Page 163 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

138 Guy Poitevin

Box 4.2: Cognitive Mapping (Vdr-17)
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Title: Indra brings drought and death to abase Surya who discovers Megharaj
hiding in a well
Semanteme:
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l Actant: Megharaj/cloud, Surya/sun, Indra, donkey, all the gods.
l Space: earth, well.
l Action: graze, hide, punish, wander, search, entreat, rain.
l Function: drought, life extinction, suspicion, flat nostrils, green grass.
Mytheme:
l Conflict, war among contending gods.
l Gods’ crowd, impotency and scare.
l The weak, pivot of power games.
l The weak, scapegoat and victim.
Hermeneutics:
l Narrator’s insight: Story accounting for the punishment of the donkey.
l Analytic category 1: Quarrels for ascendancy between heavenly gods and those
ruling on earth.
l Analytic category 2: Rainclouds, life on earth and the donkey are taken as
hostages in the gods’ feuds.
Cognitive forms:
l Causal explanation: The donkey’s lot is explained within a series of events.
l Will to power: A contest for power is going on between two parties. A given
balance is broken only to be restored.
Logic mode:
l Antagonism
l Equilibrium
l Hierarchy
l Ternary play
Theme: Confrontation for hegemony on earth.
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Process: Supremacy on earth is a stake between Indra, king of gods, and Surya,
master on earth
Source: Created by the author.
Our present context questions the very assumption of the discourse.
We own the text to disown its discourse as politically not correct.
We receive it to counter its hegemonic purport. This counter-cultural
stand immediately assumes a universal dimension as it prompts us
further to raise the basic issue of the philosophical motivation that