Extra Reading Diary: Raja Rasalu

I enjoyed the second half of Raja Rasalu quite a bit. My favorite story was Raja Rasalu and the Swans. It was about a crow stealing the wife of a swan by tricking the king into believing that the wife had been stolen from him in the first place. Raja Rasalu again arrives as an arbiter of justice, correcting the king and telling him that in fact the crow had stolen the wife of the swan. This is a running theme for Rasalu, as in most stories he is righting some type of wrong. This is another reason I enjoyed the stories, as I feel it's an easy idea to support. Of the readings I've done this, this was the first that included much poetry at all. I personally have trouble following and interpreting poetry all that well because I think it takes a little bit more patience and intricate thought than I can typically dedicate to reading. I thought I understood it reasonably well though, and it made the speaking portions of the readings more interesting and vivid.

Link:
Raja Rasalu

Romantic Tales from the Punjab

Reading Diary A: Raja Rasalu

My reading for Week 5 was interesting because it was actually somewhat similar to the Sindbad stories I read in Week 4, but I enjoyed it a lot more. I've been trying to do some thinking to figure out why exactly that is. Raja Rasalu is a somewhat invincible, incredibly strong and smart hero. He beats a famous king in a game of skill and kills many giants. He's just as infallible as Sindbad, yet I found him to be a much more likeable character. I think there are two reasons for this. The first is that the stories of Raja Rasalu are set in 3rd person, whereas the stories about Sindbad are first person. Each achieves great successes, but in the case of Sindbad it feels as though he is bragging, while it feels like Raja Rasalu's story is just being accurately recounted. I think this has something to do with the fact that I'm especially reactive to what I consider bragging, and Sindbad was especially unlikeable to me. The other factor is that Raja Rasalu has undeniable abilities. His major successes are by virtue of his major capabilities, whereas with Sinbad it appeared that everything was a result of his general luck. I have always felt that capable people are more worthy of respect than those that just fell into a situation, so I enjoyed Raja Rasalu more. I also felt that there was more variety to the stories in Raja Rasalu and then they never seemed to follow just one set storyline.

Links:
Raja Rasalu

Raja Rasalu kills the giants