Reading Notes: Neogi's Sacred Tales of India Part A

(Two Rattlesnakes)

I love the way these stories are written. It reminds me very much of fairy tales.

The Divine Brothers

The story starts with a man's seven sons' wives. The eldest six are discussing what they would like best on a nice day. The youngest wife, Lahana had no father, and was sad because all her sisters wanted to be with their fathers. She did not have a father. She then found two fish (she had wished to eat fish) who were actually serpent spirits. They wanted to test her courage so they later transformed back into serpents when she was not looking at them.

She quickly realized that the serpents were some kind of divine spirits and that they had no intention to harm her. Accordingly, she was kind to them and kept them and fed them for a year until her family ran low on food. She released them, explaining the situation.

The snakes returned to their goddess mother Padma and persuaded her to pretend that Lahana was their sister and take her into their home for a time. Lahana showed Padma great reverence and fell into the goddess's good favor.

I don't want to retell the story, though. That much information should allow me to remember what happened and how she ended up being adopted by the king. The serpents' names were Ahiraj and Maniraj.

I think that the ultimate purpose of this story is to emphasize three main points.

1. Keep your wits about you and do not react violently.
2. Be exceptionally kind in this life.
3. Show great reverence to gods/goddesses.

This could be an interesting story to rewrite. It could be very easy to rewrite in a realistic setting.

Snatched from Death

These very much remind me of fairy tales I read as a child. This one seems to focus on the concepts of death, predetermination, and devotion. It seems to me that Indian tales generally hold that the future is set and cannot be altered by human interference or even godly interference. The one thing they also seem to agree on, though, is that prophecies can be worked around. Savitri worked around the prophecy about her husband Satyaban and, indeed, around Yama, the god of death himself.

By Itu's Favor

This story centers on the rewards of devotion and the punishments for failing in that devotion. It's a straightforward story that implores the reader to be devout and consistent and pious. It utilizes the juxtaposition of different family members in order to reveal the results of different behaviors. It also shows how different people react to different circumstances. I'm not as interested in rewriting this piece because it feels too similar to fairy tales I am already accustomed to, and I feel it would not be much of a challenge for me to retell this story.

Bibliography: Archived Neogi's Sacred Tales of India