Week 7: Storytelling "The double life of Shikhandini"

Shikhandini returns to fight

"Okay, class, today I am going to read you all the story: The double life of Shikhandini: Caught between a rock and a hard place," Mrs. Steinberg declared to the class. As Mrs. Steinberg walked towards the front of her 3rd grade class, she inhaled deeply and started to recite the story. 

"There once was a mighty King named Drupada who ruled over the illustrious land of Southern Panchala. Now King Drupada was not your ordinary King. He was very in-tune with his emotions, hence why he got the nickname King "Droopy" from the people of the land." 

Every little one in the classroom started to laugh hysterically. One little boy got up and said "Look, I'm King Droopy," and put his fingers in his mouth to change the expression of his smile to resemble a sad face. Once Mrs. Steinberg got her class to settle down she continued with the story.   

"But one thing that King Drupada wanted more than anything in the world was a daughter to call his own. So one night he went outside to the balcony, looked up at the big bright moon which was known as Shiva, and prayed to the moon for a daughter. One thing that most people didn’t know about the moon was that it was wish-granting machine."  

Moonlight over water

A little star came down from the sky carrying a message for King Drupada saying, "I will grant your wish as you shall be patient my child." 

"King Drupada screeched with excitement and went to bed. The following morning his wife greeted him with wonderful news. She was expecting a child, but not just one. They were having twins. King Drupada was so overwhelmed with emotions that he started to kiss the ground right under his feet." 

"Eww" yelled out all of the small children of the classroom. "He is going to have foot fungus mouth after kissing the floor," a little boy cried out. Mrs. Steinberg got her class to settle down once again and she continued with the story. 

"Once the day came for the King's children to be born, the kingdom was overwhelmed with news. The Queen bore a girl, but the son did not make it. There was a sense of sadness as the King did not know how to cope with the news of his child's death. One thing that the King did not know was that the Queen tricked her husband and told him that their daughter had died after birth and that their son lived. The King did not know was that their daughter survived and the son died. So the Queen named their daughter Shikhandin, which was the male version of Shikhandini." 

"As Shikhandin was growing up, the Queen made sure that she grew up to be a tomboy. The Queen would dress her like a boy, made sure that she hung out with all of the boys,  and she even cut her hair into a boyish cut. One thing that the Queen made Shikhandin promise her was that she was to never tell the King that she was a girl. One night, before the King went to bed, he stopped in Shikhandin's room. He explained that there would be time when he would pass on and that one day the throne would belong to her. Overwhelmed by her emotions, Shikhandin hugged the King tightly, looked him in his eyes, and told him that he had been fooled by the Queen and that she was indeed the daughter that he never had." 

The eyes of the little children became extremely big as Mrs. Steinberg was telling the story. One little girl even covered her eyes as the suspense grew from the story. 

"The King was so outraged that he scurried out of her room quickly. So scared for what her father might do, Shikhandin ran away to the forest to seek refuge. That is where she met Sthuna, a young yaksha that took her under his wing. After weeks of staying with the yaksha, Shikhandin explained that she missed her family back at Panchala. So she asked the yaksha one little request and the simple request was to make her into a man. The yaksha looked at Shikhandin quizzically and asked her why would she wanted to change her appearance. He said that she was beautiful the way she was. Shikhandin started to cry and explain that no one wanted her the way that she was. The yaksha agreed to change her into a man, provided that Shikhandini came back when King Drupada had made peace with the Queen." 

Before Mrs. Steinberg could continue with the story. The alarm started to go off, and a fire drill interrupted story time.  

(To be continued).  

Author's Note: I liked the story of Shikhandi and how The King prayed to Shiva. In the original story it talked about how King Drupada begs Shiva for a son to help defeat Drona. Shiva grants his prayer but says he will have a child that would first be a daughter, and then a son. The queen has a child, and she raises the girl as a boy, trusting in Shiva's promise. The queen names her Shikhandini, but she uses the male form of that name instead Shikhandin. Drupada arranges for Shikhandin to marry a princess, but when the princess's father finds out Shikhandin is really Shikhdanini, he is outraged and threatens to wage war on Drupada. I think that the first thing that stuck out to me about this story was that it seemed that she had an internal struggle to fit the need of her mother. To me I kind of took it as though her mom didn’t accept her for who she was and so she had a slight insecurity. One thing that I think is interesting is the origin of names. I thought that it was really interesting how closely related some of the names were and that you could easily change the meaning of a name with one letter. I don’t know what made me decide to go with the theme of a 3rd grade classroom, but I thought that it would have been easier to tell the story that way. I wanted to relate the story to image issues that kids have. They have to deal with what society deems as being fit, so I wanted to tie my story to that issue. However, I wanted to finish the story, but it would've been too long for the post. Hopefully, I will be able to finish the story for next week.     

Bibliography: Sister Nivedita's Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. 1914