Storytelling for week 6: The forest

 The Forest

    The Sun god put the Pandavas and their wives in the forest. The god decreed that whatever food they gathered they had to set apart a portion of it for him. This angered the Pandavas and their wives. They worked so hard gathering their food. Most of the fruits in the forest were high up in the forest and plus there are hungry wild animals roaming all over the forest. The Pandavas and their wives hated their lives in the forest. They did not have a stable home, the rain was horrible, and they were not free to do anything. Their every move was watched by the Sung god.
    After twelve long years of living the forest, they decided to formulate a plan to escape the forest. They had enough of the forest and the Sun god. Now, the forest was bordered with walls. The walls were impossible to climb over; they were so high. Therefore they decided to build a tunnel. They worked on the tunnel during the night because the sun god was not there. He only came out during the day.
   When finally their tunnel was complete. They gathered all the food they had saved up and packed their belongings during the day for at night they were going go into the tunnel and escape the forest. When it was finally night time, they went to the tunnel only find that it was flooded with water from the rain from the day before. They had to reschedule their escape to another day when the flood went down.
   Finally the day came when the tunnel was acceptable to crawl through. While the Pandavas were walking toward the tunnel, the Sun god was following close behind. The Pandavas and their wives did not know this but the Sun god uses the creatures of the forest as spies. One of the creatures informed him of their plan of escape.
   One of them finally noticed that they were being followed by the Sun god and informed the group. The leader of the group offered himself as a sacrifice. He would run off and distract the Sun god so that the others could escape. The group had no other choice but follow through with this plan. The leader ran towards the Sun god and the rest of the group escaped.




Author's Note:
This story was based on the story of Life in the Forest. I kept the whole concept that the forest is a horrible place to live in because of the wild animals and bad weather. I wanted the story to be a little more adventurous so I made it a story about an escape, sacrifice, and courage.












"Life in the Forest" by Indian Myth and Legend (1913). Web Source: Public Domain Edition.

Reading Diary B: public domain Mahabharata

    Although I did not enjoy this portion of this week's reading as much as the first there were still some chapters that stood out to me. One chapter that I enjoyed was Ashwatthama's Jewel. In this chapter, Draupadi grieves for the death of her brother and her five sons. In her grief she requests the head of AShwawtthaman. In place of his head she will accept a jewel of his. Apparently the jewel that he has is just as precious as his life is to him. Arjuna found Ashwatthamann and took the jewel from him and gave it to Draupadi.
   Another chapter that I though was interesting was the Horse Sacrifice. In this chapter, a horse is sacrificed. Before sacrificing the horse, they had to determine if it was pure. This did this by pressing its ear and if milk flowed out of it, it means that it is indeed pure. The animal has to pure in order to be considered good enough for the gods. Bhima began the sacrifice by severing its head. To further determine that the animal was pure the inspected the insides of the horse. A bright lite appeared inside the animal; this means that the animal is indeed pure and is good enough for the god Vishnu.
    The third chapter that I though was interesting was Death of Krishna.In this chapter, the people were drinking and began to fight. Fathers were killing sons and sons were killing fathers. Krishna was trying to fight the rebels but died upon leaving the city. He was mistaken for a gazelle by a hunter and was shot.

(Death of Krishna)

Reading Diary A: Mahabharata public domain

    I really enjoyed this portion of the public domain Mahabharata. One of the stories I enjoyed was the first one, which was Life in the Forest. In this chapter, the writer introduces what it is like living in the forest to the reader. He does so by describing what kinds of foods they eat. They ate fruits, roots, and produce. It is pretty much what you would expect. For twelves years Pandavas and his wife Draupadi live in the forest -- living minimally and simply. Whatever food they obtained, they had to share a portion of it with the holy men. Although their live was simple, their home was pleasant. They were surrounded by fruits and flowers. I wished they would have included a picture in color depicting the abundance of the forest though.
    Another chapter that I enjoyed was Krishna's Visit. In this portion of the reading Krishna visits Draupadi. Draupadi uses this opportunity to complain to Krishna. She complains about her husband to Krishna. She accuses her husband of not caring about her. Her husband Pandavas saw her afflicted but did not do anything to save her. Krishna comforts her and promises her that she will be the queen over kings.
    I chose the image below because I really felt like if fit into the story of Krishna’s Visit. Not only is it a beautiful picture but it really captures the relationship between Krishna and Draupadi. It shos Draupadi confiding in Krishna and Krishna offering advise to Draupadi.

(Draupadi and Krishna)

Thoughts about Comments

So far people have been writing very helpful and well thought out comments. My favorite thing about some of the comments I have received is when commenters ask questions. It makes me feel like they really thoroughly read my posts and that they are interested in what I have to say. I also like it when they leave compliments and helpful suggestions.

Storytelling for Week 5: The Little Fish-Smelling Girl

The Little Fish-Smelling girl
    Once there was a girl who lived in the beach. No one knew where she came from or where or who her parents are. All they knew was that she was a beautiful girl who spent her days on the beach. Although she was extraordinarily beautiful, she had a fishy smell. Many lads fell in love with her from afar but as soon as they approached her they were repulsed by her smell and could not stand to be near her. This saddened the girl.
    The girl was so distraught by this she decided to go to a witch. She told the witch her problem and the witch decides to help her in return for something. The witch will take away the girl’s fishy smell but if the girl does not fall in love within three days, she will become the witch’s servant forever. The girl agreed to this deal.
    The girl came back so sweet-smelling that the fragrance could be smelled seven miles away. One day while on the beach the girl saw a young man drowning in the ocean. The girl went after him and brought him up to the shore. Before the prince woke, the girl ran off. She was too nervous to stay and talk to him. The prince woke up and all he could remember was the sweet smell of the girl who saved her. He vowed to find her.
    After a few days, the young prince finally found her on the beach. He asked her to join him for dinner at his palace. She agreed.
    Whilst eating and talking the young girl and prince grew more in love with each other. After dinner he showed her around his kingdom, introduced her to his family and friends, and confessed that to her that he has fallen in love with her. She responded by telling that she has fallen in love with him as well.
    The witch seeing this was in fear of losing the girl as a servant and so intervened. She gave back the girl’s fishy smell.
   Once the girl lost her sweet fragrance, she ran off before the young prince could smell her fishy smell and hate her. The young prince confused tried to run after her but lost her. He tried to find her but because she lost her sweet smell, he could not find her.
    Eventually the girl could not stand being apart from the young prince, she approached him on the third day. Although the prince was taken back by her fishy smell, he still loved her. This broke the curse of her fishy smell to the dismay of the witch. A spell is a spell.

(Little Fish- Smelling Girl)

Author's note:
This story was based on "Vyasa and Ganesha." While reading this story I could not help but think about the Little Mermaid story from my childhood so I decided to intertwine it with this story. Instead of a mermaid or fishtail, the girl has a fishy smell. In contrast to the original story "Vyasa and Ganesha," my story has a love interest and does not include the birth how the girl came to be.

"Vyasa and Ganesha" from Vyasa and Ganesha (1921). Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata

Reading Diary A

    I really enjoyed this first section of Mahabharata. It is probably my favorite so far. One of the stories I really enjoyed was the story of Vyasa and Ganesha .
     This story was lighthearted and humorous. It begins by introducing the author of Mahabharata, Vyasa. Vyasa is in need of an scribe. When he finally finds a scribe the story begins. The story revolves around a girl named Satyavati. A king named Uparichara dropped his semen into the river, impregnating a fish. This is how Satyavati was born. She was born from a fish. Because she was born form a fish she was cursed with a fishy smell. I thought this part was really funny. the only way for her to get rid of her fish smell was to remain a virgin. Satyavati kept this promise of chastity and was granted a sweet smelling smell.
    The picture that was included in the story of "Vyasa and Ganesha" illustrates Vyasa talking and Ganesha recording. It shows Vyasa reciting the story and Ganesha writing it down. This picture fit very well into this story.

(Vyasa and Ganesha)

     Another story that I enjoyed was Amba. This story was kind of sad but I still enjoyed it. This story revolves around Amba, a princess. Amba is set to marry a man she does not want. Amba is still hung up on another person, Brishma. Despite be committed to marrying another person Amba still pursues Brishma even though he does not reciprocate. This angers Amba, making her vow to destroy Brishma. 

Krishna's Birth

Hello readers. This is your Insider to the scandalous life of the God Krishna. Have you ever wondered about the God Krishna? We do not really know much about him do we? We see him as the powerful God and that is really it. Well, what if we told you that the God Krishna has a lot more going on than he leads us to believe. 

Everyone has family issues and the God Krishna is no exception to this. According to a confidential source of ours, Krishna’s family is not exactly the cookie -cutter family that everyone commonly believes. We can see why he did not want anyone to know about his past.

Let’s start with the fact that Krishna is the eighth child born to Princess Devaki. That’s right; you heard us – the eighth child. Now you are probably wondering where are all of his siblings; "I did not know that he had that many siblings." Well, the reason why he “appears” to not have as many sibling as he seems to have is because all seven of his siblings are dead. What are the chances! It gets worse from here. A family member killed them; their uncle – Prince Kamsa. Talk about a bad seed in the family. 

Now that we have your attention, let’s start this from the beginning. Prince Kamsa (a.k.a the killer) is the brother to Princess Devaki, who is the mother of Krishna. Okay, this is how Prince Kamsa explains his reasoning behind his killings. A voice from the heavens informed him that the eighth child of Princess Devaki would be downfall of him. We are not doctors or anything but it kind of sounds like Prince Kamsa is not really mentally stable. I mean if you are hearing voices from out of nowhere, you might want to get yourself checked into a clinic. 

This “prophecy” pushed Prince Kamsa to formulate his awesome plan of killing all of Princess Devaki’s children. Yeah, great plan Kamsa: become a serial killer. Krishna’s parents having knowledge of Kamsa’s plan was fortunately (spoiler alert) able to save Krishna. 

Here are the details of how he was saved. Kamsa locked Devaki and the babies in prison. Krishna was born in the prison.  Fortunately, Krishna’s father, Vasudeva, escaped without the knowledge of Kamsa with Krishna and replaced Krishna with another baby that was a girl. Kamsa was not aware of the supposed sex of Princess Devaki’s baby. He did not even notice that the babies were switched.

Following through on his plan, Kamsa tried to kill the baby girl, who he thought was the eighth child born to Devaki, but fortunately the baby escaped. We do not know how but I mean what’s important is that she is alive. In the end, both Krishna and the baby girl, who replaced him temporarily, are alive. Well, at least this story kind of has a happy ending. It kind of detracts from all of the family craziness for a second. So, moral of the story: do not trust anyone even (or especially) your family. 

If you enjoyed this, don’t think this is it. There is more to the God Krishna than meets the eyes and we have all of the info. Until next time then. 

(Baby Krishna)

Author’s Note: 

My story was based on the story of Krishna’s Birth from Famous Indian Legends. I included all of the main information from the story but put a twist on it. I wrote the story in an “Insider” tone instead. By using this theme, I was able to expose the story’s main points. In my story I focused on the scandalous portions and emphasized them through a “gossip” tone. I focused on how Krishna’s uncle killed his siblings and tried to kill him because it was prophesied that he would be the downfall of his uncle. I also wanted to depict just how evil his uncle was. The purpose of this story was to show the readers how Krishna’s life is not perfect. It has faults. The reasoning for this is because I believe that in our life the purpose of the gossip magazines is to illustrate that celebrities are not like us in some ways but they are also like us in other ways. They have struggles just like the normal people. Therefore by showing that Krishna has faults, I am humanizing him. I chose the image above because I felt like it represented Krishna well in this part of his life. It illustrates his innocence. The purpose of this was to draw a contrast between Krishna and his uncle. By depicting an innocent- looking Krishna, I am portraying Kamsa as evil.

Another note is that in my particular version I left out the background of the girl who took Krishna's place temporarily because I felt like it was necessary in my story. I wanted the focus to stay on Krishna. In the original version of the story, the girl is actually Subhardra. When Kamsa attempted to kill thinking she was Krishna, she took the form of Goddess Durga and laughed at Kamsa for falling for the trick and then disappears.

Bibliography

"Krishna's Birth" from Famous Indian Legends. Website: Famous Indian Legends

 

Stortelling for week 4: Sita

Sita

There once was a beautiful maiden named Sita. One day while wandering in a forest, Sita ran into Rama. Rama was hunting. Sita instantly fell in love with him. Rama was everything she would ever want. He was strong, noble, and loyal. For Rama it was kind love at first. He fell in love with Sita’s beauty. Rama and Sita were set to wed the next week.

Rama was not the only man who had his eye on Sita but also Ravana. Ravana had been eyeing Sita for as long as he can remember. He was waiting for to be right of age for marriage and finally she was. Therefore he made his presence known.

One day while Sita was doing some chores, Ravana introduced himself to her and made it known that he was interested in her. Sita was flatter but however did not reciprocate the same feelings that Ravana had for her. She was in love with Rama. This angered Ravana. He had been waiting for so long. He decided to kidnap her. He grabbed her and ran off with her and took her back to his home. His home was hidden in the very back of the forest. Sita tried to escape on several occasions but because Ravan’s home was in an unknown location she was afraid to leave in fear of getting and dying from hunger.

In the meantime, Rama distraught by Sita’s disappearance tries to find her. He promised to never give up until she is found. For weeks, Rama and his soldiers tried to find her but had no luck.

Sita angry at Ravana refused to interact or talk with him. To her, he was a monster. Months past ad Sita became bored. She had no one to talk to. One day Ravana invited Sita to dinner. Sita although reluctant accepted the invitation.

She had dinner with Ravana but it was nothing she expected. She actually enjoyed it. She enjoyed talking to Ravana. Over the course of the year, Ravana continued to invite Sita to dinner and Sita continued accepting the invitations. Over the course of the year, Sita and Ravanna became good friends. Her captivation was not as bad after all.

With each day, Ravana was falling more in love with Sita but he knew that Sita only cared for him as friend. Although this saddened Ravana, he still loved Sita. He loved Sita so much he decided to let her go. He only wants Sita to be happy.

Ravana showed Sita the way back and Sita and Rama were reunited – the wedding was back on. Ravana and Sita remained close friends throughout their lives.

(Sita)

Authorj’s Note

This is loosely based on “Sita Stolen.” While reading this story it reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite movies so incorporating it into my story was easy. I changed a few things such as Ravana and Sita do not marry rather she goes back to original love, Rama. Despite it the story ends on a happy note in that Sita and Ravana remain close friends. 

"Sita Stolen" by Myths of Hindus and Buddhists. Web Source: Archive

Reading Diary: Sita and Promila

 

Rama and Sita 

    I really enjoyed reading the first portion of Sita and Promila. One of my favorite sections was the first one. In this section, Sita is introduced. Her introduction is an interesting one. One day a King- farmer was walking around when he happened to fall upon an infant -- a girl. This overjoyed the King for he was childless and needed a child as an heir. Just a year after Sita is born, the Kings wife began conceiving. She gave birth to another three daughters but Sita was by far the prettiest. Many suitors asked for Sita's hand in marriage.

    Another section that I enjoyed was section five. I really liked this section because I really enjoy romantic love stories. In this section Rama and Sita are getting married. Just from reading this section I could tell that Sita and Rama were very much in love with each other. In section six it goes on discussing how Sita and Rama were perfect for each other. Sita is the “Moon-Princess” and Rama is the “Sun-Prince.” Despite their perfect love, their journey was not always easy. There were times Rama had to leave Sita. Sita was left not knowing if Rama was safe or dead. This put a lot of stress on Sita.
   The only picture that was include in this portion of reading was a picture depicting Rama crowning Sita. This picture really illustrates the love Rama has for Sita. I know of wished there were more pictures. I felt like the reading did not describe the setting enough.

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Styles

I would like to focus on the topic of Gods and Goddesses of the Indian culture. I found two stories that I am considering. The first one is called "A Mountain on a Finger." What drew me to this story was the title. It reminded me of the God Atlas from the Greek and Roman Mythology. Instead the mountain is the world.  The Second one is called "Ganesh."

Bibliography
"A Mountain on a Finger". Website: Indian Mythological Stories.

"Ganesh". Website: Indian Mythological Stories.

(Ganesh)

Brainstorming Styles
    I know that I want to use the third-person storyteller and first-person style. Some possible styles I am considering are an Insider or paparazzi style, a diary entry style, a therapist/patient style, and a script style.
     Last semester in the Mythology Folklore course, I did an insider/ paparazzi style and really enjoyed it doing it. I enjoyed it so much I am considering doing it again for this particular course -- Epics of India. Since my topic is Gods and Goddess I thought it would be fun to characterize the Gods and Goddesses as celebrities and the humans as the "regular people." The Insider would be a magazine that exposes the Gods and Goddesses to the mortals. This would be in the third-person storybook style.
    The second style I am thinking about is a diary entry style. This would be in the first person of the Gods and Goddesses. By doing it in a diary entry format allows the reader to know what is going through the God or Goddess's head. What is he/she thinking about. I thought that this would entertaining and interesting for the reader. Normally, we just read about Gods and Goddesses. We don't know who they truly are or what emotions are going through them.
    I thought that doing the storybook in a therapist/patient kind of style would be interesting. In this kind of format there would two characters: the therapist and the patient, who will either be a God or Goddess. The therapist will ask the questions and the God or Goddess will answer in a kind of anecdote style.
    The final style that I am considering is a script style. In this kind of format the storybook will solely be dialogue -- like a movie or television show script. I just thought this would be entertaining and fun for the reader. I believe that his kind of style will make the reader feel like he is actually present during the story. I believe this will help maintain the readers interest and focus.
     

    




 

Storytelling for Week 3: Sugriva and Vali

Sugriva and Vali  

   There once was two best friends named Vali and Sugriva. Vali and Sugriva have known each other since they were children. They did everything together – played the same sports and had the same interests. As they grew their friendship only grew stronger.
    Vali was heir to the thrown and so when his father died he became the ruler of his country. Sugriva was always a little jealous of Vali but that did not hinder him from being proud of Vali and congratulating him. Sugriva was Vali’s right hand man and for Sugriva that was good enough.
    The country was at war and so being king Vali had to go into battle and lead his people. Vali fought well for a time but after a few months of battle the enemy got the best of him and him and soldiers surrounded. The enemy killed everybody at that battle or that was what they thought. Vali was actually the only one that survived the battle but no one was aware of this. The enemy had him as a prisoner of war.
     Contrary to the truth, word reached Sugriva that Vali was killed in battle. Sugriva was devastated by the news. He mourned for his friend Vali for days. So because the people believed that Vali had been killed in battle they decided to appoint Sugriva as king. He was the second hand man to Vali so it only made sense to. Sugriva dutifully accepted the appointment.
    For years, Sugriva ruled and he was a good king. The people loved him for he brought an end to the war and brought wealth to the kingdom. Vali was forgotten.
    Seven years had passed and Vali is finally able to escape from the enemies. His time as a prisoner of war was horrible. They tortured and humiliated him. Every day during his imprisonment he prayed that his friend Sugriva would save him but as the years progressed Vali gave up. He started to go crazy and formulate absurd ideas. For instance, he believed that it was Sugriva that put him in this prison. He began believing that Sugriva struck up a deal with the enemy to get rid of him so Sugriva could be king. Vali vowed that he would escape from his imprisonment avenge himself. His plan was to steal Sugriva’s wife.
    Upon arriving at Sugriva’s palace, Vali approached Sugriva. Sugriva did not recognize him. Vali introduced himself and then angrily accused him of leaving him in the enemies’ hands to die. Sugriva tried to explain himself, saying that he truly thought that he had died but Vali would not listen. Instead Vali grabbed Sugriva and held a knife to him, telling him that he was going to kill him. Sugriva started crying. Seeing Sugriva cry woke Vali up and made him look around him. All over the palace were paintings and memorials of himself. This made Vali realize that Sugriva truly did care about him because then why would he have all of these decorations up. Vali embraced Sugriva and asked for Sugriva’s forgiveness to which Sugriva replied that he would only accept if Vali would accepts his forgiveness.

(Vali and Sugriva)

Author’s Note:
This story is loosely based on “Sugriva’s Story.” I changed it to be more focused on friendship and I also wanted it to have a happier ending. I did not include Sugriva’s wife because I wanted the story to just focus on Vali and Sugriva and how they were able to sustain their friendship despite the incredible hardhips.

"Sugriva's Story" from Ramayana (1913). Public Domain Edition Ramayana

Reading Diary B

    The second portion of this story was formatted a little different than the first part. For instance the breaks between the paragraphs were not as short. The paragraphs were longer. This took me by surprise because I expected the second portion of the story to look similar to the first part.
    Despite the differences between the two, I still really enjoyed the second portion of the story. Some of the chapters that I really enjoyed was Ravana's Death and Mandodari's Lament. In spite of the depressing topic these chapters cover -- death. I though it was really interesting it kind of marked the beginning of Rama's reign. 
     In "Ravana's Death" the story begins with Rama and Ravana fighting. Soon enough Rama defeats Ravana and becomes the king of Lanka. The chapter ends with a rhyming poem. I thought it was different to include a poem -- different but enjoyable. The poem was very detailed. Its choice of words allowed me to imagine the setting. It really created the atmosphere.
    Unlike Ravana, in "Mandodari's Lament" not everyone was too happy about the death of Ravana. For instance Ravana's cheif wife Mandodari was devastated. Reading this chapter I could just tell how devastated Mandodari is based on what she says. For instance, she goes on saying that happy days are done. This suggest that she has no hope of getting over Ravana.
    Another thing that enjoyed about this reading was the pictures. The pictures are always very colorful and they are always very detailed. This really helps me as a reader to imagine the setting and the  atmosphere. For instance in the picture of Ravana's death below, from just looking at it I can tell that the atmosphere is depressing. I can tell because of the very detailed expression of the people in the picture.

(Ravana fallen)

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

   I really enjoyed this section of the reading. Some of my favorite chapters or stories was Sugriva and Hanuman and Sugriva's Story. In the "Sugriva and Hanuman," Hanuman is introduced. He is introduced as Sugriva's helper. In this first chapter they do not say much about Sugriva and his background until the second chapter. I liked how it was formatted like that. It kind of leaves the audience guessing and wanting to read more.
   In the second story "Sugriva's Story," the backstory of Sugriva is revealed. It begins with telling a tale about the source of Sugriva's and his brother's animosity for each other. Apparently it was one big misunderstanding. Sugriva's brother Vali thought that Sugriva tried to kill him so that he may rule over his people but that was not really the case at all. Sugriva tried to explain himself but Vali would not listen. To get back at Sugriva, Vali stole his wife.
    It was not until Vali's Death that Sugriva finally overcame Vali. Sugriva and Vali had a great battle. Toward the end of the fight Sugriva shot an arrow toward Vali and got him. This arrow killed Vali.
    Another reason why I liked this section of reading was because of they it was formatted. The breaks in it made the story very clear and concise. I did not think it was too fluffy or had anything that unnecessary.
   I also liked the pictures that were included in this section of the reading. They were really colorful and allowed me to set the setting of the stories. It helped me imagine and put the details together.

(Rama kills Vali

Topics

     Some possible topics that I am interested in are Gods/ Goddesses, romantic stories, war, and adventure. I am interested in the topics of Gods/ Goddesses because I am curious as to how these Gods compare to other Gods from different cultures. I took Latin in high school and in this class we learned about mythology. And if you know anything about Latin mythology there are a lot of Gods. I am curious to how Indian Gods compare to the Roman/ Greek Gods. The research I did for this topic consisted of googling it, looking into it on Wikipedia, and other websites.

   I have always like romantic stories. I am kind of a romantic. What I am most interested about this topic is learning about the Indian culture through it. I believe that having “romance” as a topic, it will not only be entertaining and enjoyable but it will also give me a glimpse into the Indian culture and how this particular culture deals with love. I do not know much about this topic other than what I have recently researched but I look forward to learning more about it and writing about it. The extent of research consist of Wikipedia and past storybooks.

     The third topic that I am interested in is war. I have always been fascinated with war. Some of my favorite movies and books are actually about war. I do not much about war within the Indian culture so I hope that by choosing this as a topic it will help me learn about it. I wish to learn about how the Indian culture fought, the way dealt with conflict, and what countries or people they were at war with. During my research I found some stuff about from Wikipedia but not much. Hopefully, I will find more stuff as I progress through this course.

    The final topic that I am considering is adventure. I would say that I can be pretty adventurous sometimes or try to be. This is why I included adventure as one of my topics. The research I did for this topic was looking at past storybooks. I actually found several storybooks dealing with adventure. For instance, there was this one storybook that had a travel journal theme. I thought that this was clever. You can do a lot with this theme. Another story book that caught my eye was the one about Himalayas.

(Hindu God and Goddess)