Indian Epics

Yudhisthira prays to the sun god Surya He gave them a copper pot that filled with food to feed the Pandavas and the holy brethren of the forest Arjuna goes to the mountains Shiva gives Arjuna divine weapons Arjuna goes with his father, Indra, to his celestial kingdom A nymph, called an aspara, falls in love with Arjuna. When she is rejected, she curses Arjuna Bhima meets Hanuman Karna swears to kill Arjuna Indra gives Karna a dart in exchange for his armor and earrings Indra is worried about Arjuna and Karna's inevitable fight Draupadi is stolen At this point she has to be like 40.. so she must still be looking great Bhima takes her back tho Yudhisthira answers a bunch of riddles at a pond The voice at that pond is Dharma, Yudi's father & god of wisdom The brothers and Draupadi are disguised in their 13th year of exile and serve in the court of a king Prince Kichaka tries to rape Draupadi And ummmm excuse me... she flees BLEEDING to the king ...

Why We Ask You to Buy us a Coffee “You really need to learn to accept a gift with grace,” he said. “A gift doesn’t come with any conditions or an implied reciprocation.” Create Power Paragraphs for Stronger Storytelling Sentence Spotlight " The  dominant   sentence  is the first and most important in any paragraph" " The  flow sentences  tease out the adventure promised by the dominant sentence" " The  linking sentence  ends a paragraph" "The  call-out sentence  is paragraph in its own right." 10 Things William Faulkner Had to Say About Writing I'm a big William Faulkner fan. As I Lay Dying is one of may favorite books. I've copied a few  distinct phrases from his list of 10. I found them to be inspiring.  The act of writing shows movement, activity, life. I think it best to use as little dialect as possible because it confuses people who are not familiar with it. That nobody should let the c...

Ganesha agreed to become the tribe of the Mahabharata, but only if his pencil never stopped moving The story of Vyssa's birth is ~wacky Devavrata (Bhishma) Ganga, his goddess mother, gives him 1/8 of the power of each of the 8 V asus The king falls in love with Ganga but she makes him promise to do whatever she wants if she is to marry her, she agrees She "kills" 7 of her babies (reincarnated Vasus) When she tries the kill the 8th the king stops her and she leaves him  She returns to give the king a son, Devavrata The king wants to marry Vyssa's mother but cannot But Devavrata promises not to marry or have a son if Satyatvati is given to his father as his bride King Shantanu and Satyatvati have 2 sons The first is an arrogant ruler and dies in battle The second is young when he takes the throne Bhishma wins 3 maidens for his brother ( the young king) at a contest Amba, the oldest of the maidens, loves another man so she is permitted to leave Amb...

Sita looked into the eyes of the beloved Rama of her younger years. Her twin sons joined their father as she faced him.  She opened her mouth to speak, "First I was afraid. I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by  my side.  But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong.  And I grew strong 1 ." Rama moved  forward to defend his case.  Sita held up her hand and glared at him.  " I would go through all this pain. Take a bullet straight through my brain. Yes I would die for you, baby. But you won't do the same 2 ." Rama dismissed Sita.  "Sita, I could not risk my subjects not respecting me for keeping you as my wife." "R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me 3 ." With an indignant glare and a roll of her hips, she threw her hands into the air and called to Mother Nature, "Mama, life had just begun. But now I've gone and thrown it all away. Mama! Oooooo 4 !"   Sita fell...

For this week's reading, I decided to watch Sita Sings the Blues. I love movies and the animation looks fun. I'm excited to see the story of the Ramayana through a different perspective. To begin, I can already tell that I appreciate Nina Paley's sense of style and humor. Her opening credits give attention to "Your money" and "Your name".  I love the bright colors and abrupt actions When I think of Indian culture I think of beautiful patterns and colors The cosmic intro gives an homage to Rama and Sita's heavenly background The animation changes abruptly when it switches to San Fran, CA This film provides context by tying it to Ayodha The mismatched video style reflects the various writing styles of the online version I read Perhaps this is symbolic of the oral tradition of the Ramayana Mentions Sita's different names I like the commentary included because it shows how multi-faceted the story is and how many translations/versions ...

My Wikipedia Trail began with Ravana . He is the king of demons in the epic Ramayana. He plays a dynamic character in this tale, I wanted to learn more about him. From this article, I moved on to Kaikesi, she is a princess and also the mother of Ravana. She plotted with her parents to seduce a powerful demon in the hope of producing unstoppable demonic offspring. Obviously this worked, and she gave birth to Ravana and three other children. From this page, I went to the page for Pratima Kazmi.  She is the Indian actress who played Kaikesi in an Indian soap opera about the Ramayana. She is known to play villainous women due her deep voice and direct way of speaking. From here, I landed on a page for her most famous movie, Waisa Bri Hota Hai . This movie is about a man who is spiraling following the murder of his brother. One night, he witnesses a gang shooting and saves the victim. This ends him the middle of a gang war in India. Pratima Kazmi as KaiKesi.

I watched this animated short: Alike This short highlighted the importance of embracing creativity and individuality in a world that doesn't always support these values. This video spoke to the necessity of encouraging creativity in children. I was so sad when the clip showed the boy's color draining as a result of his spirit breaking. I love that in the end, it was music and parental love that restored the color to both the father and son. This short showed me the power of following what you love and emphasizing what makes you different. Be You. Web Source.

Blog: To Love and Lose

Rama and Lakshmana visit Sugriva  Sugriva sends his servant Hanuman in the disguise of a beggar to find out R & L's intent Hanuman trusts the two brothers and leads them to his king, who was also exiled and had his wife stolen from him Sugriva accidentally trapped his older brother in a cave, so his brother stole his wife and banished him Rama helps Sugriva kill his brother.. but he is deceptive about it Sugriva agrees to send his armies to aid R & L in their recovery of Sita, but he is slow to act Hanuman is reminded of his patronage and upbringing Sita is being held in a grove of Ashoka trees with demons guarding her Hanuman sees Ravana try to seduce Sita, but Sita refuses. Ravana then tells Sita that she has 2 months to sleep with him, and if she refuses she will be tortured and slain Hanuman reveals himself to Sita, she is frightened Hanuman decides to ruin the grove where Sita is harbored, and he is captured by Indrajit (Ravana's son) Ravana sets Han...

Feedback can sometimes be hard to give and receive. Here are two articles that I read to help make giving feedback more helpful and useful. 1. Be a Mirror There are 5 qualities of feedback that help to create a growth mindset. Be specific.  Focus on what is being done. Focus on the process. Make sure the feedback is transferable, or applicable to what the reader needs.  Take yourself out of the feedback. 2. The Trouble with Amazing: Giving Praise that Matters Amazing doesn't carry any weight. It doesn't give you any further instructions. It's unspecific. It leaves you asking what was amazing, rather than knowing what you did that deserved praise. It doesn't praise the effort.  I like these reasons. However, I'm still a believer that sometimes any positive feedback is good feedback.  From Cult of Pedagogy

The topic I will be exploring is Hidmbi. Just to recap, here is my summary from last week's topic brainstorm : Hidimbi acts as bait for her rakshasha brother's potential meals. While trying to lure a man into her brother's trap, Hidimbi falls in love with him. Here I will elaborate on the story of how she has to make the hard choice of choosing loyalty to her brother over love for the man she wants to save. In a turn of events, her love will not accept her because she is a demon. He kills her brother and turns on Hidimbi. However, a god intervenes and forces the man to marry Hidimbi. He then leaves her after giving birth to his son. In my version of the story, Hidimbi will turn back into her demon form and kill the man out of revenge. This week, I will continue to research this topic. Hidimbi's son, Ghatotkacha, plays an important role in the story of the Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata.  This version of Hidimbi's story makes it seem like her husband i...

Sita peered through the trees of the jungle. She heard a rustle that made both curious and scared all at once. She took a careful step forward and looked through the brush. Amidst the trees she saw a beautiful animal. It was a deer. Its fur was golden and its eyes sparkled with a ferocity that envied the sun. Silver spots speckled its back and its antlers were great and tall like the trees in which it hid. Sita's heart desired the animal. Its beauty was unparalleled. She wished to feel its soft fur and rest against its calming presence. Sita approached Rama. "I have beheld a glorious deer in the glen. I wish to have it in companionship." Rama felt uneasy at his wife's request. He had heard of devious rakshasas who took the form of deer in order to trick unexacting travelers. He refused his wife's request, but Sita pleaded. Reluctantly, Rama gave in to his wife's wishes. He pulled his brother, Lakshmana, aside and asked, "Brother, keep an eye on Sita...

Reading A Setting: 2 Kingdom Koshala with King Dasharatha and son Rama Mithila with King Janaka and daughter Sita In the beginning King D struggles to have a son He sacrifices a horse and is promised 4 sons Meanwhile in the heavens, Ravana, the king of the rakshasas is running rampant. However, the gods do not have the ability to kill him. He must be killed by a human or monkey. The gods beg Vishnu, the Preserver, to help them. Vishnu agrees and descends in human form as the baby Rama, son of King D. Now that King D's sons are grown, a prophet asks for the help of Rama. Two demons, Maricha and Subahu, are destroying his sacred fires and sacrifices. This request saddens King D because he fears for Rama's life. He agrees, but also sends his other son, Lakshmana. The two brothers fight the mother of the rakshasas in a dark, gloomy forest by cutting off her nose and her arms. She becomes invisible, but Rama uses the power of sound to sink an arrow that kills her The...

1. A retelling of the story of Indrajit Indrajit is a legendary warrior in Hindu mythology. His father is Ravana. When Indrajit was born, Ravana commanded the stars to align so that his son would be immortal. Saturn disobeyed Ravana resulting in a prophesy against Indrajit foreshadowing his death at the hand of Lakshmana. Ravan was adept in combat, sorcery, and magic. Source: Wikipedia 2. Parvati Parvati is the goddess of love, fertility, devotion, and power. I'm interested in telling her story because I think these motifs go together in a way that is representative of female power and femininity. She is connected to a lot of other deities in hinduism and she goes by many names. It could be a fun twist to write about her life in the setting of her home where she is a wife and mother who just wants some peace and quiet, and continuity in her life! Source: Wikipedia 3. Hidimbi Hidimbi acts as bait for her rakshasha brother's potential meals. While trying to l...