Epics of India - MLLL 4993-996

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...