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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word means buffalo in Sanskrit?

2. How long does Chedi go to sit in seclusion and meditation before emerging to battle the sage in Viswamitra?

3. What does the goddess Devi wear?

4. Lavana insists that ____________ leave to go make their own way.

5. How many men accompany the king when he meets a sage in Viswamitra?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Chudala do in order to find her happiness? What does Sikhi-Dhvaia note about her change?

2. What happens to Manmata's arrows when he shoots them in the beginning of Manmata?

3. Who does Sikhi-Dhvaia's father arrange for him to marry? What is their marriage like?

4. How does Chudala test her husband's ability to make no distinction between yielding and resisting?

5. What moral lesson does King Lavana learn from his encounter with a magician?

6. How does Yayati encounter Deyayani in the story Yayati?

7. Discuss the themes and plots within the story Yayati. What unites the story?

8. What conversation does Iswara have with Vasishta in Viswamitra?

9. What causes King Lavana to leave his home with his family in Lavana? How does he return?

10. Who does Brahma offer in marriage to Manmata? Where does he send them afterward?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Manmata's creation to that of Eros or Cupid in Greek and Roman mythology. In what ways is Manmata like Cupid? How does he differ?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the elements of Hindu faith and belief in Chudala and Lavana. What morals are upheld in each of these stories? How do the stories relate to Christian parables?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the life of the author, R. K. Narayan, his culture and literary career, and the influences which he drew from in adapting Gods, Demons, and Others.

(see the answer keys)

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