Using Ponnivala in the Classroom

In traditional cultures, the tales people pass on from one generation to the next do more than preserve religious teachings. In fact, most often the religious elements are merely threaded through these stories, with gods and goddesses acting as intercessors in the affairs of humans. The stories themselves become classrooms for everything from political and social standards to regional and cultural history, from mathematics and trading systems to herbology and food lore.

Often, a single unit of study can open the gateway to a flood of teaching ideas on a wide variety of subjects. Take the example of Bonnie Boggs. Bonnie teaches in a two room school in the ranching community of Miles City, Montana. Yet despite the limited resources afforded her in this town of just 9,000, she was awarded the 1995 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics.

How?

In Boggs’ classroom was a terrarium, occupied by two very special assistants: Zsa Zsa the tarantula and Arby the black widow spider. Using these two spiders as the core of her teaching curriculum, Boggs was able to develop, over fourteen years, one of the most innovative teaching plans ever devised.

In “Spider Social Studies,” students research spiders around the globe and learn about the geography and history of those regions. The create fictional lands and try to figure out what spider would live in their made-up environment. Environmental studies and ecology preservation are included in the study.

Her students read Charlotte’s Web as a component of their literature studies, then discuss the advantages, or disadvantages, of being a spider.

She can teach genetics, biology, family life, and diversity. She teaches spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar through a game she calls “VENOM.” This clever variation on BINGO uses the word VENOM at the top of the card, and replaces the numbers with scientific terms relating to spiders. When a winner has filled a line, they must correctly spell and pronounce the words in the line, further providing a seamless inroad into Latin.

Using a single focal resource; as Boggs has done with her spiders; can not only be an innovative and refreshing change to the normal lesson plan. It can inspire young learners to delve much more deeply into subjects they care about, revealing all sorts of life lessons in things they might otherwise take for granted every day. Our goal with The Legend of Ponnivala is to see teachers use this remarkable legend to accomplish the same ends. Lesson plans are already available to accompany the series, encompassing a variety of subjects, including:

• History
• Religion
• Cultural & Social Studies
• Mythology & Folklore
• Political Studies
• Literature
• Geography
• Art & Music
• Philosophy & Ethics

Episode 8: A Cruel Curse

In this feature, we outline the chapters of The Legend of Ponnivala as we've laid them out in the animated and print series. The sub-story descriptions are those that occur in each episode, and are drawn from our Teacher's Handbook.

A couple return to their ancestral lands after many years and decide to rebuild the husband’s ancestral palace. They invite a neighboring monarch to the completion celebrations. In turn he honors the pair and names them King and Queen of Ponnivala. But the new Queen suffers from a curse of barrenness and is worried about the future.

A Wondrous Palace Is Built

The newly rich farmer now sends for a thousand stone masons and carpenters to build his palace. It will be a fine building with many rooms. Lord Vishnu is watching from his couch on the milk sea. He decides to descend to earth and help. Invisibly, for every stone the masons lay, Vishnu lays another thousand. In this way their fine palace is quickly constructed.

A Grand Coronation Occurs

The farmer’s wife calls on Lord Vishnu and announces that she wants to perform a major “inauguration” ceremony. Lord Vishnu suggests that all three monarchs of the South (the well-known Chola, Chera and Pandiya kings) be invited. He also announces that he wants to confer a title on the family. A grand ceremony ensues with many honors accorded the new “king” of Ponnivala. Rather tardily, rival clansmen arrive and pay their respects to the three monarchs. The Chola king then tells them that they must give back all the lands that once belonged to the farmer-king’s father. The clansmen agree to do so and quickly leave.

A Tragic Curse: The Queen is Barren

The Chola now turns to the new raja and issues a set of instructions on how to be a wise ruler. Then he leaves for his own territory, hoping that the Ponnivala area will now be ruled with justice and kindness. But the couple lack one vital thing: children. They purchase a pair of fine cows, two handsome horses, and even a male and female pig. But none of these animals bear offspring. Finally the queen grows weary of her barrenness and yearns to visit her natal household. There she can at least see her brother’s children. Her husband is vehemently opposed to this plan. He remembers the way that family “cast them out” at the moment of their marriage. But the queen is determined to go and starts her preparations.

Interesting Similarities in Persian and Hindu Mythology

Compared to other mythologies, ancient Persia’s pantheon of gods seldom receives much attention. But the gods and goddesses of this ancient Middle-Eastern society share many of the attributes common among other Indo-European pantheons. After all, Persia, whose territory at one time would have covered modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Turkey, was situated between Greece and India, and these three regions shared a great deal of culture, trade, and art with each other.

At the top of the Hindu pantheon, we see three primary gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. These are the forces of creator, sustainer, and destroyer, and appear in various incarnations in mythologies around the world. The Persian gods Tiamat, Enkil, and Marduk take on similar roles in their pantheon.

Tiamat was a powerful goddess who was the embodiment of the primordial chaos. She was the mother of the younger gods, against whom she later made war. This is distinct from the role of Brahma, who gave rise not to gods but to humans. In most chaos myths, there is a first separation of the heavens and earth, usually founded on the chaos first forming a primordial sea. In Persia, Tiamat was the primordial sea...the heaven and earth were made from her remains (this is more common in Western threads, like the death of the Norse giant Ymir at the hands of Odin and his brothers). By contrast, Brahma formed the heavens and the earth from the halves of the shell from the golden egg that bore him in the primordial sea.

At a later age, Brahma contested with Vishnu for supremacy, trying to see who was the most powerful of the gods. They called on Shiva to settle the dispute, and this he did...by defeating them both! This is the most direct parallel with the Persian myths, as Enkil, formerly leader of the gods, was unable to defeat Tiamat. He gave the opportunity to the storm god Marduk instead, but Marduk would only accept the challenge if all the gods agreed that he would be their ruler for all time should he prove victorious. After defeating Tiamat there was no doubt that Marduk was indeed the most powerful of the younger gods.

What is fascinating in these two myths is the characters of the two younger gods. Enkil is described as a trickster with a fondness for the foibles of the human race. He is a god of fresh water and purification, and he delights in thwarting the attempts of other gods to interfere with the lives of humans. Marduk, by contrast, is a stern warrior god of the storm. He hurls thunderbolts and his breath is flame. Yet he is also considered wise, meditative, and ascetic. He has four ears and four eyes with which to see and hear in all directions. Many of the attributes of these two gods are considered features of Vishnu and Shiva respectively (although Shiva has only three eyes and two ears). Vishnu often intercedes on the part of people, and enjoys playing tricks and testing them, while Shiva, whose elemental association is fire, is more stern and serious, and is generally more concerned with broader universal issues.

Episode 7: A Thousand Beggars

In this feature, we outline the chapters of The Legend of Ponnivala as we've laid them out in the animated and print series. The sub-story descriptions are those that occur in each episode, and are drawn from our Teacher's Handbook.

A young couple have worked hard to plant their only field and happily watch their maize plants grow tall. But the seed buds on those green stalks do not hold grain. Then one day the wife discovers jewels hidden there instead. Beggars now magically appear as a test. The wife gives generously and so Lord Vishnu replenishes their wealth.

The Rivals Try Another Trick

...but a god counters this effort

The hopeful farmer now begins to check his newly-planted field once a week. After the second week there is nothing, not even a sprout. After the third there are some strong green shoots and after the fourth the field is full of young tender stalks. The rival clansmen see this and are worried that a harvest might be possible after all. So they send their cows in to devour the growing plants. But Lord Vishnu, with a little magic, sees to it that no permanent damage is done. After the tender shoots have been well bent down the clansmen drive the animal herd back to their own lands. The husband soon inspects the field. He is shocked by the trampled stalks but there is no serious harm.

The Insightful Wife Finds Magical Wealth

The next week there are many buds but none have opened. The wife becomes anxious. Unlike her husband she wades deep into the crop and then pinches a bud with her fingernail. Inside she finds a pearl! So she pinches another one. There she finds another jewel. She becomes excited and calls her husband. Together they discover that their planted field has sprouted gems of all kinds!

Bountiful Wealth Acquired...Unexpectedly

The couple now call in laborers to help harvest their field but they only allow these men to cut down the stalks. When the laborers leave the husband calls on Lord Vishnu to help the two of them privately cut each bud from its stalk and break it open. Again Lord Vishnu helps and soon they have filled their harvest baskets with beautiful jewels. They story these baskets inside their home and measure out their new found wealth.

A Doubting Husband and a Saintly Wife

Vishnu is watching their actions and wants to test the couple’s generosity. So he turns a hundred shepherds who are grazing animals nearby into beggars. He sends these “holy men” to the couple’s home to ask for alms. The husband is upset and demands that they be sent away. But the heroine ignores him and starts generously giving the jewels away to the beggars. Somewhat dismayed, the husband decides to go to visit their overlord, the great Chola king, and to take him a token gift. When he returns from this trip the door of the house is stuck shut. Together he and his wife manage to open it, Now, to their surprise, they find that their stash of jewels has been replenished. The heroine recognizes Lord Vishnu’s hand in this beneficence. Together they decide to spend their new-found wealth building a fine palace.

What is an Avatar?

When James Cameron released his breakthrough film Avatar in 2009, the word “avatar” became a household name. But few people realize what this word actually means. Some argue that it conjures up images of some kind of remote-controlled weapon. Others think of it as a type of robot (as in the case of Andromeda, where the ship’s computer was represented in physical form by an android “avatar” played by Lexa Doig).


Avatar is a Sanskrit word for “incarnation,” and refers frequently in Hindu mythology to the physical incarnations of the gods (particularly Vishnu). In popular culture, an avatar is something that represents the controller in another form; for example, the appearance of Jake Sully as an “avatar” in Na’vi form on Pandora in the movie. Sully isn’t actually incarnated on Pandora. He’s in stasis elsewhere, controlling this avatar with his mind.


Examples appear all over the religious and mythic world, however. It could be said that the god Odin from Norse mythology was an avatar when he appeared as a wandering wizard or an old man on the road, although strictly in such stories he was merely in disguise. Some scholars may even argue that Jesus was an avatar of God, as by definition He was born in earthly form while still retaining his essence as God.


The Hindu god Vishnu appears in a number of avatars throughout history, including as Matsya the fish, Kurma the tortoise, and perhaps most importantly as the hero Krishna. He also appears several times as a beggar or washerman in the Ponnivala story, but here again these are better thought of as disguises than as avatars, because he is not born into these forms but merely assumes their appearance.