reader is caught in the same moment of breathless rapture as the parents in the story.  I love that even from the very beginning of the history, the baby has to experience the real struggles of living on earth, but his apart-ness is ever present. He is not exempt from trials, but the way in which he faces them, and those working to help him face them, is set apart. These old stories also do a great job of incorporating the inner workings of the chara...

For this first Week 11 Reading, I'll be going over the fourth and final group of the Shedlock Jataka tales. These include The Crow that Thought It Knew, The Well-Trained Elephant, The Judas Tree, The River Fish and the Money, The Dreamer in the Wood, The Rice Measure, The Poisonous Trees, and The Wise Physician.  This is a photo of a modern White Elephant , which is still used in royal Asian families as a symbol of power.  The Crow that Thought It Knew is yet another of the stories that seems almost incomplete involving the Bhodisat - so many of them involved grand actions on his part but this story does not. In the rewritten stories, I think I'll keep a more grand tone when involving the Bhodisat. The Well-Trained Elephant had that more traditional grandeur associated with the lesson to be learned from the Bhodisat's incarnation. I like in this story and others that not only is the wicked character punished, but the power and virtue of the Bhodisat is given to bene...

In The Hawk and the Osprey , I found it interesting that they described all the animals as living in distinct directions relative to the lake. I didn't really understand why that was relevant to the story, but the meaning could have just been lost in translation. I liked the fact that all of the main characters were working together toward the good, because in many of these stories there is one evil and one good character, and it was refreshing to see everyone unified toward a common cause. In Grandmother's Golden Dish,  I was surprised that the Bodisat did not do some great deed other than be honest. In so many of the other stories, his actions go above and beyond all expectations of generosity and kindness. He was still good and righteous in this one, but I was expecting him to come back to that family with more riches, or be merciful and give something to that other merchant after a lesson was learned or something like that. In The Elephant that Spared Life , the theme o...

For this week I read: The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment, The Bull that Proved His Gratitude, Horse that Held Out to the End, The Monkey that Saved the Herd, The Mallard that Asked for Too Much, The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles, The Elephant that Was Honored in Old Age, and The Faithful Friend.  In The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment, the common theme of the importance of respectful treatment of all living things is shown. This theme is consistent in most stories, and is usually only acceptably broken when the object of disrespect has compromised their own personal integrity in some way. Again in this story, the main character traits were played out through dialogue, either to the self or to other characters in the story. In The Bull that Proved His Gratitude, a similar story comes about - there is a bull treated very well, he wants to make a living for his owner, he pulls some heavy things, and in the end is rewarded by further adoration from his owner. T...

I tend to enjoy the tales that are more dialogue heavy. A lot of the authors rewriting these ancient stories are really able to convey the attitudes of the characters through dialogue. These tales have the main purpose of conveying a lesson, and the attitudes of the key players especially are crucial for the reader to understand the intended lesson. For example, in The Hare that Ran Away , one of the lessons learned from the story is the danger of unchecked rumors, and the panic they can cause. In the end of the tale, the Lion leads the Hare to the original source of her fear, and it is crucial that she is the one at the end of the story telling all of the other animals she raised a false alarm. I also read an alternate version of The Monkey and the Crocodile , in which the Monkey outwitted the Crocodile trying to get to his heart by saying Monkeys kept their hearts on trees to keep them from being harmed while swinging between trees. In the version I first heard, the Crocodile had t...

The story of Savitri had a great affect on me this week because of her strength, and ability to know what she wanted from life. When she was presented with situations that she did not like, she accepted what was inevitable, but knew her own power and what she was able to accomplish, and used it. I loved the style of writing throughout the story (enough to buy the whole book on Amazon), because all of the descriptions were about the relationships between characters or what they were feeling. There are definitely some beautiful stories that have a lot of detail poured into the surroundings and the background to set up a better mental image, but the relational writing here was beautiful. This depiction of Savitri following her husband into the woods spoke to me because she did not try to plead or prevent what she knew was inevitable, but she did everything she could to deal with it when it happened.  Bibliography:  Devee, M. S. (1970, January 01). Nine ideal Indian Wo...

Two thing stood out to me most in this last part. First, the devotion of Sita to Rama, as well as everyone's devotion to Rama. She had the chance to stay behind in splendor and wait for him to come back, and Lakshmana had the chance to stay behind and be treated as a royal, but they both followed Rama into the woods to face whatever was coming at his side. I was a little surprised by how ready a few people were to kill themselves when Rama didn't get to be king or when they found out that Dasaratha was dead (see the giant eagle), but that's just ancient devotion I guess. The second thing was the trickery of Soorpanaka, and the fact that all of her tricks in this story came because she, as the embodiment of evil, fell hopelessly in love for Rama, the embodiment of good. It was funny to read when she was talking to Ravana and trying to cover up her feelings - everything I've encountered so far has made me want to read the poem itself rather than just the prose version. ...

This is a depiction of Rama and Sita's wedding, the result of many years of preparation as hundreds of thousands of people had to migrate to the city for the wedding, and the stars had to align to the perfect position. I have just begun reading Narayan's The Ramayana  and am enjoying it immensely. The descriptions of the characters and the great tales of evil and heroism are fantastic, and Narayan does such a wonderful job of conveying the intense emotions in the original poetry through prose. My favorite part of the story so far has been the background for Rama not becoming king when we was meant to towards the end of Part A. The ultimate importance of keeping one's word that trumps even the love of the entire world, sending Rama into the forest, is something that I think we've certainly lost today, and something that Narayan conveys very well. I also like all of his descriptions of the relationships between the characters - there are some that are so closely ti...

The two stories that stood out to me were The Cunning Crane and the Crab (From The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse ) and The Crocodile in the River (From Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers ). I liked them both because they went into great detail with the surroundings and other aspects, whereas the other stories were more straight to the point, not providing as many intricate details. I enjoy that they had the lessons to be learned at the end of them, and there was a good mix of dialogue and the rest of the story. A meme I made for the response of the crocodile's wife... (I only added the top caption)

INDIAN EPICS READINGS: I have chosen the Ramayana by Narayana because I prefer to read things I can hold, and I've already bought the book! Comic 1: Ganesha - I have chosen this one because the story and character of Ganesha seems fascinating. I'm excited to learn about Ganesha !  Comic 2: Saraswati - I'm interested in comics that mostly surround women and their role in myths. Video 1: Miracles of Lord Krishna - Interested in this because Krishna is one of the few names I was familiar with before starting this class, but I still don't know much about him. Video 2: TEDxSydney: Fabulous Indian Tabla and Tanpur - I chose this because I've never seen a TED talk I didn't like. OTHER READINGS: