Reading Notes: The Panchatantra, Part A

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- One of the fables within the Panchatantra is a story about a crow and a raven that illustrates the moral lesson that the weak can overcome the strong if they are clever. The story is about a crow that builds his next in a banyan tree. The crow and his wife then lay eggs, but a black serpent that lives nearby eats the baby birds before they are capable of flight. The crow wants to get rid of the serpent and asks a hyena for advice. The hyena advises that the crow go to the river, where the rich people bathe, and steal some of their jewelry, then drop that jewelry where the snake lives. The crow follows this advice, and the rich people kill the snake while trying to get back the necklace that the crow stole.
- I like this story, but I want to make it entirely the crow's idea. Crows are extremely intelligent. So, there's no reason that a crow would need the help of a hyena to come up with a sneaky plan. I will probably make the jewel that the crow steals something more than just a necklace. A necklace is easy to write off. Perhaps it is the king and the queen who are bathing in the river and the crow steals the king's crown. That's something that wouldn't be overlooked.
- In the original story, the crow's wife wants to just run away and leave the banyan tree to the serpent. She is afraid and doesn't want to risk something else terrible happening. I think I would prefer that she support the idea of tricking the serpent and getting him killed. The serpent did eat her children. That's likely to inspire feelings of vengeance. Crows can be quite vindictive.



Bibliography: The Panchatantra by Krishna Dharma. Web source.

Week 12 Story Planning: Valmiki

Thuggee (Wikimedia)

- The story, Ratnakar the Robber Chief, tells a variation of the origin of the sage Valmiki. Valmiki is the legendary author of the epic Ramayana. The story follows the leader of a robber band named Ratnakar. This robber band worships the goddess, Kali, in one of her darker aspects. As a part of their worship, they engage in human sacrifice. Ratnakar begins to feel guilty about the pain and death. He decides to stop and begin practicing austerities in an attempt to redeem himself. Ratnakar entered a deep trance while in the hollow of an anthill, called a valmik. He took his new name from this.
- A history of human sacrifice is not unknown on the Indian subcontinent, but it was probably very rare. There was a temple, in the town of Kuknur, built in the 8th or 9th century dedicated to Kali. Historical evidence, and anecdotes, suggest that human sacrifices took place there. There is also historical accounts that show human sacrifices dedicated to Kali were somewhat common in Bengal, and that they continued until the British outlawed the practice. However, stories still surface of children being sacrificed. Supposedly, there was a gang known as The Thugs or Thuggee. They would rob and strangle travelers in Kali's name until the British eradicated them.
- I want to write a variation of this story that stays pretty true to the original telling. In the story, the gang catches a child, a young girl, and were about to kill her. Ratnakar feels pity for the young girl and stops the sacrifice. I want to focus on Ratnakar's empathy for this girl as the impetus to change his life. This fits with the legends and evidence that show children were often a victim of sacrifices dedicated to Kali. I plan to focus more on Ratnakar's thoughts and their evolution.


Bibliography: Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Indian Fables and Folklore, Part B

Smoking and Drinking Monkeys by David Teniers the Younger (Wikimedia)

- The story, The Monkey Banker, is about the son of a merchant who got cheated by an innkeeper. The innkeeper was a woman, which probably had something to do with how easily she cheated the young man. In an effort to get his money back, and revenge on the thieving woman, the innkeeper's son spends a large amount of time training a monkey. He trains it to swallow a certain number of coins, then bring up whatever number of coins is named. The young man goes back to the inn, with the trained monkey, and convinces the woman that the gold coins are limitless, and trades the (now worthless) monkey in exchange for not only his own lost money, but everything the woman has stolen altogether. The provided moral of the story is "Ill-gotten gains will often be lost to another's roguery."
- I want to write an entirely different story that is based on the moral of this one. A thief who gets his or her stuff stolen always feels like a good example of just desserts. After stealing from someone, he will meet a woman that manages to get the best of him. Later, he might discover that they woman was the sister of the original victim.


Bibliography: Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Indian Fables and Folklore, Part A

Kali (Wikimedia)

- In the story, Ratnakar the Robber-Chief, you learn the origins of the sage, Valmiki, the poet who supposedly composed the Ramayana. Ratnakar had been the leader of a band of thieves, living in the forest, who worshipped the goddess Kali. The worship of Kali involves, among other things, human sacrifice. Eventually, after several things happen, Ratnakar begins to feel guilty about the terrible things that he's done in Kali's name, and to feel tired of all the bloodshed. So, he goes off to meditate and live in austerity. During this time, he lives within a hollowed out ant-hill, called a valmik. From this, he takes the name Valmiki. He is eventually given the gift of poetry and becomes the first Indian poet.
- I am particularly interested in Kali, a Hindu goddess of death and destruction, although it is usually a destruction directed towards evil forces. However, she is also worshipped as a sort of mother goddess. I find the darker versions of Kali more interesting, from a storytelling standpoint.
- I want to do a variation of a story about a gang of thieves and their worship of Kali and human sacrifice. The thieves could have a deep misunderstanding of who the goddess really is, and her place in the universe, which leads to them committing all sorts of horrible acts. Of course, they have to have their comeuppance at some point, so Kali in her guise of destroyer of evil would take care of it herself.


Bibliography: Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi. Web Source.

Week 11 Story: Laila and Majnu

Laila and Majnu (Wikipedia)

The baby Krishna had performed another miracle. No one had known that spirits had been trapped for long years underneath the roots of two ancient trees. The baby had freed them, giggling joyfully.

Yasoda, Krishna’s foster mother, goggled with shock at the ephemeral spirits. One appeared to be a man, the other a woman. She couldn’t imagine how they had been trapped or why.

“So, why were you two trapped under those trees?” Yasoda gave in to the urgings of her curiosity.

“We were trapped there long ago by an evil sorcerer.” The spirit with the female aspect answered Yasoda’s question.

“Will you tell me your story?” Yasoda asked.

“Of course. It will help us to talk about it,” the spirit woman replied. My name is Laila. This man was my love when we lived. His name is Majnu.”

Majnu nodded in respect to the mother of his lord and began to relate the sad tale of the two lovers. “We had loved each other for years, but Laila’s father refused my offer of marriage until I had a better life to offer. I worked hard to build something that Laila and her father could be proud of. We were just about to get our blessing when the evil sorcerer showed up.”

Laila nodded and continued the story. “The sorcerer was a cruel, greasy man. He asked my father for my hand in marriage, but I begged my father to deny him. I loved Majnu, and even if I didn’t, I was horrified at the prospect of marrying such a terrible person.”

“We convinced Laila’s father to reject the sorcerer’s offer, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He cursed us and trapped us under the roots of these two trees. The sorcerer swore that if he couldn’t have what he wanted, then no one else could have it. It amused him to trap us so close together, but with no way to reach each other. We knew we would be trapped there until our lord would come to free us. It has felt like forever.” Majnu finished their tragic tale.

“But, now we are free. We did not get a life together, but Majnu and I will spend eternity side by side. Bless you and your divine son for releasing us from that terrible prison.” Laila began to shimmer out of sight as she finished her expression of gratitude.

“Yes, thank you. We are grateful for this blessing from our lord, Krishna.” Majnu also faded away to nothing.

Yasoda shook her head in consternation. The world is a very strange place when you are mother to a god. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to just accept the weirdness as it came. Her decision made, she picked up her giggling son and went back to her work.

Author's Note: In the stories about the Divine Childhood of Krishna, many different miracles and unusual events that occurred around the child are talked about. One of those is about the time that his foster mother tied the boy to an axle in an effort to keep him from wandering while she was busy doing work. There were two ancient trees growing close together, and the idea was that the axle would be too heavy for the child to drag. In the event that he was able to drag it, the axle would wedge between the two trees and limit his movement. However, Krishna was not only able to easily drag the heavy axle, but after it wedged itself between the trees, he was able to pull the trees down. After the trees were uprooted, two spirits appeared. They claimed that they had been held captive, by a spell, under the trees for many years. Krishna had saved them from their prison. I was curious about the two spirits. I thought that they should be lovers who were kept apart by an evil sorcerer. The sorcerer lusted for the woman, but she rejected his advances in favor of her poor, but kind and honorable lover. Enraged by jealousy, the sorcerer imprisons the two under the trees, so that they are apart, but tortured by their closeness. For the names of the two spirits, I chose the two famous star-crossed lovers from an old eastern story: Laila and Majnu.

Bibliography: Cradle Tales of Hinduism by Sister Nivedita. Web source.

Reading Notes: Sister Nivedita's Krishna, Part B

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- After the events of the Mahabharata, and the vicious war that raged between the Pandava brothers and the Kauravas, Gandhari curses Krishna for allowing all of the horrors to happen. Her curse is that his people, the Vrishnis, will destroy themselves and Krishna will die alone in the forest. Much later in time, three sages come to Dwarka, Krishna's city. They are offended by a practical joke that gets played on them and call down a curse that one day all the members of the race will be seized by a madness that drives them to exterminate each other. This curse is essentially a continuation of Gandhari's curse.
- I want to know what the practical joke was. Since it was sages, it is possible that it was something simple, maybe just done in good natured fun, but sages are probably not known for having a sense of humor.
- My thoughts on the events was that several younger sons of the powerful men in the city were put in charge of the three sages. They were supposed to show them honor and all the stuff that sages would look for. But, the sons weren't very bright and they slightly misunderstood their orders. They should also be slightly drunk. So, in an effort to show the sages 'a good time,' they inadvertently offend them.


Bibliography: Cradle Tales of Hinduism by Sister Nivedita. Web source.

Reading Notes: Sister Nivedita's Krishna, Part A

Photograph by Beth Moon (Bored Panda)

- In the stories about the Divine Childhood of Krishna, many different miracles and unusual events that occurred around the child are talked about. One of those is about the time that his foster mother tied the boy to an axle in an effort to keep him from wandering while she was busy doing work. There were two ancient trees growing close together, and the idea was that the axle would be too heavy for the child to drag. In the event that he was able to drag it, the axle would wedge between the two trees and limit his movement. However, Krishna was not only able to easily drag the heavy axle, but after it wedged itself between the trees, he was able to pull the trees down. After the trees were uprooted, two spirits appeared. They claimed that they had been held captive, by a spell, under the trees for many years. Krishna had saved them from their prison.
- I am curious about those two spirits. Who were they? Who imprisoned them and why? What was the spell that was used to keep them held under the tree and what was there existence like during the imprisonment?
- I want to tell the story of these two spirits. I think that they should be lovers who were kept apart by an evil sorcerer. The sorcerer lusted for the woman, but she rejected his advances in favor of her poor, but kind and honorable lover. Enraged by jealousy, the sorcerer imprisons the two under the trees, so that they are apart, but tortured by their closeness.



Bibliography: Cradle Tales of Hinduism by Sister Nivedita. Web source.