Indian Epics

From  Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie Shedlock , I choose The Man Who Told A Lie for this week’s first reading. There are four divine beings.   They each have these divines flower wreaths.   Only those with great powers can wear them; not the base, the foolish, the faithless, and sinful beings within the world of men.   These four beings each have a small stanza to say: First: "He who steals no thing from another, Who uttereth no lie, Who doth not lose his head at the height of Fame— He may wear the flowers." Second: "He who earns wealth honestly, and shuns dishonest means, Who takes but sparingly of the Cup of Pleasure, To him shall be awarded this second wreath." Third: "He who scorns choice food, Who never turneth from his purpose, Who keepeth his faith unchanged, To him shall be given the wreath." Fourth: "He who will attack no good man to his face or behind his back, And who keeps his w...

Author’s Note: This poem is over the story of Sita Stolen from Sister Nivedita’s retelling of the Ramayana.   I wanted to capitalize on some of the images I saw in the original story, because Sister Nivedita’s language is very beautiful and descriptive. Armed tooth and wicked brow, ten heads rest on one shoulder in mirror of the other. A twenty hands reach out with shield and all things of malice made from bronze, silver, and gold. Yellow bled red, eyes bloody instead of hands which could be convicted based on tint alone. Disguised, a proper prayer he does bear to the luxury of stunning eyes –             Oh, Sita,             we beg you,             be aware! Sita, peaceful and besotted, garnering her own palace in the kingdom of beasts waits in the forest for the preyin...

For this reading, I chose to read from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan).  I read The Forest Fire , which is about a real bad-ass little quail. This story, like The Quarrel of the Quails, involves quails.   I think that is rather interesting because birds are shown differently in American and Western folklore.   It is obvious that quails are much more popular or well-known bird in India than perhaps an eagle would be.   I really loved this story, because it was firstly, beautifully written with such gorgeous strong imagery, as well as reminding me of the Ugly Duckling.   There is the same childish innocence yet emphasis on bravery that makes this story really appealing. The description of fire is great.   The “fiery red clouds” is a really appealing image, and the language could really persuade my imagination to capture the visualization of flames “hovering over the distant trees.”   But it wasn’t simply exposition or something the na...