This reading unit contains stories from Deccan Nursery Tales or, Fairy Tales from the South by Charles Augustus Kincaid with illustrations by M. V. Dhurandhar. You can find links to online editions at the Freebookapalooza, and you can find out more about the author at Wikipedia: C. A. Kincaid. Kincaid translated the stories from Marathi and first published them in the Times of India newspaper. The stories in this unit are connected with the days of the week which are associated with the names of the planets. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Days of the Week.
The Stories:
The stories will take less than an hour to read. When you find a story that you really like, try reading it out loud so that you can appreciate every detail. There are links to Wikipedia in each story to help you with the Indian cultural context and unusual vocabulary.
MONDAY STORY. Somavar (Monday) is the day of the moon. This story is about a pious old woman's offering of milk to the god Shiva.
TUESDAY STORY. Mangalavar (Tuesday) is the day of Mangala, the planet Mars. In this story, the goddess Parvati brings about a miraculous birth and a happy marriage.
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY STORY. Budhavar (Wednesday) is the day of Budha, the planet Mercury, and Guruvar (Thursday) is the day of the divine guru Brihaspati, the planet Jupiter. This story is about how Budh and Brihaspati rescue a woman from her jealous sisters-in-law.
FRIDAY STORY. Shukravar (Friday) is the day of Shukra, the planet Venus. In this story, the goddess Lakshmi helps the poor sister of a wealthy brother.
SATURDAY STORY. Shanivar (Saturday) is the day of Shani, the planet Saturn, who is the master of karma. This story is about how a poor woman wins the blessings of Shani.
SUNDAY STORY. Ravivar (Sunday) is the day of Surya, the sun god. In this story, a selfish queen and her generous sister both experience the blessings of the sun god.
Image credit: Ganges at Varanasi. For more about this project, see My Sites. Created by Laura Gibbs. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).