Final Reading Evaluation

My hands down favorite reading we did this semester was by far, The Ramayana.  I'm not really sure what it was that made me like the story so much more than the Mahabharata but I just fell much more attached to that story for some reason.  I loved reading through the Ramayana and following the story line of a single hero with a solid supporting group rather than reading of five brothers that have a feud with their cousins.  I also really liked several of the free-choice stories that we read.  I particularly enjoyed reading the short Jataka tales.  It was a fun switch up to be able to read a bunch of short stories rather than reading one long story.  Overall, I feel that there was a very good balance between reading, writing, and feedback and I would not change this setup for next semester.  For the students who take this class next, I would just recommend keeping up with all of the assignments or even getting ahead when possible so that they don't miss an excessive amount of points.  Even with this however, it is still very doable to achieve the grade you want because of all the extra credit options made possible throughout the course of the semester.

Final Reflections

I really enjoyed the class this semester and I feel like I have learned a lot in this time.  Coming in to this class, I had no background knowledge whatsoever on Indian culture so reading these epics was a very interesting experience.  Overall, I am most proud of the amount of creative writing I was able to accomplish.  My entire writing experience before this class largely consisted of  technical reports heavily based on math and science, so this was a very different experience for me compared to what i am normally used to.  I will take the knowledge and creativity I have gained from this experience and try to apply it a little bit to my every day life, including my engineering coursework.  This type of class has opened up my eyes to the realization that there are very many different points of view for every type of problem and being able to get creative and see the problem from several different angles will greatly increase my chances of solving it.

The Surf and the Collector

There once was a kind and loving king who took very good care of his people.  He was loved by everyone for his tolerance and compassion for the weak.  One day, a poor peasant from a nearby village came running to his throne in desperate need of help, exclaiming that a tax collector had come to his door threatening to kill him.  “Sire, this man wants to kill me and take my land too!”

“For what reason would anyone want to harm you?” asked the king.  “I have no money to pay my taxes as I am only a poor surf that works in the fields outside of the kingdom.  You do not know me, for I belong to another king, but he is cruel and will not help me so I come to you oh loving king, knowing that you take pity on the weak.”

“Bring me this tax collector and I shall talk to him at once, but I cannot guarantee anything”, the king calmly explained. 

The tax collector came to the throne of the king demanding his prize.  “O king, his blood belongs to me and you have no right to keep me from my prize.  This man did not pay his taxes and shall now be punished for it.”

Money Owed to the King

“If it is tax money that you seek then do not fret, I have more money than you could ever possibly imagine and I shall pay his debt” the king explained.  But the tax collector had no desire for this king’s money, as it is a different type of currency than the one used in their native lands and would do no good there.  “As kind as your offer is, sire. Your money will do no good as it is not of use in our lands, and if I show up to my sire empty handed I will surely be slaughtered as well.”

The king, being the kind-hearted man that he was, took pity on both the lives of the peasant and the tax collector, even though he had not formerly known either before this encounter.  “Well we have quite the predicament then, don’t we,” said the king in a calming voice, “If it is flesh that this poor soul owes you, than it is flesh that you shall receive.  I shall give you my flesh instead, equal in weight to the amount of money that he owes and you may then take this to your king and all will be well.”

And with that, the king selflessly gave up part of himself out of love for two strangers that he did not even know and in this sacrifice, he saved the lives of both men and prevented any further suffering or loss of life.

Author's Note: I originally got the idea for this story from the tale "Shibi and the Hawk" from Shovona Devi's Indian Fables and Folklore.  In the original story, a loving king stumbles upon a wounded pigeon that is fleeing for his life from a hawk that was trying to eat him.  Out of love for the pigeon and the hawk both, he gives the hawk some of his own flesh equal in weight to what the pigeon weighs so that the pigeon may continue to live and the hawk does not die of starvation.  This prompted me with the idea of making a similar story about a king who pays the debt of another man with his own weight in flesh.  I kind of got that idea from a movie I was watching where a thief is caught stealing in a setting taking place in the middle ages, and is forced to pay by cutting out some of his flesh in equal weight to the item he stole.  I blended the two ideas together to make this story.

Bibliography: Indian Fables and Folklore, by Shovona Devi

Reading Diary B: Indian Fables and Folklore

For part B, the reading is very similar to part A since this book is not the continuation of one long story, but multiple stories all put together.  I particularly like the story "Shibi and the Hawk" from this week's reading.  This story tells of a noble and courageous king who although mighty and powerful, shares a weakness for the lesser, and a strong love for animals.  He is a kind king that looks after those who cannot defend themselves and one day a defenseless and tired little pigeon lands in his hands.  After a moment, a hawk comes down and says that this little bird is his prey and demands he must be given what he is owed for it is not out of cruelty but for survival and these little pigeons are the only food the hawk is allowed to eat.  The king cannot bare to sacrifice the poor little bird and shares compassion for the hawk as well, so he allows the hawk  to take the pigeon's weight in flesh from his own body.  In this way, the king sacrifices part of himself for the life of both the little bird and the hawk.  I really like this story because it is one of pure selflessness and love and kindness for others.

Shibi and the Hawk

Reading Diary A: Devi. Indian Fables and Folklore

For this week's reading, I began reading the stories in the book "Devi. Indian Fables and Folklore", by Shonova Devi.  The layout of this book reminds me of "Twenty Jataka Tales" in that it is a compilation of dozens of short stories put together in the form of a larger story book.  The stories I have read so far remind me of some of the common nursery rhymes I read as a child.  I look this book a lot so far because the stories are short and as soon as I finish reading one short story, it then jumps to a new one.  I like this because I don't get so bored while reading.  I also like this collection of stories more than the Jataka tales because when I read those stories it sometimes feels like I'm reading the same thing over and over again.  It feels like most Jataka tales include a noble leader who is willing to sacrifice himself for the good of his people, and then a more powerful king notices this and is moved by it and everyone lives happy ever after.  These tales have a little more variety so they are more interesting to me.

The Hare in the Moon

Portfolio Guide

The Golden Bow
This story tells of the mighty Parashurama and why his bow was broken by Rama.

Rakshasa Busters
This story tells of Rama and his brother Lakshmana fighting evil Rakshasas with the help of Parashurama when things get tough.

The Awakening of the Dead
This story tells of a strange little town in Connecticut, where once a year the dead come back to life and visit current inhabitants of the town.

The Loving Goose
This story tells of a loving husband who wished for too much for his family, and a wife that was too greedy in taking the gifts that he bestowed upon her.

The Loving King
This story tells of the brave king who has so much love for his people, he is willing to do just about anything for them, even if it means giving up his own life.

Storytelling for Week 9: The Loving King

"Alright children, gather around the fire for one last story," Parashurama said to the young children who had been playing around the fire, awaiting their bed time story.

"This week we will learn about what being a great leader really means, as you will all see from this story about a king who values the lives of his people more than his own." 

There once was a small village established along a flowing river, based right off of the water's edge.  This village was ruled by a great leader, who loved his one hundred followers very much and would do anything for them.  The people of the village lived in peace for many years, eating the wonderful fruits of the land and fishing the near-by river, taking advantage of all that it had to offer.  Life was very good indeed for the people of this small village.

“I have but one thing to ask of you all, my children” said the tribal leader to the villagers.  “Make as many fires as you need for warmth and cooking purposes, but never fall asleep while the fire is burning and always make sure you put it out completely before walking away from it”.

His followers respected him very much so of course they held his statement with respect and agreed to oblige.  For the village leader’s birthday a great feast was to be held, noted by a large boar roasting over the fire.  Everyone danced and sang around the fire as the boar slowly cooked over the flaming coals and all one hundred villagers and their leader stuffed themselves with food throughout the course of the night.  Those in charge of cleaning up tended  the fire and made sure it was put out properly as the chief had requested of them and everyone went to bed happy for the night.

What the villagers had failed to notice was that one single ember from the fire had managed to escape from the water that doused the fire pit as a gust of wind had carried it off just before.  This tiny little ember, so insignificant in strength on its own, landed in a patch of very dry, tall grass and began to catch fire after a few hours of coaxing.  This small little fire then grew into a bigger and bigger fire that suddenly began surrounding the village on all sides.  Shear panic began to break out as villagers cried and feared for their lives.  They were trapped and didn’t know what to do; the river was flowing too fast for anyone to safely swim across and all of the other possible exits from the village were engulfed in flames.

“Everyone stay calm and do as I say” The chief yelled out to his people.  He then quickly began looking for logs or sticks along the river’s edge to make a bridge out of but couldn’t find anything. It seemed there was no hope.  Selflessly, the chief stretched his body out over the river with his arms on one side of the river and feet supporting him up on the other side.  Everyone ran across him to safely cross the other side and all went well until the last villager frantically trampled over his beloved king and in doing so, broke his back.  The chief had sacrificed his life for the love of his people, who did not come to his aid afterwards.  This meant little to the chief as he knew that giving up his life meant losing very little compared to how much he was able to give.  One of the surviving villagers saw this and respected the chief’s final, selfless act so much that he made a temple in his honor so that no one would ever forget this valuable lesson: Lead your people out of love and treat them as if they are your own children.

The monkey bridge 

Author’s note: I based this story off of the story called “The Monkey Bridge” in the book Twenty Jataka Tales.  In the original version, there is a monkey chief who has 80,000 followers and they live in a tree along the side of a river.  The king tells the monkeys to do as they please, just make sure not to drop any of the delicious fruit from the tree into the water or else humans will find it and come searching for their wonderful tree.  All of the monkeys obey this law but one time by accident, a piece of fruit falls into the water and makes its way to a nearby village and the king demands to find the source of this fruit. Once they find the tree they plan to wait until morning and kill all of the monkeys trapped in the tree and then take all of the fruit.  The monkeys hear about this and the monkey king plans to make a bridge across the water for all of the monkeys to escape to the other side.  He tries but to no avail as the cordage needed to make the bridge is just barely too short.  So instead, he uses his body as a bridge and all the monkeys run across and the last one ends up breaking his back.  The human king sees this noble act and decided to honor the monkey king and make a temple for him that teaches people to rule out of love and treat their people as their own children.  I thought this was a great message so I pretty much retold the same story, just in a different context and by changing up all of the details of the original story.  I also added the part at the beginning where the story is introduced by Parashurama in order to fit in with the theme of this portfolio.

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales,Retold by Noor Inayat