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.