Epics of India

Choraya's Diary, Entry 1, Tula 12: Oh, how I've waited for tomorrow - the day of my marriage! The harvest is over, the weather is cooling, and I finally get to be married to the woman of my dreams. She is beautiful as the lilies, and as radiant as the stars. How lucky am I to be joined to her for the rest of my life. I cannot wait!! Maybe twenty years from now, I can present this diary to our children, as a memento and record of the beginning of our lives together. Kushi is actually with child, though her parents and I are the only ones who know. We even have a name! Roshanee, the light of our worlds. The location - the city of Kurukshetra, which she believes is blessed by the gods, so that blessing will transfer into our marriage. I certainly hope so, too. Choraya's Diary, Entry 2, Tula 13: Good morning! Today's the day, and I'm so nervous. Over the past 8 years, Kushi and I have come to know each other pretty well, I think. But as Baba always told us, ...

These were taken from the  Jataka Tales , by Ellen C. Babbitt in 1912. (undecided on how to kill a turtle, from Jataka Tales ) How the Turtle Saved His Own Life I think all these should have a moral, but I'm not sure what this one's could be...A turtle uses his cunning to escape a (less than intelligent) king and his men. The boys are so wimpy that they run away from a harmless thing they've never seen before. They don't even consider it might be completely harmless! It's a turtle. But their even wimpier father doesn't correct his sons but tries to appease them by ordering it to be killed. Fortunately, they are all so dumb that they can't decide on how to kill it. One suggestion was to throw it into the water where it will drown, to which the turtle acts dreadfully scared, and thus he escapes. I just...I don't even know. Is the moral supposed to be: "don't be as ignorant as the king/his kingdom"? The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop ...

These were taken from the Jataka Tales , by Ellen C. Babbitt in 1912. The Wise and Foolish Merchant Ah, the classic juxtaposition of a wise and foolish man that ends with a moral - don't throw away your future because of a temporary enjoyment. This is pretty pertinent for college students (cough, cough me). The Elephant Girly-Face What a strange name...kind of demeaning, if you ask me. Like the previous story, we see another moral: evil companionships corrupt good morals, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:33 in the Bible. The story may seem a little exaggerated, but it's definitely true. We're all Girly-face - susceptible to peer pressure. (Two cows noticing the pig's choice food, from Jataka Tales ) The Ox Who Envied the Pig A story about not being jealous of other people's fortune, I think. Two cows are wondering why the pig is getting all the good food while they're getting just straw and grass. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the cows, I g...