The Prophet

by Kahlil Gibran, ‫( مقصودی مهدی‬Translator)

Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been
translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.

The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s
musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating
and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason
and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion,
and death.

The Prophet Summary & Study Guide Description

The Prophet presents the farewell observations on and recommendations about life and death of Almustafa, the chosen
and beloved Prophet, as he ends a twelve-year sojourn in Orphalese.

Almustafa, the chosen and beloved Prophet around whom the story revolves, has spent twelve years of his youth in
Orphalese, serving as the people's harp, flame, seeker of silence and guardian of the night. Much of his time has been
spent in the overlooking hills, watching and listening to their lives. The people have generously met Almustafa's physical
needs, but he realizes that some have criticized his aloofness. Now the ship he has been watching for to take him home
arrives, and Almustafa comes down from the hills to the temple, bittersweet about leaving. The people gather to see him
off, hungry to imbibe whatever wisdom he can deliver, for posterity's sake.

In the temple and on the prompting of the seer Almitra, who believes in him, a tongue-tied and emotional Almustafa
agrees to respond to questions about what separates birth and death. Almitra opens the question-and-answer session,
and the responses inspire others to seek guidance about things close to their hearts. Almustafa's responses are all
delivered to the whole citizenry of Orphalese, but each is also tailored to the individual questioner, the sincere and the
cynical.

There are twenty-six questions regarding various aspects of life. Addressing each question individually, Almustafa exhibits
a general tendency to show, through allusions to nature and everyday activities, the interrelatedness of life. He rejects
many of the formalities and restrictions characterizing such human institutions as law and religion. He dismisses common
views about marriage dissolving the spouses' individuality, molding children to the parents' preconceived ideas about their
futures and prayer being about intercession in time of need, want or sorrow. Nudity, a significant taboo among all the
peoples of the Middle East, is used several times as a symbol for natural purity and to question formalized views on
morality. Generosity can result in good or evil, depending on the motivations of the giver and the receiver. Many aspects
of life are seen as two sides of a single coin. Almustafa urges the people to see even in life's negative aspects some spark
of good, and he urges the people, young, old and middle-aged, rich and poor, male and female, to appreciate the unity of
life under God and behave accordingly.

As evening falls, Almitra signals that the interchange has ended by blessing the day, the city and Almustafa's sage words.
He objects that he has drawn from them more than he has provided. The crowd follows Almustafa tearfully to the docks,
where he delivers a moving and lengthy farewell oration, thanking and encouraging the people he has loved and tried to
serve, justifying his methods and urging them to seek excellence in all things and wait patiently for the hidden things in
life to be fully revealed. Almustafa remains encouraging, challenging, hopeful and - above all - enigmatic to the end,
promising, "A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me," words Almitra takes to
heart as she alone remains to watch the empty sea.

Characteristics of Indian Literature

There are three observable characteristics of Indian Literature.
1. Indian literature is based on piety, a deeply religious spirit.
The oldest know literature in India is the Vedas. According to Hindu tradition, the Vedas are apauruṣeya “not of human
agency”, are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti (“what is heard”). This contains hymns and
prayers for gods.
Indians believe that a knowledge of gods and a strong belief in Hinduism is necessary to save mankind.
2. Indian literary masterpieces are written in epic form, corresponds to the great epochs in the history of India.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the most important epics of India; the latter is the longest epic in the world.
3. Medieval Indian literature the earliest works in many of the languages were sectarian, designed to advance or to
celebrate some unorthodox regional belief.
The Ramayana as a Metanarrative for Hindu Cosmology
Story
The original Ramayana written by the 4th c. sage Valmiki comprised of seven “kandas” or books. Many scholars question
the authorship of the certain passages from the first book (Bala Kanda) and question the authenticity of the last book (Uttara
Kanda) for various reasons.
Bala Kanda: “The Book of the Youth,” the boyhood and adolescence of Rama;
Ayodhya Kanda: “The Book of Ayodhya,” the court of Dasaratha and the scenes that set the stage for the unfolding of the
story, including the exchange between Dasaratha and Kaikeyi and the exile of Rama;
Aranya Kanda: “The Book of the Forest ,” life in the forest during the fourteen year exile and the abduction of Sita by Ravana;
Kishkindhya Kanda: “The Book of The Empire of Holy Mokeys,” Rama’s residence in Kishkindhya, the quest for Sita, and the
slaying of Bali;
Sundara Kanda: “The Book of the Beautiful (Hanuman),” sundara means beautiful, and this portion of the book has passages
of lyrical beauty; description of the landscapes over which Rama roams, and the arrival of Rama and his allies in Lanka;
Yuddha Kanda: “The Book of War,” the defeat of Ravana, the recovery of Sita, the return to Ayodhya, and the coronation of
Rama; and
Uttara Kanda: “The Book Beyond,” the “later section”, detailing Rama’s life in Ayodhya, the banishment of Sita, the birth of
Lava and Kusa, the reconciliation of Rama and Sita, her death or return to the earth, and Rama’s ascent into heaven.

Summary
Dasharatha was the King of Ayodhya and had three wives and four sons. Rama was the eldest and his mother was Kaushalya.
Bharata was the son of Dasharatha’s second and favorite wife, Queen Kaikeyi. The other two were twins, Lakshmana and
Shatrughna whose mother was Sumithra. In the neighboring city the ruler’s daughter was named Sita. When it was time for
Sita to choose her bridegroom (at a ceremony called a swayamvara) princes from all over the land were asked to string a
giant bow which no one could lift. However, as Rama picked it up, he not only strung the bow, he broke it. Seeing this, Sita
indicated that she had chosen Rama as her husband by putting a garland around his neck. Their love became a model for
the entire kingdom as they looked over the kingdom under the watchful eye of his father the king.
A few years later, King Dasharatha decided it was time to give his throne to his eldest son Rama and retire to the forest.
Everyone seemed pleased, save Queen Kaikeyi since she wanted her son Bharata to rule. Because of an oath Dasharatha
had made to her years before, she got the king to agree to banish Rama for fourteen years and to crown Bharata, even
though the king pleaded with her not to demand such a request. The devastated King could not face Rama and it was Queen
Kaikeyi who told Rama the King’s decree. Rama, always obedient, was content to go into banishment in the forest. Sita and
Lakshmana accompanied him on his exile.

One day Rama and Lakshmana wounded a rakshasas (demon) princess who tried to seduce Rama. She returned to her
brother Ravana, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka. In retaliation, Ravana devised a plan to abduct Sita after hearing about her
incomparable beauty. He sent one of his demons disguised as a magical golden deer to entice Sita. To please her, Rama and
Lakshmana went to hunt the deer down. Before they did though, they drew a protective circle around Sita and told her that
she would be safe for as long as she did not step outside the circle. After Rama and Lakshmana left, Ravana appeared as a
holy man begging alms. The moment Sita stepped outside the circle to give him food, Ravana grabbed her and carried her
to his kingdom in Lanka.

Rama then sought the help of a band of monkeys offer to help him find Sita. Hanuman, the general of the monkey band can
fly since his father is the wind. He flew to Lanka and, finding Sita in the grove, comforted her and told her Rama would come
to save her soon. Ravana’s men captured Hanuman, and Ravana ordered them to wrap Hanuman's tail in cloth and to set it
on fire. With his tail burning, Hanuman escaped and hopped from house-top to house-top, setting Lanka on fire. He then
flew back to Rama to tell him where Sita was.

Rama, Lakshmana and the monkey army built a causeway from the tip of India to Lanka and crossed over to Lanka where a
cosmic battle ensued. Rama killed several of Ravana’s brothers and eventually confronted the ten-headed Ravana. He killed
Ravana, freed Sita and after Sita proved here purity, they returned to Ayodhya where Bharata returned the crown to him.
Persian literature

Persian literature (in Persian: ‫ )پارسی ادبیات‬spans two and a half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has
been lost. Its sources often come from far-flung regions beyond the borders of present-day Iran, as the Persian language
flourished and survives across wide swaths of Central Asia. For instance, Rumi, one of Persia's (and Islam's) best-loved poets,
wrote in Persian but lived in Konya, now in Turkey and then the capital of the Seljuks. The Ghaznavids conquered large
territories in Central and South Asia, and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from areas
that are now part of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia. Not all this literature is written in Persian, as some
consider works written by ethnic Persians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included.
Surviving works in Persian languages (such as Old Persian or Middle Persian) date back as far as 650 BCE, the date of the
earliest surviving Achaemenid inscriptions. The bulk of the surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times
following the Islamic conquest of Iran circa 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power (750 CE), the Persians became the
scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic empire and increasingly, also its writers and poets. Persians wrote both in Arabic and
Persian; Persian predominated in later literary circles. Persian poets such as Sa'di, Hafiz, Omar Khayyam and Rumi are well
known in the world and have influenced the literature of many countries.
Classical Persian literature
Very few literary works have remained from ancient Persia. Most of these consist of the royal inscriptions of
Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I (522-486 BC) and his son Xerxes. Zoroastrian writings were mainly destroyed in the
Islamic conquest of Iran. The Parsis who fled to India however took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon,
including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries (Zend) thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also
survived albeit in Arabic translations.
No single text devoting to literary criticism has survived from Pre-Islamic Persia. However, there are some essyas in
Pahlavi such as Ayin-e name nebeshtan and Bab-e edteda’I-ye Kalile va Demne which have been considered as literary
criticism. (Zarrinkoub, 1959) Some researchers have quoted the Sho’ubiyye as asserting the pre-Islamic Persians had books
on eloquence, such as Karvand. No trace remains of such books. There are some indications that some among Persian elite
were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism.(Zarrinkoub, 1947)
What is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam about?
His principal one was a translation of the rubáiyát (quatrains) of a twelfth century Persian mathematician-
astronomer, Omar Khayyám. ... FitzGerald freely adapted the original quatrains, adding many of his own images
and giving disconnected stanzas a unity of theme, tone, and style.
rubaiyat. n. "quatrains" (in Persian poetry), 1859, plural of rubai, from Arabic rubaiyah, from rubaiy "composed
of four elements." Examples from the Web for rubaiyat. The Persian kitten, who is chasing her tail, has been
celebrated in rubaiyat.
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation of a selection of
quatrains (rubāʿiyāt) attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia".
Khayyam was an astronomer, astrologer, physician, philosopher, and mathematician: he made outstanding
contributions in algebra. His poetry is better known in the West than any other non-Western poet. The man
himself remains something of an enigma.

Summary: Shakuntala
Abhijñanashakuntala, or Shakuntala, is Kalidasa’s best-known play, and, perhaps the best known play of the classical
Sanskrit repertoire. The play takes its title from one of its central characters, a young woman raised in a forest
hermitage. Like others of Kalidasa’s heroines, however, the young woman is not merely a hermit. Her forest life is
temporary, and she comes into her real identity—an identity of which she is mostly unaware when the play begins—
through her interaction with a king during the course of the play.
Shakuntala reiterates other themes that are common to Kalidasa’s other plays. Like Pururavas in
Vikramorvashiya, Duhshanta spends a chunk of the play—most of Act Six—lamenting Shakuntala’s absence and his part
in it.
In the end, the play demonstrates a consistent principle of Sanskrit drama. As opposed to the Aristotelian vision
of dramatic characters to begin in a particular condition at a specific plot point and develop over the course of
succeeding plot points so as to be different following the climactic culmination of plot points, the characters of
Shakuntala have changed little in the end. The play does have a plot, and the events affect the characters greatly. But
the conclusion of the play finds Duhshanta and Shakuntala and their son going to the palace to live with each other
happily ever after, just as the ascetic in the hermitage promises in the first act. In Kalidasa’s play, circumstances of plot
may divert the characters from what they are as the play begins. But the characters are ultimately fixed entities who do
not “learn” through the play so as to become something else. Instead, characters must return to what they are.
CHARACTERS
Director: the director of the play, who appears in the prologue with the actress
Actress: an actress in the troupe that performs the play, who appears in the prologue with the director
King Duhshanta: king of Hastinapura
Shakuntala: a young hermit of divine parentage
Madhavya: the play’s obligatory vidushaka, or clown. King Duhshanta erstwhile companion
Anasuya: a young woman who is Shakuntala’s hermitage friend
Priyamvada: a young woman who is Shakuntala’s hermitage friend
Kanva: Shakuntala’s adoptive father in the forest hermitage
Gautami: presiding female hermit in the hermitage
Sharngarava: a male hermit
Sharadvata: a male hermit
Durvasas: a traveling sage with a bad temper
Vatayana: the king’s chamberlain
Somarata: chief priest of the palace
Karabhaka: a royal messenger
Vetravati: the principal female steward of the king’s court
Madhukarika: a maid
Parabhrtika: a maid
Chaturika: a servant
Raivataka: steward of the king’s chamber
Hamsapadika: one of Duhshanta’s wives (only her voice is heard)
Suchaka: a policeman
Januka: a policeman
Maricha: keeper of the celestial hermitage
Aditi: Maricha’s wife
Matali: Indra’s charioteer
Sanumati: a celestial nymph
Boy: Duhshanta’s and Shakuntala’s son

SUMMARY OF THE PLAY

Act One: Following the nandi-prayer, the director and an actress appear in a prologue. The director and the actress discuss
the audience and the appropriate play to perform for them. They decide upon Kalidasa’s play Shakuntala, but the director
is so caught away by a song that the actress sings that he forgets which play they’ve decided on. The actress reminds him.
Duhshanta enters on a chariot, chasing a deer. A hermit stops him, pointing out that he has entered a hermitage in which
the animal is protected. The king relents. The hermit blesses the king with the promise of a son. Passing further into the
hermitage, King Duhshanta surreptitiously watches Shakuntala, Anusuya, and Priyamvada. When a bee troubles
Shakuntala, Duhshanta leaves his hiding place, but does not reveal that he is the king, though he gives to Shakuntala a ring
that suggests his identity. The king’s soldiers disturb the hermitage and he leaves to draw them away.
Act Two: The clown Madhavya enters, complaining. Madhavya and the king conspire to get close to Shakuntala.
Duhshanta sends Madhavya back to the palace to participate in his place at the ceremonies marking the end of the king’s
mother’s fast.
Act Three: Having revealed his identity, King Duhshanta rests in the hermitage. The king spies on Anusuya, Priyamvada,
and Shakuntala, talking obliquely of romance. He discerns that Shakuntala is smitten with him. When Shakuntala sings a
love poem, the king steps out of hiding. They all speak obliquely of romance. Anusuya and Priyamvada slip away.
Duhshanta and Shakuntala get close, but the king hides when Gautami appears. The king puzzles over his failure to take
advantage of the moment, then leaves to protect the evening rites.
Act Four: Anusuya and Priyamvada discuss Shakuntala’s marriage to Duhshanta, which has been accomplished simply by
the two lovers’ common consent. They hear Durvasas’s angry voice, chastising Shakuntala for not attending to him
properly upon his arrival at the hermitage. Because she is distracted by thoughts of her lover, the sage imposes a curse
that her lover will completely forget her. Priyamvada dashes offstage and returns to report that because she implored
the sage to reconsider, Durvasas has allowed that although the king will forget Shakuntala, the glimpse of the ring the king
gave to her will restore his memory. Shakuntala prepares to leave for the king’s palace, escorted by Gautami, Sharngarava,
and Saradvata. Shakuntala’s departure from the hermitage is charged with emotion.
Act Five: King Duhshanta sends Madhavya into the king’s chambers to try to mollify Queen Hamsapadika, who is upset
over the king’s feelings for his other wives. The embassy from Kanva’s hermitage is announced in the court. Shakuntala,
Gautami, Sharngarava, and Saradvata enter. They all feel misgivings. Sharngarava informs the king that Shakuntala is
pregnant, and requests that the king receive her as his wife. The king has forgotten Shakuntala entirely, and treats the
request as a scam. Shakuntala discovers that Duhshanta’s ring has disappeared from her finger. Gautami specualtes that
Shakuntala lost it while bathing. Shakuntala accuses the king of exploiting her. The king responds with accusations of his
own. Sharngarava repudiates Shakuntala and refuses to return her to the hermitage, though Gautami pleads otherwise.
A court priest convinces the king to allow Shakuntala to stay in the palace until she gives birth so that her son can be
examined for marks of royalty. The priest proposes to send her back to the hermitage if the child proves to have no such
signs. The king consents to the priest’s plan, but before it can be implemented, Shakuntala storms out, calling the earth
to receive her. The report returns from offstage that a ray of light seized Shakuntala and carried her off. King Duhshanta
is bewildered.
Act Six: Two policemen bring a fisherman to the chief of police with the accusation that the fisherman has stolen a royal
signet ring the officers have found in his possession. The fisherman claims to have found it in the belly of a fish. The police
chief goes to the palace and returns with the order to release the fisherman and with compensatory payment for the ring.
The police chief reports that the sight of the ring disturbed the king. Sanumati comes invisibly to check up on Duhshanta
and overhears two maids discussing the king’s miserable condition with the royal chamberlain. Duhshanta has cancelled
all celebrations. Sanumati comments to herself that Shakuntala is similarly miserable. Duhshanta and Madhavya talk of
what has happened while Sanumati listens. Chaturika brings in the king’s painting of Shakuntala. The king loses himself
in the painting. Word comes that Queen Vasumati is on her way. Madhavya takes the painting and flees. Word of a
shipwreck arrives. A wealthy merchant is dead. Duhshanta orders that the merchant’s wealth go to one of his surviving
wives who is pregnant. Duhshanta hears a cry of distress. Matali appears and takes Duhshanta to fight off demons
threatening Indra.
Act Seven: Having vanquished the demons, Matali and Duhshanta pass through heaven. Duhshanta asks to visit Maricha’s
celestial hermitage. Matali leaves Duhshanta beneath a hermitage tree. The king hears a disturbance and finds a young
boy wrestling with a lion cub. Duhshanta sees the marks of royalty on the boy. The boy’s armlet falls off and Duhshanta
picks it up. Two ascetics tell Duhshanta that if anyone but the boy’s parents pick up the armlet, it turns to a snake and
strikes the perpetrator. Shakuntala arrives. She does not, at first, recognize Duhshanta, who recounts the manner in
which the ring restored his memory. Matali, Maricha, and Aditi arrive. They explain Durvasas’s curse. The family is
reunited and returns to Duhshanta’s palace.