Week 14: Reading Diary B - The End is Nearing

Reading Diary Pg. 351-412
Mahabharata by William Buck

• Today's reading starts off with the author, William Buck, bringing the story to a close and bringing up the description of the setting. 
• The setting still remains Shaunaka listening to the story told by his friend Sauti the storyteller. Sauti was in Hastinapura, where he had overheard the Mahabharata which was being recited by Vaishampayana, who is a disciple of Vyasa. Vyasa is the composer of the Mahabharata and is the one who taught it to Vaishampayana. Buck goes on to explain that as his book comes to an end, we can expect to see a bunch of different stories merging at the end. 
• The battle is now over, and Bhishma is still alive. He is waiting to choose his own moment where he will die. Everyone gathers together to visit him so that they could be there with him while he dies. 
• Bhishma decides not to put a curse on Yudhishthira for leading the army against him, and he has decided not to have any anger towards anyone. His last words are to Krishna and he ends up dieing on the exact day of the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. They take burn him to his ashes and pour them out into the Ganges river.
• Yudhishthira is in despair over all of the deaths. He has a dream where he sees himself along with his brothers and Draupadi on a journey, accompanied with a dog. As they continue on this journey, Draupadi and all of his brothers die and he just continues on the journey with the dog.
• Yudhishthira travels to Hastinapura and declares that the war is officially over. Rakshasa is disguised as a hermit. 
• The Brahmins of Hastinapura utter a mantra which kills Charvaka. Yudhishthira is made king. The is an elaborate ceremony with ritual, in which he is officially crowned. He tells the people of Hastinapura to treat Dhritarashtra with respect, as they had not before. 
• Yudhishthira holds a festival with plenty of food and gifts for everyone. It is here that he meets a mongoose who is golden colored on half of his body, and he explains that he acquired this color from rolling in the grains that a generous poor family had offered to Yama. He wishes to be gold all over, but hasn't been able to find anyone generous enough to give it to him. 
• Yudhishthira is thankful that he has shared his story with him, and generously gives him gifts of food and silk for his wife. 
• Arjuna travels to Indraprastha, where he meets the god Agni who burns Arjuna's weapons to ashes. He finds that the Khandava forest has grown up again and that Indraprastha is in ruins. 
• A flood drowns the city of Dwaravati, and only Balarma and Krishna survive, but Balarma later dies. 
• Right as the book is ending, Takshana takes Astika with him into the naga kingdoms under the world. 

Week 14: Reading Diary A - The Duel

Reading Diary Pg. 307-349
Mahabharata by William Buck

• The beginning of this reading talks about Duryodhana, who uses power to keep anyone from entering the lake, making it impenetrable. I'm thinking he did this in order to exert power and prove he is strong. The others did not take this so well, and it eventually caused a duel. Yudhishthira began speaking to him from the other side of the lake, since he couldn't cross into the waters, proposing that Duryodhana fight one of the Pandavas brothers. This lead to a duel between him and Bhima. As Bhima had swore earlier in the reading, he smashes Duryodhana's thighs. 
• Arjuna comes into play after the battle has ceased, and as he comes in on his chariot and dismounts it, the chariot immediately disintegrates into ashes. This has occurred because Drona had actually destroyed his chariot prior to him riding in on it. Krishna had the power to hold it together by illusion long enough for him to get back, but as soon as he gets off it was depleted. As I read this story, I wonder if Arjuna was aware of this before it had happened, or if it was a shock? 
• Back to the duel between Duryodhana and Bhima. Duryodhana is on the verge of death at this point. Sanjaya, Kripa, Kritavarman, and Ashwarrhaman pay him a visit, only to find him in immense pain, but still alive. He then goes to tell them about the story of Death and how he is not sorry to die because he is glad to have fallen in battle like a warrior rather than to become a a slave. His dying words to Krippa are that he needs to make sure Ashwatthaman becomes the commanding general. 
• Ashwattahaman prepares to raid the Pandavas camp, desperately wanting revenge. They are somwwhat tricked by the Pandavas deciding to sleep outside of their camp that night, which is where they were headed to raid. Ashwattahman goes to tell Duryodhana news, and he officially dies.  
• There are only three survivors of the Kaurava army - Kripa, Kritavarman, and Ashwatthaman. Dhrishtadyumna is the only one on the other side to live. He goes on to tell the Pandavas and Krishna that the camp had been raided. Bhima is outraged by this news and seeks out Ashwatthaman. Meanwhile, Krishna convinces Arjuna to stop Bhima from attacking Ashwatthaman, because he is in possession of the Brahman-astra. Also known as Brahman mantra, it is an extremely powerful weapon created by Brahma. After looking in to that a little bit more, I read that it can be compared equivalent to modern day anatomic weapons, nuclear and thermonuclear bombs.  

Week 13: Famous Last Words

This week has been such a crazy week! In this class, it was a really good week for me. Usually, when I send in my first draft of my storybook stories, I end up having a lot of revising to do with it, but this week I had hardly any! It felt really good to finally get the hang of the story and to figure out the direction I wanted to go with it... even if it is towards the end of the project. I have really enjoyed this storybook project because it is so much different than anything I have ever done in a class before! It has really brought out a more creative side of me, and has definitely helped me with my writing skills. I honestly cannot believe that this class is coming to an end already. This semester has flown by so fast! Sometimes I wish time would just slow down. I have been enjoying every minute of my junior year, because I know how quickly the rest of the year is going to go by! It is exciting, but also scary, to think about life after college. I'm not sure if I am ready to go out into the real world already! Anyways, outside of this class, this past week has been pretty stressful for me. I have had multiple tests, and I am studying for my GRE exam that I am taking next week.. so keep your fingers crossed for me! It is the last thing I need to do before I finish my application for OT school. I also just declared a second major, Human Relations. I decided to go with this major because I am one of those people that really wants to work hands on with people in my future career. If I don't get into OT school this year, then I will be able to graduate with a Human Relations degree, and hopefully find something that I love doing with that, and then apply again later on to OT school.

Photo Information: Deviantart

Storytelling for Week 13 - Draupadi's Abduction

It was a gloomy morning in exile as I woke up in the forest to a cloudy sky and the sun no where to be seen. I spent the morning doing my normal routinely tasks, but I felt as if something about the day was off. I just had one of those feelings. Later that morning my husbands, the Pandavas, went off to gather food for the week. I was left to be watched over by Sage Trunabindu while they were gone. As I stood there in the forest, a man named Kotikasya came up to me. I felt no harm from him as he gave off a very innocent vibe. He asked me who I was, wondering what my identity was. I informed him that I am Draupadi, wife of the Pandava brothers. This man was humorous and quite frankly lightened my day. The day that started off so gloomy suddenly became a little brighter. The man left after a while, and I was left in somewhat of a confused state of mind. It was such a random encounter, but I felt no fear of him. I went on to continue my duties for the day and things went back to normal as I waited and waited for the Pandavas to come back, with Trunabindu still watching guarding over me. Later on that afternoon, another man approached me. This time, I didn't quite feel the same innocent vibe as I had from Kotikasya. His name was Jayadratha, and at first he made small talk with me, but then got right to his point. He asked for my hand in marriage. I was caught off guard and almost speechless. I was infuriated actually. "Who do you think you are? Why do you think you can just come up to me and demand I be your wife? I think it is time for you to leave! I am a married woman already!"  I could tell he was furious with my words, and would refuse to take no as an answer. This is when things really went south. I'm not sure where Trunabindu had gone at this very moment, but I was alone and defenseless. Jayadratha used that to his advantage, and grabbed me into his arms and took off.

Image Information: Draupadi's Abduction: Wikimedia

I was screaming and kicking and trying every which way to get out of his grip, but nothing was working. He was taking me toward his kingdom, and all I could think was, "Oh, no no no no, this is not good!" As time went by I began to feel more and more doubtful that I would be rescued. I wasn't sure if I would ever see my husbands again. But then, a miracle happened. I caught sight of Arjuna and Bhima. I knew right away that they were sent here to rescue me! My heart flooded with happiness and tears poured down my face! I'm saved! They wanted to kill Jayadratha for his wrong doing, but I had something else in mind. I wanted him to suffer as a slave for the rest of his life! And that he did.

Author's Note:
I decided to do my storytelling post for this week on Draupadi's abduction, because I thought it would be cool to tell it from her perspective. I changed it up a little bit to make it a little bit more modernized, and for her to have thoughts that a woman in today's time would think if a random man came up to her like that. I wanted to keep it simple and to the point. I also changed the reasoning of the ending a bit. In the actual story, Draupadi wants to keep Jayadratha a slave so that his wife will not become a widow, but I wanted her to sound a bit more revengeful by wanting him to a slave so he can suffer.

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.

Week 13: Reading Diary A - The Becoming Battle

Reading Diary Pg. 191-246
The Mahabharata by William Buck

• This reading begins with the Pandavas in the forest, fetching water from a nearby lake. One by one, Yudhishthira sends them to go to the lake and get some water. When none of them come back he goes to the lake himself to check on them and finds their bodies there. As he approaches the lake a voice begins to speak to him. He is to answer a series of questions before being allowed to drink the water and when he does so he ends up seeing his brothers. The answers were actually a test from his divine father, Dharma. 
• The Pandavas decided to spend their thirteenth year of exile in the Matsya kingdom. Yudhishthira enters Virata's service as a brahmin with expertise of dice and chess. Bhima becomes Virata's cook. Sudeshna employes Drapaudi as her personal maid. Sahadeva gets put in charge of the cattle. 
• The story of Karna and Indra is told. Indra decides that he wants the armor and earrings that Karna has worn every day since he was born. Karna's father, the son god Surya, warns him to refuse Indra but he goes against his father's advice and claims he is honored by Indra's request. Indra dresses up as a brahmin and goes to Karna asking for the earrings and armor. Karna recognizes him and calls him on it. He demands to get the infallible throwing dart in return for the earrings and armor, which he does give him. The dart can only be used once. 
• Kichaka, a general of king Virata, develops this really passionate desire for Drapaudi. She on the other hand resists him. He assaults her and she runs to Virata for protection. She ends up being rescued by the treasure lord, Vaishravana. 
• Sanjaya comes to visit the Pandavas as a mission for Dhritarashtra. Yudhisthira tells him that he wants Indrapratsha to be given back to them, or at least five other villages. Dhritarthrastra wants to give Indraprastha back to the Pandavas, but Duryodhana refuses to give them any land at all. 
• Karna wants a fight with the Pandavas. Karna refuses to fight as long as Bhishma is bearing arms. Kripa on the other hand thinks that the war wold be a really bad thing, but agrees to support Duryodhana. 
• Arjuna and Duryodhana make a visit to see Krishna. They find him asleep, and when he wakes he makes eye contact with Arjuna first and gives two options. The first option would be to he can take Krishna as his ally and the second option would be that he could have all of the soldiers of Krishna's army. Arjuna chooses Krishna as his ally.

Storytelling for Week 12: The Story of Rishyashringa

Now, son, I think you have reached the age where you can finally understand how children are really born. I know you may think you know how it all works, but you would be surprised to find out that there are actually other ways that it could happen. You see, in order for a baby to be born, it needs to be conceived by both a male and a female directly, well at least that is how it normally happens. But, in one case, it didn't exactly happen like that. Let me tell you a story about a man who became a father in a sort of unconventional way, and then ended up devoting the rest of his life protecting him.

Once upon a time there was a magnificent god named, Urvashi. Urvashi was a beautiful woman that was quite the gem to look at. One day, a hermit who goes by the name of Vibhandaka decided to stray out of his little hut and happened to see the beautiful Urvashi while she was bathing. He had never seen such a sight, and he wasn't quite sure what to think of it. He ejaculated into the lake at just the sight of her. Later on that day, a deer came to that same very lake to get a drink of water. It just so happened that the sperm from Vibhandaka was in the water that the deer drank. As a result of this, Rishyashringa was born. He was the son of Vibhandaka and the deer that had drinken the lake water. Since Rishyashringa was born from a man and a deer, he was born with a horn coming out of his forehead. This set him apart from the other children. His father, Vibhandada, felt he owed it to his son to keep him in isolation and away from others. He wanted to keep his son innocent from the worldly ways. He grew up in a hermitage, not even knowing what a female was. Since he had been kept in isolation his whole life, Rishyashringa had such a pure heart. This shows true because when the country of Agna was in a terrible drought, the only thing that could solve the problem and bring in rain was someone with a pure heart. The king's daughter was sent into the forest to get him in order to bring rain and save their country. The sight of her, was something Rishyashringa had never seen in his life. He was confused why this man had long hair and a strange voice. His father then had to explain to him what a female is.

Photo Information: Wikipedia

Author's Note: I decided to do my storytelling post for this week about the story of Rishyashringa because I had a whole section in my reading diary about it. I found it to be a really interesting story, so when I saw the prompt about it I knew right away that I wanted to do it. I thought it would add a little bit of humor if I turned it into a sex talk of some sort. I decided to change it a little bit in order to make it more simple and fun.


The Mahabharata by William Buck

Week 12: Reading Diary B - Arjuna Comes Back

Reading Diary Pg. 139-189
The Mahabharata by William Buck

• The reading begins with Arjuna being cursed off because he refuses Urvashi's advances. I wonder, what exactly his advances mean? Is there something behind it? His punishment is that he has been cursed to live an entire year as a eunuch. 
• Chitrathara, lord of the gandharvas has been ordered by Indra to aid Arjuna in music and dancing. This is interesting to me because I wonder what exactly the tie to music and dancing is. I feel like there hasn't been a lot of this aspect included into the books we've read thus far.  I found this part really interesting. He also aids in helping Arjuna disguise himself, which would help him since he is exiled for thirteen years. He also teaches him the use of divine weapons - I wonder what exactly are "divine" weapons?
• The story of Mankanaka is told - Mankanaka lived in a forest and lived off of eating plants. When he would get a cut, instead of blood coming out, grass juice would come out. The fact that grass juice was coming out of himself made him so happy that he would jump up and down and dance. His dance was contagious and soon the whole world was dancing with him! Some gods were worried that all of this dancing would destroy the earth. So, god Shiva was sent down to earth to tell him to stop dancing. As soon as Mankanaka saw that god Shiva had come down to see him, he stopped dancing.
• The story of Rishyashringa is told - Rishyasringa's birth was induced by Urvashi. Vibhandaka had seen Urvashi bathing causing him to ejaculate into a lake and a deer had drank the water from that same lake. Rishyashringa ended up being the product of Vibhandaka and the deer, hence why he has antlers. The King of Agna was told that only a man with such a pure heart at Rishyashringa could cure the drought. So, his daughter Shanta offered to bring him into the city. He came to the city, bringing along rain with him and ended up marrying Shanta. 
• Meanwhile, the Pandavas venture on a journey to Mount Kailasa. Near Rishava's mountain, the Pandavas are attacked by the mountain. Hanuman comes back into the story. He blocks the path that Bhima is trying to go on, but then Hanuman tells Bhima where he could find the Lotus lake. Bhima ends up taking the Lotus flower from the lake and Matali returns Arjuna to earth where he is finally rejoiced with his brothers! He brings along with him heavy weapons. 

Storytelling for Week 11 - The Churning Waters

Once upon a time, in a far away land, both gods and demons were presented with the challenge of churning the ocean in order to receive great treasure. They had previously been wiped out by the recreation of the universe, so they had a big desire to gain some treasure back. Now, as we all know gods and demons don't exactly work well together, but against their will, the gods had to suck up their own pride and ask the demons if they would help them in their task of churning the ocean of milk. They knew that it could not be done on their own, and they needed the demon's strength. In exchange for their help, they gods offered them an equal share of the treasure. The demons agreed and they got on to brainstorming ideas on how to churn this entire ocean full of milk! One demon came up with an idea fairly quick, "How about we rip out Mount Madura from unders its roots and use it as a stick for churning the ocean! I'm brilliant!" and everyone agreed with the idea. They grabbed a hold of the mountain from underneath and was able to spin it around like a stick, using it to move the ocean waters. While churning the ocean waters, there were many things that happened along the way. In the midst of the churning, the god Vasuki began to vomit a poison into the ocean, threatening to contaminate the ocean water, Shiva took the vomit in his mouth, turning his mouth blue. As the churning went on after the first incident, Mount Madura began to sink into the ocean bed and had to be saved by Visnu, in the form of a tortoise avatar, Kooma. He took one for the team and used his own back as a pivot point for the churning stick. Next, the churning began to uncontrollably produced treasures! Laksmi, the goddess of wine, Chandra the moon, Rambha the nymph, Kaustubha a jewel, Parijata the wishing tree, Surabhi the cow of plenty, Airavata the white elephant, Sanka a conch shell, Dhanas a mighty bow, and Visha the poison vomited by Vasuki. And last but not least, the ocean produced the Armit, and both gods and demons immediately tried to seize it, but the demons were first. But, while they were quarrelling for the treasure, Visnu took the form of a beautiful woman, taking the Armit and giving it to the gods, while giving the demons liquor. The demons were quick to catch on and tried to grab the Armit. In the midst of the quarrel it fell down on earth, in four places. These places on earth are now known to be of great religious importances, and serve as locations for the Kumba Mela, an extremely large pilgrimage. 

Image Information: Churning of the Ocean of Milk

Author's Note: I chose to retell this story because it was actually one of the stories I put in my storybook. I am writing a travel brochure, and I used one of the locations where the Armit landed in India, as one of my destinations, and told all about its importance. I decided to retell this story without changing much of the general storyline, because it is already such a simple and easy story to read. This story is one of my favorites that we have read this year, so I was quick to want to retell it once again!

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata. 

Week 11: Reading Diary B - The Great Fire

Reading Diary B Pg. 49-91
The Mahabharata by William Buck

• The reading begins with Duryodhana asking Dhritarashtra who he thinks, him or Yudhishthira, will rule Kurujangala after he has stepped down. He then says that the people of the town say that Yudhishthira would look after us he cares for Bhisma. Dhritarashtra is saddened by this and says, "The people say! Am I already dead? I will send the Pandavas away for a little while  and I will give you this kingdom or I won't, I will divide it."
• The King's songs Duryodhana and Duhshasana get the minister, Purochana, to build some sort of fire trap at the house where the Pandavas are staying. Yudhisthrita is warned about this dangerous plan, and they prepare a tunnel route that will allow them to escape in time. They were able to safely escape from the fire trap, but they had to leave six corpses behind in their place. 
• Vyasa takes the Pandavas to the swayamvara of Draupadi, the daughter of king Draupada of Panchala. Draupada had recently been captured by Drona, and was forced to give up half of his kingdom. He felt much humiliation from this. He begged and begged the god Shiva to give him a son who could defeat Drona. Later on, in a dream, Shiva appeared to Draupada and told him to pour two cups of butter, one for a son and one for a daughter. Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadia, his sons, were born this way. 
• Drapada had set up an archery test in which only Arjuna could pass, so Arjuna wins Draupadi, to everyones surprise. Krishna, an avatar of the god Vishnu, tells Arjuna to remember their past together, but he does not remember. 
• Draupadi marries all five of the Pandava brothers. 
• Dhritarashtra is so excited to find out that the Pandava brothers are alive and grants them the region of Khandava to rule. With that, the Pandava brothers build the city of Indraprastha. 
• Arjuna goes to visit, Krishna, but he ends up falling in love with Krishna's sister, Subhadra, and with Krishna's approval he takes her to be his wife. The fire god, Agni, comes to see Krishna and Arjuna in the form of a woodsman with with gold skin and dressed in black rags and butter smeared all over his mouth. Agni keeps trying to burn down the forest, but the storm god, Indra, protects it with its rain. Agni burns the forest while Arjuna and Krishna distract Indra. 
• The Asura, Maya, the architect god flees out of the forest and seeks Arjuna's protection from Agni. As a reward for this rescue, Maya builds a palace for the Pandavas.

Week 11: Reading Diary A - The Mahabharata Begins

Reading Diary A Pg. 1-49

The Mahabharata by William Buck

• William Buck begins his version of the Mahabharata by introducing some characters. 
• He introduces Duryodhana, saying that he "causes all creatures to be slain and wastes the earth; he fans the flame of hostility that at last consumes all". 
• He introduces Arjuna, saying that he "is the prince of all bowmen: with spells of bewilderment he guards these pages embellished with elegant expressions and conversations human and divine". 
• He introduces Nakula and Sahadeve, saying that "Nakula is dark and Sahadeva is fair: they guard Arjuna's chariot wheels; in this whole world of men they have not their equals in beauty and strength and excellence of conduct".
• He introduces Yudhishthira, saying that "he is the embodiment of all manlieness: he is kindhearted; cease to fight him, do not court defeat". 
• William Buck begins chapter one with dialogue between Sauti and Saunaka. Sauti tells him that he head Vyasa's Mahabharata was first written down for the poet by the elephant god  Ganesha, and then goes to explain to Saunaka the background of the story of the Mahabharata. 
• Vyasa was the composer and Ganesha was the scribe. Vyasa composed the Mahabharata in his head and then asked Ganesha to write it down for him. Ganesha is the son of God Shiva, and he opposed this and tore off his human head, and then used an elephant head to replace the missing one. 
• He then told of the story of the churning of the ocean: Long before the ocean was salt, it was made of milk. "Churn the ocean, and she will yield amrita, the nectar of immortality, and precious gems, and all manner of illusion and revelation". So, they places a snow mountain , Mandara, in the middle of the milk sea in order to churn the ocean waters. Once this happened, Gods began to emerge. Those who emerged were: Lady Lakshmi, bearing good fortune to men; Airavata, Indra's elephant; Surabhi, the white cow who grants any waish; Parijata, the wishing-tree of fragrance; Rambha, the nymph, the first Apsaras; and Dhanwantar, the physician, bearing a cup filled with amrita, the essence of life. 
• Poison bursted as a result of the churning of the ocean and Shiva swallowed it, resulting in her tongue turning blue. 
• Next, the story of the snake sacrifice of Janamejaya is told. (look at reading guide for reference)
• The Mahabharata finally begins with the story of Shantanu and Ganga falling in love. The dead king Mahabhisha sat in heaven watching over the world. He spots Ganga walking along the banks of the Ganges river, and he was enchanted by her looks. Their eyes met causing Mahabhisa to perspire, which only happens in heaven when one is ready to be reborn, as Shantanu. Meanwhile, Ganga goes to Shantau's father and explains her love for him. When his father dies, he becomes king. Shantanu meets Ganga in human form along the river, and they agree to get married but Shantanu must agree to never question any of Ganga's actions. Ganga gives birth to a child a year, and drowns each one in the river. She does this because of a comittment, to free them from punishment and send them up to heaven. Ganga leaves with the last child, named Bhishma.
• Shantanu later marries Satyavati, and have a son names Vichitravirya. 
• Bhishman obtains three wives: Amba, Ambika, Ambalika. 
• Introduces the Pandavas and Kripa and Drona.
• Arjuna is Drona's best pupil and is the only one of the prines able to pass Drona's test of shooting the bird made of straw. 

Storytelling for Week 10: Never Question a Woman

Once upon a time there was a king. This king went by the name of Shantanu and was a Kuru king of Hastinapura. One day Shantanu was standing along the banks of a beautiful river just admiring the scenery. As he walked along the shore of what is known as the Ganges River, something magical seemed to have happen. Shantanu thinks to himself, "My oh my, is that a beautiful woman coming my way", being all flustered. A beautiful woman appeared before his eyes. The woman took his breath away and it was love at first sight for the two. Shantanu, without knowing the woman's true identity, asked her for her hand in marriage. The woman's response was quite unexpected to Shantanu as she said, "I will give you my hand in marriage as long as you vow to never questions my actions, for they all serve a purpose". Shantanu willingly accepted that answer, and off they went. Later after getting married, the couple had a beautiful son together. One day while along the banks of the river, Shantanu turned around and saw his wife drowning their child. His initial reaction was pure shock, "Nooo, what have you done! My beloved child!", he screamed in his head, but remembered that he had vowed to never question her actions. He distraught by the sight of this, and he was even more distraught by the fact that he was not able to question his wife about her action. Time goes on and Shantanu slowly begins to forget about the incident, and they end up having another child! When he finds out of the news Shantanu cheers with excited and exclaims, "All I want in life is to have my name be carried on by a beloved son of min!". After the child had been born, the same incident occurs. He turns around to watch his own wife drown his own child in the river. This continues to happen, until she had eventually ended up drowning seven of her babies. By their eighth child, Shantanu can not longer take it. She begins the motion of drowning the eighth child, when Shantanu abruptly stops her. "NO, please don't drown another one of my beloved children. I am desperate for a child! Why, oh why, must you drown all of our children, I do not understand!", he says in a fury. Even though this had broken the vow that Shantanu had once made to his wife, she explains to him. My dear husband, "Our eight children were the Eight Vasus who were cursed by Vasishtha to be born on earth as humans. However, he limited the curse and said that they would be free from the curse within a year of their life. So, I released each of them in order to return them to heaven". Ganga then leaves Santanu alone and devastated as she takes the child with her and submerges into the waters. He is left with nothing, and does not know if he will ever see his beloved wife or child again.

Image Information: Shantanu rushes to stop Ganga. Wikimedia

Author's Note: I decided to retell the story of Ganga drowning her children in the river, because I was really intrigued by this story. For my storybook, I wrote about the Ganges river, and I had actually read about this story before our assigned reading, so I knew I had wanted to do a storytelling post about it. I wanted to add a little bit of dialogue and inner thoughts to what Shantanu might have been thinking, and to kind of retell the story in my own way, but keeping to the same storyline.

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

Week 10: Reading Diary A - The Suspense of the Battle

Reading Diary Pg. 85-131

• The gods send a gandharva to provoke Duryodhana.
• A battle breaks out and the gandharvas take Duryodhana captive, but he later gets freed by the Pandavas.
• Duryodhana's original plan to humiliate the Pandavas had completely backfired. 
• In the forest, the Pandavas are approached by a brahmin. He comes to them desperate because a giant deer has stolen his equipment that he uses to make fires. 
• The Pandavas chase after the deer in attempt to catch it, but fail. 
• As they are walking back, Nakula finds a lake and wants to drink because he is thirsty. 
• A voice arises from the lake telling him that he must answer a series of questions before he is allowed to drink out of the lake. 
• He ignores the voice and drinks out of the lake water anyways. This kills him instantly.
• Sahadeva, Arjuna, and Bhima also drank out of the lake without acknowledging the voice and ended up dieing as well. 
• This ended up being a test by their father, who is the God of death. 
• The brothers are brought back to life, and are sentenced to exile. On their thirteenth year of exile they received the gift of unrecognizability.
• They spend twelve years of exile in the forest and then are disguised during the thirteenth year.
• Draupadi is raped by Kichaka, so Bhima squeezes him to death.
• The story of Kichaka raises suspicion in Duryodhana's eyes. Susharman takes king Virata prisoner, but is backfires as Bhima rescues him and then captures Susharman. 
• Susharman, one of Duryodhana's sidekicks shows excitement when he hears of his death, and suggests that they attack Vitrata and steal his cattle.
• Prince Uttara, the son of Virata, hears the news of the cattle raid and take his charioteer. He ends up being terrified as they approached the enemy and then runs away. He is told to drive the chariot so that he can fight instead. 
• In a moment of anger, Virata throws dice as Yudhishthira and draws his blood 
• Uttara and Abhimanyu get married. 
• Krishna and Balarama attend the wedding and send a messenger to ask Duryodhana if half of the kingdom could be given to Pandavas. 
• Satyaki urges that everyone prepare for war. Both of the pandavas and Duryodhana are recruiting allies for the upcoming war. I have a sense that they are really nervous for this war or battle to break out. 
• The Pandavas end up making another bid for peace, asking that they all be given five villages and in turn the war can be avoided. 
• Duryodhana wants to accept the offer but when the time comes he cannot resist his will.

Week 9: Famous Last Words

I'm not going to lie, this week has been a tough one! Coming back from OU/TX, I had a slow start with all of my homework and assignments this week. Thankfully, for extra credit I can catch up on my points from missed assignments! One of the reasons why I love this class so much is because there is a lot of freedom to do what you want with your blog. It is also so exciting to me when I see page views and comments on my blog and knowing that people are actually reading what I am writing! I love that there are only the basic criteria for the blog posts, and the rest is up to our creativity. This class has really helped me to expand my mind, and bring out the more creative side of me. Since I am majoring in the health field, I don't have to do much writing for my classes, so this class has definitely helped me work on my writing and grammar skills. Looking back on all of the work we have done this semester, it is really cool to look at the progress made with each week and to see our blogs and storybooks change, grow, and become better! Even though this week was a tough one for me, I definitely plan to get back on schedule next week and work harder! I am really excited for this weekend because it is finally the homecoming game! We get to walk with our float in the homecoming parade before the game, which is always one of my favorite things to do! I love getting to see all of the different floats each year, it just amazes me what people can actually do with some paper and some wire! The homecoming pep rally is friday night, which is also always a blast! Even though we are cheering for our specific houses or groups to win the competition, we are all ultimately one and are rooting for the same team! BOOMER SOONER!

Image Information: Personal Photo: Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Chi, and Kappa Sigma's homecoming board

YouTube Tech Tip

Here is the video of a Salsa Dancing Dog, enjoy!

Week 9: Reading Diary A - The Mahabharata

Reading Diary Pg. 1-39
Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan

• Shantanu is a Kuru king of the city of Hastinapura. He is a descendent of the Bharata race and the lunar dynasty. He is the youngest son of King Pratipa. Each of this siblings had gone down a different path and Shantanu just happened to become the king of Hastinapura by default. 
• Shantanu falls in love with a woman, who ends up being Ganga of the Ganges river. He asks her to marry him and he agrees under one condition, that he never questions her actions. He agrees, and they soon wed. 
• Time goes on and they soon have babies. Shantanu still does not know that the woman he has married is Ganga. She then drowns their newborn babies each in the river. Although Shantanu agreed never to question his wife's actions, he protests her against drowning their eighth child. This is when she tells him that she is the river Ganga.
• The story goes, that she is the river Ganga, and was incarnated into her present form in order give birth to eight gods. These eight gods would go by the name of the vasus, who are being punished with a human incarnation for stealing Vasistha's cow. By drowning the babies, they return to heaven. 
• She disappears into the river with the eighth child and later returns him to his father when he is fully grown. His name is Bhishma. 
• Since his wife has been gone, he eventually falls in love with another woman by the name of Satyavati. They later get married, and have two sons of their own - Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. 
• Chitrangada becomes king, but dies soon after. Bhishma then takes over and ruled as regent for Vichitravirya. 
• The king of the kingdom next door holds a swayamvara for his daughters: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. Both Ambika and Ambalika marry Vichitravirya. He later dies before ever having the chance to be a father. Satyavati begs Bhisma to take over and help his daughters to have children. He refuses because he took a vow of celibacy. They decide that the widows will bear children with Satayavi's son, Vyasa. 
• Ambika is terrified when she looks at Vyasa, because he is so ugly. She sleeps with him with her eyes shut, so their child is born blind. His name is Dhritarashtra. 
• Ambalika turns pale when she sees Vyasa, and therefore their child is born very pale. His names is Pandu.
• One of Ambalika's servants sleeps with Vyasa, and she reacts very positively her him. She bears a flawless child.
• Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari. She covers her eyes to share her husband's blindness
• Pandu has two wives, Kunti and Madri, but cannot have children
• Kunti has a mantra for obtaining sons from the gods. She conceives a child named Karna. 

Week 8: Reading Diary Self-Assessment

Going back and reading through the instructions of the reading diaries, I have realized that I have drifted a bit from what the reading diaries are supposed to be. I have been writing my reading diary based on the main ideas and summaries of the chapters, while the point of the diary is to reflect on how you feel about the readings and what stands out to you the most, as well as character development. For my reading diaries, I have pretty much had a different strategy for each post. One week I will pick a couple main characters and write about them, while other weeks I will write what stands out to me from each chapter, and others I will simply write bullet points for what happens in the readings as I go. I haven't really found a strategy that I like best yet, I just kind of see how I feel about it each week and choose. Typically, my diaries are around the same length each time since all of the readings are about the same length. Sometimes I will put in my favorite quotes or what stood out to me the most in each reading. I did that more so in the beginning of the semester than I do now, but I definitely want to start doing that again. I do not add images into my diary posts, which I also think is something that I want to change. I think adding in an image would really summarize and put the diary to life. I would definitely say that I remember the readings better in this class since I am not being tested over it. I feel like I can just enjoy the readings and reflect on what I think about it, without having to worry about what I think may or may not be on a test or having to remember technical things. Overall, I would say that I am doing pretty good with the reading assignments. I haven't missed one yet, so I feel caught up on everything. One thing I do find myself doing sometimes is skimming through some of the chapters. I do need to work on more detail and really reading into the stories and reflecting on that rather than main ideas or summaries.

Storytelling for Week 7 - Should I Tell Him, or Should I Not?

To bide by my brother's side or to do what is right? This is the question that I am dealing with at the moment, and it is weighing heavy on my heart. I know that one should never turn their back on their family, but I also know that my brother is in the wrong here. My brother, Ravana, has taken Lord Rama's wife, Sita, and has held her hostage with the hopes that she will fall for him and give in to be his wife. Poor Rama has been searching for his loved one for what seems like eternity, and Ravana is trying every way to lure those around him into killing him. I must now stand my ground. I need to demand Ravana to return Sita to her husband, Lord Rama. If he does not do so, I will have to take matters into my own hands.

"Ravana, I must have a word with you."

"Yes, my brother, what is it that you want?"

"Ravana, you must return Sita. Her poor husband has been searching for her ruthlessly. It is not right of a man to take another man's wife."

"I will not. She will learn to love me and Rama no longer!"

Well, I guess there is no reasoning with my stubborn brother. I must go make things right on my own. I will seek out Lord Rama and go from there. As I make my way through the forest, I start pondering on whether or not I am doing to right thing. What information should I give to Rama, should I tell him all of our secrets and treasure or should I turn back around and head back to Lanka. This is a true test to my character, and I do not not if I should stay loyal to my own brother or stay loyal to what I know to be the right thing to do. Stealing another man's wife has always been the ultimate crime, so I must do something about it. I finally find Rama and his entourage and could tell they were skeptical of me at first. I want to assure them that I mean to harm, and am only here to help.

"Lord Rama, I am here to help you. I know what my brother, Ravana, has done is wrong, and I want to make it right."

"Come, I believe your sincerity. If you help us, I will assure you will become king."

"I am willing to tell you of the secret treasures of Lanka, but I will not assist in attacking my own brother. With that being said, I am rooting for your success."

Image Information: Vibhishana as King. Wikipedia

Author's Note: I choose to tell a story of the inner thoughts and struggles that Vibhishana may have had when he decided to tell Rama of the secret treasures of Lanka. I wanted to retell this story in a way that would be the thoughts that someone today might have with the struggle between not wanting to betray a loved one but knowing what the right thing to do is.

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

Week 7: Reading Diary B - The Exile Comes to an End

Reading Diary Pg. 374-432
The Ramayana by William Buck

• Vibhishana offers Rama to use a Pushpaka for his journey to return back home. A pushpaka is a flying chariot. Vibhishana offered this to Rama in order to help him return home in time for Bharata to see that he has come back, and does not kill himself as he had vowed to if Rama had not come back at the end of his exile. 
• On their way back home on the pushpaka, Rama stops to show where they buried Jatayu. Rama sends Hanuman home to Ayodhya ahead of them to tell his brother, Bharata, the news that they are on their way to returning from exile. Bharata cries tears of joy!!
• The time has come where Rama finally returns home to Ayodhya. Presents and gifts are being thrown at Rama, as the town is so excited to have him and to have him serve as their king.
• As time goes by, thousands and thousands of years actually. Sita becomes pregnant. 
• This creates gossip among the people that Rama serves. They are appalled that he has allowed Sita back into his home after being with another man, Ravana, even though she has proven her innocence.
• Thinking of this, I feel like it represents the thoughts and actions of a much earlier time period than today's modern views. Even though she had proven her innocence, just the fact that she was in the presence of another man is enough to send her into exile. 
• Rama demands that his brother, Lakshmana, take Sita down the Ganges river and abandon her, leaving her in alone and in exile. She is still pregnant.
• Vibhishana is aware that Sita is in danger and is in need of help, so he ensures that Valmiki will rescue her in her time of need.
• This goes back to the beginning of the book, where it first started telling the story of Sita being dropped off along the river and wandering herself. Valmiki comes to her rescue (causing him to finally come out from under his anthill) and invites her into his hermitage with welcome arms. 
• Not too long after, she gives birth to two sons, Kusha and Lava.
• Kush and Lava grow up being told of the story of Rama, their dad, from Valmiki, without knowing that Rama is in fact their dad. They learn the story backwards and forwards, and grow up really looking up to Rama as a role model figure. 
• I find this ironic because they almost look up to Rama in place of a father figure, when he is in fact their father.
• Kush and Lava eventually are told that Rama is their dad. Sita feared that they would resent him, but they actually took it really well and continue to look up to him.
• Rama held a big festival in the forest that lasts for a year. Kusha and Lava sing each day, and Rama eventually realizes they are his sons.
• Kala, Time, comes to Ayodhya in disguise as a hermit and demands a meeting with Rama. He announces that anyone who disturbs their meeting will have to die. In the midst of the meeting, Lakshmana walks in, and therefore must die. 
• The book ends with Lakshmana going to the Saraya River to die.

Week 7: Reading Diary A - Sita's Return

Reading Diary pg. 325-373
The Ramayana by William Buck

• The fight to get Sita back still continues at this point in the book
• Hanuman and Sugriva kill Ravana's magicians, Lightning Tongue and Thunder Tooth. They were fighting with Jambavan in order to keep him from killing other demons, but they ended up being killed by Hanuman and Sugriva. 
• There is a feeling of despair among Lanka. I feel like this may be so because of the many losses this town has recently experienced. Shuka makes the feelings throughout the town known to Ravana.
• In the midst of all of this drama, Mandori exclaims her love to Ravana. 
• Ravana gets into a bit of a scuffle with the time god, Kala, but brushes it off his shoulder, because he feels as if he is invincible
• This stands out to me because it seems as if Ravana is quickly losing more and more of his troops and that he should be feelings pretty insecure and worried at this point. 
• Rama and Ravana finally go into battle. I feel like there was a lot of suspense coming up to this point, and now they are finally able to meet face to face and determine who is the better god
• The battle is a tough one. Rama repeatedly cuts off Ravana's heads, but they grow back every time. Ravana disguises as Indra, which catches Rama off god, but Matali is able to see right through it and keep Rama on the right track 
• Ravana may be in a state of weakness at this point because he is thinking Rama will fall for this trick, and might not be quite as on guard.
• Rama is finally able to kill Ravana for good
• Once Ravana is dead, Shuka delivers a note from Ravana to Rama. This does not happen in the other version of the Ramayana, so I like reading something that was unique to Buck's version.  
• Vibhishana becomes the new king of Lanka. 
• Hanuman is sent to tell Sita of the news of the victory
• Rama and Sita are able to reunite for the first time. The fire god, Agni, is able to prove Sita's loyalty to Rama.
• The time has come where Rama's exile is nearing its end. He is rushed for time to make it back to Ayodhya in time, so that his brother, Bharata, doesn't kill himself as he previously vowed he would do if Rama had not returned by the time his exile had ended.

Storytelling for Week 6 - Hanuman the Great!

"Oh my dear friend Rama, we must somehow make it across this ocean in order to get to Lanka and save your true love, Sita!", Hanuman exclaims to Rama. Rama, with a look of concern of his face, replies, "I am aware, Hanuman. We must find a way to send one of us over to Lanka to solidify that she is there and alive. Lets have a vote." As Rama's entourage gathers together, Rama explains that there needs to be a vote to determine who, that are capable, to cross the ocean and make it to Lanka to find Sita. Unanimously, Hanuman was voted to take on this challenge because of his monkey-like jumping skills. Afterall, he was in the form of a monkey. Hanuman was flattered, yet nervous. He had never made a jump like this in all of his life. He thought to himself, "This will be the ultimate challenge for me. I must use all of my strength and might to get over this ocean". Everyone had faith in him, and knew that if anyone could do it, it was Hanuman. Rama, especially, was encouraging towards Hanuma, and had little doubt that he could pull this off. After some training time, the day finally came, where Hanuman would make the great jump. He took a magnificent running start, starting from miles back, and jumped with all of his might! So many thoughts were running through his mind as he began this jump, "I don't know if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can live up to my requests.", "I shouldn't be doubting myself, I am Hanuman the great, and I can do anything I set my mind to!". The adrenaline kicked into full gear and Hanuman took off with unrelentless speed and strength. Rama and the rest of the team stood under to watch the attempted jump in awe, it was unlike anything they had ever seen before. As Hanuman made it across the ocean, it was smooth sailing for the most part, but there were some rough spots as well. He became tired and fatigued at one point. He thought he might not make it, and started to have doubts about himself. As he was going down, down, down, something magical happened. A mountain grew up from under the deep ocean waters, giving him a peak to land on. These mountains were named the Mainaka, and ultimately saved Hanuman's life. He was able to catch a good rest before setting off to finish his quest. He took another massive leap and began to make his way across the ocean. He was nearing Lanka, as he could see the lights of the town, when all of a sudden things went black immediately. He had a quick moment of panic. Hanuman had no idea where he was or what had happened. He ultimately realized that he had been swallowed by a sea demon. This makes Hanuman angry, so he retaliates by destroying the demon's heart and smoothly escaping through his ear! He had never been so happy to see daylight in his life. He was becoming closer and closer to shore, and before he knew it his feet were on the ground. Hanuman felt so accomplished and proud of himself. He had completed his task, and knew that Rama and the others would be so proud. After his quick moment of glory, he made the decision to turn into the form of a cat in order to more easily prowl the city. Hanuman does this successfully, and makes his way towards Sita.

Image Information: Hanuman Leaps to Lanka Updownload

Author's Note: I decided to tell the story of Hanuman leaping over the ocean to Lanka, because I wanted to show some of the thoughts that he might have had before, during, and after he made the jump. I wanted to add an emphasis of heroism to his character, and add a little bit different background. I thought this made the story light and simple. 

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

Week 6: Reading Diary B - The Quest to Rescue Sita Continues

Reading Diary Pg. 270-324
The Ramayana by William Buck

Once Hanuman reports the news to Rama, he knows he has to get to Lanka to save her. He struggles with figuring out a plan to cross the sea in order to reach the city. In the midst of this, the Water King, Samudra, rises up and explains that a bridge can be made out of floating rocks across the sea by the monkey, Nala. With this, they get everyone together and one by one help in the making of the bridge to Lanka, until it is finally finished.

Vibhishana seeks to convince Ravana to give Sita back to Rama, and he is quite frankly offended by this. He does not take this lightly. Vibhishana is upset that Ravana has refused to do the right thing and give Sita back, so he sort of takes matters in his own hands by going to Rama and telling him for himself. Rama was skeptical at first, but ultimately decides to trust him. Vibhishana tells Rama all of the information that he knows and agrees to help him, but refuses to fight against his own people. This is understandable and relatable. No matter how angry you get at your loved ones or family members, you ultimately would not want to fight against them. This says a lot about his character.

Rama and his search team head over the bridge to Lanka and begin to make a plan to get Sita. In the meantime, Ravana has his minister, Shuka, a hawk, watching over Rama and his team. They eventually figure this out so Rama sends demon spies in the form of a monkey, which Vibhishana is able to detect.

Ravana uses his magicians to make it look like Rama has had his head chopped off. Ravana shows the head to Sita, and she immediately weeps when she recognizes his exact features. While this is happening, Phrahasta bursts in, not realizing what is going on, and exclaims that Rama has arrived in Lanka. Sita then realizes that this has been a sick prank.

Ravana wants war with Rama. He attacks Rama's forces, but Rama and his team are able to overpower him. when they are defeated, Rama awakens his brother, Kumbhakarna, who actually urges Ravana to give Sita back to Rama, as he believes it is wrong to take another man's wife. He eventually agrees to attack Rama though. This ended up being a bad choice, because Rama chops his head off, killing him. Ravana's son, Indrajit, get killed in battle by Rama's forces, leaving only himself left to fight Rama.

Week 6: Reading Diary A - The Search for Sita

Reading Diary Pg. 219-270
The Ramayana by William Buck

This reading begins with Hanuman telling the story of Sita's abduction to Jambavan. During this time, a new character is introduced. Jatayu's brother, Sampati, overhears the part of the story where Jatayu was involved, and unfortunately killed. Sampati is still grieving his brother, but remarks that he had actually seen Ravana flying over to Lanka. Lanka is a town that is across the ocean, and therefore hard to reach. Sita's search team decides that Hanuman should be the one to jump across the ocean to reach Lanka, since he is a monkey.

As Hanuman leaps across the ocean, he encounters some obstacles. He becomes tired and lands on the mountain Mainaka, which has been hiding under the ocean from Indra for years, and rises to give Hanuman a rest. As he almost finished his leap, the female rakshasa Sinhika rose up and swallowed Hanuman, but he was able to escape by crushing her heart and escaping through her ear.

When Hanuman finally makes it to Lanka, he realizes that he needs to find a way to navigate through the city without being seen so he disguises as a cat. That way he could walk throughout Lanka without being questioned. He makes his way to Ravana's bedroom, where he finds all of his wives. He did not find Sita there. Vayu, the god of wind, directs him towards the ashoka grove, where he would then find Sita.

While Sita is in the ashoka grove, Ravana comes to see her, trying to seduce her and get her to voluntarily admit to want him. Ravana is no longer allowed to rape women, so in order for him to love Sita, she needs to initiate it. Sita ignores Ravana, so he gets angry and walks away. When Sita is alone, Hanuman calls to her and speaks of Rama. She immediately weeps. She gives Hanuman a message to send back to Rama.

As Hanuman leaves Lanka, he decides to make some trouble in the town. Ravana is furious and orders for his head to be chopped off by his brother, Vibhishana. He refuses to chop his head off so Ravana ordered for him to set his tail on fire. He does but Hanuman breaks free and sets the entire town of Lanka on fire. Hanuman checks on Sita, and tells her that Rama will be back for her.

Storytelling for Week 5 - Inheriting the Crown

Bharata receives the most dreadful kind of news that exists. News that everyone fears, and this case is not different. He was told that his father has died. On top of that, he learns of the news that his brother, Rama, has been sent into exile by his own mother. Her hopes were for Bharata, her son, to become the king of Ayodhya one day. Bharata does not take this news lightly, as he knows his father wanted his beloved Rama to be his successor. Out of envy, disappointment, and fear Bharata takes off into the forest in search of his brother, Rama, to convince him to come back to Ayodhya and serve as king. Bharata gets everyone in the town of Ayodhya together and sends everyone out in a search for Rama. Bharata tells the townspeople, "My dear and beloved father would have wanted Rama to serve as his successor, and we need to fulfill that wish of his in his honor", and everyone cheers and chants and then runs off into the dark forest. Days, weeks, months go by and there is no sign of Rama. The search team almost gives up until they have a lead. Bharata finds a footprint in the exact shape and size as Rama's, which gave them a hint of direction to where he could be. Once they went in the direction of the footprint, they started finding more and more. The entourage followed footprint after footprint until they were led into the town of Chitrakuta, where they eventually found Rama! They all jumped up and down with joy, as they were all so thrilled to see their beloved Rama again. However, the excitement didn't last long since Bharata had come to deliver the news of their father's death. Bharata had expressed this news to Rama by saying, "My brother, our beloved father has deceased and I know he would have wanted you, his most beloved son, to be his successor". Rama replied by saying, "My dear brother, I must finish out my exile and endere with my father's promise to his wife". Bharata's reaction was that of disappointment and sadness, but he ultimately understood. Rama was known for his loyalty and commitment, so the people of Ayodhya respected his decision to remain in exile. Bharata and his entourage made their way back to Ayodhya with sunken hearts. Bharata knows it is not his place to be king, but he has agreed to serve as his father's successor until Rama's exile has ended.

Image Information: Bharata Searches for Rama

Authors Notes: I choose to retell the story of Bharata finding out of his father's death and seeking out to find his brother, Rama. I retold this story in a somewhat more relatable and practical way, while relatively sticking to the same storyline. In William Buck's version of this story, Bharat finds out of his father's death and of Rama's exile. He gets together an entourage and sets out into the forest to search for Rama. The forest king, Guhu, directs them to the hermitage of Sage Bharadwaja, who later directs them to Chitrakuta, where Rama resides.

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

Week 5: Reading Diary B - Sita's Abduction

Reading Diary Pg. 162-218
The Ramayana by William Buck

The story of the Golden Deer, and Sita's abduction is one of my favorites throughout The Ramayana. I choose to retell this story for one of my posts in Narayan's version of the book, and I truly feel it can be interpreted in many different ways. William Buck's version is very similar to Narayan's. Maricha disguises as a beautiful golden deer, catching Sita's attention. At Sita's request, Rama chases after it, where it then turns into its true form. Maricha yells for help with Rama's voice, tricking Sita into thinking he is in need. She tells Lakshmana to go save him, and in the meantime Ravana comes up to Sita disguised as an old man, which she welcomes, and then he snatches her up and takes her away. Jatayu, the bird who has been their protector, comes to the scene to help save Sita, but Ravana takes his wing, causing him to die. This was a really emotional scene, as Jatayu was a heroic character. Sita runs to him, sobbing, and holds him as he dies, but Ravana snatches her back up. Jatayu is able to stay alive just long enough to inform Rama on what had happened.

• Ravana holds Sita captive in Lanka
• Indra informs Sita of why Ravana will not rape her
• Ravana decided he wanted to have many wives. He saw Rambha, who was in love with Nalakubara, son of Vaishravana, and raped her. When Nalakubara heard of this news, he cursed Ravana, saying if he had ever raped a woman again, his head would explode. Because of this curse, Ravana cannot rape Sita, rather he will persuade her to give it to him. Ravana is not used to be rejected, as he always convinced women to give it to him, except for Rambha. 
• Rama and Lakshmana are not able to get to Sita in time, so they head to the hermitage of Sage Matanga, where they find out he is dead. Savari is still living there though, and tells them that she saw Ravana take Sita away. She tells them of the monkey brothers, Vali and Sugriva, and about Sugriva's friend, Hanuman
• Hanuman brings Rama and Lakshmana to Sita's jewelry, giving them some sort of direction to where Sita might be
• Sugriva and Vali fight, and Rama is loyal to Sugriva, so he shoots Vali causing him to die. Sugriva becomes king and promises to begin a search for Sita once the rainy season is over, in return for helping him in his battle. 
• When the rainy season comes to an end, there is no sign of help from Sugriva, so Lakshmana personally goes to confront him. Sugriva sticks to his promise and send out masses of monkey in all directions in search of Sita. 

Week 5: Reading Diary A - The Exile Continues

Reading Diary Pg. 110-161
The Ramayana by William Buck

• Dasaratha is dead; Bharata searches to find Rama with the hopes that he will return to Ayodhya
• Rama hears the news of his fathers and still refuses to come back until his exile is over
• Rama, Lakshama, and Sita visit the hermitage of Atri; Atri tells them the story of Mandakarni and the 5 Apsarases who live in the lake
• 14th summer of Rama's exile. Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita enter into the home of Agastya
• Agastya is the brahmana who lowered the Vindhya Hills, destroyed two demons, and then settled - he is described as a small man, but can easily do what is impossible to even the gods
• Possibly want to use the Vindhya Hills in my storybook

The Story of Agastya - Vindhya Hills were jealous of the Himalaya, and in envy, began to grow higher and higher until his peaks blocked the skies; the stars and the moon were blocked. Agastya arrived, but was blocked by Vindhya - all of the trails had been blocked, so Agastya had to ask permission to go south and come back again, and he was allowed to pass. Vindhya bowed low to Agasta, and the hills immediately decreased to their present height, well below the skies. He told Vindhya to to remain that height until he returns, and he has yet to return, and he has obeyed since.  Agastya burned and killed Ilwala.

• Agastya invited Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana into his home up in the hills. He seems like he has been waiting for him. I sense a little bit of fear within Rama. Agastya granted Rama and Lakshmana each a new bow that had "fallen from heaven" and never needed sharpening, in exchange for Rama's old one. I feel like this may be a trick?
• The Valakhilaya's tell Rama of the demons in the forest and request his help in war against them. Sita is unhappy with this and tried to get Rama to deny. 
• with the aid of the Valakhilaya's, the wives of Sage Kashyapa were able to conceive children; Kadru gave birth to a thousand eggs and Vinata gave birth to two eggs
• They each put their eggs in a jar of warm butter and set them outside; 500 years later, all one thousand of Kadru's eggs hatched into Nagas, and Vinata's two sons remained in their shells.
• I can quickly tell that this poses some competition between the two wives
• One of Kadru's sons finally hatched, and is described as a giant eagle with golden feathers and brilliant red wings. He had a head and wings like an eagle, but the arms and hands of a man.
• As Rama is telling this story to Sita, the demon abducts her with a long arm, so at the time Rama does not know where the demon has come from
• Rama and Lakshmana take off to fight and kill the demon - and they are successful 
• Sita was abducted by Viradha, who later reveals himself to be the gandharva names Tumburu, who had been cursed as a demon and was only freed once Rama brought his demon life to an end. The then flies up to heaven to find the gandharva king, Chitaratha

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Storytelling for Week 4: The Wandering Woman

One day King Rama was forced to put his wife, Sita, into exile. She was sent deep into the forest and left to fend for herself. She had been dropped off from a boat on the side of a river, without knowing of her whereabouts. Sita is internally panicked and thinks to herself, "What am I possibly going to do now? I have no one to protect me, I have to find food and water, and somehow need to make shelter". This was also a hard time emotionally for Sita, considering her beloved husband had just kicked her to the curb like dust. As she rummages through the woods in fury and fear, she happens to run into a man to seemed to have quickly popped out of the bushes. This scared Sita half to death as she exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! Who goes there?". The man whom she happens to run into goes by the name of Valmiki, and responds to her gasp with a sincere apology, "I am so sorry ma'am, I had no intent on scaring you.". Sita, who isn't quite sure what to make of the situation says, "Who are you and why have you come to me?", and Valmiki responds by saying, "I happen to have seen you wandering through the forest, looking a little lost, so I thought I would come offer you some help". Not quite convinced, Sita says, "I am not lost, I am simply going for a walk, I do not need any help. I am an independent woman, capable of taking care of herself". Valmiki could see right through her facade, but understood that she was just scared. He said, "Okay, I will leave you be. I was only offering some help", as he walks away. As soon as he turns around to walk away, Sita knew she had made a mistake by turning down his help, so she calls out to him, "Wait! Don't leave! Please, I really do need your help. I have been sent into exile, and left to fend for myself". Valmiki was quick to turn around and offer her his condolences. "If you follow me, I will take you to our town. You can reside there for as long as you wish, we will make sure you have food, water, shelter and lots of laughs!" Sita was immediately relieved, and knew she made the right decision by accepting Valmiki's help. She then followed his steps to the town, hoping for a fresh start.

Image Information: Valmiki finds Sita. Wikipedia

Author's Note: I choose to retell the story of when Valmiki finds Sita abandoned in the forest. I chose to add in some dialogue and to change it up a little bit in order to make it my own. Although I changed it up, I wanted to keep it along the same story line and for it to have the same backstory.

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

Week 4: Reading Diary B - The Journey Continues

Reading Diary Pg. 60-109
The Ramayana by William Buck

• Dasaratha decides to make Rama his successor and have him carry out his legacy as king. He king of does this behind his other son's backs, and in the end it comes around to get him. This is a similarity to what happened in Narayana's version of the Ramayana. One of Dasaratha's wives, Kaikeyi is convinced that this is a terrible mistake, and uses her two wishes that the king owes her to make her son, Bharata his successor, and to put Rama in exile. He has no choice but to fulfill her wishes. Rama is told about his exile, and does not resist. This is a true show of his character, and how the author is wanting him to be betrayed as. 
• Sita and Lakshmana plan to go into exile together with Rama, and as they try to leave, the people of Ayodhya are determined to keep them from leaving. They make the river rise, blocking them in and forcing them to stay through the night. 
• When they begin their journey into exile and enter the forest they run into Guha, the Hunter King. He immediately runs to Rama with open arms and big huge saying, "Oh Rama, Rama! Now you are an outcast like me! You look more outlandish than I remembered you!" (p. 72). He whistled and men came out from behind trees bearing all sorts of hot, steaming food! Later that night he goes on to tell them all the story of how he rejected Shiva's priests, and kicked her statue every single day. When he later died, Shiva rescued him because Shive considered him his most devoted follower. 
• Guha then goes on to tell them another story of when Kaikeyi had used her power to get Dasharatha to teach her the language of animals, even though he was to guard that knowledge with him own life. One Dasaratha had figured out what was going on, he knew he had made a mistake and did not have to do what she had demanded of him. 
• As Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana continue their journey, they meet sage Bharadwaja who convinces them to stay Chitratuka, where they choose to reside and Lakshmana builds them a beautiful house.  
• As the reading comes to an end, Dasharatha is told of Rama's departure. He dies the next day. His last thoughts were of a time he had accidentally killed a young boy in the forest, and he sees a connection between the death of that boy and the loss of his son.
• I really enjoy picking out the similarities and differences between the two versions of the Ramayana. For me, this version is easier to follow since I already have knowledge of the story and can focus more on what is happening, instead of just getting the characters distinguished. Although, very similar, I can point out differences here and there.

Week 4: Reading Diary A - The Story of the Ramayana

Reading Diary pg. 1-59
The Ramayana by William Buck

Characters

Valmiki - lived inside of an anthill because of unsuccessful attempts to find friendship, happiness and hope. Was convinced by Narada to save Sita, who was exiled by Rama because of gossip, and welcomed her into their town. Valmiki became a poet, and tells the story of Rama to Rama and Sita's twin boys, Kusha and Lava.

Kusha and Lava - Sons of Rama and Sita. Memorized the poem that Valmiki has to them by heart and sing it at a festival in the forest, in which Rama attends, not knowing that the two boys are his own.

King Dasaratha - King of Ayodhya. Had no son, but greatly longed for one to inherit his kingdom. He says, "Brahmana, I always long for a son. I can find no happiness without him, therefore make a sacrifice with fire, to please the gods" (p. 8). Calls Vasistha, who grants him sons.

Vasistha - Dasaratha's priest who performs a sacrifice so that Dasaratha can obtain sons.

Indra - King of Heaven

Ravana - Demon King

Vishnu - Soul of the Universe

Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana, Shatrughna - Dasaratha's four sons

Vishwamitra - Tells the story of Ravana to Dasaratha

Notes

• Ayodhya is described as being "filled with warriors, like a mountain cave filled with lions; her warriors were impatient and deadly to foes" (p. 8). They kept the city safe. The city was also known for its abundance of food, wood, and water. 
• Vasistha performs a sacrifice, and calls down Indra, the King of Heaven, who is not happy to be called, because he is unable to beat Ravana in battle.
• No amount of power by the gods can defeat Ravana. Indra goes to Lord Vishnu, trying to convince him to become incarnate as a human in order to defeat Ravana. He already has become in human form. 
• 16 years later, Vishwamitra arrives at the palace looking for help with his battles with the rakshasas. The baby Sukesha had three sons: Mali, Sumaili, and Malyavan
• They went to Vishwakarma, the architect gods, and asked for a home to be built. Lanka was made. Vishnu attacked and killed Mali. 
• Ravana married Mandodari, and had a son Meghanada (Indrajit)
• Ravana challenges Yama, the god of death, who surrendered to him. Surya and Chandra surrendered to him as well. 
• Ravana then attacked Amaravati, Indra's heaven, who slammed the gates of heaven to keep Ravana from coming in.
• In Mithila, Rama's strength allows him to break the bow of Shiva and he is able to wed Sita, Janaka's daughter. They marry and are brought back to Ayodhya. 
• Vishwamirta, ultimately wants Rama's help in defeating Ravana. Dasaratha agrees to allow Rama and Lakshmama to go with him. He becomes a mentor to the boys.
• On their journey, they travel to Mithilia, where Rama restores Ahalya.
• Rama's strength allows him to break the bow of Shiva, which gives him permission to marry Janaka's daughter, Sita. They travel back to Ayodhya. 

Storytelling for Week 3: The Great Abduction

Once upon a time in a far away forest, there was a poor old man. This man had been living in rags and had not had a stable home, a woman, or even a friend in years. He became so discouraged with himself and his ability to accomplish anything that he turned into a vein hermit. This hermit went by the name of Ravana. Many, many years had passed and not much had changed in Ravana's life. He lived a life full of emptiness, sadness, and quite frankly had not a single loved one. One day, Ravana had reached an all time low. He had never been so lonely before, and longed a woman more than anything. He gave himself two options: to continue his life full of loneliness or to get up and change something. With great debate, he chose the second option. It may seem easy to others to make a change like this, but Ravana was so severely out of the loop, he had not talked to a single being in hundreds of years. Instead of easing into things and taking small steps toward finding a wife and a life full of love and happiness, Ravana dives into this task with full fury. He was going to do whatever it takes, and I mean whatever it takes, to find the perfect woman to spend the rest of his life with. He begins his journey with a search. He searches all throughout the woods, backwards and forwards, looking for any sign of a living woman. He has no luck. Ravana becomes extremely anxious and begins to go mad. His search becomes frantic and he begins to loose hope. Days, weeks, months go by with no sight of a woman. Ravana is hopeless and decides to give up on his search. As turns around and endlessly walks back toward the way he came, he spots something shining out of the corner of his eye. He turns toward the shining figure and he sees shiny blonde hair on the most beautiful he has ever seen or imagined in his lifetime. Her name is Sita. He becomes so flustered because he has not had contact with anyone, yet alone a woman, in years so he has no idea to react. He follows his first instinct, which is to catch her before he looses her. He approaches her in his ragged state, anxious beyond belief. She was startled at first, saying "Who goes there? Turn back now or I will have you sought after!". Ravana responds by saying, "I want no harm, I am just a poor old man, coming for something I need." This eases Sita, as she plans to just fetch him some food and a new pair of clothes and send him on his way. He comes closer and closer until he stands on the ground right in front of her and says, "I need you, I will take you with me now", clearly not knowing how to properly interact with another human being. This takes Sita off guard, "I am a married woman, you cannot have me. I demand you to leave!". Out of fury, Ravana shakes the ground below her feet causing her to fall and then lifts the ground as a whole. In her helpless state, Ravana grabs onto her arm and ties his arm to hers. She exclaims, "You cannot take me like this, I have a husband who will find me!", and without caring Ravana responds by saying, "You are the woman I need and the woman I want, for the rest of our immortal lives you will be bound by my side.", and heads deep into the forest with his newly found woman.

Ravana Capturing Sita. Wikipedia

Author's Note: This week, I decided to retell the story of Ravana abducting Sita.  I decided to tell this story, because I thought there were so many different twists and spins you could add to it, and I wanted to bring simplicity and background to the story. In the actual story, Ravana had a thought out plan to abduct Sita, by approaching her as an old hermit while she is unguarded and then taking her. In my story, I decided to come up with a back story for Ravana, as if he hadn't planned her abduction, and simply was actually an old hermit, whom she thought was approaching her. The abduction was meant to be similar to the actual abduction, but reasons for doing it and the way it ends were meant to be dramatically different.

Narayan, R.K. (1972) The Ramayana. 

Week 3: Reading Diary B - The Final Quest

Reading Diary pg. 131-171
The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan

Since this reading consists of many short chapters, I decided to format my notes by chapter, and introducing any new characters that stands out to me as I go.

Chapter 8 - Memento from Rama
This reading starts out with Hanuman arriving in Lanka in further search for Sita. He shrank himself so that he could not be seen while searching. He finds several streets with houses of women that belong to Ravana, who he used to be enchanted by but have since been neglected upon the arrival of Sita. Hanuman enters a mansion, where he finds a beautiful women, whom he may think is Sita. She seemed very happy, with attendants fanning her left and right. Hanuman thought, it can't be Sita, and later realized it must be Ravana's wife, Mandodari. He continues his search, when he spots Sita in the Ashoka Vana pleasure garden, where she is being heavily guarded by demons. Ravana comes up to her to convince her to be his main mistress, where she refuses and Ravana orders the demons to break her will. Hanuman cant help but have have respect for Sita for staying so loyal to Rama. She becomes desperate, wanting to kill her life, until Hanuman comes before her and explains everything. They exchange jewelry. Indrajit, Ravana's son, takes Hanuman to Ravana, where he tells him about Rama and demands him to surrender. In furry, Ravana wants to kill him, but Ravana's brother, Vibhishana, persuades him not to. He puts Hanuman's tail on fire, burning Lanka to the ground. It is later rebuilt by the architect of the gods, Maya.

Chapter 9 - Ravana in Council
This chapter begins with Ravana admiring the new architecture of his city. He was so enchanted that he almost forgot he was attacked by a monkey, who then burned down his city. This chapter takes place in a council meeting setting, where Ravana and his people express their thoughts on what happened and what the next step should be. Mahodara, a giant to giants, wants to defeat all of the monkeys. Ravana's son, Indrajit, wants to kill Rama. Vibhishana speaks of the dangers of humans and reminds Ravana that he is not protected against humans and that he should release Sita. Ravana demands him to leave or be killed.

Chapter 10 - Across the Ocean
Vibhishana seeks out Rama in order to make peace. At first, they question him and especially Sugreeva and Jambavan are suspicious of him. They think if he is that quick to turn against his brother Ravana, then he is not loyal and cannot be trusted. Rama demands they take him in by saying, "One who speaks for himself must be accepted at his face value. One who seeks asylum must be protected"(p. 143). He was an asset to help plan out how to attack Lanka. Rama's first challenge was to get all of his armies across the ocean to get to Lanka. He prayed and fasted for 7 days and demanded the sea gods to help his armies cross, or else he will evaporate all of the ocean's water. The sea gods allowed a bridge to be built, and with the efforts of all of the troops, they were able to march across the ocean and arrive in Lanka.

Chapter 11 - The Siege of Lanka
Ravana's troops were dropping one by one. No one who went out had returned. Ravana tried many things to keep Rama from attacking. He sent his people out disguised as monkeys, he tried to fool Sita into thinking Rama had been decapitated, and tried to corrupt Rama's supporters, such as Sugreeva. Rama demanded his troops to attack Lanka. Sita is tricked into thinking Rama and Lakshmana are dead, but later finds out they were just injected with poison to make them faint. Garudu, a bird who is the vehicle of Vishnu, is able to reverse the power of the poison. Rama is later brought to Ravana for confrontation, where he sees how badly shattered Ravana is and allows him to return tomorrow with fresh weapons to fight.

Chapter 12 - Rama and Ravana in Battle
Rama and Ravana embark into an intense battle, where many armies on both sides have been destroyed. Ravana becomes so weak that he faints, but Rama refuses to kill him while he is in that state. When he rises again, Rama gets him in the heart and kills him. He orders for a funeral to be arranged as he exclaimed, "Honour him and cherish his memory so that his spirit may go to heaven, where he has his place. And now I will leave you to attend to his funeral arrangements, befitting his grandeur."(p.160) This really shows Rama's true character. He is a loving person, and wants the best for all, and for everyone to be remembered for their good, not their bad.

Chapter 13 - Interlude 
This chapter begins with Rama sending Hanuman to get Sita. Sita was overjoyed to finally be freed of Ravana. She is going to see Rama for the first time, while they are surrounded by a large crowd, which makes Sita feel a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but of course accepted it. Sita senese a barrier between her and Rama, and it rather confused. Rama then claims that his task is done and that he has freed her. He claims they could not longer live together again, since she had resided alone in a stranger's house. Sita broke down as she hears this, and Lakshmana demands that a fire be lit, and Sita jumps into it demanded that she had been untouched by Ravana. Rama was now satisfied, since he had established his wife's loyalty in front of the public. He welcomed her back into his arms, and they were together again at last!

Chapter 14 - The Coronation
14 years have gone by, and thus Rama's exile is over. He will now return to Ayodhya, where Bharata will be awaiting him. If Rama does not return, he is prepared to kill himself. Rama, Sita, and many others make their way back home to Ayodhya, where a happy reunion was awaiting them!

Week 3: Reading Diary A - Buckle Up For the Ride!

Reading Diary pg. 89-130

The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan

This reading starts off with Sita being abducted by Ravana. Jatayu, the bird and their protector, tries to fight off Ravana, but dies and uses his last breaths to tell Rama what happened to Sita. Rama and Lackshmana head to Kishkinda in desperate search of Sita.

Chapter 6, The Vali, is known as the most controversial chapter in the Ramayana. This chapter takes place in the mountainous forest regions of Kishkinda, a kingdom ruled by extremely intelligent monkeys. Sugreeva is ruler of the monkey clan, and Hanuman was his helper. 

One statement by Narayan that stood out to me right away as I started this reading was, "In the Ramayana, the participants are not only human beings but many others from God's creation, intelligent, cultured, and with their own achievements of spirit as well as physique" (p. 98). I thought this was really cool, because as we have seen already in the previous readings, Jatayu was an eagle, and I really became attached to him as a character. I may be writing about the animal characters for my storybook, so I had done a little research about them this past weekend, and found it so interesting. 

Sugreeva's Story 

Vali, the brother of Sugreeva, possesses unlimited strength because he was the only one who was able to turn the churner until nectar was obtained from the ocean. "He was rewarded with immeasurable strength. He held more energy than the five elements in nature and at one stride could cross the seven oceans and reach the mountain Charuvala, beyond all the seas" (p. 100). The demon, Mayavi, with odious features, challenged Vali. As soon as Vali rose to fight, Mayavi backed down, knowing that he had acted before thinking, and fled into a subterranean passage. Vali chased after him into the passage where he then disappeared. Right before he dissapeared he told Sugreeva to "Stay here and watch until I return" (p. 100), but there was no sign of him for many many months. Sugreeva was instructed to block the passage by his advisors so Mayavi could not re-emerge. Eventually, Vali destroyed Mayavi and returned from the passage, and was enraged to find out that Sugreeva had blocked the passage, thinking his own brother was trying to lock him in there. Once he found Sugreeva, he attacked him in vein, and Sugreeva fled to Mount Mantanga to hide from Vali. He also takes Sugreeva's wife making her his own, leaving Sugreeva without a home and without a wife. 

Rama was touched by this story, and felt pity for Sugreeva. Hanuman believes that Rama can help to defeat Vali. Rama agrees by saying, "I will help you. Tell me what you want." (p. 101). Sugreeva also agrees to help Rama find Sita. 

Dundubi's Story

The bones on top of the mountain are the bones of the monster, Dundubi, who was a powerful demon in the shape of a buffalo. He wanted to engage in war with Vishnu, who directed him to Shiva, where he expressed the wish to have the power to fight forever. Shiva then directed Dundubi to Indra, the chief of all gods, who then told him to go meet Vali, the only one who can fufill his wish. Vali attacked Dundubi as he descended from the mountain, and their fight continued for a full year. Vali takes Dundubi's horn off, killing him with it and whirling him into the air. His body flew to the spot where Sage Matanga was performing sacred rituals, who then went after Vali for ruining his prayer ground. 

• Sugreeva calls Vali to a fight, feeling confident with the help of Rama. They go into battle, and Rama strikes him with an arrow that later kills him. Sugreeva becomes the king. 
• He later helps Rama with his search for Sita by sending out search parties. 
• Hanuman and Andgada go south in search for Sita, but have no luck. They eventually run into the ocean, where they meet Sampathi, Jatayu's brother. 
• Sampathi was burned and charred by the sun god, and restored by the sound of Rama's name. Sampathi had seen Ravana take Sita to Lanka. 
• The bear, Jambavan points them in the right direction to Lanka, which is across the ocean. 

I really enjoyed this reading, because I loved the involvement with animal characters towards the end. I think it is really cool to see all the different characters in this book and how they interact with each other. There was constant action and surprises in this reading, making it really fun to read. My favorite part of this book so far is all of the character development and the stories explaining each character's past.