Peter's India Blog

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. I've read a lot of Jataka tales about monkeys, which seem like the favorite Hindu animal, but I haven't come across a reading with a wolf. A story written about a pious wolf, I thought, would be an absolutely amazing read. So I read the amazing story of pious wolf and other great tales. But the story of pious wolf particularly stood out in my mind. I like the beginnig of the story how the wolf is impriosoned so tightly: "Once there was a flood, and there was a large rock with a Wolf sleeping on the top. The water came pouring around the rock, and when the Wolf awoke he found himself imprisoned, with no way of getting off, and nothing to eat." Obviously, the wolf was desperate to escape: "“H’m!” said he to himself, “here I m,...

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. I've read a lot of Jataka tales about monkeys and other animals. A story written about an ungrateful prince and beasts, I thought, would be amazing to read. So I read the amazing story of ungrateful prince and grateful beasts. It was unlike any other Jataka tales, in that it was longer and more complicated than the ones I've read before. But with richer plots and characters, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this amazing story. The story began with the King's son, who was cruel, disagreeable, and hurtful: "this son was so cruel and disagreeable, that he took a delight in hurting people, and never spoke to anybody without an oath or a blow." It sounded like a truly intense character with lots of bad personality elements. I also like...

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. I've read a lot of Jataka tales about monkeys, which seem like the favorite Hindu animal, but I haven't come across a reading with a crab. A story written about a giant crab, I thought, would be an absolutely amazing read. So I read the amazing story of giant crab and other great tales. But the story of giant crab particularly stood out in my mind. There used to live a massive crab in the mountains. I really liked how the author began to say about the crab: "I daresay you have often seen crabs boiled, and put on a dish for you to eat; and perhaps at the seaside you have watched them sidling away at the bottom of a pool. Sometimes a boy or girl bathing in the sea gets a nip from a crab, and then there is squeaking and squealing." It s...

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: ...

Throughout this semester, I've read so many Indian epics, including so many stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The characters in those traditional Indian epics were fascinating. Nevertheless, I've found myself liking Jataka Tales even more although I really like Ramayana and Mahabharata stories. So I decided to read more Jataka tales. I like the fact that Jataka tales always have some sort of life lesson or wisdom in the story. Hawk is one of my favorite animals. I like hawks because they have fierce, focused eyes, aiming at preys. So I wondered how hawks are portrayed in Jataka tales. Although I thoroughly enjoyed all the more Jataka stories, and other stories were all interesting and fun to read, this particular story of "the hawks and their friends" really caught my attention.  The story begins with describing ecosystem of the animals. Their habitats, including that of the hawks, were mentioned to explain how different animals lived in different places, a...

Throughout this semester, I've read so many Indian epics, including so many stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The characters in those traditional Indian epics were fascinating. Nevertheless, I've found myself liking Jataka Tales even more although I really like Ramayana and Mahabharata stories. The biggest reason why I like Jataka tales so much is that each one of Jataka stories teaches readers some kind of life lesson or general wisdom. So I've decided to read more Jataka tales this week. One of my favorite animals has always been monkey. Usually they are the symbol of cleverness and high intelligence like humans. But in the story of the stupid monkeys, it was different and that's why this story really caught my attention. It has a really interesting beginning. The king's gardener wanted to enjoy the king's holiday and delegate his work to monkeys. I like how the gardener honestly admitted his intention without much cunning or tactic: "To-day my f...

I did read another version of Buddha story some weeks in the past, but I really wanted to discover more about this fascinating Indian epic character. I have grown up in a Buddhist household, but I didn't learn much about the details and who Buddha truly was although I was attending the temple. So I decided to read another version of Life of Buddha story, narrated by Herold. Although the characters were essentially same, but how the stories were told was completely different. The particular plot in the story that I didn't read in the previous version was the Asita's prediction part. It's interesting how both Buddhism and Hinduism, which both originated in India, have the same goal: to overcome the cycle of re-birth. And Buddha in the story was the one who would eventually overcome such unfortunate cycle. Wow this is such a powerful prediction by Asita:"This has happened to you, O noble, generous and hospitable king, because you love duty and because you are...

Among the several stories in the third part of Mahabharata reading, I found the stories of Pandavas and Draupadi and Arjuna most fascinating. When Yudhishthira lamented about his unfortunate fate, it also made me somehow depressed: "Our kingdom is lost to us," he said, "and our fortune; everything is lost; we depart in sorrow, and must live on fruits and roots and the produce of the chase. In the woods are many perils — many reptiles and hungry wild animals seeking their prey." It's such a pessimistic outlook on life in that I thought it would only discourage his brahmins. Although the Pandavas suffered greatly from living in poor conditions of the forest, I thought they also had some good things too: "They wandered in sunshine and in shade; they dwelt in pleasant places, amidst abundant fruits and surrounded by flowers." Arjuna was a great archer: "Stringing his bow, he shot an arrow and hit the boar." Although he was threatened by t...

I like the several stories in the Jakata tales, but the story of golden goose was the most interesting story among them because it raised a sudden philosophical thinking inside my head. I particularly like the very beginning of the story with the goose telling himself to help the poor woman: "If I give them one after another of my golden feathers, the mother can sell them, and with the money they bring she and her daughters can then live in comfort." I thought this goose was a generous and benevolent animal since he wanted to help the poor people in need. When I read this somewhat ungrateful line of dialogue between the poor mother and two daughters, I honestly thought they didn't deserve the goose's 'philanthropy' and perhaps they deserved to be poor: "Let us not trust this Goose. Some day he may fly away and never come back. Then we should be poor again. Let us get all of his feathers the very next time he comes." I thought this kind of mentalit...

There are several stories in the Jataka tales, but not all of them particularly caught my attention. One that really did was this fascinating story of monkey and crocodile. I even like the very beginning of this story: Mother Crocodile wanted to eat the heart of a monkey and asked her little son crocodile to catch a monkey. Yet the son crocodile didn't think it's possible since monkeys live on land and didn't come into water. Nevertheless the little son crocodile came up with a witty plan: "I know what I'll do. I'll get that Monkey that lives in a big tree on the river bank. He wishes to go across the river to the island where the fruit is so ripe." I thought it was a clever plan. I also like how the author blatantly labeled her son crocodile character as stupid : "But he was a stupid Crocodile." Trying to kill the monkey by drowning him seemed pretty clever. Obviously, the monkey suffered greatly from going underwater: "When the...

I really like the fascinating, yet unique stories of the Princes of Elephant City. I like the detailed description of rich family history: "Long after the reign of King Bharata, there was a king in Hastinapura called Vichitravirya, who died and left two sons: Dhritarashtra, the older son, who is blind, and his brother Pandu, who becomes king. Pandu has five sons: Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna by his wife Kunti, and Nakula and Sahadeva by his wife Madri." It's a very complicated history of a family with lines of succession. Surprisingly, as generations progressed they had more kids. Vichitravirya had two sons, Pandu had five sons, and Dhritarashtra had whopping 100 sons! As I read this story of procreating so many sons, I thought King Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari must have been exceptional people who could have so many kids like that. I know India is the second most popular country on Earth, and it even hints why that is in its mythology. This description of Du...

I really liked the combat story of Arjuna and Karna. The way the reading described the battle sounded very intense: "The arrows of Arjuna fell upon Karna like to summer rain; Karna's arrows were like stinging snakes, and they drank blood. At length Arjuna's celestial bow Gandiva was struck and the bow-string severed." The two heroes fought nip and tuck to win the battle. Karna, unlike Arjuna, seemed to lack grace and sense of justice. Karna attacked the injured men despite Arjuna's desperate warning: "Pause, O Karna. According to the rules of battle, thou canst not attack a disabled foeman." Despite Arjuna's warning, Karna was an unethical and ruthless foe. He attacked his injured opponent with ruthless raids of arrows. This cowardly action (from Arjuna's perspective) made Arjuna extremely angry that he almost became a different character: "When Arjuna had restrung his bow, he rose up like to a stricken and angry tiger held at bay, and...

I like wisdom and smart strategy of Prince Vidura. To avoid evil Prince Duryodhana, he came up with a clever solution of digging the floor of the lac palace and making an underground passage for escaping to the forest. Prince Vidura also hired a competent staff to facilitate his clever escape: "Prince Vidura sent to Varanavata a skillful miner. He eluded the guards outside and made his way safely into the lac palace." And the operation of this clever escape was also well-operated without getting caught: "By night he worked, and by day he hid his work by covering the mouth of the passage with wooden planks, so that Purochana, the wicked captain, should not guess that the Pandavas were planning flight." This kind of clever escape strategy and operation reminded me of an action movie escape scene. Prince Vidura obviously was a clever person. Not only their clever strategy worked, they were also lucky to fool the villains: evil Prince Duryodhana and King...

I really liked Mahabharata reading. It was obviously different from Ramayana.I thought the birth story of Vyasa was so interesting. Uparichara, who was the king of Chedi, gave birth to Vyasa in a very unusual and mythical way: "One day in spring, as he was flying through the sky, his semen fell into a river. It was swallowed by a female fish with the result that ten months after, when the fish was caught by a fisherman, two children — a boy and a girl — came forth." Honestly, this was the most fascinating birth story I've ever read. It made me wonder if it was Uparichara's mistake to drop his semen into the river. Vyasa might have been the king's unintended spill. The best thing that I liked about Mahabharata was its vivid description of the scenes, characters, and backgrounds. The character such as Ganga in human form (Goddess Ganga) was particularly detailed: "Suddenly there appeared before him a maiden of surpassing beauty. She was Ganga in human for...

I really liked the vivid detail description of sudden natural phenomenon: The earth and the sea were immediately convulsed, and darkness covered the heavens; lightning flashed and thunder bellowed aloud; the mountains began to break in pieces. I liked how vividly descriptive of the natural phenomenon was.  I also liked another example of such description of the phenomenon: Dreadful were the omens of war that showed themselves: the earth shook, the clouds rained blood, a fiery circle fell from the sun.  It was very interesting to read about monkeys organizing themselves to fight one another. Sometimes they would play a role of a spy. I could literally imagine and hear how it was like in my head: "Then the monkeys advanced in order and swarmed about the walls, flooding the moat and striking terror into the hearts of the rakshasas; scaling parties climbed the walls and battered down the gates with trees and stones, shouting "Victory for Rama and for Sugriva!"...

I really liked the poem Shabari. It sounded like a song with lyrics. I could "hear" the poem as if a singer was singing next to me. It read and heard it somewhat like a rap song. I also like the content of the poem: "I trust no cares invade thy peace, While holy works and zeal increase; That thou content with scanty food All touch of ire hast long subdued; That all thy vows are well maintained, While peace of mind is surely gained: That reverence of the saints who taught The faithful heart due fruit has brought." I really like the rhyme of this part, and it sounded like Rama was a caring god. It was a "law of duty", but it wished good will for those who follow it. I thought it was very fascinating that Hanuman could take a shape of a beggar to disguise himself and approach strangers to find out what Sugriva wanted. It's also very interesting that monkey can be sacred and considered to be a form of god in Ramayana epic. It would be unimagina...

It was a very interesting read. Especially, it made me think about emotional toughness when Kaikeyi refused to cry and even asked Bharata to refrain from grief and sorrow about the death of Dasharatha by plainly saying, "thou shouldst not thus give way to grief, my son.” Bharata finally had enough with his stone-cold, tough, and purpose-oriented mother and told her, “I have lost my father and my elder brother. Of what good is a kingdom unto me now? O evil-hearted woman, thou hast bereft this house of all joy; thou hast slain my sire and banished Rama. But I will bring my brother back from the jungle; he shall be seated on the throne.” when he realized that Kaikeyi, his mother, did not seem to have any emotional capability besides accomplish her purpose.  From reading this very interesting story, I could tell that Bharata wasn't motivated by outwardly material things like power, throne, or wealth. He seems like he wanted to live with his brother Dasharatha without sl...

I liked the vivid description of the the places in the plot: now the capital of Koshala was Ayodhya, which shone in splendour like to Indra's celestial city; it had wide streets with large dwellings, richly decorated temples, towering like mountains, and grand and noble palaces. It made me feel as if I'm in the place looking around the beautiful surroundings. Additional description of the capital city Ayodhya relly attracted my attention: In the palace gardens there were numerous birds and flowers, shady groves of fruit trees, and lakes gemmed with bee-loved lotuses; the soft winds were wont to beat back the white water-blooms from the honey bees as coy maidens are withheld by the impulses of modesty from their eager lovers. Birds disported on the gleaming lakes, kingfishers were angered to behold themselves mirrored in the depths, thinking they gazed upon rivals, and ruffled the waters with their flapping wings. It sounds as if this place is an epitome of Heaven. I also ...