Global Hindu Footprint - Spread Beyond India

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-dhu+Nov 24 2007, 03:14 AM-->QUOTE(dhu @ Nov 24 2007, 03:14 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Yes, the style is from East Asia/SEA/Tibet/Arunachal.  The dragon finial encapsulates the essence of this style.  There have been more than enough incursions from the East to account for the influence.
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similar influence can be observ in women folk costume
like in this tibetan costumes
http://www.presscluboftibet.org/UserFiles/...n_costume_4.jpg
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2...42280477822.jpg
and east european
http://www.romanianmuseum.com/Romania/bulg...ulgariaRuse.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/bgccdc/Bisserovi_1_Pic.jpg
http://img.romerican.com/post060823_costum...nia_romania.jpg

not to mention nepalese violin whit sonorites similar whit celtic violin.or polinesian warriors whit such similar behaviour whit celt wariors.

as european man costume seem largely borowed from sarmatian iranians.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/SarmatianClothes.jpg

[Husky]

Japanese art of Hindu Gods in their Shinto-Bauddha-Hindu beliefs - Tenbu/Deva:
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/tenbu-top.shtml

Regardless, Shinto is already much like Hinduism. Kinda feels like a home away from home.
(And E-Asian Buddhism, especially Japanese Buddhism, is much closer to Hinduism than even Indian Bauddha Dharma because the E-Asian kind has many of their local Gods, while JP Buddhism also has Hindu Gods aplenty.)

[Shambhu]

Shakti in other cultures
From Hancock's forum

Author: Claude (142.177.75.---)
Date: 09-May-05 14:55

Wow thanks Gary for these precious information and thanks to your post I had an breakthrough. I searched for the Shakti equivalent in other currents of thoughts as I suspected it being linked to the Shekinah of the Hebrew and the Sophia of the Hermetists and lo and behold look what I got :

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls...nah&btnG=Search

excerpt :
It should be kept in mind that the Vedic-Vaishnava sources themselves are centuries to thousands of years older than the commentaries of either Shankara or Madhva. These source works, like the Vedic Hymns, are without doubt the testimony of worshipers of the Giving (Masculine) PERSONAL DEITY PURUSHA or VISHNU and His Receiving (Feminine) PRAKRITI SHAKTI / SHEKINAH. They clearly promote YOGA, which means NOT to merge two into one, but to YOKE two together, TO MOVE AS ONE as in a pair / yoke of oxen!

The word CONJUGAL tells the entire tale about what real, authentic YOGA was all about...hence BRIDAL MYSTICISM.

The root JUG in CONJUGAL, like YOKE, means to join TWO AS ONE, but not to obliterate their diversity in that unity.

Think YOGA-YOKE-CONJUGAL. The Advaitans ignored the clear distinction in the earlier Vedic-Vaishnava source works between the Giving (YANG / PURUSHA) Supreme Self Paramatman and the Receiving (YIN / PRAKRITI) finite self, the jivatma. Thus they missed the Upanishadic Bridal Mysticism of the TWO Love Birds on the mystical TREE of LIFE, and failed to grasp the clear reference to this in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve.

"In Genesis and the Upanishadic LOVE BIRDS Tradition, the Lord and the finite soul are lovers in transcendence, but when the jiva (hEVE, the “Mother of All Living”) becomes distracted by the fruits on the mystical tree of life, she momentarily forgets Her Lord / Lover, and tries to enjoy the fruit independently of Him, the Original Giver. This separating forgetfulness is her (maha -- material) MAYA or enthrallment, and constitutes the “fall” of the jivas / EVE into the saha world of material birth, death, disease and old age. The jivas, who are expansions through the Receiving (YIN) potency of SHAKTI / SHEKINAH are not separated without hope of recovery within the saha world, because God their Lover as PARAMATMAN ‘descends’ to experience the saha world with them AS ADON-YAHU / ATUM / ATEN / PARAM ATMAN / ADAM / ATOMOS / AUTOS / ONTOS etc. Out of his PLENUM / PURNAM of Self-effusive love, He INCARNATES to rescue them from eternal lovelessness in the multi-universes and cyclic worlds of REAL but TEMPORARY MATTER. This Bridal Mysticism drama of divine rescue is at the core of Judeo-Catholic, Greek, Egyptian, Eastern and numerous ancient spiritualities.

The second book that I consider ‘must’ reading for t/Theosophists in relationship to this subject is called Sophia-Maria: A Holistic Vision of Creation by Thomas Schipflinger (Samuel Weiser, 02/98 Paperback, ISBN 1-57863-022-3). Again this book actually zeros-in on the thea-logical connections between the Judeo-Catholic SHEKINAH (CHOKMAH) MARY-SOPHIA, the Pure Land Buddhist TARA and the Vaishnava RADHA. Like Tomberg, Fr. Schipflinger has seen through the veil of history to the single SHAKTI / SHEKINAH at the core of all the Bridal Mysticism Divine Love Traditions. What my own work brings to this truth is the actual solid interdisciplinary evidence of historical connections between these traditions. At the dawn of history in the Minoan Era in the Mediterranean Sea, HERU-ASU / HELI-US / ELI-YAHU was already worshiped there on the sacred Isle of Rhodes by Africans, Europeans and Semites as KOUROS (KRISHA KESHAVA) the Divine Lover of the Soul. On Rhodes, the monotheistic Transcendent, Incarnating and Immanent Godhead of Heliopolitan civilization in Egypt, the Levant and Europe, HELIOS KOUROS, was worshiped with His Feminine Sekhet / Shekinah (SHAKTI) RHODA-ASTARIA-NYMPHIA. This is the tradition of Mary the Mystical Rose (RHODA / RADHA), Stella Maris (TARA MARINA) and the mystical Lily or LOTUS / PADME (SRI or LAKSHMI). If one does not suffer from Euro-centric, Afro-centric or Indo-centric prejudice, or atheism, then these profoundly important connections are easy to discover studying real-world religious history."
End of excerpt.

Ok now I can finally buy this story of the Garden of Eden because I feel that it is true and I have experienced it in my life.
Most common error is to take the merge into one literally as it doesn't involve man and woman but God and woman.... so this way all the couples who oblitares their diversity into unity are bound to fail sooner or later.
Unfortunately the literalists have totally mislead people and the result is 1 out or 2 marriages end into divorce.
As somebody said Love is not to look at each other but to look in the same direction. Besides I think that "marriage" is a literal thing as opposed to the "mystical marriage" described in these philosophies. Another misleading invention of the Church.
To come back to my own life each time I was seeking human love I was in reality seeking God's love but being unaware of that I almost gave up thinking I wouldn't find it on this earth. In reality I found it inside me ! not outside like the Church would like us to believe so they can get more followers !
Maybe we can begin a new thread and copying and pasting our 2 posts on it ? what do you think ?
This is a fascinating subject and so misunderstood to the point that people vilify Egyptian religion because they take this story of mother/sister/wife literally but even though who are we to judge how people in AE chose to live....... For Mary Magdelene I have raison to believe that the truth is both. Because Mary the Virgin was a symbol (not the biological mother of Jesus) and Mary Magdelene was the other face of the symbol as in Thunder Perfect Mind. According to Tony Bushby and the genealogy he provided she was also the half-sister of Jesus but it is the literal interpretation. Esoterically it makes sense that Mary Magdelene was the Mother, Sister and Consort of Jesus.
Best,

Claude
*Peaceful Warrior and Crusader for the Truth*
http://www.grahamhancock.com/phorum/read.p...02#reply_181174

[Guest]

<b>Indonesia: Rich Hindu Past and Moderate Muslim Future</b>

[dhu]

<b>What’s in a name? Goddesses have always been worshipped</b>
by RASNA WARAH

LAST WEEK, PCEA MODERATOR David Githii banned the use of the word “harambee” – the national rallying cry popularised by Mzee Jomo Kenyatta – from his congregation’s vocabulary and urged the rest of Kenyans to do the same.

Apparently, the pastor believes that because the word originated from an invocation to the Hindu goddess “Ambee”, it is having a negative spiritual effect on the country’s mostly Christian population.

<b>According to folklore, in the days when the Uganda Railway was being built between 1896 and 1902, Hindu labourers would shout the words “Har Ambee” (much like the Catholic invocation Hail Mary) when pulling heavy loads together.
</b>
This act of “pulling together” is what gave the words new meaning in post-independence Kenya when Kenyatta would urge Kenyans to unite for the development of the country.

During this time, the word harambee was also used to fund-raise for several community-based projects around the country.

If the pastor had objected to the very concept of harambee, which got horribly twisted in the Moi era when it was used to extort money from people and was the vehicle through which many corrupt deeds were committed, I might have understood, but to say that the word itself carries negative connotations, is, to say the least, far-fetched.

Until I heard it from the Rev Githii, I had no idea that Ambee was a Hindu goddess. My main source of information on this Hindu deity was, ironically, a Christian online magazine that suggested that Kenya was disaster-prone because it worshipped a Hindu goddess, and that the USA was a superpower because the words “In God We Trust” appear on the US dollar!

The pastor has thus inadvertently revived a goddess that has mostly been forgotten by the people who once worshipped her.

While it is true that Ambee is a Hindu goddess, the word harambee (as pronounced, spelt and understood in Kenya) does not exist in the Hindu vocabulary.
...

[Shambhu]

Semitic people (J-C-I) should stop using Abraham because is really started out as Abba Ram. (Our Father Ram)

[Pandyan]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shambhu+May 7 2008, 11:02 AM-->QUOTE(Shambhu @ May 7 2008, 11:02 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Semitic people (J-C-I) should stop using Abraham because is really started out as Abba Ram. (Our Father Ram)
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You're joking right? I thought P.N. Oak crackpottery would have died along with him.

[Shambhu]

Yes I was kidding!

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shambhu+May 7 2008, 09:32 PM-->QUOTE(Shambhu @ May 7 2008, 09:32 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Semitic people (J-C-I) should stop using Abraham because is really started out as Abba Ram. (Our Father Ram)
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<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Capt M Kumar]

<!--emo&:clapping--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /><!--endemo--> Eight Americans Welcomed into the Sanatana Dharma Tradition

June 1, 2008
Omaha, NE, USA

In a historic religious event that occurred on Saturday, May 31, 2008,
eight Americans were formally welcomed into the ancient tradition of
Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) in a sacred initiation (diksha) ceremony at
the Hindu Temple of Nebraska.

The ceremony was overseen by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya (Dr. Frank
Morales, Ph.D.), the Resident Acharya (Spiritual Preceptor) of the
temple, and Professor Alekha Dash, who conducted the traditional fire
ceremony (yagya) central to any authentic Hindu initiation rite.

Though Hinduism is not a religion that overtly seeks converts, many
Americans and Europeans have nonetheless enthusiastically embraced the
tradition in the past. This represents the first time in history,
however, that such a large number of Americans have been welcomed into
the tradition at one time.

In accepting Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya as their guru (spiritual
teacher), these newly committed American Hindus vowed to devote
themselves to living a Dharma lifestyle, to meditate upon God each
day, and to express compassion toward all they encounter.

Included among the new initiates were: two professors, a practicing
psychiatrist, a retired lawyer, and a nurse, among others.

First Non-Indian Women Awarded with Brahmana Thread

In a related historical development, Ms. Heather "Tulasi" Mortensen
was awarded brahmana initiation during the same ceremony, and awarded
with a sacred thread. Though traditionally Hindu women were known to
have been given sacred threads during Vedic times, this practice came
to a stop at some point in the history of Hinduism. Thus, this
thread-giving ceremony (known as upavita-samskara in Sanskrit)
represents the very first time in world history that a non-Indian
woman has been awarded such a sacred thread. Sri Acharyaji stated to
the large audience observing this event that "I know that this
historic precedent is only the beginning of the reclamation of an
ancient and important Vedic tradition. My hope is that this
represents only the first of many thousands of women who I will see
awarded the sacred thread in my lifetime."

The two hour event was followed by a celebration dinner in the
temple's auditorium.

For further information, please contact us at info@dharmacentral.com,
(402) 896-4294

http://www.dharmacentral.com

[dhu]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Twilight Zone / The Gypsies of Jerusalem
By Gideon Levy

A filthy yard, pungent cooking smells wafting out of the shabby dwelling, snot-nosed children, a one-legged man wandering aimlessly, flies everywhere - this is a Gypsy home in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. It's the perfect setting for a Nissim Aloni play, but this is not "The Gypsies of Jaffa" by the renowned Israeli playwright. This home contains nothing of the mysterious, the romantic or the magical, no violin strings and no sorcery. It's just another rundown building in the Old City whose occupants, apart from one worker, are "Nawari," as the Gypsies of Jerusalem are called in Arabic.

There are 400 to 500 by one unofficial count, about 200 households by a different count, belonging to four clans - Sleem, Nimr, Shakr and Ba'rana. Until recently they married only within the community, but they have begun to open up to intermarrying with their Palestinian neighbors. Many are sanitation workers - this week one man rushed off to repair a blocked sewer drain; another was off to haul garbage for a municipal subcontractor.

Very little of the Gypsy cultural heritage has been preserved here, although one young woman is trying to salvage what she can. But she is shunned by the community, which is unwilling to accept activism on the part of a woman.  Advertisement


We wandered for hours this week through the alleys of Bab al-Hutta, inside Herod's Gate, in search of the Gypsies of Jerusalem. Many people turned their backs on us, refusing to talk; others were stingy with their words, either largely ignorant of the Gypsies' fading identity or unwilling to divulge what they knew. In Cafe Karkour, a Nawar coffee shop adjacent to Herod's Gate, we asked a customer, a dignified-looking Palestinian named Taleb Ghit, whether he would let his daughter marry a Nawari. "No," he replied, "but I will not tell you why. There is a big difference between them and us. In ancient times they were nomads. They are not like us. But I do not want to insult them. I am forbidden to tell you what Nawar is, what Nawari is. I do not want to offend them."

Salame Shaker is a 50-year-old Gypsy who works for the municipal sanitation department. We met him in Bab al-Hutta, where he was born, though his family now lives in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz. Before 1967 most of the city's Gypsies lived in tents and lean-tos in Wadi Joz. During the Six-Day War many fled to Jordan, where they remained.

Shakr says community members of both sexes began marrying Palestinians three years ago. "We are more open-minded now," he says. One of his female relatives married a man from the distinguished Ja'abari family of Hebron, while another married into the Iskafi family, also from Hebron. He admits that "Nawari" still has pejorative connotations, like the word "Gypsy" in Europe, which has been replaced by "Roma" there. But there is no other word in Arabic for the community.

The association established by Amoun Sleem, the young woman activist, is The Domari Society of Gypsies in Israel (http://domarisociety.googlepages.com). "Dom" is the name of the community in its own, disappearing language, Domari. The language, an Indo-Aryan language closely related to Romany, Rajasthani and eastern Punjabi, originated in India.

What does it mean to be Nawar?

Shakr: "We are like anyone else. We are just a different family. The Palestinians came here at the time of wars in history; we were here before them. I have never felt different. Our food is the same as their food, we eat makluba and mansaf [traditional chicken and lamb dishes, respectively, of the Levant], just like the Palestinians. We do not have Gypsy music - our children listen to Arabic music - and we do not have [special] customs."

There is another Gypsy community in Gaza, whose women used to belly dance at family celebrations and whose men were wedding musicians. The Jerusalem Gypsies never danced. The first Intifada put an end to festivities in the Gaza Strip, and the Gypsies, who lived in lean-tos between Beit Lahia and Jabalya, apparently dispersed. The connection between the Jerusalem and Gaza communities has long since been severed, just like that between the Palestinians of the West Bank and of Gaza.

"I am 50 years old and have never been to Gaza," Shakr says. "The ties to the Gypsies in Jordan has also been lost. Those who are outside are outside and those who are inside are inside. I have cousins in Jordan. I went there and looked for them but did not find anyone. The old people have died and I could not find the young ones."

For 35 years the community was led by its mukhtar, Deeb Sleem, who worked as a scribe outside the East Jerusalem branch of the Interior Ministry, formulating requests. In the courtyard of the building in Bab al-Hutta, Shehadeh Nimr, a 43-year-old diabetic, hobbles around on his one leg. He too knows nothing about the community's cultural heritage or about his own ethnic identity. "I am Nawar," that's all.

"The Nawari are heroes," says Amar Ba'rana, his eyes lighting up with pride, as he sits in Cafe Karkour at midday. Not yet 28, he already has six children. "We marry young," he says - in his case, at 16. "I am not Nawar," he says in Hebrew, "I am Gypsy." Ba'rana's wife, Sharin Sleem, is also a Gypsy.

"Nawari is a name. I am a Muslim and my neighbor is a Muslim," he continues. "He is a human being and I am a human being. I read English and Hebrew, and I know where I come from - India - and there are Palestinians who do not know where they came from. The Gypsies of Jerusalem were here before everyone."

At the next table, Taleb Ghit describes his Gypsy neighbors: "They are people who live alone, a nation that lives alone. Who knows you? God and your neighbors. We, their neighbors, know them. They are refined, good people, but, you know, a group alone. Like the Bedouin, they do not let others come close."

Two Border Police officers, armed and in full gear from head to toe, sit on the stone steps leading to the cafe. No one inside has heard about the extermination of the Gypsies in the Holocaust. All they know is that the Gypsies of Europe are generous and donate to their small community.

The Gypsies of Europe, particularly in Finland, give to the Domari Society. Most of the Gypsies we met in the alleys of the Old City had nothing good to say about Sleem, its founding director. No one would help us to find her. Two days later we tracked her down in the small Gypsy center she runs in the north Jerusalem neighborhood of Shoafat, far from the wagging Gypsy tongues of the Old City.

Sleem, now in her thirties, seems to be a courageous woman who has decided to devote herself to preserving her community's heritage, in contravention of Gypsy expectations of a woman's role. She says most of her energies are focused on rescuing the unwritten language of the community, which only a few people can still speak. If nothing is done, she says, the language will become extinct within a decade, after the last of those who still speak are dead.

Sleem has devoted herself to the Domari Society for the past 12 years, working closely with the director of the Cyprus-based Dom Research Center, Dr. Allen Williams, with whom she has collaborated on two books on the subject. Next week she will be attending an international conference on Gypsies in Spain. Thrilled at the prospect, she says it will be the first time that Jerusalem's Gypsies will be represented in Europe. But more important to Sleem is that her community be accepted in Jerusalem as equals among equals.

Sleem's appearance does not disappoint: With her coal-black hair, giant hoop earrings, burning eyes and dark skin, she looks the Gypsy part. Visitors to the attractive apartment-turned-cultural center in Shoafat are welcomed by a receptionist from Poland. The place resembles an anthropoligical museum: photographs, traditional handcrafts, even a Gypsy cookbook published by Sleem. In it are recipes for lamb-filled pastries, date-filled cookies, a winter salad and potato salad. The cuisine is very similar to that of the Palestinians. Sleem says the Gypsies use more spices, with a nod to Indian food.

"I would like to be elected to the Palestinian parliament," says the Gypsy who is trying to raise her community's international visibility. Now she is working to create a dance company for Gypsy girls and to give crafts classes at the modest but impressive center that she established.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

http://donigreenberg.com/2008/12/31/sant...s-and-god/

Folks are rediscovering their own religion via Hinduism and what our rishis illuminated thousands and thousands of years ago. Like to say "Welcome to the party!"

[shamu]

I am impressed with this Chinese person participating in Thaippooyam.

http://www.listlovers.com/wp-content/uploa...i_00571-201x300

[Admins: Could you please make the image inlined? I could not do it]

[Husky]

<!--QuoteBegin-shamu+Jan 29 2009, 12:43 PM-->QUOTE(shamu @ Jan 29 2009, 12:43 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I am impressed with this Chinese person participating in Thaippooyam.

http://www.listlovers.com/wp-content/uploa...i_00571-201x300

[Admins: Could you please make the image inlined? I could not do it]
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<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Is there a caption that particularly says the person is Chinese? Otherwise, he could just as well be a Hindu from Malaysia, Indonesia, even TN (there are Tamizh Hindus who look SE Asian and E Asian in TN).

[Guest]

I have not seen or heard about tamizh hindus looking like SE Asian. But that does not mean they don't exist. Can you offer some more information on them?

[shamu]

The article was painting Hinduism in bad light and there was no description of these photos. But this picture caught my attention. He has typical Chinese/Malay features, and I suspect he could be a Malay-Chinese.

[HareKrishna]

Gipsy as christian ebionites drove out from India by evil brahmins in 9 century acording to Sandor Avraham
http://www.imninalu.net/Zakono.htm
http://www.imninalu.net/Roma.htm
http://www.imninalu.net/Roma_appendix.htm
http://www.imninalu.net/Gypsies.htm
http://www.imninalu.net/IndusValley.htm
http://www.wallenbergcentre.net/gypsies.php

[dhu]

<b>Pre-Angkor temple civilization found in Malaysia may be oldest in region
</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kuala Lumpur, March 6 : Archaeologists in Malaysia have discovered the main site of an ancient kingdom that predates the Angkor temples of Cambodia and could be the oldest civilization in the region.

According to a report in Taipei Times, archeological team leader professor Mokhtar Saidin said the find, which could lead to a rewriting of history books on the region, was made in two palm oil plantations in northern Kedah State last month.

He said that buildings found at the site indicate it was part of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Bujang which existed in the area some time in the third century, predating the Angkor civilization of Cambodia which flourished from the 12th to 14th centuries.

"We have dated artifacts from what we believe are an administration building and an iron smelter to 1,700 BP (250AD), which sets the Bujang civilization between the third and fourth century AD," Saidin said.

"We have only one date so far so we can say it is one of the earliest civilizations in the region, but with more dates, we will be able to verify whether it is the oldest civilization in the region," he added.

Mokhtar said the iron smelter was a surprise find as it showed that such an early civilization was already quite advanced technologically.

"We have 30 more mounds at the site that have to be excavated and we are hoping to also find the port area for the kingdom as it was near the sea," he said.

"This will give us a clue to how the civilization was trading and influenced by China and India, who would have been the two main powers back then to have influenced development in this region," he added.

Malaysian archeologists last month also announced the discovery of stone tools they believe are more than 1.8 million years old and the earliest evidence of human ancestors in Southeast Asia.

The stone hand-axes were discovered last year in the historical site of Lenggong in northern Perak State, embedded in a type of rock formed by meteorites.

--- ANI<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Bharatvarsh]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Illustrated on the left is a drawing by I Lunga (c. 1995) depicting the story of Rajapala. Rajapala is often referred to as the first Balinese voyeur or “peeping Tom.” According to the story, Rajapala catches sight of a group of celestial nymphs bathing in a pool. He approaches stealthily, and without their knowledge, steals the skirt (kamben) of the prettiest, Sulasih. As her clothing contains magical powers enabling her to fly, the nymph cannot return home. Rajapala offers to marry her. She accepts on the condition that she will return to heaven after the birth of a child. With time, she and Rajapala have a healthy young son. Years pass, and one day, Sulasih accidentally discovers her clothing hidden in the kitchen. Understanding that she has been tricked, she takes leave of her husband and son and goes back to her heavenly abode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balinese_art<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This story has close parallels with an old Telugu Janapada of NTR called Jagadeka Veeruni Katha where the hero has to steal the sari one of the celestial nymph's to marry her & her companions but once she gets it back they leave but the hero manages to get them back at the end which differs from the ending of this story.

I wonder what the original source of the story is, perhaps one of the Sanskrit collections of tales such as Kathasaritsagara, Hitopadesha or Panchatantra.

[Husky]

<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+May 9 2009, 08:37 PM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ May 9 2009, 08:37 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Illustrated on the left is a drawing by I Lunga (c. 1995) depicting the story of Rajapala. Rajapala is often referred to as the first Balinese voyeur or “peeping Tom.” According to the story, Rajapala catches sight of a group of celestial nymphs bathing in a pool. He approaches stealthily, and without their knowledge, steals the skirt (kamben) of the prettiest, Sulasih. As her clothing contains magical powers enabling her to fly, the nymph cannot return home. Rajapala offers to marry her. She accepts on the condition that she will return to heaven after the birth of a child. With time, she and Rajapala have a healthy young son. Years pass, and one day, Sulasih accidentally discovers her clothing hidden in the kitchen. Understanding that she has been tricked, she takes leave of her husband and son and goes back to her heavenly abode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balinese_art<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This story has close parallels with an old Telugu Janapada of NTR called Jagadeka Veeruni Katha where the hero has to steal the sari one of the celestial nymph's to marry her & her companions but once she gets it back they leave but the hero manages to get them back at the end which differs from the ending of this story.

I wonder what the original source of the story is, perhaps one of the Sanskrit collections of tales such as Kathasaritsagara, Hitopadesha or Panchatantra.
[right][snapback]97119[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->The <i>Balinese</i> version is the same as the Russian fairytale of the Swan Princess (no, I am not talking about the lame American cartoon which only has the same name and dumped the fairytale).

The king chooses the prettiest of the women and hides her swan covering. But she makes no condition to leave him after any first son, though they do have one son (IIRC, same number and gender).
Even the ending matches: including how the swan-woman one day discovers her swan layer/cover hidden somewhere in an old chest in the palace and wears it and flies off back home. (She doesn't take leave of her husband and son though, as her discovery-transformation-departure is instant: she recollects who she was and leaves.)