This week in class Dr. Greg Alles came to our class to talk about the “Myths and Legends of the Adivasis in India”. This lecture was particularly interesting. Dr. Alles began his lecture by asking if we had ever heard of fairy tales being the cause of a genocide or court case. I was kind of taken back because I would have never thought that a fairy tale could be taken so seriously. We learned that in India fairy tales are not just tales that teach morals but rather they are considered an accurate account of history and religion. Fairy tales are seen as a constant theme in Hinduism. The magical world that the fairy tales posses are thought to be holy and the tales depict their god’s and deities. This is a huge difference from any other country we have learned about. In every other origin we have seen the fairy tales are not taken as seriously and are just thought to be stories, not reality. Additionally, I found it different that the stories were a whole lot longer than others we have encountered. Dr. Alles brought and showed us a collection of tales and the books were humungous, larger than most novels. He even showed us clips of a television series that was based on the story of Rama, depicting just how serious and widespread the tales are in Indian society.
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