I'm always been fond of reading Jataka tales. In fact, these collections of Jataka tales have been my favorite kind of reading for this semester because their plots are very interesting with lots of suspense and rich visual details. Monkeys look the most alike with humans, and they are usually the symbol of wisdom in many Indian epic stories. I liked all the readings in Reading A of Inayat's twenty Jataka tales, but one story that particularly stood out in my mind was the story of Monkey-Bridge.
Monkey, including the wise god Hanuman, often has taken the role of clever, wise, and smart animal in Indian and Hindu epics.
The story begins with a giant-like monkey who ruled eighty-thousand monkeys in Himalayan mountains. Wow.. Eighty-thousand monkeys are a lot and I can't even conceive how many monkeys that the giant monkey ruled in the cold, steep Himalayan mountains.
I really like this very detailed, vivid, and full of image description of the monkeys' habitat: "through the rocks where they lived streamed the river Ganges before reaching the valley where cities were built. And there where the bubbling water fell from rock to rock stood a magnificent tree. In the spring it bore tender white blossoms; and later it was laden with fruit so wonderful that none could be compared to them, and the sweet winds of the mountain gave them the sweetness of honey." Monkeys must be happy living in a beautiful place like it was described.
They could also eat fruits and enjoyed their lives. The monkey chieftain was wise to warn the monkeys about the danger of humans: "Beware, let not a fruit fall into the water lest the river carry it to the city, where men seeing the beautiful fruit might search for the tree;"
The monkeys' heaven was discovered by a human king indeed. King Brahmadatta ordered to find the fruits in the Himalayas. The humans and King Brahmadatta talked about killing monkeys and taking their meats and mangoes. The troop of monkeys overheard this conversation and was freaked out: "Alas! you warned us, beloved chief, but some fruit may have fallen in the stream, for men have come here; they surround our tree, and we cannot escape, for the distance between this tree and the next is too far for us to leap. We heard words coming from the mouth of one of the men saying: 'At dawn we will shoot them and eat of their meat and of the mangoes.'
The monkeys organized the escape: ""Run over my back on to the reed, and you will be saved." Devadatta jumped heavily upon the chief monkey's back and he was critically injured.
The king was impressed by the chief monkey's selfless act: "You have given your life to save your followers. Who are you, blessed one, and who are they?"
I really like this monkey's words:"It is not your sword which makes you a king; it is love alone"
It is so true and I was surprised to read this sentence in this fairy tale. The chief monkey taught the king a very important lesson and died: "Rule them not through power because they are your subjects; nay, rule them through love because they are your children. In this way only you shall be king. When I am no longer here forget not my words, O Brahmadatta!"
This jataka tale taught me another important lesson of love and sacrifice. I really enjoyed this amazing story.
Bibliography:
Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat (Khan) 1939
Monkey, including the wise god Hanuman, often has taken the role of clever, wise, and smart animal in Indian and Hindu epics.
The story begins with a giant-like monkey who ruled eighty-thousand monkeys in Himalayan mountains. Wow.. Eighty-thousand monkeys are a lot and I can't even conceive how many monkeys that the giant monkey ruled in the cold, steep Himalayan mountains.
I really like this very detailed, vivid, and full of image description of the monkeys' habitat: "through the rocks where they lived streamed the river Ganges before reaching the valley where cities were built. And there where the bubbling water fell from rock to rock stood a magnificent tree. In the spring it bore tender white blossoms; and later it was laden with fruit so wonderful that none could be compared to them, and the sweet winds of the mountain gave them the sweetness of honey." Monkeys must be happy living in a beautiful place like it was described.
They could also eat fruits and enjoyed their lives. The monkey chieftain was wise to warn the monkeys about the danger of humans: "Beware, let not a fruit fall into the water lest the river carry it to the city, where men seeing the beautiful fruit might search for the tree;"
The monkeys' heaven was discovered by a human king indeed. King Brahmadatta ordered to find the fruits in the Himalayas. The humans and King Brahmadatta talked about killing monkeys and taking their meats and mangoes. The troop of monkeys overheard this conversation and was freaked out: "Alas! you warned us, beloved chief, but some fruit may have fallen in the stream, for men have come here; they surround our tree, and we cannot escape, for the distance between this tree and the next is too far for us to leap. We heard words coming from the mouth of one of the men saying: 'At dawn we will shoot them and eat of their meat and of the mangoes.'
The monkeys organized the escape: ""Run over my back on to the reed, and you will be saved." Devadatta jumped heavily upon the chief monkey's back and he was critically injured.
The king was impressed by the chief monkey's selfless act: "You have given your life to save your followers. Who are you, blessed one, and who are they?"
I really like this monkey's words:"It is not your sword which makes you a king; it is love alone"
It is so true and I was surprised to read this sentence in this fairy tale. The chief monkey taught the king a very important lesson and died: "Rule them not through power because they are your subjects; nay, rule them through love because they are your children. In this way only you shall be king. When I am no longer here forget not my words, O Brahmadatta!"
This jataka tale taught me another important lesson of love and sacrifice. I really enjoyed this amazing story.
Selfless monkey. Source: Selfless act of chief monkey
Bibliography:
Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat (Khan) 1939
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