Essay Week 5: Stories from India

Since I read stories from the Middle East last week, this week I chose to read from India. Knowing very little about Indian culture, I thought this to be a good choice in readings to teach me more about the historical and social rather than the religious. I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the length of these stories because they fed me a great deal of information even though they were fairly short. It’s very interesting that the stories end on somewhat of a vague note. There is a lesson to be told from each of these stories but they were not blatantly spelled out for you. In a way these stories reminded me of Aesop’s Fables, mostly because of that moral compass and the lessons that you take away from each story. Something I noticed about these stories was that no one has a name. They are only referred to by what they are, such as “brother,” “man,” “son,” “lion,” “Yogi,” “Bonga girl” and others. I am curious if this has something to do with Indian culture, with these labels representing some type of status. What also caught my eye was the use of versus in many of the stories. These versus appeared as if they were some type of common saying, like “Good things come to those who wait,” and then a story was built around that saying. I found it to be interesting and I am wondering if my theory of this is correct on stories built around a common saying. It would certainly be an easier way for children to understand them and see and example of how the sayings could potentially be played out in life. Although there might have been some confusion from time-to-time, in the end I found these stories to be quite enjoyable.  

Taj Mahal (Source)