Epics of India - MLLL 4993-996

Sita Sings the Blues This is a wonderful film by Nina Paley. It features an animated retelling of the Ramayana. It mixed the expectations that the viewer will have prior knowledge to enjoy the story, but it also provided enough narrative to understand the events through the animations and the narrator's comments. An additional element of including a modern story. This story mimics the events that are taking place in the Ramayana, or at least the relationship status between Sita and Rama. Regardless the film is very informative and entertaining. The art style is heavily inspired by other art I have seen throughout the class. However, it had its own distinct feel. The characters in the story were portrayed accurately based on the information from other lore. I was only able to watch the first half of it but I plan on re-watching it on another day. I would highly recommend this to anyone that has already read the Ramayana. Hanuman, Rama, and Sidta as depicted in the film. ...

Author's Notes So this story turned out to be heavily inspired by the Prequel meme 'The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise". As I went over my notes on Bramha I realized that he became obsessed and consumed by  his creation, and lost a true sense of who he was. The end result of this was Bramha becoming a legend and left mostly unacknowledged.   Bramha the Wise Did you ever hear the tragedy of Bramha the Wise? I thought not. It is not a story that western society would tell you. It is an ancient Indian legend. Bramha was the creator of the world, so powerful and so wise he could use his powers to change his shape, alter the universe, and create life… He had such a knowledge and power that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. Such power was unyielding; it fogged his mind, focused his thoughts, and made him loose his sense of self. In an effort to learn who he was as a person, Bramha created a daughter, who came to represent the whole world. As the...

Bramha - The Flawed Creator Despite being the creator of the world, Bramha is mentioned only in passing through much of the mythology that we have read so far. The desire to worship a creator has roots in the Christian viewpoint. However, there is a different story in Hinduism. The poets of the Vedas determined that the reason for creating the world was for him to understand himself. However, Bramha became obsessed with the world, mimicking it's material forms. He continued to desperately chase this material world, rather than using it to understand himself. Thus, the reason Bramha is not worshiped is because he forgot his reason for creating the world. Image of Bramha ( Source ) Shiva and Vishnu Both Shiva and Vishnu have learned to suppress their desires for the material world. Shiva does so my destroying the negative aspects. Vishnu does so my acknowledging them and working past them. Bibliography 7 Secrets Hindu Calendar - Chapter 7: Brahma's Secret - Pa...

The Cow Long story short, cows are wonderful. They provide for humans for their entire lifetime, including in death. The cow represents nature and selflessness. Ideally, a "Society forces us to be cows, to create value by producing milk, and giving that milk not just to our calf but to others as well." Avatars of Vishnu Rama was an avatar of Vishnu that was covered in the reading of the Ramayana. Rama was involved in the world and focused on upholding the rules of Vishnu, called dharma. Another avatar was Krishna, he was also involved with the world, but he operated primarily by changing the rules around him to his advantage. Unlike these two avatars, Balarama stepped away from the world discontent with the rules in place. Cows are Cute :) ( Source ) Bibliography 7 Secrets Hindu Calendar - Chapter 6: Vishnu's Secret - Part 1 7 Secrets Hindu Calendar - Chapter 6: Vishnu's Secret - Part 2

Shiva Shiva is commonly known as the destroyer. However, Shiva is a calm and withdrawn being. What Shiva Destroys There are three main things listed throughout sacred literature. Kamataka - The destroyer of Kama, desire Yamantaka the destroyer of Yama, death Tripurantaka - they destroyer of Tripura, the three worlds Symbolism Ash is the symbol of destruction and permanence. It also represents the immortal soul and is often depicted in three lines across Shiva's forehead. Shiva's trident represents the three worlds combined into one. Shiva destroys this three worlds by closing his eyes. He quits observing the world and similar to Narayan he is cut off from the world when he does so. Shiva's Marriage As Shiva was originally a hermit the world was facing a constant treat of destruction through his indifference. Vishnu knew that this was a problem and arranged a marriage for Shiva. By doing so this engages Shiva into the material world, also called Shankara. Sh...

Gods and Goddesses Images of God are imperfect, no matter the form. In Hinduism the form of God is never limited to one form alone. There are three main males and three main female forms of god. For the men there is Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. For the women, there is Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Material vs. Spiritual Material Reality Contained within space and time Has form Represented best by the human female form Spiritual reality Cannot be contained within space and time Formless and immeasurable Best represented by the human male form Ardhanari-eshwara Meaning: God as half woman. One of the key aspects that was discussed in this section that the spiritual form of the male Gods cannot be expressed without the ever-changing ideologies represented by the female form. These representations of combined masculine and feminine gods indicates that the Indian mythology is comfortable with feminine sexuality, but unfortunately society does not reflex that view. ...

Author’s Notes: Read First – This story is based on the God Narayan. In short, Narayan is the God Vishnu when he is asleep. The world is nothing when Vishnu closes his eyes, as then there is no observer of the world. Yet when Narayan awakes from his slumber, the world comes into existence again. The source video that is story is sourced from can be found below. I really like the idea of a new world coming into existence each time Narayan opened his eyes. I wanted to put a twist on this by making the world change slightly each time as I imagine it is hard to remember every detail to perfection. When the World Changes Day 0: Do you ever get the feeling that something is off? Or have the feeling that you are being watched? That tingling sensation on the back of your neck, but only when you turn around nothing is there. Yeah, well, that has been happening to me a lot lately. I am scared, and I am ready to put an end to this. Day 1: Yesterday I went to Best Buy...

Summary For this reading I continued learning more about Hinduism through Epified's '7 Secrets from the Hindu Calendar Art' series. One thing that I like about this series is the focus on the imagery in the stories. These are pieces are full of information and I would never know what they truly symbolized without the explanations provided in these videos. This video was about the God Narayan. According to the story the world exists when Narayan is awake. Also, is ceases to exist when Narayan is asleep. This is very interesting concept to take in, because for us, the world continues as we sleep. The concept was explained further by returning to the point of view that was discussed in the Ganesha video. There is a key difference between 'the world' and 'my world'. When people sleep the world to them does cease to exist. We are cut off, entirely unknowing of the world, until we awake again to observe it. As Narayan is a supreme being there is nothing left w...

Summary I primarily wanted to review this video because I have referenced it several times in project's storybook. However, I had never watched the video in its entirety. I had only watched the sections about Ganesha alone. One of the key components in this video is the differentiation between global and local values. In the Hindu culture many of the gods and goddesses originate from smaller villages. In most cases they are worshiped for a niche reason. However, as they are worshiped by the smaller villages the stories of these gods and goddesses are adapted into Hinduism as a whole global collection. This is very similar to motif that is in the story of the race between Kartikeya and Ganesha. The race conditions were to go around the world three times. Kartikeya did so by riding his vahana. While Ganesha did so my walking around his parents three times. To Ganesha his world was his parents, a local world that mattered to him. Ganesha's main question to Kartikeya was which ...

Jataka Themes For this reading assignment I looked at a section of Jataka tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. This adaptation of the original Jatakas has removed the direct influence of Buddha in the tales. The intent of these stories in my opinion are to provide thematic advice to young children. The Elephant Girly-Face This story is about negative influences. The elephant Girly-Face was a wonderful elephant until she was exposed to the cruelty of the robbers. Upon hearing how they treated people, Girly-Face learned that this was how people were supposed to be treated. Despite the fear that developed around her, Girly-Face was too impressionable to realize her poor behavior. Thankfully she was able to be taught how to be nice again. Girly-Face! ( Source )  The Ox who Envied the Pig This story is about perspectives. From the view of the Oxen the pig was treated far better and had an easier life. This is hard to accept if you do not also take the destiny of the pig into conside...

Jataka Themes For this reading assignment I looked at a section of Jataka tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. This adaptation of the original Jatakas has removed the direct influence of Buddha in the tales. The intent of these stories in my opinion are to provide thematic advice to young children. The Monkey and the Crocodile The moral of this story is that wit wins over strength. Despite the raw power and might of the crocodile the monkey is able to outwit the crocodile every time it tries to capture it. The Merchant of Seri This story is meant to teach about the cruelty of greed. The first merchant in the story was so focused on trying to nickel and dim the old lady that he lost his opportunity. While the second merchant was capable of seeing her bowl for what it was truly worth. Image Conveying the Greed of the Merchant ( Source ) The Ox Who Won the Forfeit This is a rather pleasant story in its resolution. A man is the owner of a really powerful ox that has never le...

Author's Notes This premise for this story was based of one of the tales about Krishna. In the original story Brahma was intrigued by how Krishna shared food with the mortals in his town, and was unsure if Krishna was actually an avatar of Vishnu. In order to test Krishna's divine power Brahma stole the cows from the village alone with several of the villagers. Krishna knew that Brahma was behind this so he acted quickly and created copies of the missing cows and people from himself. An entire year passed normally in the village without anyone noticing a difference. At this time Brahma returned what he had taken, impressed by Krishna's divine power. I decided to relate this story to my degree field in an attempt to map the divine power of Krishna to a real world ability. Some aspects of the story were modeled from my experience during my first internship, but it was entirely the setting of the dark office and not the events or people! Character names are hard... B...

Plot Summary For this reading assignment I watched the second Epified playlist for Krishna. Now that Krishna has grown into a young man the responsibilities of his destiny start to pile onto him. Expectations are raised and he is forced to prove himself as the avatar of Vishnu. A common theme through this playlist was the trials that Krishna had to go though in order to prove his worth. The first of these trials was to react to nearly a whole town being stolen! Through the power of his flutes music and his divine abilities, Krishna was able to create replacements for the missing cows and people, none wiser was the rest of the town. By maintaining this charade for a year Krishna proved his divine abilities to Brahma. The second test was a more childish task of riding an angry bull. Krishna easily befriended the bull through kindness. And lastly there was Krishna's competition during the Dhanur-Yagya. Here he wielded the divine bow, which cracked under his power as he attempted t...

Plot Summary For this reading assignment I watched the Epified playlist for Krishna. There were several key points that were pointed out within the videos. The story of Krishna's Birth, his enemies, and the power that he held as an avatar of Vishnu. The first major part that was covered was the story of Krishna's birth and the background information that covered it. To start with there was a King Kamsa who was destined to be killed by the eighth child of his cousin Devaki. In order to prevent his death Kamsa killed the first 6 children of Devaki. The seventh child was saved. The eighth child, Krishna, was sneaked out of the prison and swapped for the daughter of Yashoda. This saved Krishna and he was raised by Yashoda with another boy. Due to the power held by Krishna many others sought to kill him. Kamsa knew that he had escaped and attempted several times to kill the eighth avatar of Vishnu. He sent monster after monster to end Krishna's life, but each attempt...

Plot Summary Pandu's Curse This story was very much like the story of Dasharatha in the Ramayana. By accidentally killing someone, they both cursed themselves. These curses eventually cost themselves their lives and caused trouble for their kingdoms. Despite Pandu's inability to have children the gift that Durvasa had given Kunti allowed the family to have 5 celestial children. Three were born the Kunti, and two to Madri Gandhari's Children By watching the video for this section it painted a much crueler picture for the birth of Gandhari's one hundred sons. It seeing the lump of flesh was visually disturbing. The growth of the children in pots was more so like a child factory than anything else. This horrid birth laid in the hands of Vyas. A man who had cursed many others already. Vyas giving the 'gift' of 100 sons to Gandhari ( source ) Tragedy of Ekalavya This was a sad part in the story that I did not really pick up on in the original rea...

Plot Summary Story 1 Shantanu and Ganga were married. He promised to ask her never question her decisions. Seven of their children were killed by Ganga They were Vasus The eighth child lived and went away with Ganga The River Ganga ( Source ) Story 2 16 years later Shantanu was on the Ganga He heard fighting An archer had tamed the river Ganga Ganga appeared and the archer was his son Devavrat Shantanu got the keep his 8th sun Shantanu fell in love with Satyavati, but she was a peasant Devavrat took his fathers sadness into his own hands Story 3 Devavrat swore an oath that he would never marry or have children This was to convince the fisherman's to allow Shantanu to marry Satyavati Devavrat became known as Bhishma - he of the terrible oath The prince got a boon that he would be able to choose the time of his death Story 4 Bhishma keep his promise He trained his step brothers to be members of the state After this one of the brothers di...

Looking Back I am happy with the amount of work that I have been doing in this class. My routine for T-Th is really good, but it could be better for the over weekend due dates. I haven't really taken any of the extra credit options yet, but I do plan on doing so. My favorite assignments are the storytelling assignments. At first I was scared of righting my own stories, but I have grown accustomed to them. They are fun to spend time working on. Looking Forward For the second half of the semester I would like to be more proactive with the assignments for this class. There have been two instances where my afternoons had unexpected events and I was unable to do my daily assignments. If I can shift to working one day ahead I will be able to mitigate future occurrences of this. Additionally, I want to continue being creative with my writing. Inspirational Cat One of my biggest issues this semester has been staying up too late and not being able to get out of bed the next mor...

Feedback In I have gotten several good comments on my project that let me know how the stories on it are going. In addition, they have suggested what they felt needed to be covered better, and what needed less attention. This feedback is important because it allows me to look ahead to the next stories with the previous ones in mind. Feedback Out As far as giving feedback is concerned, I try to look at the positives during the shorter comments, and the problems that could be fixed for the project comments. The projects are a very important part of this class and I feel it is very important to give constructive feedback for each story in the project. As far as the stories and introductions, I view them as a platform for creative expansion over the work that we have covered through the class. Blog Comments Reading the introductions of everyone's blog posts let me know what other people are enrolled in the class. When you compare it to taking classes on the OU campus I fe...

Readings I really enjoyed the reading assignments for this class. I read both the PDE editions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. I have tried two different methods for taking notes over the reading assignments. The first style was by choosing four stories from the reading to take detail notes on and to imagine writing a story about it. This allowed for me to come back the notes later when writing my stories and have good head start. Stories The story writing assignments have been very interesting! I started of with very simple stories that did not stray too far from the original stories. However, the more that I wrote I became more comfortable with the creative aspect of it. While my story Nus' Five Wifes was given a different setting and gender swap it still followed the story. For the last story assignment I wanted to break away from the story, so I took a small aspect of it and developed it into a bigger part. It was a really fun story to write and I am happy with ...

Author's Notes This story focuses on the events that happened during the conflict of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The main battles can be seen in this story 1 . I found that the fighting in this war was primarily focused around where the generals were fighting, and less so about the actual infantry on the ground. One particular sentence inspired me to write this story, "Terrible were the omens, for headless men rose up and fought against one another". The concept of the dead fighting each other while a horrific war was happening was something that I wanted to elaborate on further. The Undying Battle An ancient prophecy of old once spoke of the days to come, of a great horror and darkness that would befall upon the world. The prophecy read:   A day will come when the bonds of blood will break.   Mothers' sons locked in celestial conflict.   Endless darkness will fall upon the sky,   and a disease will inflict those already gone... I awake again to...

Pandavas' Exile One of the main components of this reading was chronicling the time that the Pandavas brothers and Draupadi spent in exile. Overall, there are many comparisons from this section of the Mahabharata to the Ramayana. Draupadi was captured much like Sita, albeit for a much shorter amount of time. There were many encounters with Brahmin, each giving the Pandavas a celestial weapon, such as Rama receiving the celestial bows and arrows. The War The other main component of this reading was the war that forms between the Pandavas and their cousins the Kauravas. This section was much different in my opinion due to the large amount of interweaving between the characters. Mainly they were all related, fighting within their family because of the thirst for power. The Pandavas and the Kauravas were both related to the Gods and though these relations the war was influenced by the Gods as well as the armies on the front lines. Story Idea In the story The Battle Begins ther...

Author's Notes I have based this story off of the Mahabharata reading Draupadi's Swayamwara 1 . In this story there is a contest for which suitor will be able to take Draupadi as their wife. In this challenge the suitors had to "bend the bow and shoot an arrow through the wheel which will strike and bring down the golden fish shall obtain" the right to marry Draupadi. I decided to make the setting a different planet in order to give me more freedom in the difficulty of the Swayamwara. Also I swapped the gender roles to make things more interesting. Nus' Five Wives On the planet of Zognar there lived a civilization of warriors. There was a city named Taht, where the sovereign leader Traeh ruled. Traeh has reached the age where he is becoming old and senile, and he desired for his lonely son Nus to take over the kingdom. However, there is a prerequisite that Nus must be married prior to becoming the new leader. In order for this to be accomplished, Traeh sent o...

Story 1 - The House of Fire 1 This story is interesting to me because of the plot whole that exists within it. If the desires of Prince Duryodhana were to kill of the Pandavas and Queen Kunti by burning them in the house, why was this not done on the first night that they lodged at the lac palace? Not only was it not done on the first day, but also they provided a sufficient amount of time to allow Prince Vidura to alert then and the miner Varanavata to dig an escape tunnel. There is also a bit of misfortune in the story, as the beggars happened to enter the palace at the wrong time, well wrong for them and great for the Pandavas. Duryodhana went through some much effort to think that his plan has succeeded. The Pandavas escaping the burring palace. Shows Bhima carrying the others to safety. ( Source ) Story 2 - Bhima and Baka 2 This story is a very stereotypical one of an unjust ruler demanding too much over his citizens and ultimately facing his own demise because of i...

Story 1 - Amba 1 The story of Amba was interesting because most of the problems that arose out of it could have bene resolved had there existed better methods of communication between the princesses and the King. However, that was not the case and she was forced to go with Bhishma. Even though she was permitted to leave the damage had already been done. The King of the Shalwas had been embarrassed and defeated in contest. The theme of irreversible decisions appeared once again in the sense that Amba was unable to return to Hastinapura, for she had abandoned them and was not welcome. Amba, Source Story 2 - Kunti and Her Son 2 One common theme that has shown up in the Mahabharata is the birth of sons and daughters from the gods. In most of these cases the children are not wanted. In the case of Kunti, her son was born with an appearance that was not keen on the eyes. However, this did not get rid of her son Karna forever. Eventually he came back into the story, causing mo...

Author's Notes This story was based on the story of Jatayu and Sampati. The two eagles were very competitive in seeing which could fly the highest over the mountain. It ended with Jatayu flying too close to the Sun. It would have burned him and killed him if Sampati had not flown above him and shielded him by casting a shadow with his wings. The younger brother doesn’t die in this story. I wanted the competition and danger to be things that were easy to relate to. Life on the Edge Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. “Ugh. What is that noise? Why is it so bright?” I gently try to open my eyes, but all I see is a white overhead light and a bleach colored room. As my eyes adjust I realize that I am laying on a bed. The noise was coming from my side. "Oh, a hospital", I said in bleak acknowledgement of where I was. Feeling dazed I try to sit up. My head is ringing and the room gently turns around me. As I lean forward I feel a hand on my chest, it was my mom. She says gently to me...

Style Notes As this reading covers the contents of the Ramayana that were covered in the previous readings, there is not much to take notes about content wise. So instead, in this section I intend to write about the stylistic differences I saw between the two different versions. As well as any differences in the stories that grabbed my attention. One notable part of the Marriage of Rama was the sheer amount of gifts that were sent home with Dasharatha's sons. King Janaka gave a hefty "100,000 horses, 25,000 chariots, 10,000 elephants; wagons of gold and jewels; buffaloes and cows without number", all for the princes to marry the princesses! Another bit of additional information I saw was this helpful map! It is taken as a page from the Divine Archer 1 . Foreshadowing Reading this prose, I noticed a large amount of foreshadowing for the journeys that were to befall upon Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana. This one is a bit of a spoiler if you catch it as it happens, b...

A picture of Ganesha. Source If you have any questions or comments about my storybook post them here! Storybook: Ganesha's Home Life

Author's Notes This story was primarily inspired by a part in the Ramayana titled 'The Bridge' 1 . However, this story does contain a lot of the background information from the rest of the Ramayana. I had already typed up a majority of the background before realizing that is was not really on topic, but it did not make sense to delete it. I envisioned that most of the Gods from the Ramayana would take the forms of animals. Rama himself is the commanding ant, and those who follow him are the rest of his friends and allies. It is not correct for ants to have mates in the case of Rama and Sita's ant versions; this has been ignored to simplify the story. Additionally, there is no love interest between Ron and the queen, which is different from the dynamic between Rama and Sita. The Madhya Pradesh is the largest forest in India 2 . Here is a picture of it! Source The Journey of the Ants Background It was a normal day in the Madhya Pradesh forest. The wind ble...

Story 1 - The Bridge 1 The bridge was interesting because it is the first part in the Ramayana where I noticed that the Gods did not answer to the requests of Rama. This lack of response from the God of the Ocean leads to Rama threatening to burn away all of the water so he and his army could cross. Responding to these threats the King of the Sea tells Rama to find another way by building a bridge across the sea. Most interestingly, this bridge can still be seen today. Here is an aerial image of it by CC-by-sa PlaneMad/Wikimedia. Story 2 - Kumbhakarna 2 This story was funny because the length that the rakshasas had to go to in order to awake the giant Kumbhakarna early. It is a bit crazy that being trampled by elephants or having trumpets played in ones ears had little effect on the sleeping giant. However, the gentle caress of beautiful women woke him up instantly. This depiction of Kumbhakarna reminds me greatly of Snorlax from Pokemon, perhaps a trainer could stumble...

Story 1 - Sampati and Jatayu 1 The story of Sampati and Jatayu has the underlying theme of getting carried away. Quite literally, in this case, the two eagles that 'flew too high in the sky'. It feel as though the meeting of Sampati is the result of Karma's influence. As Rama witnessed the death of Jatayu, he is then destined to find his brother in order to locate Ravana, Jatayu's killer 2 3 . It is through helping Jatayu, is Sampati inclined to inform them about the whereabouts of Sita's location. Story 2 - Hanuman's Leap 4 I found this story to be entertaining do to the outlandishness of the jumping competition between the monkeys. It started simple with them simply one-upping each other, but then it is told that Hanuman was able to jump "three thousand leagues towards [the sun]" In owning up to these stories of prowess, Hanuman is given the task up bounding across the sea to the city of Lanka. Of course, he was able to do so. Story 3 - Ha...