Reading Notes: A Flowering Tree Part 2

For Tuesday's reading, I again chose to read more stories from A Flowering Tree.

I left off with a story called "The Dead Prince and the Talking Doll." It made me mad that the princess was trapped in this tiny room with a dead man and no company. She nursed the man back to health for 12 years and just when he was about to wake up, this acrobat girl swooped in and took the prince as her husband, claiming to have taken care of him the whole time. Luckily, the princess was telling her story to a doll one night in the room and the prince overheard what happened. He got rid of the acrobat girl and the prince and princess got married instead. The creepy part of the story was the fact that for several years, the princess gave food to a beggar who predicted that she would become the bride of a dead husband.

It's really strange because in all of the stories I read from this collection, the dolls always can talk and act like real people. For example, in another story literally called "Dolls," a husband is angry because his wife always eats what I'm guessing is the good part of their fish. He always has to eat the leftover tail and head. He asked his sister for advice, and she told him to leave three dolls around the house. The poor wife was scared by the talking dolls and left the house before she could eat anything. I guess they did their job.

There was another really interesting story called "Double Double" about a man who asked for a favor from God to double his supply. Unfortunately, God wasn't specific about what was doubled, so every time the man ate, his food doubled itself within his stomach, so he burst. But then at his funeral, his body kept doubling, and the townspeople had to keep burying bodies.

Photo By Roberto Tetsuo Okamura, Shutterstock.  

Since the collection is named after it, I decided to also read "The Flowering Tree." I was expecting a light tale about somebody falling in love underneath a beautiful tree. Nope. So it starts off nice with two sisters. The younger one can turn herself into a flowering tree so that they can sell the beautiful flowers for their poor mother. Soon the Prince learns about the flowers and finds the daughter and wants to marry her. His mean sister disregards the special instructions for turning the daughter into the tree, and leaves the poor girl with half a body. After a while, the Prince realizes that it's his wife and heals her.

 Bibliography: A.K. Ramanujan. A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India. Link to reading.

Reading Notes: A Flowering Tree

This week I chose a new source to work with, and I was not disappointed. The stories are a bit weird, but very entertaining.

The first story I read, called "A Story and a Song", was about a woman who had a story and song she wanted to tell, but she kept them in too long, so they took revenge. In the middle of the night, the story and song became a man's coat and boots. The woman's husband got jealous and they fought. The strange part of the story is that the woman's husband got the explanation from a group of gossiping lamp flames. It's interesting how inanimate objects were able to talk. The husband heard them talking about the true reason for the boots and coat being at their house and so he went home and asked about the song. The most disappointing part of the story is that she had forgotten the story and song. They could have sounded beautiful and it was all wasted because she didn't let them free. The commentary is really interesting because it talks about how nothing is destroyed; it is transformed.

The next story("A Brother, Sister, and a Snake") that was interesting was this one about a King, his new wife, and 2 children. The step-mother did not like the children, so she tried to kill the girl by putting a baby snake in her water. The snake stayed in her stomach, and the two children were banished for some weird reason. The brother and sister stayed in a forest with a nice Ogre for many years until one day her brother for some reason turns into a snake and long story short she almost marries her dad until she tells her story to him and then everyone lives happily ever after.

I liked this story called "Cannibal Sister." The title basically contains the story. There is a family and a baby is born and it looks weird and terrifying but the mother doesn't think anything of it. One night, a brother wakes up in the middle of the night and sees when the demon baby goes out and eats villagers and comes back to sleep in the crib like a human baby. He leaves town and comes back with trained lions to kill his "sister." He ends up killing his sister, but only after his demon sister had eaten his horse's legs off.

A Ghost Town, Wikipedia

Bibliography: A.K. Ramanujan. A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India. Link to reading.

Story: The Two Little Pigs

Image: Wallpaper Cave

I was walking along the dirt road that led to the market, which was going to be about a 3-mile walk. I haven't yet trusted the idea of some loud machine that sounds like it's about to erupt in flames while I'm in it. Sure, it's the 1920s  and people are coming up with all sorts of strange contraptions, but I'm staying with what I know. And what I know is dirt roads and water wells and growing my own food. Unfortunately, I still have to go to the market to get yeast for bread and a couple of household things. Now I was holding a large bag  on my way back to my house. I was just nearing the lake, when I heard strange little squeals, one slightly lower pitch than the other. I looked around but saw nothing until I looked down close by the lake and saw the smallest little pink objects. I approached and they didn't seem scared of me. On the contrary, they had started sniffing the bag of groceries I had set down. There didn't seem to be any mother around, which almost made me cry. Someone had abandoned these adorable creatures. I picked them up and put them in my basket. All three of us walked the way back from the market.

"Pinky, Inky!" I called. It was exactly 6 o'clock.
"Time for dinner!"

Three years later, the two little pigs were no longer little, but they were still pink. They both came immediately, oinking their way to the customized food bowls. This ritual continued until one day I didn't want them to come home. Two large men had just come to my door. They were clearly drunk and could barely knock on the door. They offered me a bottle of wine and so I let them into my house.

"Ma'am, we want your pigs. There's a big festival today and we ran out of meat for everyone. We need more." He pounded on the table to emphasize the last three words.

"Those are my children, not for eating."

"How about we open that bottle of wine?" One of them asked.

They drank and talked for about 30 minutes and they had hoped that I was drunk enough to let them have my little ones.

One of them finally brought it up.
"So, ma'am, how about those pigs of yours?"

"They are still my children." This brought them over the edge. The two barbarians stood up and started for the door.

"Then we'll find them then. We don't need you."

It was 7 PM, and Pinky and Inky hadn't come yet, since they always waited for her call. The large men started looking in the barn. These idiot men didn't realize that my children and I had a secret system. If there was danger, I called their names in reverse order. So while the men looked around the barn, I called my children home.

"Inky, Pinky!" I prayed that they understood the message. The men soon got tired of looking and went back to the party, furious.

I waited 15 minutes for them to completely disappear, and ran toward the place I knew my little pigs would be. There they were, laying by the lake where I first found them. I called them over and embraced them. We walked back home, the three of us, just like that day I found them.



A/N
The story this was based off of was from Twenty Jataka Tales called "The Two Pigs." In the story, a woman finds two baby pigs on the side of a lake and cares for them for several years. They became like her own children. Every day, she would call them to be fed at the same time. There came a week when a large feast was being held in the village, but they ran out of meat. They remembered the lady had pigs, and tried to get her to let them kill them for meat. She refused, even after several glasses of wine. After that, to protect the pigs, she called them in reverse order so that the pigs would know not to come. The only difference between the original and mine is that one of the pigs says a magical poem about love that transforms everyone in the village. They no longer want meat, and everyone is happy. After this, the pigs are celebrated and brought to the King of the village and are able to live there until they die. However, I wanted the pigs to stay with their mother, so that's how I changed it for my story.

Bibliography: Twenty Jakata Tales. "The Two Pigs." Link to Reading Guide. 

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Reading A

In the first story, a king called Brahmadatta ruled over a land that had an adjoining forest. A troupe of monkeys lived in some trees in that forest, and were always careful to keep their presence secret. There were fresh mangoes on the trees and the chief always told them that if the stream carried fruit to the land where people lived, the people would come and take all their food. One day, fruit made its way over to the town. The king came with his subjects to get the fruit and kill the monkeys by trapping them on a tree. To save his troupe, the chief of monkeys made a bridge with a branch, but it was too short to reach, so he had to make his back part of the bridge. His back was broken by saving the monkeys, but the king felt so bad for the chief of monkeys that he gave him a nice last day of his life.

The other stories seemed very similar to this one. They're all about animals being killed or about to be killed until they are spared. For example, there was one involving two clans of deer that were not being hunted by a king because they were golden, and the king wanted to spare the golden deer. Instead, he hunted all the normal deer. The golden deer tried to save the normal deer by taking turns going where they might be hunted. One day, the leader of one clan, Banyan, took his turn, but the king would not hunt him. The king vowed to spare not only the golden deer, but all the other deer and animals in the forest.

My favorite story was about a man who wanted to make his family rich so that his daughters and wife would be spoiled. Unfortunately, a fairy turned him into a golden goose. He visited his family so that they could sell his golden feathers. His wife thought maybe the goose would stop coming, so they plucked out all of his feathers and always had money. However, his wife kept the poor goose (her husband) in a barrel with no food. Soon, white feathers grew on the goose and it flew away "far away to a forest where every bird was happy."

Image: Webshots

I tried to read the story about the swans, but I kept imagining different colored swans living in a pretty lake and the story seemed lame in comparison to the picture I was constructing in my mind.



Bibliograpy: Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat. Link to Reading Guide.

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India Part D

The first story was called "The Fatal Oath" and to be honest I did not completely understand it. Up until the part where Bijaya comes home and cries upon hearing the death of her mother, everything makes sense. However, after that, Bijaya swears by something (perhaps the goddess?) and therefore her family dies. She searches out to find the goddess Sashthi, whom her mother worshiped on a regular basis. It was now her turn to continue worshiping Sashthi, and so she found the goddess and performed a sacred ritual to bring her family back from the dead.

The next story was very strange. It was about a grandfather who wanted to have a pond, but no matter how far deep he dug, there was none. He had a dream in which the only way to get water was to cut up his infant grandson into pieces and bury them where he wanted the pond. He told his son about the dream, and so his son sacrificed the grandson without telling the mother of the child. The next day, plenty of water came to the plot and so the mother of the child cooked for a feast celebrating the water. She didn't think anything about her child being missing, as he probably was with his grandma or aunt. After doing her daily worship of Sashthi, the goddess appeared holding her son, who had been sacrificed the night before.

Another one of the stories was about a grandmother who was looking for her grandson, who was stolen by a cat after being born. So she went to find goddess Sashthi, in case she would help find her grandson. Along the way to Sashthi's house, she found a cow, a carpenter, tree, and stream that were wondering why nobody milked them, picked their fruit, and drank their water. They asked if the grandmother could ask Sashthi when she found her. It turns out that they all had refused service to a Brahman when they needed it.

The last two story, "The Banished Girls," an evil stepmom send her step-daughters away after convincing her husband that the two girls would bring about trouble. So after they are banished, the goddess Lakshmi took pity on them and sent them husbands.

                                                                 Lakshmi, Wikipedia


Bibliography: D.N. Neogi. Sacred Tales of India. Link to reading guide.

Extra Reading: Sacred Tales of India part C

Sacred Tales of India Notes (Reading Part C)

In the first story of the reading, a king had no children and, as a result, everyone (including his court) believed him to be evil. Apparently, childlessness was considered a bad omen. One day he heard the sweeper talk about how he eats early because if he sweeps and sees the king's face, he has a bad breakfast. The king went to his rooms and cried, until a holy ascetic came and predicted he would have many children if the king promised to give him one of them. Unfortunately, the son that was given to him was the one that the third wife gave birth to (Sankata-Narayan, which means he who was born in a conch shell). The ascetic took the son and told him to stay in the forest but not go South. The Prince decided to go south anyway and a beautiful woman he found there told him that the ascetic was going to use him as a sacrifice. So, he created a diversion and cut the ascetic's head off. He returned to his mother.

Vishnu and a Conch Shell: Pinterest

The other story that I liked was about Indra, the god of heaven. A Brahman was in the middle of blessing him, but Indra threw flowers at him, so the Brahman changed his mind and cursed Indra instead. Indra had been turned into a cat, and Sachi, his wife, was unaware of this. She tried to find the Brahman who had cursed Indra, but when she found him, he said that the curse could not be reversed. Thus, he would have to stay a cat in the house of a huntsman for 12 years. However Sachi started to worship the goddess Kalika and so the goddess felt bad for her and told Sachi that she could make the 12 years less terrible by letting Sachi and the cat sleep through the remaining years. They both woke up after the time was up and lived happily ever after.

In the last story, a Brahman is traveling. While he's hitchhiking through some land, a guy stops him and tell him that he wouldn't have to rely on charity if he started worshiping Satya Pir. The Brahman is used to worshiping Narayan. So the Brahman did the sacrifice as instructed and suddenly became rich.

Bibliography: D.N. Neogi. Sacred Tales of India. Link to Reading Guide.

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab

For this week, I branched out and read some short children's stories from "The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India." The first one was called "The Crab" and was about a crab (surprise) that lived in a lake and sat at the bottom waiting for animals to come to the lake so he could eat them. Soon, he becomes huge from all the food he's getting. Mr. and Mrs. Elephant soon become tired of the crab eating all of their animal friends, so they come up with a plan to kill him. They end up cracking his giant shell, and when they become Queen and King of the animal kingdom, they use the giant shells as drums in war.

The next one I liked was called "The Hypocritical Cat." A family of rats lived in a hole by the river that a cat liked to watch. The cat eventually tricks the rats into thinking he worshiped the sun and ate air, and that was why he always faced towards them. The cat made them think they were safe walking past him, since he didn't eat other animals, and so the cat kept eating rats that passed.

In "The Crocodile and the Monkey," a crocodile was persuaded by his wife to capture a monkey so that Mrs. Crocodile could eat its heart. Mr. Crocodile pretended that he wanted to help the monkey cross the wide river, but really he was going to drown him for his wife. However, the monkey convinced the crocodile that the figs hanging in the tree on the other side of the river were the hearts of monkeys. So the stupid crocodile believed him and helped the monkey across the river.

I have nothing to say about "The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot" because it broke my heart to hear that a poor parrot was plucked by that horrible maid.

There was one story that I liked called "The Mouse and the Farmer." In this story, a mouse always gave the farmer a gold coin, and, in exchange, the farmer gave the mouse a good piece of meat to eat. Soon, a cat started to notice the mouse since he had gotten fatter. The cat threatened to eat the mouse unless the mouse gave the cat the nice meat. However, the farmer helped the poor mouse. He gave him an inkwell and when the cat came to eat the mouse, it swallowed the inkwell and the mouse crawled out of the dead cat's throat.

Are we sure this is a children's collection??

Picture illustrated by W. Robinson.

Bibliography: W.D. Rouse. The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India. Link to text.

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India Reading Part B

A brother, Kausik, and sister wanted to do something to worship the goddess Siva and her husband Parvati, so they started taking care of a bull, which was Siva's favorite animal. Unfortunately, some thieves came and took the bull, so they went out looking for it. While in the forest, they met celestial beings doing a ceremony and the beings told them that the bull would come back if they  performed the Budhashtami ceremony on their own. Parvati was pleased with their sacrifice, so she granted them each a wish. The brother asked to be a king, and the sister asked to marry one of the celestial light beings in the forest. She ended up marrying Yama, the god of the dead. One day in the forest, she saw her own mother suffering in the equivalent of hell and asked Yama to save her mother. He said the only one who could was Gautami, a young woman who also performed the same ceremony. Her terrible brother refused to give up his throne to help their own mother!  a complete stranger, gave up her wish to help Bijaya's mother.

Chand fighting Padma, Dolls of India

Another interesting story from the section I read was from "Chand, the unbeliever". Mahadeo, god of earth, visited in human form and saw a woman of low caste but fell for her anyway. Their daughter was born completely full-grown. Bhagavati (Mahadeo's wife) sees a random woman walking alongside him and immediately feels jealousy, so she tears out one of Padma (his daughter)'s eyes. Padma and her new friend Neta met a millionaire named Chand. However, Chand didn't believe that Padma was the daughter of a god, so her refused to worship her. Padma ended up marrying Jaratkaru and had sons and daughters that were snakes. Padma sent her sons and daughters to bite Chand's children, but he still refused to worship her. She went on to even reincarnate her aspara couple friends as one of Chand's new children to try and convince him that he should worship Padma.


Bibliography: Sacred Tales of India By Dwigendra Neogi. Link to reading guide.

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India

Manasa, goddess of snakes, Wikipedia

Padma and reptilian animals are worshiped in the Manasa Ceremony, which falls at the beginning of the rainy season since reptiles start to infest most areas at that time.

Krisidhan was a rich farmer. He had seven wives and the youngest was Lahana. Her idea of a perfect day was to eat kol fish and then have no work to do the rest of the day. The fish turned out to be divine serpents, named Ahiraj and Maniraj. For a whole month, she fed the two snakes until food became scarce. Someone found them in the kitchen and in the store-house, so Lahana kept having to move the snakes. The two snakes went back to their mother, Manasa, and said they wanted to repay Lahana for her kindness by being her home. They came to get her by pretending to be her brothers, and along with them they brought a train of snakes carrying presents for Lahana. The cute part was that they basically forced a nearby king to be her father so that Lahana would have a home like the other wives.

The Savitri ceremony is based on a woman who technically was a princess, but made herself live in the forest to practice self-discipline. Savitri, when she was a young woman trying to find a husband, saw Satyaban and immediately fell in love. Her father tried to get Savitri interested in various princes, but she wanted this son of a hermit. However, the only problem is that Satyaban has been cursed to die within a year of marriage. Nevertheless Savitri wishes to marry him because she says that one day married to Satyaban is worth the lifetime a widow. The newlyweds are blissfully happy in the forest, though they have little of luxury. Satyaban has no clue that he has this curse on him. The day he is doomed to die, Savitri manages to convince the gods to not take her husband's life.

Bibliography: "The Divine Brothers", "Snatched from Death", "By Itu's Favor". Sacred Tales of India. Link to Reading

Reading Notes: "On the Track of Love" and "Indra Gets Caught"

Since I have included a small comment about Krishna in my Introduction for my storybook, I decided to focus on stories that included Vishnu or Krishna, who is one of Vishnu's incarnations. The first story I read about Vishnu was called  "On the Track of Love". Some background about Vishnu--Radha is his main love interest when he is incarnated as Krishna, so she is the girl in this story. The other important character is Narada, who basically follows Vishnu around through spacetime, singing songs of love to Vishnu day and night. The story starts out with Narada becoming really jealous of a man called Muthu Mohan because he realizes that Krishna visits the hearts of all his followers, even this guy who only devotes 2 minutes per day to Krishna. Narada fancies himself as a better follower since he praises Krishna all day. To sort through his feelings, Narada recalls a time when Radha became similarly jealous. One night in a forest, Radha was invited to dance with Krishna. In the midst of dancing, she opens her eyes and notices that Krishna had multiplied himself so he could be with all the devotees present at the dance. She ran off, crying. Krishna had tried to explain to her the "Whole remains whole" aspect of being a god, but she couldn't forgive him. Narada remembers that Radha is human and cannot understand these things, but he has the choice to realize that Krishna must be present for all of his worshipers. Narada later asks Krishna why Muthu Mohan was such a great devotee of his. Krishna explains that even a second spent with him is eternity. So when Muthu was spending 2 minutes a day of his busy schedule to pray, he was completely present, which is something that Narada did not do.

Narada Visits Krishna, Pinterest 

The other story I read was called "Indra Gets Caught". In it, Indra is trapped in Ravana's dungeon and calls Brahma to help him escape. It was really beautiful to read because the dialogue switched between Indra's sad complaints and Brahma's calm reassurances. Brahma tells him to let go of the anger he has, since that is imprisoning him more than the chains are. Eventually, with some persuasion, Indra focuses on meditating to find a way out of the dungeon and is surprised to find himself free again.

Bibliography: Ganesha Goes to Lunch by Kamla K. Kapur.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Epified

For this week's Mahabharata reading, I chose to watch thee "Epified" Mahabharata video parts A and B for Monday and will watch C and D for Tuesday. I personally found it easier to follow the story when it was being illustrated in real time. Details that I might have missed in the public domain edition were much easier to pay attention to in the video. For example, I wrote last week that I was having trouble following why Ganga had to throw her babies into the ocean. The video did a great job of explaining how there were celestial spirits that Ganga had promised to help. The spirits were being punished by being forced to live as mortals for eternity, so she agreed to birth them and kill them to free them from mortality.

Another part that made more sense was Devavrara stealing the three princesses. I was initially confused why he stole them in the first place, but thanks to the clear explanation and illustrations, it made sense that he wanted his brother to have wives and children so that an heir would come about soon.

From Part B, a part that was confusing for me in the PDE version also made better sense. This part was the lump of flesh that they split into a thousand pieces and put into one thousand vats of oil to make children. It seems like the Indian version of Frankenstein, so it wasn't surprising that the first born child was sort of demonic.

Overall, I believe that being able to follow the illustrator as he/she draws the epic is not only a creative idea for a short film series, but also makes it easier for readers to follow the epic. The PDE and the film are very similar, but the easier language of the video and the pictures really add a new dimension to the Mahabharata.


Bibliography: Epified Mahabharata

Image: Facebook 

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

The last part of the epic concerned the war that the Pandava brothers are still waging. I'm going to be completely honest; reading about people fighting can be extremely boring. It is difficult to remember which person chopped off whose head, and which person has a new problem with another. So, in writing my notes, I only wrote about specific people who stuck out to me. The first part that seemed really dramatic was  Abhimanyu's death. He was killed "like a forest lion surrounded by hunters" which really conjured up a picture. After hearing about how his son was killed, Arjuna vows to avenge his death.

At least there was one, not exactly funny, but witty moment to give the reader a break from all the dying and killing. The part where Bhima tries to convince Drona that his son Ashwatthaman had died by saying over and over "Ashwatthama (the elephant) is dead" was actually kind of funny, since it was actually an elephant by the same name that was killed. And Bhima just kept saying "the elephant" really quietly after saying Ashwatthama's name. Of course, it wasn't funny that an elephant died, just funny that he found a way to tell the truth.

The only part of the battle that seemed to make sense was the dramatic match up between Arjuna and Karna. Rules of battle came into play several times during their fight. At one point, Arjuna's celestial bow was broken and so he begged for a pause in the battle. Karna refused. So later, when Karna's chariot broke, and HE needed a pause, Arjuna refused as well, and ended up killing Karna. I thought it was interesting that Arjuna wanted to allow the pause, but his advisor Krishna made him reconsider having mercy on Karna, since he was responsible for Draupadi's harsh treatment and Abhimanyu's death.

On a random note, I wished that they went into more detail about the jewel on Ashwatthaman's forehead, like what it did and what they stole it to use it for.

The last part of the reading really captures the imagination. The scene of all the fallen warriors coming back to embrace their living relatives was magical. Wives were even allowed to go back with their dead husbands if they wanted to. The moment of dawn when the dead had to return to heaven was beautiful to imagine.

Vyasa summons the dead warriors: Wikimedia

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata 

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part C

A common plot element that carried over from the Ramayana was exile. In this story, the Pandava princes and Draupadi (who follows them) are exiled into a forest for 12 years. They suffer through bad conditions, but also see really beautiful parts of the land. At one point, Draupadi has a little breakdown because she realizes that she was living so well back in the city being royalty, and now has nothing except grass to sleep on and rags to wear. She brings up a common complaint among us non-storybook people: Why do bad people prosper and good people suffer? This part really captured my attention because anyone could relate to having it really well and then having it all taken away. She ends up getting really angry about the exile, ad has to be calmed by Yudhishthira. He explains how anger makes it worse, and that she needs to embrace forgiveness instead. I liked their dynamic conversation because it sounded like any friends comforting another when something does not seem fair.

                                           Image: Wikipedia

The other part of the exile that I liked reading about was Indra's celestial city, Swarga, in the clouds (there were even cloud spirits who took Arjuna there). It was such an interesting and unexpected twist that Arjuna's "punishment" was to stay in Indra's city and live among the street dancers and singers as a nobody. And he goes straight from this weird life of dancing to battling demons. For my story this week, I think it would be fun to explore this time in Arjuna's daily life.

The last part I will talk about is the contrast between Duryodhana and Arjuna. Many times in the story, their actions are compared, and eventually it is revealed that Arjuna usually makes the wiser choice. He's also less self-absorbed, which makes him seem more favorable to the readers. The choice between Krishna and the army was interesting to read about. It is similar to a part in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, in which the main character has to choose which chest to open-- the gold, the bronze, or the lead. If he chooses the correct chest, he is allowed to marry the King's daughter. The obvious choice would be the gold chest, since it is prettiest right? Well, it's actually the lead chest. In reading this part of the Mahabharata, I think that Krishna is the equivalent of the lead chest.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata

Reading Notes: Mahabharata

One part that seemed really cool in beginning Part A of the Mahabharata was the fact that Ganesha would only write it from dictation if hi pen couldn't stop during the entire time of its telling. Sometimes, I found myself having to stop and look up words (or people), for example, asceticism (which is the avoidancce of any indulgence ). I liked the story where Satyavati was raised by the fisherman's wife and smelled like fish due to a sort of curse. I also really liked the part where she was allowed to lose her fish smell if she saved herself for the person she met on the river. The part when she gives birth to Vyasa but he leaves her is another favorite part of mine. As he leaves, he tells Satyavati that anytime she needs help, all she has to do is think of him and he will be there.

Another story that caught my imagination was the part with Shatanu and Ganga. He see Ganga in human form and immediately falls in love with her. She agrees to marry him as long as he promises to never question her. They get married and she gives birth to their first child. However, Ganga throws her new son into the river. She does this 7 times to her and Shatanu’s children, and he breaks the promise he made when they agreed to marry—he questions her actions. She leaves, but later comes back and tells him why she threw them into the river. (Which is still unclear to me, besides the fact that they are supposedly “the vasus”. When she comes back to tell him this, she brings Shatanu her last child named Devavrata.

Ganga trying to drown last child, Wikipedia 

I also liked the story where Shiva tells Amba to slay Bhishma but she questions him because she is a woman and thinks she can’t fight. I think it’s interesting that she had to change form (into a man) in order to fight Bhishma. Couldn’t she do it as a woman?

The last story that I want to write about is Kunti and her son. She gives birth to her son (whose father is the sun god) and sets him in a basket on the river. He is protected and eventually found by Adhiratha and Radha, who adopt the baby. It is similar to a biblical story where Jochebed sends her baby boy, Moses, down the river to protect him from the killings of baby boys. He is also found (by the Egyptian royal family) and adopted.  

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues

Sita Sings the Blues, Vimeo

The film Sita Sings the Blues was such an entertaining retelling of the Ramayana. There were elements of humor in it, which made the film more enjoyable to watch. It is told in three different ways. First, there is a group of characters that are independent from the story discussing it, then there's the modern day story with Nina and Dave, and finally the animated Ramayana. The director switches back and forth between the three perspectives, which is great for modernizing the stories. It started with Rama's exile into the jungle, and they discussed Sita's unwavering devotion to Rama. It gives a pretty condensed version of Rama's time in the forest, depicting Rama killing various demon-looking things (the whole time, Sita's singing). When Sita sings and dances in the forest, the film seems similar to Disney princess films where the princesses do the same thing. I like the funny parts, like when Ravana's sister is describing to him how Sita looks, she compares her hands, her eyes, everything to lotus flowers. All this time, a picture of Sita is being populated by random lotus flowers. I also liked the animation style a lot. It looks like they took classic pictures of the Ramayana and then updated them by adding modern accents to the figures. It's also funny because the figures move like a little kid is playing with them, since their legs aren't separate from their bodies when they walk. What's nice about the film is that it continues where my version of the Ramayana left off. My version ended when Rama takes Sita back from Ravana, but the film goes on into the part where Sita is pregnant. 

Sita Sings the Blues, a film by Nina Paley, Link to Reading Guide. 

Reading Notes: Ganesha Goes to Lunch

For my reading this week, I read two stories from the Ramayana as told by Kamla Kapur in the book Ganesha goes to Lunch. The introduction to these stories gives a short description of the plot to the Ramayana, emphasizing that Rama was "aided by all the forces of the universe, including some animals" in his quest to defeat Ravana. I am going to talk about my two favorite stories out of the five presented in the book.

The first is about Guha, who was not mentioned in the version of the Ramayana that I first read. Guha was an unconventional man with tattoos all over his body. He lived in the forest, and worshiped trees in place of stone figures. The people from a nearby town always tried to get Guha to change his ways. They constantly worshiped in his forest, and chanted loudly for him to hear in the hopes that he might join them. It never happened. So, they placed a figure of Shiva by Guha's favorite tree. Guha kicked it every single day until he died. When he was judged in heaven, Shiva protected him from death, and sent him back alive on earth to protect the forest and the people in it (including Rama, during his exile). I really liked reading about Guha's explanation of why he worshiped the trees and plants instead of the rocks. He explained how the tree is more alive than any stone will be. The tree gives him and the animals food, fresh air, and wood for fire and his home. He believed that God was the jungle, which is beautiful.

Pond similar to one in "The Toad who didn't croak", Wikimedia Commons

The second story I liked was one called "The Toad who didn't croak". It takes place when Lakshmana and Rama are exiled in the forest and looking for a lake. Lakshmana has a breakdown in which he loses trust in Rama for the first time. As they are walking, they come across the lake. The frogs are singing loudly and the lake is so clear that patterns of the pebbles on the floor are visible. Lakshmana immediately feels peaceful once he submerges his head into the water. The story starts off so hopeful and happy that the reader isn't prepared for what happens next. It turns out that when Rama sticks his arrow into the ground to keep it standing up, he had hit a little toad. So Rama holds the dying toad as it struggles to breath (the moment I actually started crying). He asks the frog why he didn't croak to signal his presence, but the frog says he couldn't since he usually calls for Rama while he's dying. He says to Rama that "to die in Rama's hands" is the sweetest thing.

Bibliography: Kapur, Kamla K.. Ganesha goes to Lunch.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana , Part D

When Sita is imprisoned on the island with Ravana, the first thing that comes to mind is the story of a prince who crosses a bridge haunted by a dragon to save a princess. In this case, the water around the island is the bridge. At the end of the last reading, Rama sends Hanuman across the water to give Sita a ring as a symbol of him being alive and coming to get her. Just as Sita is about to kill herself, Hanuman presents the ring to her, and she in turn asks him to send Rama a piece of jewelry that she has kept hidden for a while. I like how the use of jewelry reappears in this section, and again saves Sita's life. First, the trail they followed was because Sita dropped jewelry. Now, she is about to commit suicide, but is presented a ring by Hanuman.

                                                   Hanuman presents the ring, Wikipedia

Another part that I really liked from this section was the crossing of the sea. It was inspiring how all of nature helped Rama's troops build a bridge over to the island. The birds and squirrels brought little stones, and larger animals brought mud and pieces of mountains. All the while, Rama and his troops were gathering large rocks as well. It reminded me of fairy tale movies where the birds and woodland creatures start singing with the princess and help her make a cake or something.

Then there was the part with Kumbakarna. When Ravana sees that all of his defenses against Rama are failing, he wakes up his gigantic brother, Kumbakarna, who is a great destructive force. I imagined they kept him in a huge dungeon (like Fluffy from Harry Potter) and sang him lullabies to keep him from waking up and eating everyone. How Rama defeated Kumbakarna is amazing, especially since he looks pretty terrifying.

                                                           Kumbakarna, Wikipedia 

Narayan's Ramayana, link to Reading Guide A.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Part C

The setting of the beginning of Part C is a forest region of Kirkinda, in which a clan of monkeys lives. They are lead by Hanuman and have human-like emotions and knowledge. Later, these monkeys play a role in the rescue mission for Sita. The story that I liked from this part was the one when Tara warned her husband not to go out and face Sugreeva, but he did anyways and ends up dying. There is one quote from the Ramayana in which Rama is telling Vali why he sided with his brother. To give context, Vali had taken his brother's wife and forced Sugreeva to live on a mountain unless he wanted to be killed. Rama tells him, "One who is capable of such achievement cannot but be judged by the highest standards of conduct." I think that proves to be true in real life too. 

This half of the book focuses on Rama's pursuit for Sita, who was kidnapped by Ravana. As Sita is flown away by Ravana, she drops her jewelry down to give Rama the general direction she was taken in. It would have been nice for Sita to drop individual beads down and leave a trail like Hansel and Gretel. 

It is nice how the story is told by Narayan and in some parts you remember that the narrator likes to comment on the story. For example, in the scene where Vali is being carried down the mountain by his sons, the narrator remarks how some stories must end sadly, but it is clear that Narayan can’t bear to leave a story unhappy and ends the tale with Vali’s spirit rising to the heavens.

                                       Vali Dying, Wikipedia

It is interesting the parallel that was drawn between the desert where Thataka lived, which was completely dry and hot and barren, and the wet season, which is equally unbearable for Rama. You would think that opposite of the desert would be beautiful, but Ramayana likes to remind the reader that there's such thing as too much rain.

Narayan's Ramayana, link to Reading Guide A.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Part B

Reading A stopped at a cliff hanger. Rama was sentenced to exile in the forest while the town lamented over his departure. I was anxious to hear how Rama was going to get along in the forest (of course he survives, he’s defeated demons so he can handle the forest). I like how his wife Sita goes with him with jewelry on and dressed up. I imagined a wealthy girl from the Upper East Side putting on her jewelry and make up to go camping. It would make quite a reality television show.

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the forest, wikipedia

Another impressive part of their exile is the fact that Rama’s brother makes a hut made out of clay, thatch, and leaves look nice and homey.

One recurring motif in this section was disguise. First was Kamavalli changing herself from a demonic looking presence into a maiden to try and get Rama to fall in love with her. The next part that involved disguise was when Ravana turned himself into a golden deer. He uses this disguise to get Rama to chase him while Sita is left unattended, therefore stealing her from Rama.

The scene of Ravana commanding the weather and elements was entertaining to read. Especially since he kept changing his mind about being too hot and too cold. He commands the summer to leave, thus leaving winter. But this is too cold for him. He asks to bring the moon, and for a good paragraph simply insults the moon for not brining enough light. The moment when night became day sounds really funny. I can just imagine everyone dropping their liquor bottles and getting out of bed, utterly confused. 


Bibliography
Narayan's Ramayana, link to Reading Guide B

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Part A

Reading Notes A: Ramayana 

Several different parts of the reading really caught my attention. I was fascinated especially by the settings of each story, and how the tales explain the existence of various bodies of water and parts of the kingdom. For example, when Bhagiratha’s ancestors dug the giant holes to find the horse, they were cleansed by Ganga and their giant holes turned into the oceans.

The first setting that caught my imagination was the Ganges, which seemed a little like a cemetery, haunted by many demons that aim to destroy people who perform sacrifices. In my mind, it looked dark blue and foggy, a really gloomy place.

The setting for the dramatic encounter between Rama and Thataka was another favorite of mine. The author sets up this scary, desert otherworld with animal bones everywhere, which makes you anxious to meet the demon even before she appears. Thataka is described as not being a woman anymore, because she has deviated so far from her original form. Now she has large fangs and breathes fire into her surroundings.  It was interesting how the presence of the desert has been explained by her breathing fire into the land. I especially liked this image I found of her in which she’s wearing a necklace of animal skulls. 

Thataka, Wikipedia

                                               

The colorful city of Mithila was my favorite place to read about. What a heavenly place it seems like: women singing on balconies, pools with colorful fish swimming in them, and multicolored flags hanging on the buildings. The most unique thing about the city is how random odds and ends of jewelry that people drop are never picked up, adding a playful element to the city. It reminds me a little of the town of Spectre from the movie Big Fish. It has the same charming, fairy tale feel, plus its own quirk. In Spectre there’s a string running across the main street holding everyone’s shoes. So, everyone just walks around barefoot. This theme of the perfect city seems to repeat in many films and stories.  

Bibliography
Narayan's Ramayana, link to Reading Guide A