Ancient Tales from the Eternal East

The Panchatantra: The ancient ‘viral memes’ still with us

Buried beneath Japan is a giant catfish named Namazu. But when Kashima slips, Namazu can move its feelers or its tail, causing the ground above to move. Japan, which sits at the junction of several tectonic plates, is home to volcanoes and is criss-crossed by seismic faults, making it the number one country for earthquakes—no giant catfish necessary.

Catfish also figure into Japanese myth in another way: The fish are supposedly able to predict earthquakes.

The Story of Ahikar (A Relative of Tobit) Read Along Version

Decades of research has failed to find any link between catfish behavior and earthquakes, however, and the country now relies on a sophisticated early warning system that detects seismic waves and sends messages to people so they can take actions, such as slowing trains, before the worst of the shaking arrives. But her flaming tongue remained, burning in her lair. There, methane vents from dozens of cracks in the ground.

If you dig deep enough, say scientists, you can find some truth to legends and creation stories

The ignited gas has probably been burning for millennia, and sailors have long used it as a natural lighthouse. The myth probably predates the Greeks and Romans, beginning with the Hittites, says Mayor. The Hittite chimera had three heads—a main human head, a lion head facing forward and the head of a snake on the end of its tail. When the first Europeans arrived in the Pacific Northwest, they heard a tale from the Klamath people about the creation of Crater Lake.

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The Native Americans would not gaze upon the lake, for to do so was to invite death. The lake, they said, had been created in a great battle between Llao, who ruled the Below World, and Skell, the chief of the Above World. During the battle, darkness covered the land, and Llao, standing on Mount Mazama, and Skell, on Mount Shasta, threw rocks and flames. The fight ended when Mount Mazama collapsed and sent Llao back into the underworld. Scientists now recognize that the Klamath tales describe a real event.

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Red-hot rocks do get flung through the sky during a volcanic eruption. The mountain did collapse to form a volcanic caldera that was filled in with rainwater. Usually, myths are reliable for only about to years, says Nunn. People on the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific tell stories of Teonimanu, the island that disappeared. Rapuanate had taken a woman from the island to be his wife, but her brother took her back.

So Rapuanate turned to sorcery in revenge.

Golden Tales From The Eternal East | Deepasthambham

He was given three taro plants, two to plant on Teonimanu and one to keep. When new leaves sprouted on his plant, it was a sign that the island was about to sink. People had notice to flee the island, though—it became salty as the ocean water rose.

They fled on boats, rafts or clinging to trees that were washed off the land. Lark Shoal sits at the eastern edge of the Solomon Islands, part of a ridge that flanks the 5,meter-deep Cape Johnson Trench. An earthquake could have sparked a landslide that let the island slide into the trench, Nunn says. Underwater maps have revealed several islands submerged under hundreds of meters of water. Islands have probably been sinking in this region for a million years. Unlike the myths of the Bible or Greece that provide inspiration for many modern-day tales, stories like that of Teonimanu are not well known and often not even written down, Nunn notes.

He worries, though, that with modern lifestyles creeping into every corner of the world, many of these stories will be lost. Subscribe or Give a Gift. Humans Reached the Roof of the World 40, Years. Learning to Speak Latino. Notify me when new comments are posted. Replies to my comment.

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Lord Byron, the 19th century British romantic poet, once referred to the story of Layla and Majnun as the Romeo and Juliet of the East, even though its oral tradition predates Shakespeare's tragedy by over a thousand years. The minute transcultural performance at times feels busy, but at its core it is an ill-fated romance. Byron was right - similarities with Romeo and Juliet are not hard to find. The structure of the dance production at Sadler's Wells sees the story divided into five acts: The musicians are centre stage as they play traditional Asian instruments and two singers are seated before them on what appears from a distance to be a plush divan.

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The stories included here are modeled on similar ancient tales told during the last two millennia or more. Drawn from all the cultures to which humanity is heir to . Like the other volumes in this series, this book, Classic Tales From The Eternal East too contains stories drawn from all the ancient civilizations. These short .

Layla and Majnun are represented by different performers in the five different acts; a white scarf travels from male dancer to male dancer, indicating that he has become Majnun, while Layla is given an orange scarf. The remaining dancers take on various roles: In one act, we see four Majnuns and four Laylas. An explosion of colours adds to the depth and warmth of the experience: