ACK-046; 047 & 048-049-050: Jataka Tales - The Giant And The Dwarf, The Priceless Jem & Bumper Issue 30- The Rightful King and other stories

Jataka Tales, like the tales of panchatantra are very old and have a long tradition of being passed on from generation to generation serving as source for moral behaviour for humans in general. These stories are stories of wisdom, and morals written around 300 B.C in a language called PALI, which were later translated and distributed to people across the world. These stories are mainly about past incarnations of Buddha, and are meant to teach the values of self-sacrifice, honesty, morality and other didactic values to a common person. They are a total of 547 in number. They really make interesting reading just like the counterparts in Panchatantra.

Here are some Jataka Tales.

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ACK #246 (#575)

The Giant And The Dwarf - A Jataka Tale

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ACK #362 (#672)

The Priceless Jem - A Jataka Tale

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Bumper Issue 30 - Jataka Tales - The Rightful King and other stories

It contains
#195 (#553) Jataka Tales - Jackal Stories
#264 (#617) Jataka Tales - The Hidden Treasure
#426 (#614) Jataka Tales - True Friends

Many many thanks to “Apoorva Chandar” for providing these ACK scans.
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P.S. ACKs are one of my favorites. But one thing is above my understanding: the numbering system of ACK. Same comics is printing with different numbers and different Bumper issue as same. Just take a look at this & earlier posted bumper issue, both are #30.

ACK-045: Panchatantra - The Brahmin and the Goat

My thanks to all persons who are participating in polling. Trend is showing that most of friends wish to read Jataka, Panchatantra, others similar tales first. OK.
I promised to be more active this year. I can inform you today, 30+ ACK are coming with interval of 1-2 days.

You have opportunity to choose next posts.

Here is leader. Enjoy.

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How the tales of the Panchatantra came to be told is itself an interesting story (read earlier post). The etymology of term ‘Panchatantra’ suggests that it is a combination of two words, ‘Pancha’ (five) and ‘Tantra’ (practice/ principle). So, the five principles or practices illustrated by Panchatantra are ‘Mitra Bhedha’ (Loss of Friends), ‘Mitra Laabha’ (Gaining Friends), ‘Suhrudbheda’ (Causing discord between Friends), ‘Vigraha’ (Separation) and ‘Sandhi’ (Union). Here are provided some of the popular tales from Panchatantra.
The study of the theories of philosophy, psychology and statecraft became engrossing when Vishnu Sharma drove the moral home through the mouths of talking animals and their escapades.
One unique feature of the tales is that most of the characters are animals; another, the tales form a chain of stories; a third, each of the tales has a distinct moral; and yet another, the tales have different levels of appeal.
The Panchatantra is the best guide to enroot moral values in children since its each tale has a moral lesson in its end. The morals which the Panchatantra seeks to teach continue to be relevant to this day and the stories themselves have not lost their novelty even two thousand years after they were first told.

Read Panchtantra stories online.

Many many thanks to our new member “Apoorva Chandar” for providing ACK scan.

ACK-040, 041 & 042-043-044: Cinderella; Raman the matchless wit & Bumper Issue 30- Buddhist Legends

Update (8th January 2009): Original scans of 2 ACK added (without any change).

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An out of print ACK (#2)

Cinderella - one of the most popular fairy tale of all times.

A Cinderella Story Fairy tales evolve over time as they are told from generation to generation. Whether they are passed on by word of mouth or through print. The Greek historian Strabo (Geographica Book 17, 1.33) recorded in the 1st century BC the tale of the Greco-Egyptian girl Rhodopis, which is considered the oldest known version of the story. There are more than 3,000 stories that folklorists ID as "Cinderella variants" worldwide; almost every culture, every nation, has some - native-borrowings by indigenous storytellers who use some of the themes, and some of them more indigenous - with different cultural values embodied.

Oral tradition came to an end when printing presses appeared and scholars began writing down the old stories. Among the earliest of the fairy-tale collectors was a French official, Charles Perrault, born in 1628. He chose the architects for two of the world's most famous buildings, Versailles and the Louvre. For fun, he met with a group of aristocratic women and their children to swap fairy tales. And in 1697 he published a collection of eight fairy tales called Stories, or Tales from Past Times, with Morals, also known as Tales of Mother Goose.

Most modern retellings of "Cinderella" are based on Perrault's version, and the illustrations show characters dressed in the fashions of his time.

No matter what the differences, they all have one thing at common in the heart. The moral. With Cinderella, one learns that despite being unappreciated and condemned to serving others, as long as you are kind natured and a truly good person, your dreams will come true. Cinderella is one of the most well known and popular fairy tales. Why this is, is a little unclear. Perhaps it is because her story is so straight forward and simple. As with the moral her tale presents; Good things come to good people. Cinderella is forced to become a virtual servant in her own home. Yet she doesn’t complain and does the work diligently. In the end, her loving qualities win over the heart of the Prince and her beauty shines through not only from the outside, but her inner beauty as well. Throughout time, the story of Cinderella has changed very little.

Detail evolution history of this story is available at Wikipedia.

List of some variations on the Cinderella story

Read various versions of Cinderella:

Various versions (online)

Online & download link (Microsoft reader)

Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers

BBC - CBeebies Audio- vedio (online)

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#226 (#581) - Raman Matchless Wit

Garlapati Tenali Ramakrishna (popularly known as Tenali Raman, Tenali Rama, Ramalingudu and Vikata Kavi) is known as the Birbal of the South.
Tenali Raman was a court-poet & among the eight wise men in King Krishna Deva Raya’s court. Krishna Deva Raya was one of the most famous and successful ruler of Vijaynagar and he ruled between 1509 and 1529, much before even Babar established the Mughal Dynasty. He was the king’s favorite and always managed to triumph over with his wit and intelligence.

Read more about at Raman:
1. Kathavarta
2. funonthenet
3. Wikipedia


Watch

1. Tenali Rama and the Theieves (English)



2. Tenali Raman - Anitmated Humor Stories Here

3. Small Story Tenali Raman 1 (Hindi) Here

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Bumper Issue 30- Buddhist Legends

It contains

1. #218 (#574) Jataka Tales - The Magic Chant

2. #118 (#664) King Kusha - A Buddhist Tale

3. #224 (#619) Jataka Tales - Nandi Vishala


Many many thanks to “Ajay Misra” for providing these ACK scans.

ACK-038 &039; T-2 & 3: Sukhu and Dukhu; The Pious Cat and other tales; Tinkle Collection 1; Tinkle collection 11(World Folk Tales-02)

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room-by-room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.

A Relaxed Mind, A Peaceful Soul, A Joyful Spirit & Heart full of Love. All these are my Prayers for You......

Wish a Happy New Year

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A folktale is a fictitious story told to amuse and amaze the listeners. The action takes place in a far-off time and place : “Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom...” These stories feature kings and princesses, giants and dragons, fairies and sorcerers, magical objects and talking animals.

What does folktale mean?

Folktales are a type of folk literature (genre) that has 6 elements:

-They usually do not have an identifiable author or often retold.

-They originate as oral tellings.

-They have characters that are either all "bad" or all "good".

-They have fantastic or unrealistic elements (a talking computer....)

-A moral or lesson that is easy to figure out.

-The folktale is set in a vague, historical past "long ago"

(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_folktale_mean)

Definitions of Folktale on the Web:

• A traditional tale.

(www.louisianavoices.org/edu_glossary.html)

• A short narrative handed down through oral tradition, with various tellers and groups modifying it, so that it acquired cumulative authorship.

(h1.ripway.com/peter21ma/GlossaryofLiteraryTerms-MADOE.doc)

• A narrative form, as an epic, legend, myth, fable, etc., that is or had been retold within culture for generations and is well known through repeated storytelling, as an Anansi tale.

(www.nde.state.ne.us/READ/FRAMEWORK/glossary/general_f-j.html)

• A narrative that has been retold and is well known within a culture.

(classic.ycds.org/~lmavros/literary_glossary.htm)

• A simple, timeless story that deals with the customs,traditions, and beliefs of ordinary people.

(www.daffodil.ca/english/glossary_of_literary_terms_dir/glossary_of_literary_terms_3.html)

• A tale circulated by word of mouth among the common folk

(wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

• The word folklore was first used by the English antiquarian William Thoms in a letter published by the London Journal Athenaeum in 1846.

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folktale)

• A tale or story that is part of the oral tradition of a people or a place

(en.wiktionary.org/wiki/folktale)

• A traditional narrative, usually anonymous, handed down orally -- e.g., fables, fairy tales, legends, etc.

(http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/glossary/g/folktale.htm)

Some folktales :

An out of print ACK

Folktales from Bengal

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An out of print ACK

Folktales from Rajasthan

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Tinkle Collection #1

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Tinkle collection #11 (World Folk Tales-02)

Many many thanks to “Ajay Misra” for providing these ACK scans.

ACK-037: Jesus Christ

May this Christmas end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright new year.
Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents

(Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number. This list is sociological/statistical in perspective.)

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
4. Hinduism: 900 million
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
6. Buddhism: 376 million
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 15 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 7 million
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
22. Scientology: 500 thousand

(~ http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html)

Jesus Christ is the central figure of Christianity, one of the world’s largest religions, and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the incarnation* of God. Islam considers Jesus a prophet, and he is an important figure in several other religions. His teachings and deeds are recorded in the New Testament, which is essentially a theological document that makes discovery of the “historical Jesus” difficult. The basic outlines of his career and message, however, can be characterized when considered in the context of 1st-century Judaism and, especially, Jewish eschatology.

Name and title

Ancient Jews usually had only one name, and, when greater specificity was needed, it was customary to add the father’s name or the place of origin. Thus, in his lifetime Jesus was called Jesus son of Joseph (Luke 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42), Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 10:38), or Jesus the Nazarene (Mark 1:24; Luke 24:19). After his death, he came to be called Jesus Christ. Christ was not originally a name but a title derived from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew term meshiah (Messiah), meaning “the anointed one.” This title indicates that Jesus’ followers believed him to be the anointed son of King David, whom some Jews expected to restore the fortunes of Israel. Passages such as Acts of the Apostles 2:36 show that some early Christian writers knew that the Christ was properly a title, but in many passages of the New Testament, including those in Paul’s letters, the name and the title are combined and used together as Jesus’ name: Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1; 3:24). Paul sometimes simply used Christ as Jesus’ name (e.g., Romans 5:6).

Summary of Jesus’ life

Although born in Bethlehem, according to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was a Galilean from Nazareth, a village near Sepphoris, one of the two major cities of Galilee (Tiberias was the other). He was born to Joseph and Mary shortly before the death of Herod the Great (Matthew 2; Luke 1:5) in 4 bc.

Joseph took her to Bethlehem to register for a census. While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus. She laid him in a manger because there was no room at the inn. Shepherds visited Jesus in Bethlehem. Later the "Wise Men" or "Magi" bring gifts to the infant Jesus after following a star which they believe was a sign that the King of the Jews had been born (Matthew 2:1–12). King Herod hears of Jesus' birth from the Wise Men and tries to kill him by massacring all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two (the "massacre of the innocents"). The family flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod's death, whereupon they settle in Nazareth to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor Archelaus (Matthew 2:19–23).

According to Matthew and Luke, however, Joseph was only his father legally. They report that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived and that she “was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18; cf. Luke 1:35). Joseph is said to have been a carpenter (Matthew 13:55), that is, a craftsman who worked with his hands, and, according to Mark 6:3, Jesus also became a carpenter.

Luke (2:41–52) states that as a child Jesus was precociously learned, but there is no other evidence of his childhood or early life. As a young adult, he went to be baptized by the prophet John the Baptist and shortly thereafter became an itinerant preacher and healer (Mark 1:2–28). In his mid-30s, Jesus had a short public career, lasting perhaps less than one year, during which he attracted considerable attention. Some time between ad 29 and 33—possibly AD 30—he went to observe Passover in Jerusalem, where his entrance, according to the Gospels, was triumphant and infused with eschatological significance.

Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus. They accused him of blasphemy, and had Jesus arrested. Pontius Pilate ( the Prefect of the Roman Judaea province from the year AD 26 until AD 36) is best known as the man who was the judge at the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion. He wanted to release Jesus. In his last attempt to spare Jesus' life, Pilate offers the mob a chance to free him, but they choose Barabbas (a thief).

Death

In Mark, Jesus is stripped, flogged, mocked, and crowned with thorns. He is crucified between two thieves, and his cross states that he is being executed for aspiring to be the king of the Jews. He begins to recite Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." He utters a loud cry and dies. According to all four Gospels, Jesus died before late afternoon at Calvary or Golgotha. In Luke, Jesus faces his crucifixion stolidly. He asks God to forgive those who are crucifying him, possibly the Romans and possibly the Jews. One of the thieves states that Jesus has done nothing wrong and asks Jesus to remember him in the Kingdom, and Jesus replies that the thief will be with him in Paradise.

Burial

His body was placed in the new tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus had promised the disciples he would come back after he died. His enemies knew this. So, to prevent anyone from stealing the body, they had soldiers guard the tomb of Jesus.

Resurrection

On the third day after Jesus died, an angel descended, and the soldiers fled. The disciples came and found an empty tomb. Jesus had risen from the dead! He later appeared to many believers, commanding them to teach and baptize others.

His disciples became convinced that he still lived and had appeared to them. They converted others to belief in him, which eventually led to a new religion, Christianity.

(~based on info from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303091/Jesus-Christ )

Recommend to read about:

Jesus Christ In Bible & Quran:

1. http://www.jamaat.net/cis/ChristInIslam.html

2. http://www.christianity-islam.com/jesus.html

Jesus:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus

2. http://www.christiananswers.net/jesus/home.html

3. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08377a.htm

Mary (mother of Jesus):

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus)

2. http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/mary-motherofjesus.html

Herod the Great:

1. http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great01.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great

Pontius Pilate:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate

2. http://www.123exp-biographies.com/t/00034101277/

3. http://www.livius.org/pi-pm/pilate/pilate01.htm

4. http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/pontius-pilate-faq.htm

Many many thanks to “Ajnaabi” for providing ACK scan.