Week 15: Tech Tip

i chose to search a picture on google images which I did not know you could do. I searched the golden temple in India. It is also called the Harmandir Sahib.

The Golden Temple

Week 15: Writing Suggestions

I liked the storytelling part of this class the best because I was able to make it my own and tell the story as I wanted. I chose the Portfolio option and I am really glad I did. It was really helpful because I did not have to spend nearly as much as time I would need on a storybook. For future students I would emphasize the amount of creativity and time needed for both types.  The comments that told me how the story was good because I added a certain thing helped the most because I would make sure and add that to my next story. This class definitely helped my writing and also my grammar. In the future I see myself writing technical papers required for engineering. For writing portion of this class, I would say give yourself time to write the critique comments because those are really hard to come up with.

Week 15: Reading Suggestions

What I liked best about the readings for this class was that it taught me a lot of new things that I did not know about my religion. I also liked the fact that we had two different versions of each story so we can see how stories differ as they get passed down. I did not find any new reading diary suggestions for the second half of the semester. I stuck to writing a concise summary after I was done reading. The overall balance was good except I would have liked the commenting to be left at one per person because I would run out things to say. I do not think you should offer a reading extra credit assignment because there already is a lot of extra credit. The only advice I have for future students is to do the storybook projects on time, they catch up to you in the long run. I also like the new set up for Indian epics where we get to choose readings from the myth-folklore class. It would give a wider knowledge base about Indian stories rather than just two things. 

Week 14, Tech Tip: Google Language

I randomly chose to do the hacker Google Homepage.

Savitri's One True Love

There once lived a beautiful princess named Savitri, and the time had come for this princess to get married. Many princes from huge kingdoms and small kingdoms came to see her and take her hand in marriage but she refused all of them.  Savitri thought "All of them are so stuck up! And none of them have ever earned anything in their life." One day she had had enough of waiting for the perfect prince to walk in to her palace, so she decided to take things into her hands. She decided to leave the palace and find a man, any man who was self-made and respectable.

On her journey to find her perfect husband she saw a lot of men, but none fit her criteria until she ran into this one simple man in the forest. This man had grown up by himself and had built a living all by himself and everyone in the village loved him because he was really nice and caring. At first sight she couldn’t help but fall for him, even though the village seemed to avoid him. The entire village thought that this man was cursed and was a bad omen because of his shortened life from an astrologer's reading, and so they all treated him like he did not exist. She approached him without caring what others thought, believing in what she saw, and asked to marry him but the man refused. She asked why and the man told her that he only had a year to live. Savitri’s face dropped but she didn’t give up. She told him she would like to spend every last day with him and cherish it for the rest of her life. The man was shocked, thinking no girl would ever fall for him because no one in the village paid any attention to him, and he said yes in excitement.

The moment had finally come and it was time for her husband to go with the God of Death, Yama. Savitri with a heavy heart tried to convince Yama with all her might to let him stay. She even offered herself instead. But Yama said no. She had nothing left to do but follow her husband with Yama, so she asked Yama if she could move on to the next life with her husband. Yama was confused to why anyone would want to walk to her own death and asked why. She responded telling Yama about how it was hard to find such a good husband and when she did she loved him more than she loved herself. Yama was pleased to see that true love like this still existed, and to also find that their relationship was so strong. Yama decided to offer Savitri a gift. Savitri’s eyes grew out of excitement and she asked for her husband’s life. Yama could not just give up a life that easily, so he gave her a deal. The deal was that she split her days on earth in half and give them to her husband. Savitri without any hesitation accepted this deal and lived a full life’s happiness in half the time.

Savitri begging for her husband's life.

Author’s Note:

I chose to retell the story that Krishna and Vyasa told Draupadi and the Pandav brothers when they went to visit them in the forest. I was inspired to write this particular story because I was impressed to read about such a love story. I do not see that kind of dedication to their significant other. I see it in my parents and my family, but outside of that I do not see it. The story was not a complete copy of the original story. Some things were taken out so I could fit in the four hundred word limit. In the original story the man she met was actually a prince. He was the son of an old blind king. Also when Yama gave Savitri this deal, Savitri somehow managed to get a couple of other wishes in before she got her husband back. Her first wish was to cure the king’s blindness, the second was to restore the king’s kingdom, and the third was for her father to have a hundred sons. And then Yama finally gave up and offered the deal mentioned in my story. This story was important to Mahabharata because it was told to show how Savitri and Draupadi are alike in their devotion to their husbands.

• Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.  

Week 14, Storytelling: Duryodhana's End

Duryodhana realized on the battlefield that he had lost and now was scared for his life. He had nowhere to run except into the forest and hide there until things blew over and everyone was over the war. Duryodhana runs as fast as he could into the woods making sure that no one would see him. In the middle of the forest there was a lake. He decides to jump in to the bottom and use his power to create an illusion of a solid lake so that if someone did find him they would not try and get to him.

Meanwhile on the battlefield, Arjun is looking for Duryodhana as he was the last one to be taken care off. The rest of the generals and relatives of Duryodhana had fallen in war bravely. Krishna, Arjun’s charioteer, then tells Arjun that Duryodhana has hid in the lake in the middle of the forest. Hearing this the Pandavs make their way into the forest along with their army. Once they get to the lake that Duryodhana was hiding under, they all wonder who will take the honors to finish him off. Yudishthira then orders Bhīma to take the first try.

Bhima steps on to the lake and using his mighty strength breaks the illusion of the solid lake. He then fishes his arm into the lake and pulls out Duryodhana who is now trembling with fear. Bhima and Duryodhana fight for a while till the others get impatient and yell out to just finish him. And as Bhima had promised earlier, he smashes Duryodhana’s thighs. Duryodhana lay there on the shore of the lake all beaten up and unable to move. The army looked at each other and were cheering with happiness thinking that the war was now over.

Krishna stepped off the chariot which fell apart instantly because it had been broken a few days into the war. Krishna had managed to hold the chariot together in the battle with his powers of illusion. Krishna explained that although the major part of the war was over there were still a few more strikes left to take care off. And so the Pandavs decide to set up camp, and instead of camping up in a tent they decide to camp outside and keep guard along with Krishna. As they patiently waited for the next move the sun went down and the sky turned dark.

The Solid Lake

• Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.  

Author's Note:
I decided to retell where they find Duryodhana and Bhima smashes his thighs as he had promised. i did not retell it exactly, I retold it in my owns words. I retold it by the images I imagined it as using whatever I could remember about it and filling in the gaps as I went. 

Week 14, Reading Diary B: The End

Yudishthira has post-traumatic stress and is sad thinking that people died because of him. He dreams about his wife and brothers on a journey and they all die. He is offered to go heaven but he has to abandon the dog which he doesn’t. Yudishthira goes back and tells everyone that the war is over. Uttara gives birth to a dead son. Yudishthira throws a festival with food and stuff for everyone. He meets a mongoose with half gold coat, he wants full golden coat. Yudishthira listens to the mongoose and gives him gifts and things too. Dhritarashtra decides to go meditate in the forest. Arjun’s weapons are burned in Indraprastha by Agni. 

Week 14, Reading Diary A: Duryodhana Dies

Duryodhana is hiding in the lake with illusion of it being solid. Yudishthira decides to make one of his brothers fight Duryodhana. Bhīma goes to fight him and as he promised he crushed his thighs. Everyone goes to see him dying. Arjun’s chariot breaks down soon as he steps off of it, because it was broken before but Krishna held it together with the power of illusion. Ashwatthaman goes to raid the Pandav camp but he doesn’t know that Pandavs are outside that night. Shiv is also guarding but Ashwatthaman gives himself up to Shiv so he got into the camp. Only a few survived. Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata for future people.

Week 13: OU Email Tech Tip

For this weeks tech tip I chose to make a folder for all the emails I get for this class. I right clicked on the Inbox and created a new file and then moved all the emails from this class to that folder. I usually do not keep my email organized as I check my email as they come through my phone.

Week 13, Storytelling: The Lake

One in the forest the Pandav brothers were setting up camp and trying to decide on how to spend their last year of exile. Draupadi, the wife of all five of these brothers, got thirsty and wanted something to quench her thirst. So Yudishthira, the oldest one of the five brothers, decided to send the youngest brother with a bucket to get some water. The water was at a nearby lake about a few hundred feet away. This lake was a very quiet and clean lake, not one sign of a living animal was around the lake. The youngest brother approached the lake and started to dip the bucket in the water when the wind started blowing hard and the water became still. He stood there looking around when he heard a voice. The voice belonged to Yama, the God of Death. The god of death said to the youngest brother that if he answers his questions correctly then he is free to get the water. The brother paid no heed and continued to fill water. This made Yama mad so he took his life. Back at the camp Yudishthira started to wonder where the youngest brother was, so he sent his twin brother after him to see if he was safe. The twin brother saw him lay dead at the shore, and decided to quickly fill the bucket and leave. Yama again came and tried asking a question and the twin brother out of fear did not listen. The twin brother’s life was also taken. Yudishthira now worried for sure, sent the strong brother Bhima in. Bhima saw his two brothers lay dead on the camp and decided to take revenge on whoever it was that killed his brothers. But Bhima had no chance again Yama and he also died. Three brothers down and Arjun decided to go check up on what they were up to. Arjun was smarter than the other three and paid heed. But sadly, Arjun did not know the answer to the question. It had been a while and none of the brother returned so now finally Yudishthira goes to the lake. Yama is also Yudishthira’s divine father. Yudishthira was asked the question and he answered after thinking a while. He was correct. Yama as a reward revived all his brothers and also gave them a boon. This boon gave them the choice to be disguised as anything they want for their last year of exile. This solved their problem of what to do for their last year.

 Author’s Note:

I decided to retell the lake story where the brothers go fill water. I did not retell it exactly how it was in the Mahabharat, I made a few changes to it. I also did not specify which question was asked because I could not think of a good question to be asked. 

The Lake

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata

Week 13, Reading Diary B: The Battle

Vyasa goes to Hastinapur to warn Dhritarashtra of the bad omens but the king says he has no control over his sons. Amba was rejected by Bhisma, and her lover. She goes into the forest where she makes a bow and arrow and Shiva gives her a cloth to tie around the arrow and when she shoots it she dies. Drupada has a daughter to trades genders with Sthuna, who is then cursed. Yudhishthira bows down and asks if anyone comes to join his sides then they are welcome. Bhishma is really good on the battle field until he was pierced with a bunch of arrows. He chooses to pass away on winter solstice. Arjuna kills Jayadratha and throws his head onto his father’s laps. Drona is killed when he is devastated after hearing his son is dead. Karna’s chariot gets stuck in the ground and Arjuna kills Karna. Pandavs go to the lake to confront Duryodhana.

Week 13, Reading Diary A: Pandavs Progressing

Yudishthira tells his brothers to go get water from the lake where Yama takes their life because they did not answer his questions. But Yudishthira answered so they were revived. The Pandav brothers go to King Virata’s court to spend their last year of exile in disguise. Indra comes to ask for Karna’s armor and earrings which Karna gives in return for a throwing dart. Kichaka assaults Draupadi, who runs to the king for proection. She sends Bhima one night who beats Kichaka up. Arjuna uses a weapon to make all the Kauravs go sleep and when they wake up they see Arjun had won. Krishna offers Arjun to be an ally or give his army and he picks Krishna as an ally. Krishna tries to make peace.

Week 12, Storytelling: Savitri and her Husband

There once lived a beautiful princess named Savitri, and time had come for this princess to get married. Many princes from huge kingdoms and small kingdoms came to see her and take her hand in marriage but she refused all of them.  She thought all of them to be stuck up and had never earned anything of their in their life. One day she had had enough of waiting for the perfect prince to walk in to her palace so she decided to take things into her hands. She decided to leave the palace and find a man, any man who was self-made and respectable.

On her journey to find her perfect husband she saw a lot of men, but none fit her criteria until she ran into this one simple man in the forest. This man had grown up by himself and had built a living all by himself and everyone in the village loved him because he was really nice and caring. At first sight she couldn’t help but fall for him. She approached him and asked to marry him but the man refused. She asked why and the man told her that he only had a year to live. Savitri’s face dropped but she didn’t give up, she told him she would like to spend every last day with him and cherish it for the rest of her life. The man shocked, thinking no girl would ever fall for him, agreed in excitement.

Time had finally come and it was time for her husband to go with the God of Death, Yama. Savitri with a heavy heart tried to convince Yama with all her might to let him stay she even offered herself instead. But Yama said no. She had nothing left to do but follow her husband with Yama, so she asked Yama if she could follow him. Yama confused to why anyone would want to walk to her own death asked why. She responded telling Yama about how it was hard to find such a good husband and when she did she loved him more then she loved herself. Yama was pleased to find that their relationship was so strong and offered Savitri a gift. Savitri’s eyes grew out of excitement and asked for her husband’s life. Yama could not just give up a life that easily so he gave her a deal. The deal was the she split her days on earth in half and give them to her husband. Savitri accepted this deal.

Author’s Note:

I chose to retell the story that Rama and Vyasa told Draupadi and the Pandav brothers. The story was not a complete copy of the original story, some things were taken out so I could fit in the four hundred word limit.

• Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.  

Yama, God of Death

Week 12, Reading Diary B: Pandavs and Other Things

Urvashi curses Arjun to be a eunuch for a year, which will be the thirteenth year of Arjun’s exile. Mankanaka cannot stop dancing, if he continues to dance then the earth may be destroyed so Shiv goes to stop him. Once he realizes a god has come he stops dancing. Rishyashringa was a child of Vibhandaka. Vibhandaka saw Urvashi showering and he got excited and came in the lake where a deer drunk the sperm and got pregnant. The kid married a rakshasa and lived with her in the palace. Pandavs leave the forest and go to mount Kaliasa where Draupadi wants a white lotus. Bhima finally gets it for her after dealing with Hanuman. Gandharvas attack Duryodhana and lock him up, but with Arjun’s request he is set free. Krishna and Vyasa go visit the brothers where they tell them the love story of Savitri and how he gave up half her days on earth to give to her husband.

Week 12, Reading Diary A: Nala and Damyanti

Yudishthira goes to gamble with Duryodhana where he loses everything. Krishna comes to Draupadi’s aid. The Pandavs go to exile with their wife. Krishna comes meets them in the forest and then Arjun goes into the mountains where he sees an old man drinking from a clay cup. The old man is his father. Vyasa comes to the forest and tells the story about King Nala and how he got Damyanti. Damyanti chose Nala from the other gods who were disguised as him. Evil Kali also wanted Damyanti but did not get her so he swore to ruin their happiness. Nala ad to leave with Damyanti because of gambling with dice. Damyanti awoke and looked for Nala instead of going home to her dad. Indra arranged to help Nala.  Damyanti and Nala are reunited.

Week 11, Portfolio: Pandavs Escaping

There once were two sets of brothers who lived in the same kingdom. They were called the Kauravs and the Pandavs. There were only five Pandav brothers but combined they were stronger and smarter than the Kauravs brothers. The Pandavs were loved by their people and were very popular, and the people wanted the Pandavs to take the throne after King Dhritarashtra died. King Dhritarashtra was the father of the Kauravs and the uncle of the Pandavs. The Kauravs hated this fact and would do everything they could do to make the Pandavs look bad. They would even go to the extent of killing them which would permanently solve their problem.

One day the oldest Kaurav, Duryodhana, decided to take care off their problem and made a plan to kill the Pandavs. Duryodhana called for one of his trusted generals and told him to go set up the local resort to be burned down, so he could trick the Pandav brothers to go there for their enjoyment. And while they were in there he could trap them and burn the house down. As told, the general went and poured oil outside and inside the resort and also put out dry stacks of hay so the place would burn down faster. When the general returned, he went to Duryodhana and told him exactly what he had done. While the general and Duryodhana were talking, Bhima, the strong Pandav brother, overheard their conversation.

The Pandav brother hurried back to his other brothers and told them everything he had heard. The oldest brother Yudishthira along with Arjun came up with a plan to make an escape route underneath the resort so no one would suspect it. That night the brothers went to the resort while no one was there and dug a tunnel. The next morning when they returned all tired and worn out, Duryodhana could not help but take this opportunity, so he told the Pandavs that he had reserved the resort for them and they were welcome to go and relax there. The Pandavs looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and told Duryodhana that they would love to go.

The Pandavs cleaned up a little bit before they left. Before the brothers left, they told their mother of what was going to happen so she would not worry and they also ran through the plan one more time to avoid any confusion when the time came.

Duryodhana followed the brothers closely to the resort, hiding behind trees and bushes so they would not notice him. On their way to the resort the brothers heard some rustling and figured that it would be Duryodhana following to make sure his plan went through, so the brothers decided to act oblivious and kept walking. Duryodhana thought he was being slick and that the Pandavs did not notice that they were being followed.

 As soon as the Pandavs made it inside the house, Duryodhana ran to the doors and locked it from the outside. He set fire to the oil that was poured all around. Quickly the resort was engulfed in flames and the Pandavs ran to their secret exit. Arjun, Bhima and Yudisthira hustled through their makeshift tunnel while the twins Nakula and Sahadeva held the tunnel up and ran into the woods where they watched the resort burn down and took a last look at their home town before leaving forever.

Picture of a Resort

Author’s Note:

I decided to retell the story where the Pandavs make a quick escape. I was inspired to retell this story because I thought it was interesting how people can go such lengths for materialistic desires. People are willing to go against family and harm their families too just to get what they want, which kind of kills the concept of being family. In this story and Kauravs and Pandavs, I believe are cousin brothers. I didn’t make it an exact retelling. I changed up some things. I changed the overall setting of the story. In the original story the resort was actually a house which the Pandavs went to after they left. Also the Pandavs went to this house when the King told them to leave, not asked like in my version of the story. In the original story their mother Kunti was also sent to this house, and the six of them escaped from the house. Kunti was Yudishthira's mother and was also consider so by the other four brothers too, and I left her out because I didn't feel like adding her in the story since it would make it a longer story. Another thing that was different from the original story was how the brothers found out about Duryodhana’s plans. In the original version Vyasa forewarned the Pandavs of what was to come instead. 

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.

Week 11, Storytelling: Pandavs Escape

There once was two sets of brothers who lived in the same Kingdom. They were called the Kauravs and the Pandavs. There were only five Pandav brothers but combined they were stronger and smarter than the hundreds of Kauravs brothers. The Pandavs were loved by their people and were very popular, and the people wanted the Pandavs to take the throne after the king died. The Kauravs hated this fact and would do everything they could do to make the Pandavs look bad, they would even go to the extent of killing them which would permanently solve their problem.

One day one of the Kauravs, Duryodhana, decided to take of care their problem and made a plan to kill the Pandavs. Duryodhana called for one of his trusted generals and told him to go set up the local resort to be burned down, so he can trick the Pandav brothers to go there for their enjoyment. And while they are in there he can trap them and burn the house down. As told, the general went and poured oil outside and inside the resort and also put out dry stacks of hay so the place would burn down faster. When the general returned he went to Duryodhana and told him exactly what he did. While the general and Duryodhana were talking one of the Pandav brothers overheard their conversation.

The Pandav brother hurried back to his other brothers and told them everything he heard, and together they made a plan to make an escape route underneath the resort so no one would suspect it. That night the brothers went to the resort while no one was there and dug a tunnel. The next morning when they returned all tired and worn out, Duryodhana could not help but take this opportunity so he told the Pandavs that he had reserved the resort for them and they were welcome to go and relax there. The Pandavs looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and told Duryodhana that they would love to go.

The Pandavs cleaned up a little bit before they left, and when they left Duryodhana followed them to the resort. Soon as the Pandavs made it inside the house, Duryodhana locked the doors form outside and set fire to the oil that was poured all around. Quickly the resort was engulfed in flames and the Pandavs made their escape through the tunnel as planned and ran into the forest.

Author’s Note:

I decided to retell the story where the Pandavs make a quick escape. I didn’t make it an exact retell, I changed up some things. In the original story Kunti is also sent to this house. And also the king sends away the Pandavs and the Pandavs go this house. The house in the book was not a resort. Another thing I changed was how the Pandavs found out, the original story someone foretold what was going to happen.

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.

Pandav Brothers

Week 11, Reading Diary B: The Banishment Days

The king sends the Pandavs away and Duryodhana decides to set fire to the house, but Pandav build a tunnel and manage to escape and live in another forest as Brahmins. Bhīma defeats the demon that was asking for yearly human sacrifices. King Drupada wanted a son who can defeat Drona so he begged Shiv who told him to pour two cups of butter in fire, one for a son and another for a daughter. Vyasa takes the Pandavs to Draupadi’s swayamvar where Arjun wins the archery contest. All five marry Draupadi. The king is glad to find out that the Pandavs are alive so he gives them a piece of land and they build a city on it. Arjun goes to visit Krishna where he falls in love with his sister and he marries her. Duryodhana comes to visit the new palace where he gets confused and the brothers make fun of him so they are invited to gamble dice.

Week 11, Reading Diary A: The Beginning

This version of the Mahabharat is pretty much the same as the previous reading. The only difference was how the staring started. This version stats off by calling out Vishnu, Krishna, Arjun, and Saraswati. Also addresses the orator and writer of the Mahabharat. Ganesh is the elephant headed god who writes it, he has an elephant head because his father Shiv got mad and chopped it off. Before the ocean used to be milk so Vishnu decides to churn it for Amrita where a lot things come up including poison which Shiv drinks. 

Week 10, Storytelling: Krishna's Power

War was on the verge of breaking lose, and both sides of the army were beginning to gather on the field. Arjun the leader of the Pandav army did not want war with his family and friends so he decided to send an emissary to talk to the Kauravs. Arjun picked the reincarnation of Vishnu to go and speak behalf of him and try to stop the war. Even Krishna wanted peace so it was wise to send Krishna as he can be persuading. Duryodhana finds out about this emissary and calls on his general to plan a plot in order to capture Krishna.

Krishna reaches Hastinapur, where he approaches the king to see if he can talk to him and convince him not to have the war. The king was almost convinced but Duryodhana decided to walk in right before the king was about to agree to Krishna and ruins everything. Duryodhana was very egotistical and prideful and insanely jealous of the Pandavs. All Duryodhana wanted to do was get his revenge and kill all the Pandavs, so he interferes between the king and Krishna’s conversation and rejects Krishna’s offer. Krishna smiles and said okay and warned the Kauravs of the outcome of this war but Duryodhana paid no heed thinking he can easily defeat the Pandavs especially after capturing Krishna.

Duryodhana signaled his general who was standing in the corner and called for his soldiers to come and capture Krishna. All the guards and soldiers in the grand courtroom began to run toward Krishna with their weapons pointed at Krishna. Everyone was shocked and Duryodhana was smiling evilly. Krishna remained calmed and told Duryodhana not to do this, as it was pointless since he was the reincarnation of Vishnu and had awesome power. Duryodhana once again did not listen to Krishna’s words leaving Krishna with no choice. Krishna closes his eyes and the next thing everyone saw was a huge glowing Krishna standing in the middle of courtroom.  His arms were readied with weapons and with one swipe he took out all the guards and soldiers. Krishna then turns to Duryodhana and talks in his deep loud godly voice and tells him that he will regret this and starts walking toward the door. As he walked towards the door Krishna returned to normal size and glowing stopped. Duryodhana and the king looked at each and trembled at what they had just witnessed in front of them and now regretted what they had done.

Author’s Note:
I wanted to retell the story of Krishna showing his godly form because I thought it was a cool moment. He also showed his godly form on the battle field too but that I thought wouldn’t be as dramatic because that was his second time and no one would’ve been as surprised. I wanted to add a little detail also and show that the Kauravs were scared after that point too.

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Krishna on the Battefield

Week 10, Reading Diary B: The War

Krishna goes to Hastinapur to be an emissionary, and Duryodhana plans to capture him. Krishna becomes all godly and stuff and Duryodhana couldn’t capture Krishna. The war starts and Arjun cannot fight his family so Krishna tells him the Bhagavad Gita. Bhisma is killed by Amba’s reincarnated warrior form. Krishna makes a plan to kill Drona by killing an elephant that has the same name as his son, this throws Drona in distraught and they kill him. One by one they are all killed. At the end Yudishthira doesn’t want to be king but Krishna urges him to be king. The Pandavs slowly die out one by one and Krishna is killed while sleeping on the river bank by a hunter. 

Week 10, Reading Diary A: The Pandavs in Exile and Stuff

Dhritarashtra finds out the Pandavs plans because of his plan, so he sets up a royal camp somewhere around the Pandavs in order to humiliate them. The plan didn’t work out as the gods sent out gandharvas who captured them, but then the Pandavs save the. Pandavs are living in the forest and they find a lake to drink water from. Two of them die because they didn’t answer the lakes questions but then Yudishthira comes and answers the questions bringing the brothers back and they get the gift of disguise. The Pandavs and Draupadi spend their time serving King Virata, where Draupadi gets raped. One of the Pandavs kill the queen’s brother who raped Draupadi. Duryodhana gets suspicious and war is coming. Dhritarashtra was told that the war will bring doom to him.

Week 9, Storytelling: Draupadi's Swayamvar

In a distant land King Drupada was holding a grand event to find a suitable husband for his beautiful daughter. King Drupada did not want just any ordinary guy to marry her daughter. He wanted to find a man that is very strong and skilled to protect the princess. This event was called Draupadi’s swayamvar. Both the Pandavs and the Kauravs hear about this contest and decide to go to make sure that the other does not win the beautiful princess.

The contest was a simple task. All the contestants had to do to win the princess was to pick up the bow and to string it. But this was not any ordinary bow, this bow was given to King Drupada by the gods and was really heavy and stiff. It was not going to be an easy task to string this majestic bow. To judge this contest Krishna, the reincarnation of Vishnu, was also going to be at the swayamvar.

It was time for the competition, both the King and the princess walk out to the courtyard where all the princes from many different kingdoms are eagerly waiting to take a shot at the bow. To solve the problem of who gets the turn to lift the bow first the king decided to let the princes pick up the bow in a first come first serve basis. All the princes stand up and line up behind the grand table where the bow lay.  Each prince tried his best to try and pick up the bow, they tugged as hard as they could but they still failed. Next in line was Duryodhana who was representing the Kauravs. The whole courtyard watched in silence as Duryodhana made his attempt. Duryodhana pulled as hard as he could and all he could do was move the bow by an inch. By the time he managed to move the bow he was completely worn out and tired and so he had to give up. The last contestant was Arjun who was representing the Pandavs. At this point Draupadi had given up hope that she is never going to get married. Arjun stood in front of the bow, looked at it and prayed to the gods before he even tried to. He put out his arm and held the bow, and without thinking lifted the bow effortlessly and string the bow. Arjun stringed the bow so tight that the bow literally snapped in half. The whole courtyard was watching with their eyes wide open in awe of Arjun’s strength. This way Arjun won the contest and got the beautiful princess as his wife.

Author’s Note:

I decided to retell the swayamvar story in my own words, and I also decided to make a little different from the original story too. I chose to tell the story from a narrator’s point of view to make it seem like we were watching a contest on television.

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Draupadi and her Husbands

Week 9, Readying Diary B: Gambling

Duryodhana is worried that Pandavs are still alive but his father does not hate them. Dhritarashtra gives the Pandavs some of his kingdom. Arjun is exiled for twelve years because he interfered with Draupadi when it wasn’t his turn, while he is exiled he marries to other women. Yudhishthira is crowned king of the new kingdom, and Duryodhana is jealous of it. The Pandavs laugh at Duryodhana so he gets mad at them and invites them to a game of dice. At the game of dice Yudhishthira manages to lose everything, his brothers and wife too. Draupadi is given two wishes and she wishes her husband and all his brothers free. Dhritarashatra gives everything back to the pandavs and Duryodhana again invites them to a dice game and once again they lose. This time they are sent to thirteen years of exile. During this time Arjun gets weapons from the gods. 

Week9, Reading Diary A: Kauravs and Pandavs

Shantanu is the king of Hastinapur and he falls in love with Ganga who he marries. He married her on one condition that he doesn’t question any of her actions. She drowns all her children except the eighth one who is Bhishma. Shantanu then falls in love with the fisherman’s daughter whose name is Satyavati. She has two sons with the king.one of her sons died and then Bhishma calls for three sisters to marry the second son. One of them didn’t marry the second son Vichitravirya. Vichitravirya dies without any sons so Satyavati tells her son who she gave birth from the union with Parashara to sleep with Vichtravirya’s two wives.  The sons bored from Vyasa are born with defects because of the reaction given by Ambika and Ambalika. Dhritarashtra and Pandu are the sons. They both get married. Pandu’s wife can make babies with the gods so she calls five different gods to have five different sons who are called the Pandavs. Dhritarashtra has hundred sons who are called the Kauravs. They both are trained by Drona. The Kauravs try to kill the Pandavs because they are not as well liked by the public for the throne but the Pandavs escape through a tunnel. The Pandavs go into hiding and then later go to a swayamvar for Draupadi where Arjun wins a new wife. He shares his new wife with his brothers.

Sita is Not Abandoned

Thousands of years had passed since the kidnapping of Sita and things were going well. Rama and Sita were very happy together and very soon to be expecting a baby boy. One day Sita was feeling nauseous and had a killer headache so she decided to go take a nap to help her condition. Ram was alone and had nothing to do because Sita went to sleep, so he decided to dress up as a commoner and take a stroll through his kingdom and just observe the people to see if they had any problems. Ram was known to be a great king and was loved by his people because he cared for his people. Ram approached the market where most people are during the day to sell their crafts and products so they can make a living.

While walking through the market, he came across a few men gossiping about his beloved queen Sita. He stopped and hid around the corner of the shop and listened in on the conversation. The men were talking about how the queen was kidnapped by Ravana thousands of years ago and that the baby she was carrying was not Ram’s but Ravana’s. Rama was disgusted by hearing this and angrily walked back to the palace where he ordered his guards to call every person in town who thought Sita cheated on Ram and slept with Ravana. Rama knew this was not true because Sita had jumped into fire in order to prove her innocence.

The guards went out and gathered almost the whole town. Ram walked out to the courtyard where the people waited for him patiently whispering and wondering why they were summoned so suddenly. At this point Ram was both disgusted and disappointed in his people for not respecting their queen and gossiping about her. Sita also walked out, wondering why there were so many people in the courtyard. She asked Ram why they were there, and Ram told her that they all thought that she had cheated on Ram with Ravan. Sita was shocked to hear this and was scared about what Ram was going to do next, especially because Ram was known to do anything to make his people happy. Sita was scared that Ram was going to tell her to leave forever and to never come back.

What Sita did not know was that Ram loved her unconditionally and trusted her. He had to have believed her because she proved herself innocent in front of the fire god, Agni. Ram spoke up and explained to his people about how disappointed he was. He also explained how it was impossible that the baby boy that they were expecting could be Ravana’s when Rama killed Ravana thousands of years ago. Not only that but he also told everyone how she proved herself innocent. Sita was surprised when she heard Ram take her side and fell into tears of happiness.

The people looked at each other, ashamed at their stupidity. They couldn’t believe what injustice they had done to their queen so they started to apologize for what they had done. To make it up to Sita the whole kingdom decided to throw a grand festival for the baby shower.

Sita Proving her Innocence

Author's Note:

I was inspired to write this story because I thought it was really unfair to Sita when she was left at the river and exiled by Ram in the original story in the book. I decided that Sita shouldn’t be abandoned just because of what others talk about. In the book Ram hears that his people thought Sita had not been loyal to him, so he exiled her and left her at the river just to make his people happy. I thought that if someone really loved a person, then he or she should stand up for that person. In the story I also decided to describe Ram’s characteristics as a king and also as a husband a little bit more. I chose the picture of Sita in the fire to give a visual of her proving her innocence mainly because that is how I pictured it happen with Agni inside waiting for her. There is no way that anyone that is willing to jump into fire just to prove to their innocence to the person he or she loves. I wrote about one child instead of twins because I forgot that she was carrying twins. 

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Reading Diary Week 8

No, there is not any information from the instructions that I had not noticed before. The main strategies I use in my reading diaries is that I write down the important events that happen while reading. I make bullet points as I go, and then after I am done reading I go back and write my summary. Some tips for other student would be to finish reading before the due date so they wouldn’t have to scramble to write a diary in. I use the same strategy each time. My posts started out long, but then reduced to a paragraph and it has stayed the same length. Overall I think my posts are a little short because I’m not much of a writer. No there isn’t anything that I should have started doing in my posts that I should’ve started earlier. I also cannot think of anything that I can do to my posts, unless I want to add pictures to give some visuals of the story. I have not added any images or included any quotes in my diary posts. Nor do I make connections to movies and books. I do take small notes while I am reading to help me write my diary posts. When I look at my old diary posts they fill in the missing details that forget over time, so yes they are useful. I guess I can add a little bit more detail to my diary posts in the future than giving a very basic outline of what happened to make posts more useful in the future. I do not use my diary posts when I am writing other blog posts throughout the week. Over all I believe I do an okay job of writing these posts but I could put more effort into it.  In general I remember a good amount of the reading in this class and other classes too, but I’m more focused on cramming for midterms. Short term reading strategies would be to read over something once, long term would be read carefully and then write down what you remember from the reading.

Week 7, Storytelling: Sita's Not Abandoned

One day Ram was walking through his kingdom looking at how much progress his people has made in under his rule. Ram had disguised himself as a commoner so no one would pounce on him since he was the king, not only that but so that he can get an honest opinion about things in the kingdom. Ram wanted to see if anything needed attention to or if there were any issues needing to be handled. As Ram was walking he came upon a couple of sellers at their stall gossiping about Sita. Hearing Sita’s name caught Ram’s attention so he hid and listened in on their conversation. Ram was disgusted by what he had heard the men talk about. They blamed Sita of sleeping with Ravan, and that the baby she is carrying is not of Ram. Ram knew Sita was innocent because she had proven her innocence in front Agni, the fire god. Ram went back to his palace and called for his guards to go and bring the men in. The guards do as they were told and brought the men that were talking about Sita into the hall. Ram walked in and the men looked confused, but at the same time happy to see the glorious king in front of them. Ram begins questioning the men if they had said anything about his wife, the men realized they were in trouble. The men decided to come clean before Ram went ahead and exiled them, and because they told the truth Ram didn’t exile or kill them but instead explained Sita’s innocence. He explained how Sita had been proven innocent in front Agni, and also explained that it had been dead for more than a year so there would be no way that it would be Ravan’s baby. The looked at each other feeling rather stupid and apologized to the queen and king.

Authors Note:

I decided to retell Sita’s abandonment on the river but with a different ending, because I thought it was unfair how Sita was abandoned just because Ram heard something. Also told how Ram heard the rumor going around. 

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Sita Proving her Innocence

Week 7, Reading Diary B: The End

Ram goes back to Ayodhya, but makes stops along the way and also shows Sita the places where he met Hanuman and stuff. When Ram gets back, Bharat starts planning the coronation, meanwhile gifts are given and people going back to their respective homes. Sita becomes pregnant, and Ram hears poeple gossiping about Sita so he abandons her at the river. This is because Vishnu was cursed to be seperated from his wife. Valmiki helps Sita and lets her stay in his house where she gives birth to Kusha and Lava. Ram plans a festival in the forest where Sita is living, where he meets his two sons. Sitaa approaches Ram to prove her innocence so she goes underground with mother earth. Kala comes to meet Ram and whoever interrupts them will die. Lakshman dies because he interuppted them. Ram is leaving and Lakshmi and Earth walk with him, Ram gives Hanuman a ring with his name on it. Ram and his devotees jump in the river.

Week 7, Reading Diary A: The Final Moments

Malyavan goes to meet Shiv, who takes Malyavan away from the battle that was about to happen in Lanka. The two demon magicians die while fighting another demon called Jambavan. They were killed by Hanuman and Sugriva. Ravan sends a message to Ram through Shuka. Ravan dances and calls for a wind storm when Kala comes and threatens Ravan. Ravan doesn’t care about it. Ram and Ravan are fighting but no matter how many times Ravan’s head is cut off it grows back. Ravan takes the form of Indra so Ram didn’t know what to do, Matali saw this disguise and then Ram finally killed Ravan. Sita comes into the hall where Agni is there to test Sita. Hanuman learns from Vibhishan on how to save lives. Everyone returns home before Bharat commits suicide. 

The Tale of Hanuman: Revised

Before Hanuman came to be, there weren’t many monkeys in the forest. In fact, there used to be only one monkey who was both a male and a female named Riksharaja. This monkey in the form of a female monkey gave birth two other monkeys, Vali and Sugriva. Sugriva was fathered by the sun god Surya, and the other baby monkey Vali was fathered by Indra, the wind god. Riksharaja was watching her baby monkeys play and noticed that Sugriva was awfully lonely because Vali would always be training and fighting to become a strong monkey king. Because of this she asked the god of the winds, Vayu, to give her another monkey baby so he could keep Sugriva company. Vayu rejected the offer because he saw another beautiful monkey. Her name was Anjana.

Anjana was a free spirit. She liked to swing around the jungle and do whatever she wanted to do, with no one ever to boss her around. She never had any responsibilities before either, because all the male monkeys would be at her service in an effort to make Anjana their wife. Vayu chose Anjana to bear a child with, and Anjana didn’t refuse either because all she could care about was that she was going to be with a god, and not just an ordinary monkey. Anjana gave birth to Hanuman.

When Hanuman was born, Anjana left Hanuman because she could not handle the responsibility of a child. Hanuman had no one to teach him what things to eat and things not to eat, and what is dangerous or safe.  With no one to take care of him and feed his hunger, this innocent little monkey was swinging through the trees under the canopy looking for something to eat. His hunger grew more and more with each swing, but the poor little monkey still couldn’t find anything to eat. As he swung through the branches, he accidentally picked one of the skinnier, weaker branches. The branch broke and Hanuman landed hard on the ground. As Hanuman lay on the ground in a daze, he saw an orange disk between the leaves of a couple of trees. His eyes grew large with excitement. He thought he had found a mango to eat. What Hanuman thought to be a mango was actually the sun in the far distance about to set. Hanuman (with no knowledge of what it was), reached out toward the sun.

Vayu worried about Hanuman because his mother left him and there was no one to take care of him. Vayu had to quit his job to make sure Hanuman was safe at all times. Vayu noticed his son and stopped Hanuman from touching the sun and saved him from burning himself. This caused a problem in the world because Vayu is the wind god, and if there is no wind there would be no air, and without air there wouldn’t be people or other animals and bugs. The other gods started to worry and tried to convince Vayu to come back and begin blowing wind again before everyone died, but Vayu was way too concerned about his son. Brahma, the creator of the universe, then gave Hanuman the gift of eternal life. And Surya bought him an unlimited supply of mangos. This way Hanuman could never die from things he didn’t know were dangerous, and he would never go hungry. Satisfied with these gifts given to Hanuman for his safety and hunger, Vayu returned back to his old job and brought back the winds.

Author's Note:

I chose to retell the story of how Hanuman came to be and explain how he attained eternal life and an unlimited supply of mangos.  I was inspired to write about Hanuman mainly because I felt like he was not given enough credit in the Ramayan. The whole story was based around Ram but I felt like no one realized that without Hanuman and his involvement in Ram’s quest, Ram would not have been able to be the hero. Especially when Ram dies and Hanuman goes and brings a whole mountain over to Lanka to help the reviving process. I chose it to be the first story for my portfolio because I could not think of another better character from the Ramayan to base a story around, plus I thought Hanuman deserved some more attention. Not only that but I wanted to give a reason to why Hanuman was alone and why his mother had left him, so I gave a better explanation on how Anjana was a free spirit In the story I also included the story of Riksharaja and her two sons, mainly because it was told in the book but also it was a good lead up to why the decision of having a baby came up. Even though Hanuman turns out to be very strong and smart and a huge part of the Ramayan, I wanted to show that he also was a baby at one point. He is supposed to be a playful and innocent monkey that just wants to eat all the time. Other than that I tried to stick to most of what I read in the book but with extra explanation for the confused readers. This revised version of the story, has been changed so it has better flow within the paragraphs and story itself too, as that problem was brought up by one of my classmates. Other than that I fixed al the grammar errors I could find.

Picture of Hanuman

Bibliography:

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.  

Week 6, Reading DIary B: The War

Hanuman fills Ram in about the whereabouts of Sita, so they leave Kishkinda and head south. WHen they get to the southern tip, Ram gets mad at the ocean because he cannot cross it and curses the ocean. the ocean god rises up and explains to Ram that one of the monkeys can make rocks float, and to use that skill to build a bridge to Lanka. Vibhishan tells Ravan to return Sita, but Ravan gets mad and kicks Vibhishan out. Vibhishan then goes to Ram, and helps Ram in his quest. Ravan tricks Sita, saying that Ram was killed with the help of two demons, Prahasta barges in and foils Ravans attempt. Ram sends Angada to talk to Ravan, but Ravan is stubborn and wants to fight so Prahasta leads the army into war where Ram and his troop defeat them and make them retreat. Ravan then refers to his brother Kumbhkaran, the sleeping giant, who at first denies to help but then gets up and gives a fierce attack. Ram killed him with his arrows by first cutting of his arms and legs and then finally his head. Ravan then refers to his son Indrajit, who leads a succesful attack and manages to kill everyone except Vibhishan and Hanuman. Hanuman brings the whole mountain for medicine and Vibhishan revives everyone.

Week 6, Reading Diary A: Hanuman's Quest

Hanuman was talking to Jambavan, and Jatayu's brother over hears this conversation. Sampati then tells Hanuman that he had seen Ravan take Sita away to Lanka. Hanuman starts his journey to Lanka when a mountain rises so Hanuman can get some rest. A female demon swallows Hanuman and Hanuman kills her and escapes. Hanuman arrives at Lanka and cannot find Sita in Ravan's bedroom so his father, Vayu directs him. After he talks to Sita, Hanuman decides to cause trouble and goes and breaks things. Ravan tells Indrajit to capture him, which Indrajit does with Shiv's noose spell. Ravan then tells Vibishan to cut of Hanuman's head but he doesnt so Ravan sets Hanuman's tail on fire. Hanuman takes his tail and sets Lanka on fire and leaves.

Week: 5 Styles

I chose to do the portfolio project instead of the storybook project because of time constraints. For this project I chose five different styles of writing which would be: diary, news reporter, courtroom, narration, and historical. I chose these five specifically because I see and read these kind of styles the most, and some styles just seem interesting to put context into. Not only that but I would like to see how my stories turn out after I write them in these different styles, and just analyze how much description goes into each style of story, and how each character is developed.

The first type of style I chose was the diary. I personally never written a diary so I have no clue how to go about writing one. I probably would have to put myself in the characters shoes and think about his or hers emotions and vent it out on Microsoft Word. This would not be my first choice of writing style because I don’t know how to write diaries. But this kind of writing would be great to emphasize on the characters feelings, and point of view on situations happening in the story.

The second style of writing I chose was the news reporter style. The story can be told in a way it is told on the news, where it informs the viewers of what happened and how it happened. This kind of writing would be easy to write as I do watch the news and I think it would be easy to just write in an informative way. Some of advantages of this style of writing would be it would not really that much of a bias toward any character, things will just be told to the reader, another advantage would be that it would cover all the characters side of their story.

The third style of writing I chose was the courtroom writing style. This style of writing would also be easy to write because it wouldn't require me to involve emotional stuff. It would just require me to tell all sides of the story and get every character involved in the situation the court is being held over. This way all the characters point of view will be conveyed and also the story will also be told, and the read will be able to choose on whose side of the story is better and also who to believe.

The fourth style of writing I chose was the narration style. This style is what most typical stories are written in. in this kind of writing style the story would be told from an unbiased storyteller so the story will be convey without any bias toward a particular character. The judgment of characters will then be left to the reader and it would be a fair judgment. In this form of writing it will also be easy to go through conversations between different people and also involve what each character would be thinking at the time.

The fifth and final style of writing I chose was the historical style. This style would be super easy to write in as it would completely informative. It would just a timeline of events that is happening, and then the cause and effect can be discussed. It would also be easier to analyze the whole situation, because only the facts are known. The weakness of this style of writing would be that the characters emotions and point of view would be left out, so would the conversations. This would be bad because the reader would not be able to get an insight into the character.

Week 5, Storytelling: Hanuman

Hanuman was the son of Vayu, the wind god, and Anjana. Hanuman didn’t always have the power of eternal life. Hanuman’s mother left him when he was a baby monkey so he had no one to teach him what things to eat and things not to eat, and what is dangerous or safe. One day this innocent little monkey was flinging through the trees under the canopy looking for something to eat. His hunger grew more and more with each swing, but the poor little monkey still couldn’t find anything to eat. As he was swinging through the branches, he accidentally picked one of the skinnier, weaker branches. The branch broke and Hanuman lands had on the ground. As Hanuman laid on the ground in a daze. He saw an orange circle between the leaves of a couple of trees. His eyes grew out of excitement thinking he found a mango to eat. What Hanuman thought to be a mango was actually the sun in the far distance about to set. Hanuman with no knowledge of what it is, reaches out toward the sun. Vayu notices his son and stops Hanuman from touching the sun and saves him from burning himself. Vayu worried about Hanuman, since his mother left him and there was no one to take care of him, quit his job to make sure Hanuman is safe at all times. This caused a problem in the world because Vayu is the wind god, and if there is no wind there would be no air, and without air there wouldn’t be people or other animals and bugs and stuff. The other gods start worrying and try to convince Vayu to come back and start blowing wind again before everyone dies but Vayu was way too concerned about his son. Brahma, the creator of the universe, then gave Hanuman the gift of eternal life. And Surya, the god of the sun, bought him an unlimited supply of mangos. This way Hanuman could never die out of doing things he didn’t know were dangerous, and he would never go hungry. Satisfied with these gifts given to Hanuman for his safety and hunger, Vayu returns back to his old job and brings back the winds.

Authors Note: I just retold the story of how Hanuman got eternal life and free mangos with a little bit more description.

Mango Supply

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Week 5, Reading Diary B: Sita is Kidnapped

Ravan’s uncle Maricha tries to convince Ravan to leave Ram and Sita alone but Ravan doesn’t listen so he decides to go in the form of a golden deer. Ram goes after the deer because of Sita and when Ram kills the deer, the deer screams for help in Ram’s voice so then Lakshman goes out looking for Ram. Ravan comes in disguised as an old man and abducts Sita. Jayatu tries to save Sita but Ravan cuts off his wings, before Jayatu dies he tells Ram that Ravan kidnapped Sita. Ram and Lakshman go south where they find Savari, she tells Ram and Lakshman about Vali, Sugriva, and Hanuman. Vali kills the buffalo demon, so the buffalo demon’s son wants revenge. So Vali and Mayavi fight, Vali manages to to chase the kid down into a cave and Sugriva scared that Vali didn’t make it alive closes the cave. Vali comes out all mad and stuff about that and tells Sugriva that he’s exiled. Sugriva runs away to Hanuman. Ram meets the monkeys and helps Sugriva kill Vali. Sugriva now has to help look for Sita at the end of the rainy season but he doesn’t because he was drunk. So Ram sends Lakshman and then Sugriva bows down and gathers a huge army.

Week 5, Reading Diary A: Bharat looks for Ram, and Ram gets a Proposal

Kausalya wakes up to find that King Dasarath is dead. Poor Bharat doesn’t know that his dad is dead so when he comes back he finds it weird to see all the changes. Bharat does not like what his mother did and goes out to find Ram in the big dangerous forest. Guha the forest King directs Bharat to Ram and Bharat finds Ram at Chitrakuta. Yay Bharat. Ram still doesn’t come back because he is exiled. Poor guy. On the fourteenth summer Ram, Lakshman, and Sita go to the scary dangerous Dandaka forest. Some demon kidnaps Sita, and Ram saves the day by killing the demon.  Lakshman builds a house for them to live in and Ravans bad sister comes and proposes to Ram and he rejects her. She gets a demon army and once again Ram with his brother, save the day by killing them all. Shurpanakha tells on Ram to Ravan.

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Week 4 Storytelling: Ravan and Mandodari

One day Ravan was out like usual on his conquest to defeat various kings in order to gain more land for his demons to reign over. He came upon one kingdom ruled under King Maya, who was a well-known asura, and Ravan could not resist but to approach the palace. Ravan storm inside the castle in full force screaming for the King of the palace so he can suppress the king into giving his kingdom away but no one heard and the castle was empty. He makes his way through the castle to the back of castle where there was a beautiful courtyard with all sorts of flowers, birds, and a grand fountain in the middle. Ravan now infuriated by the fact that no one had responded to him, saw a beautiful princess at the end of the courtyard playing with birds and watering the flowers. The princess’s name was Mandodari. She was no ordinary princess but she was the master of illusions, she had the ability to shape shift and look like anyone she pleased but her original form was an ugly form that no one ever wanted. At first sight Ravan was in awe and wanted to have her for himself. He starts walking towards her when he is interrupted by one of the palace servants, the servant tells him that the king has been waiting for his arrival. Ravan went to see the king but all he could think about was the beautiful princess. The king knew that sooner or later Ravan was going to come in conquest for his kingdom. Ravan stood in front of the king and demanded that the king hand over the kingdom. The king was smart though, he offered Ravan an offer that Ravan couldn’t deny. The offer was that Ravan can take his daughter and in return the King gets to keep his land and acquire Ravan as his ally. Ravan, who was in awe, accepted the offer and took the princess’s hand in marriage. The King had safely and smartly gotten away from being under the rule of Ravan.

Authors Note:

The original story is when Ravan goes into the forest where he stumbles upon an Asura named Maya who also has a daughter of many arts. I retold the story in a whole new setting and gave the Asura a richer and smarter background.

Courtyard

Kitchen Garden Wikipedia

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Week 4: Reading Diary B, Ram Leaving

Bharat is gone away to visit his grandfather, Dasarath names Ram the king. Kaikeyi did not want this because she wanted her son Bharat to be the king so she used one of the two promises that the King had owed her and made the king exile Ram and make Bharat king. Ram and Sita are leaving and before they leave they give away their things and the citizens of the Kosala want to follow Ram. The elders also make the river go up in order to slow Ram down and make him stay the night. Dasarath is grieving and relates to the boy, who he had once killed in the forest, to Ram. Kausalya wakes up to find Dasarath dead in the morning. 

Week 4: Reading DIary A: Ram, Ravan

This version of the Ramayan is a lot like the one we read previously but there is a lot more back story. This explains how Ravan came to be and why Ram had to take birth. Ravan was very powerful because Brahma had given him a lot of powers. He could not be killed by any demon or anything, except humans because he did not ask protection from humans. He had three other siblings, two brothers and one sister, he also had a wife named Mandodari. Ravan’s conquest got him into trouble with Shiv, but he was able to sing which pleased Shiv so he was released. Ravan also had trouble with the King of the Haihaya people, he tried to attack the king while he was showering but he failed as the king squeezed him with his fifty arms. Ravan went a challenged many others and he was successful, such as the god of death, the sun and moon gods, and Indra’s heaven. From this point Vishwamitra approaches Dasaratha for Ram just like in the previous version. In this story Ram wins Sita by breaking the bow of Shiv. 

Week 3 Storytelling: Dundubi

There once was a demon named Dundubi. This demon was in the form of a buffalo and had thirst for fighting and blood. All he ever wanted to do was fight everyone that crossed his path for the rest of his life trying to prove his power and strength. One day this demon decided to challenge one of the gods to show off his strength, so he went a challenged Lord Vishnu to fight him. Vishnu saw his thirst for fighting and killing and thought it would be for Lord Shiv, also known as the god of destroying. Vishnu told Dundubi to go to Mount Kailash and fight Shiv to show off his power, because after all Shiv is the destroyer and more powerful. Dundubi agreed and went to Kailash where he smashed his horns into the mountain side, making the whole mountain shake. Shiv, infuriated that someone had awakened him from meditation, came raging down to see who it was. Shiv sees it was Dundubi and asked what was so urgent that a buffalo has to shake his whole mountain. Dundubi challenges Shiv to fight. Shiv, the all-knowing god, realized that all Dundubi wanted to do was fight so he thought that he should send him to Indra, so he can join Indra’s army and fight as much as his desires. Shiv sent of Dundubi to Indra. Dundubi is now furious because every god he goes to, has redirected him to someone else. Dundubi enrages at Indra saying that all he wants to do is fight, why can’t the gods fulfill his wish. Indra didn’t want to deal with him, as Indra was egotistical and thought this buffalo demon to be petty and worthless. Indra explains to Dundubi that Vali is the only one who can provide him a lifetime full of fights. Dundubi had lost all of his patience and mindlessly made his way to Vali, and without any thought attack Vali at full speed. Vali and Dundubi run around the whole world fighting each other until Vali finally loses his temper and decides to end Dundubi. Vali takes out his weapon of choice and smashes the demons horns off. He then takes the horns and uses it against Dundubi to permanently finish him. Vali picks up the buffalos dead body and flings it across the country, where it lands on a sages prayer grounds. The sage in return curses Vali.

Authors Note:

This is the story of Dundubi the buffalo demon. I just retold the story I read in the book in my own words, I haven’t really made a whole new story line.

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.

                                                               Dundubi The Buffalo

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