6 - Fish Highwayman
Summary
TLDRIn this episode of 'Stories from India,' host Narad Monei, a mythological character with eternal life, delves into the origins of the Ramayana, one of India's most famous epics. The narrative begins with the transformation of Valmiki, a highwayman turned poet, who composes the Ramayana after a divine encounter. The episode also features the tale of Subhadra's abduction of Prince Arjuna to avoid an arranged marriage, showcasing the rich tapestry of Indian mythology and its enduring influence.
Takeaways
- ποΈ The podcast 'Stories from India' narrates myths, legends, and folk tales from India, hosted by Narad Monei, a mythological character with eternal life and omniscience.
- π The podcast begins with the Ramayana, one of the two most famous Indian epics, known to almost every Indian through various mediums including school curriculum, books, TV series, and movies.
- π The original Valmiki Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses, and the podcast will cover it in several episodes to maintain variety and interest.
- πΌ Valmiki, initially a highwayman, was inspired by two sages to give up his life of crime and became a devotee of Lord Rama, composing the Ramayana after receiving a divine vision.
- π Valmiki is also an important character within the Ramayana, where he narrates how he heard the story of Rama from Narad and was asked by Brahma to spread the message of Rama.
- π¦ Valmiki's invention of poetry occurred when he cursed a hunter for shooting a bird, and the words he uttered fit the meter of an ancient Indian musical instrument, the veena.
- πΌ Valmiki's poetry was recognized by Brahma, who encouraged him to start calling his verses 'poetry' and later instructed him to tell the story of Rama.
- π¦π¦ Valmiki taught the Ramayana to Lava and Kusha, the sons of Rama, without revealing their lineage, who later performed it at Rama's court, impressing the audience and receiving gifts.
- π€ The script mentions two different versions of Valmiki's past, one as a highwayman/fisherman and another where he met Narad, leaving it to the listener to discern the truth.
- πΈ This week's character, Subhadra, is the sister of Krishna and Balaram, and is considered an incarnation of the goddess Yogamaya, involved in a story of love and abduction to avoid an unwanted marriage.
- π The podcast invites listeners to follow the story of the Ramayana from King Dasharatha, Rama's father, and promises to continue the narrative in the next episode, focusing on a historical queen.
Q & A
What is the purpose of the podcast 'Stories from India'?
-The podcast 'Stories from India' is dedicated to discussing myths, legends, and folk tales from India, with each episode featuring a story from Indian mythology followed by a 'Character of the Week' segment.
Who is the host of 'Stories from India' and what is his mythological significance?
-The host is Narad Moneii, a mythological character who was given the gift of eternal life and knowledge of the past, present, and future. He is also a traveling musician and storyteller.
What are the two most famous epics from India mentioned in the podcast?
-The two most famous epics from India mentioned are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which are known by almost every single person in India.
How many verses are there in the original version of the Ramayana called the Valmiki Ramayana?
-The original version of the Ramayana, known as the Valmiki Ramayana, contains 24,000 verses.
What significant event happened in the life of Valmiki that led to his transformation from a highwayman?
-Valmiki encountered two sages who had no material possessions but were respected and fed by people for their wisdom and songs about gods. This encounter inspired Valmiki to give up his life of crime and become a devotee of Lord Rama.
What is the significance of the poem that Valmiki composed about the cranes?
-The poem Valmiki composed about the cranes is significant because it is considered the invention of a new form of poetry in India, which he later used to compose the Ramayana.
Who is the character 'Subhadra' mentioned in the podcast and what is her significance?
-Subhadra is the sister of Krishna and Balaram, and is considered an incarnation of the goddess Yogaya. She is known for abducting Prince Arjun to avoid marrying his cousin, as per her wishes.
What is the role of the character 'Nal and Kush' in the Ramayana?
-Nal and Kush are the sons of Lord Rama who were raised by Valmiki. They played the veena and sang the story of the Ramayana to King Rama's court, which was the first time the story was shared.
What is the significance of the 'veena' in the story of Nal and Kush?
-The veena is an ancient Indian guitar-like instrument that Nal and Kush played exceptionally well. They used it to perform the story of the Ramayana at King Rama's court.
What is the source of the information about Valmiki's profession as a highwayman/fisherman?
-The information about Valmiki's profession comes from a different source called the Puranas, which provides an alternative version of his story.
How does the podcast 'Stories from India' engage with its audience for feedback and suggestions?
-The podcast encourages audience feedback and suggestions through their website SFI podcast.com and also via Twitter at @SFIpodcast.
Outlines
ποΈ Introduction to Stories from India Podcast
The script introduces the 'Stories from India' podcast, a platform exploring Indian myths, legends, and folk tales. The host, Narad Monei, a mythological character with the gift of eternal life and omniscience, is also a traveling musician and storyteller. Each episode features a story from Indian mythology followed by a 'Character of the Week' segment. The podcast begins with the Ramayana, one of India's most famous epics, known widely across the country. The original Valmiki Ramayana consisted of 24,000 verses, and the podcast will cover it in several episodes. The first character segment discusses the fisherman-highwayman Valmiki, who encounters two Rishis, leading to a profound change in his life.
πΏ Valmiki's Transformation and Invention of Poetry
This paragraph delves into Valmiki's transformation from a criminal to a devotee of Lord Rama, the seventh Avatar of Vishnu. After an enlightening encounter with two Rishis, Valmiki renounces his life of crime and devotes himself to meditation and prayer. He is rewarded with a vision of Rama's life, which he composes into the Ramayana. Valmiki also invents a new form of poetry, which fits the meter of the ancient Indian guitar, the veena. The story highlights his interaction with Lord Brahma, who encourages him to tell Rama's story, leading to the creation of the epic Ramayana.
πΌ Teaching Ramayana to Rama's Sons: Lava and Kusha
The narrative continues with Valmiki teaching the Ramayana to Lava and Kusha, the sons of Rama who live with him unknowingly. The boys, who are skilled musicians, learn the story and perform it at King Rama's court, captivating the audience with their rendition. Despite the physical demands of performing for two days straight, they recount the epic again at Rama's request. This leads to the revelation of their true identities and the connection to the story they performed.
π° Subhadra's Abduction of Arjuna and Upcoming Stories
The final paragraph introduces the character Subhadra, sister of Krishna and Balaram, and her involvement in a love story where she abducts Arjuna to avoid marrying Duryodhana, as orchestrated by Balaram. Krishna's cunning plan to have Subhadra seen driving the chariot with Arjuna ensures that the kingdom believes she has abducted him. The script concludes with a teaser for the next episode, which will focus on King Dasharatha, Rama's father, and hints at a historical queen who defied stereotypes. The host invites feedback and acknowledges the support of family and friends, signing off with gratitude for the listeners' engagement.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Narad Monei
π‘Ramayana
π‘Valmiki
π‘Rishi
π‘Avatar
π‘Wien
π‘Subhadra
π‘Puranas
π‘Dharma
π‘Brahman
Highlights
Introduction to the podcast 'Stories from India' which discusses Indian mythology, legends, and folk tales.
Host Narad Mone introduces himself as a mythological character with eternal life and knowledge of past, present, and future.
The podcast begins with the story of the Ramayana, one of the most famous epics from India.
The Valmiki Ramayana originally had 24,000 verses, and the podcast will cover it in several episodes.
Introduction of the character Valmiki, who was initially a highwayman and later became a devotee of Lord Rama.
Valmiki's transformation from a robber to a devotee after meeting two Rishis and hearing about gods.
Valmiki's invention of poetry and the story behind it involving a hunter and a pair of birds.
Valmiki's composition of the Ramayana after receiving a vision of Lord Rama's life.
The story of how Valmiki heard the synopsis of Rama's story from Narad and was asked by Brahma to spread the message.
Valmiki's decision to teach the Ramayana to the two young boys Lava and Kush, who were Lord Rama's sons.
Lava and Kush's performance of the Ramayana at King Rama's court, leading to their recognition and gifts.
Introduction of the character Subhadra, sister of Krishna and Balaram, and her role in the Mahabharat.
The love triangle involving Subhadra, Arjun, and Duryodhan, and Krishna's clever plan to help Subhadra and Arjun elope.
The upcoming episode's focus on the story of the Ramayana starting from King Dasharath, father of Lord Rama.
Invitation for feedback and suggestions from listeners, and acknowledgment of support from family and friends.
Credits for the music used in the podcast, sourced from Purple Planet.
Transcripts
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hello and welcome to stories from India
a podcast where we talk about myths
Legends and folk tales from India I'm
your host narad monei and I'm a
mythological character myself I I was
given the gift of eternal life and
knowledge of the past the present and
the
future by profession I'm a traveling
musician and a
Storyteller so the way I'm doing my job
is by
podcast during each episode we'll be
talking about a story from Indian
mythology followed by a character of the
week segment this week we'll learn the
strange story of how poetry was
invented and about how a God can upload
load memories directly into
people this episode is the beginning of
the
ramayan the ramayan is one of the two
most famous epics from
India I would not be exaggerating in
saying that the Raman and the other epic
the Mahabharat are known by almost every
single person in
India thanks to a combination of school
curriculum books TV series and
movies The Saga itself is pretty big the
original version of the poem called the
waliki ramayan had 24,000 verses in it
we are going to begin today and it will
take several episodes to go through
these because theama and is just one of
several wonderful stories from India
I'll spread these episodes out a bit so
that there's a bit of variety but I'll
go through all of them in
order the character this week is a girl
who abducts a prince to avoid marrying
his
cousin W Miki was a fisherman Highwayman
you might wonder how does that work
exactly did he specialize in robbing
only fishermen or did he only Rob
fish the answer is that he was just a
robber but his business card said
fisherman kind of like how the Godfather
was an olive oil
importer even back in those days you
needed a front for any illegal business
so if the authorities found you you
could explain your way out of a
pickle so we'll leave the fisherman part
aside and simply think of him as a
Highwayman but seeing as it was around
800 BC there wasn't much of a
highway regardless W Miki would valay
Travelers and steal their
valuables one fine morning as valmiki
was out looking for his next victims he
saw two wise
men hm almost not worth the effort he
thought but then nothing ventured
nothing
gained he jumped in front of them
suddenly your money or your lives he
said it was fashionable for Ries to
swear off all worldly possessions and
these two Ries were no
exceptions we have no money they said
take our lives if you
must that's not exactly how this works
said waliki I meant I'd take your lives
if you refuse to hand over your money
but if you don't have any money I
actually feel sorry for you how are you
managing in this Rough
Country the Rishi said it's not as bad
as it seems we sing and walk along the
streets and people give us
food and you don't have to pay for that
said valmiki quite
incredulously not a penny said the
Ries people are doing this to be closer
to God and they don't mind sharing their
food with uninvited guests like us it's
practically built into their moral
code wmi was a keen Observer and could
read between the lines
so are they just paying you to stop
singing he said or maybe they are
actually interested in your
words definitely the latter the Rishi
said so what do you actually sing about
W Miki
asked we mostly sing about
Gods those are our real valuables our
real
possessions tell me about these Gods you
speak of said valmiki
and the Ries did in great
detail so much so that waliki decided to
give up his life of crime and he became
a devotee of
ram ram is the seventh Avatar of Vishnu
we previously covered the first avatar
the unicorn fish in the very first
episode you may want to check it out if
you haven't already but the avatars are
fairly independent of each other
waliki spent a long time meditating and
praying and was finally rewarded with a
vision of the life of
ram he composed it into what we know as
the
ramayan waliki himself is an important
character in The
Raman in the very first chapter waliki
writes how he heard the synopsis of ram
story
from wait for it
me yes he heard it from me waliki asked
me to name a person who does basically
everything great cares about following
all rules is fair to everyone and rules
his kingdom well obviously without any
hesitation I said that person is
Ram at this point I gave waliki a very
concise summary of Ram's life but we can
skip that synopsis because spoilers
chapter 2 begins with me biding waliki
goodbye don't ask me how I know what
happens next because I knew it would
happen before it happened and I saw it
happen again when it did sounds
confusing right remember my superpower
is that I know the past the present and
the
future anyway so wmi wandered about the
forest definitely not looking for people
to hold
up he saw a couple of
birds cranes or Crouch as they were
called the birds were just being
friendly with each other when out of the
blue a hunter shot one of them with an
arrow valmiki flew into a terrible rage
and said to the
hunter you shall never be
prosperous don't enter the forest for
many
years only he said it in Sanskrit and
made it sound a lot better than I
did so much better that the significance
wasn't lost on
balmiki he immediately followed
up what is this phrase I've just
uttered I think I have invented a new
form of
poetry and the length of my mini poem
exactly fits
aa aa is an ancient Indian guitar I
carry one all the time remember I'm a
traveling music
position the
hunter noticing wmi's surprise said your
mood suddenly seems to have
changed so does that mean I can come
back to the forest all I want you know
fults on both sides water under the
bridge nope said waliki it's too late
I've already cursed you and curses don't
have an undo feature yet that's in a
future upgrade if you want to stick
around for I don't know a few centuries
or
so waliki proclaimed that it would bring
him great Fame and no one will think
worse of him for inventing
this I'm pretty sure he's right about
the former but I defer to millions and
millions of Indian school children on
the
latter wmi then went back home and
prayed not long after Brahma who was in
the habit of making house calls showed
up Brahma if you haven't heard earlier
episodes is part of the Holy Trinity
he's the Creator whereas Vishnu is the
preserver and Shiva is the
destroyer and Brahma is also my
dad waliki promptly told Brahma about
the incident with the Crouch from
earlier in the day being sure to
elaborate on his
poem Brahma who seemed to have a good
eye for literary Talent encouraged
him let's start calling that poetry from
now on Deal wmi
said Brahma continued on a completely
unrelated note I want you to tell the
story of ram that you heard from my son
narad earlier today I'll send you a copy
of the entire story direct to your
mind and that's exactly what waliki got
as he prayed he got to know SRI Ram's
entire life
story now I don't know why it took so
long for him to get the hint from Brahma
but it then occurred to him hey I
invented poetry and on the very same day
I was asked by Brahma to spread the
message of
Rah I could just as easily write rah's
story in the same form as the one I
invented that would be killing two birds
with one
stone oops bad choice of a metaphor
there in what is probably the earliest
reference of breaking the fourth wall
wmi is described as composing his
classic including chapter
4 which describes waliki composing his
Classics including chapter 4 which
includes forget it this is just infinite
recursion so anyway after he finished
composing the ramayan he wondered to
whom whom should I teach this
classic He's already calling it a
classic the obvious answer is to the
whole world the second most obvious
answer was the two young boys love and
Kush who lived in his
Hermitage you're in for a double plot to
now Ram upon whom the entire RAM and is
based was still currently the king of
aodha and the two young young boys love
and Kush they were Ram's sons who didn't
know they were King Ram
Sons way to bury the lead here
waliki we'll later get into why they
were living with
waliki anyway wmik decided to teach the
Two Princes all about their parents
without revealing that Ram was their
father the boys were great musicians and
could play the WIA really well and W
Miki told them the measures notes and
exactly how to tune their wieners to
give the best concert
ever and love and Kush did exactly that
they took their wieners went to King
Ram's Palace and sang the story to King
Ram's wise
men now I did a quick back of the
envelope calculation if you estimate 8
to 10 verses a minute which is a rather
Fast Pace it would have taken them 2
days to sing out the whole Raman without
any
breaks everyone at Ram's Court loved
their sweet voices and love the story
they gifted love and Kush with delicious
fruits because who wouldn't be hungry
after a two-day
concert and love and Kush also received
antelop skins and clothes made of tree
bark because those were in back in
the
day the other gift was axes which is
just a weird gift to give to anyone who
is at a lumberjack and on safe
besides now just as the boys were being
praised by the wise men King Ram
happened to be passing by his curiosity
was aroused so he took the two kids to
his Chambers and introduced them to his
three brothers lakshman bat and
shatrugna
as well as his
ministers he then commanded them to sing
the ram
again M someone has to you know offer
these kids a chance to rest or something
they've been playing for 2 days straight
and you want them to go through it
again but the kids did it with a
smile this is the jumping off point
we'll stop here and next week we'll
start on the ramayan as most people know
it which is the story within the ramayan
obviously condensed because we don't
want to be caught in the infinite
recursion I mentioned
earlier
some notes on the story the information
about W miki's profession as a highway
man/ fisherman actually comes from a
different Source called the
puranas in another version it wasn't two
wise men that valmiki tried to
Rob but
me waliki claimed to be doing it to feed
his family but then I challenged him on
that and obviously I won shocked that
his family did not actually want his
tax-free earnings from all the Looting
and killing people wmi decided to
reform so there are two versions one
that valmiki met the two Ries and the
other that he just met me only one of
these two versions is true I'll let you
guess which
one the character this week is subadra
she is Krishna and balam's
sister Krishna was an avar of Vishnu in
some versions balam who was krishna's
elder brother was himself an avatar of
Vishnu in some other versions balam is
an avar of snag the ultimate snake whom
you may remember from the unicorn fish
episode given that both Krishna and
balam had divine origins you might think
subadra was the achiever in the
family but she is herself considered an
incarnation of goddess yogaya whom we
can talk about in another
episode Prince Arjun one of the Pand
Brothers at the heart of the
Mahabharat and duryodhan the Crown
Prince and one of the Kuru Brothers also
at the heart of the Mahabharat both
wanted to marry subadra the difference
was that subadra wanted to be with
Arjun balam had had promised duryodhan
that he could marry
subadra Krishna found out about this and
warned Arjun and
subadra instead of getting an injunction
and challenging balam's promise in a
court of law he did what was practical
he urge the couple to run away
together but when duryodhan and balam
find out won't they just crush me like a
bug asked Arjun I can't face them and
their armies all by
myself
ever the sneaky one Krishna suggested
that the couple be seen together riding
off in a chariot but with subadra
driving this had exactly the effect
Krishna
wanted the couple were observed by
people in the kingdom and the same
people would later swear to balam and
duryodhan that subhadra had abducted
Arjun and not the other way
around that's it for this week next week
we'll continue the story of of the
ramayan starting from King dasharath who
was King rah's father the character next
week is a real historical Queen who
broke all kinds of stereotypes in
defending her
people since I'm several thousands of
years old my memory may not be perfect
at times so if you see any errors in my
podcast I'd appreciate it if you could
Point them out to me if you have any
comments or suggestions you can leave a
on the site it's SFI podcast.com
the site is also linked in the show
notes you can also tweet at SFI
podcast the music is from purple
planet.com that's
purple-planet.com as always I'm grateful
to family and friends for all the
support and help and thank you all for
listening the feedback I have received
has been very useful
I'll see you next
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week
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