Reading Diary B: Twenty-Two Goblins

Type of Underwater City

Image from Wikipedia

Notes on Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur W. Ryder.

Fourth Goblin
A man named Hero sacrifices his son to save the king.  Then his daughter dies so he and his wife kill themselves.  When the king discovers them, he decides to kill himself too.  It's pretty cruel to sacrifice his own son, but it shows a lot of devotion.  However, I don't understand why he decided to kill himself.  I really don't understand why the king decides to kill himself.  An entire family just died to save the king's skin, so the king thinks it is a good idea to die too?  I seems like the king's death would just make the other's deaths pointless.

Fifth Goblin
A brave man, a wise man, and a clever man are all promised to a princess.  The three combine their talents to rescue the girl from a giant.  If Draupadi was able to have five husbands, than surely this girl can have three husbands too.  The king, however, thinks that the brave man should marry the girl.

Sixth Goblin
A woman, her husband, and her brother come to a temple to worship a goddess.  The brother gets the bright idea to cut off his head as a sacrifice.  Should we all just go to a temple and cut off our heads?  The husband cuts off his head when he sees what happened.  Seems like a healthy response to the loss of a loved-one.  Fortunately, the woman decides that she needs to hang herself instead of cutting her own head off.  This gives the goddess time to give the two men their lives back, except with their heads switched.  On a side note, it seems like it would be very difficult to cut off your own head.

Seventh Goblin
A king helps a prince who saved his life win two underwater cities and marry the princess of those cities. It sounds like Atlantis.

Reading Diary A: Twenty-Two Goblins

Graveyard

Image by Hege

Notes on Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur W. Ryder.

Introduction
King receives fruits with gemstones inside from monk.  What a reward!  However, the monk asks to meet the king in the graveyard.  The monk wants the king to bring him a hanging body.  Already, this story is sounding a little creepy.  I wonder why the monk needs the body.  The body becomes possessed by a goblin that tells him the first story.

First Goblin
A prince sees a beautiful girl and falls in love with her.  However, she only speaks to him through signs that only the prince's counselor can understand.  When the prince sends am old woman to ask of the girl, the girl rejects the price, but the signs say he must wait for several days.  Already this sounds like a complicated relationship.  I don't understand why the girl only uses signs.  Then, when she weds the prince and finds that the counselor is the one who interpreted the signs, she tries to have him killed.  The counselor and prince execute a plan to get the girl banished from the city, and her parents die from grief.  Seems like all this trouble could have been spared.

Second Goblin
Mother threw son into fire for crying.  How harsh!  She sounds like a terrible mother.  But he was brought back to life by a spell.  The man who witnessed this used the magic to bring a dead girl to life.

Third Goblin
A parrot and thrush get into an argument over whether men or women are worse.  The King decides that "women are usually bad."  What a terrible statement!  Saying this would get many people's blood to boil in today's Western society.

Week 12 Review

I thought video from Friday's announcements about becoming a noun was very funny.

Week 12 Storytelling: The Mouse and the Elephant

Elephant by the Water

Image from Wikipedia

Maximilian sat by the lake, grooming his whiskers in the reflection of the pristine waters.  The sun had just set and it was quiet for the watering hole.  Usually all sorts of animals came for a drink.  The lake was arguably Maximilian's favorite place, especially when it was quiet.  However, when there were others about, he had the pleasure of animal watching.  It appeared that he would have both tonight; there was a herd of elephants approaching from the distance.

When the elephants arrived, they nosily slurped up the water until they had their fill.  One by one, as they finished drinking, they meandered off to a patch of grass where they gossiped and ate the vegetation.  Finally, there was just one elephant left drinking water.

On the other side of the lake were a group of hares that had shown up around the same time as the elephants had.  Maximilian could see that they were growing increasingly perturbed by the elephants.  With such large ears, the elephants' ruckus was particularly disturbing for the rabbits.  Finally, one of the hares decided to get rid of the elephants.  He hopped over to the lone elephant.

"Listen to me oh Elephant, I am the hare in the moon, and I have come to warn you against disturbing the moon.  Leave here at once!"

Since the moon was behind the clouds, the elephant did not pay much attention to the hare.

"The moon's wrath will destroy you!"

The hare dipped his toe into the water as the moon appeared from behind the clouds.  The elephant looked up and saw the moon reflecting up at him.  Suddenly, because of the waves caused by the hare, there were multiple reflections of the moon in the water.  When he saw the moon split into multiple pieces to attack him, the elephant rumbled backwards and retreated as fast as he could.

Maximilian felt sorry for the poor elephant and he went over to comfort him and invite the beast to a luncheon he was planning for tomorrow.  When he reached the elephant his fur shimmered in the moonlight.  The elephant thought that Maximilian was a piece of the moon that had come to attack him.  But when he saw how little the shimmering mouse was, he decided that he could easily squash the tiny piece of moon.

Just before Maximilian was about to speak and invite the elephant to his party, the giant beast tried to squash him.  Goodness! thought Maximilian.  He scrambled behind the elephant and leapt up on his back.  The other elephants, saw the tiny mouse and thought that he was holding the great elephant to the ground by some magical force.  With this realization, they became afraid and stampeded off as fast as they could go.  Even today, elephants are still afraid of mice.

Author's Note: This story is a combination of The Hare in the Moon and The Elephant-Fighting Hare, both from Devi's Fables and Folklore.  The first part of the story, when the hare uses the moon to scare off the elephant, is very similar to the original Hare in the Moon story.  However, for the second part of the story, I wanted to explain why elephants are afraid of mice.  Instead of a hare that sits atop the elephant, as in The Elephant-Fighting Hare, I had the mouse sit on the elephant's back.

Bibliography:
"The Hare in the Moon" by Shovona Devi, from Fables and Folklore (1919). Web source: Indian Epics Reading Guides.

"The Elephant-Fighting Hare" by Shovona Devi, from Fables and Folklore (1919). Web source: Indian Epics Reading Guides.

Tech Tip Quotemakers

I made the following image with Canva.  This quote is from Adam Ruins Everything, one of my new favorite TV shows.

Made with Canva

Image from Allen

Tech Tip Site Navigation

I cleaned up the navigation sidebar on my storybook website, Badri and the Dashavatara, so that it only shows the list of stories.

Reading Diary B: Indian Fables and Folklore

Notes on Indian Fables and Folklore by Devi

Shibi sacrificed the weight of a pigeon in his own flesh to a hawk so that the pigeon might live.

Kshupa brags of his superiority over sages.  Dadhichi boxed Kshupa's ears, and Kshupa killed Dadhichi.  When Dadhichi was revived, he asked to be as hard as diamond so that he could fight Kshupa.  After much fighting, the two reconciled.

Mira is married to a Krishna toy.

The arrogant King Krishna challenged the God Krishna to fight.  The King and his follower's heads were removed with a discus.  It seems very foolish to challenge a god to fight.

Avikshita goes to the swayamvara of Vaishalini and captures her to be his bride.  The other princes fight and defeat him.  After Avikshita's father wages war to get his son back, Avikshita refuses to marry since he was defeated in combat.  This all seems like a lot of trouble for finding a wife.  How many people died in the war trying to retrive Avikshita?

Ishvarvarman lost all his money to a cunning inn keeper.  He later went back with a monkey that seemingly makes gold.  The innkeeper traded everything she owned for the monkey.  It sounds like Ishvarvarman learned his lesson.  He used a creative way to get his money back.

The "logical pupil" was sent to find a cat for his master.  Instead he brings back a boy that matches his masters description of a cat.

A poor man gets a magical pitcher that gives food.  He breaks the pitcher when he is drunk with his friends.

Bir-Vadra killed a nearly invincible giant and a dragon.

Banker monkey

Image from Tore Bustad

Reading Diary A: Indian Fables and Folklore

Notes on Indian Fables and Folklore by Devi

There is a little man in the eye

The hare convinced the elephant that the moon was out to get him

The elephant tried to crush the hare, but the hare sat on his back, causing the other elephants to think that the hare was pinning the elephant and the other elephants ran away

Elephant came into market place, and everyone closed.  Salesman said he was all out.  Elephant crushed stand and took food. 

Monkeys tried to rescue the moon from a well and all fell down into it.  Monkeys are stupid.

Sage raised rat; sun, clouds, wind, mountain tried to avoid marrying her.  Married to a rat.

Snake tricked frog king to let him eat his attendants and himself

Gautama murdered the crane and was executed.  Not even the worms would eat his body.

Ratnakar was a robber.  When he found out that his wife and children did not approve of his deeds, he repented and performed austerities.  He became known as Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana.

Parasols and shoes are gifts from the sun.

Atreya went to Heaven and was pleased.  He built a heaven on Earth.  When giants destroyed his heaven, he realized his folly.

Yudhishthir was allowed to bring his dog into heaven

Yudhishthir and the Pandavas recieved a magic food bowl in the forest that gave them what they needed to eat.

Hare fools Elephant with the Moon

Image from Wikipedia

Famous Last Words Week 11

Almost there

Image from Flickr

I finished most of my assignments early this week.  I was able to finish the blog comments and project feedback almost as soon as they were released.  The only items I finished at the last minute were a new Storybook post and the extra credit assignments.  Since I finished my last exam for the semester (other than one final) last Friday, I have had a lot more time to get homework done.    This has been particularly beneficial this week since I started applying for jobs.  Before this week, I have put off applying for a full-time position, but I was able to spend a good portion of time on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday working on my job search.  I finished updating my resume, and I applied at two different companies.  I am excited to graduate and move on to another challenge, but I need to figure out what that will be as soon as possible.

I also realized this week that I am very close to finishing the semester in Epics of India.  After this week, I will only have sixty points left until I reach the threshold for an A.  I can either get all the extra credit next week and get most of the way there, or I can just finish the next two weeks without any extra credit.  Either way I will finish the class shortly.  With the extra time, I'll be able to focus on finishing my other classes and applying for jobs.  Since I am an engineer, I usually have final exams in all my classes.  However, this semester I only have one final.  I should be able to entirely finish two of my classes before Thanksgiving and finish the semester relatively stress-free.  Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I will work a lot harder to finish as soon as possible.

Week 11 Review

Scripturient

Image from Announcements

Since this is National Novel Writing Month, I thought scripturient was a particularly apt word.  Writing a novel in a month would be a lot of fun, but I don't quite have the time this year.  This class has inspired me to write more than any other class I've taken.

Google Timer Tech Tip

The Google timer seems like it will be really helpful.  Right now, I don't use any timers to manage my work time or breaks, but I might start doing so.  The best thing I have done recently to manage my time is start a short to-do list.  Previously, I would put everything I wanted to do on my list; now I only put important items on the list.  I've found that having the document always open helps me manage my time better.

Tech Tip: Sidebar Box

I just added an "About Me" section with a HTML sidebar box.  The sidebar was relatively easy to add.

Week 11: Reading Feedback

This week I read Kincaid's Tales from the Epics.  I chose this reading because it include a wide selection of stories that were different than the what we have read so far.  I also picked this book because it was available for free online.  I really enjoyed the readings; they did not get boring.  One thing that tripped me up was most of the stories were sequential, but the Frog King's Daughter was not directly after Ruru and Pramadvara.  Instead, I ended up reading part of Nala and Damayanti, which happened to be one of my favorite stories of the group.  I'd suggest making a note saying that the stories are not necessarily sequential.  It was also confusing because the picture for the reading guide was from a story that was not part of the reading.

Damayanti

Image from Kincaid

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

I just added a weather widget to the sidebar of the blog.  I love the weather in Oklahoma.  It is always changing so it is never boring.

Week 11 Storytelling: The Human King's Daughter

There was once a great king named Parikshit who ruled over the entirety of Lake Ayodhya.  He was outside for his afternoon hop when he saw the largest and most juicy fly that he had ever seen.  The chase begun.  For nearly three days, the great king chased his prey.  The fly landed, the king was in reach, and he was just about to snap up the fly.  Suddenly, another tongue grabbed the fly, and it was gone.  Parikshit's heart filled with rage.  Who dared interfere with his hunt?  He turned to face his enemy so that he might banish him from the kingdom.  But when he saw who had taken his fly, his heart stopped.  It was the most beautiful frog he had ever seen.  She had the most beautiful yellow eyes, her spots were perfectly round, and the way she caught flies with her tongue was exquisitely graceful.  He knew instantly that this frog must become his queen.  He approached her to ask for her tongue in marriage.

"Lovely lady, you are the most beautiful frog I have ever seen.  Marry me and be my queen."

"I will become your wife, but you must make me a promise."

"Anything you ask my dear."

"Never let me gaze upon pavement."

King Parikshit thought this was a strange request, but he readily agreed.  The next day they were married on a lilypad in Lake Ayodhya.  The couple lived very happily.  Every morning, they went on a hop around the lake. One morning, they stumbled upon a sidewalk.  Although the king had heard about concrete, he had never seen any for himself.

"Darling, come here and see this marvelous sidewalk."

His wife joined him on the sidewalk.  The king began to examine the pavement with great interest.  But when he turned around, his queen was gone.  Walking towards him was a human.  King Parikshit dashed off with a heavy heart.  He later realized that the human must have killed his bride.  He resolved to strike back.  Before any frog could have an audience with the king they were required to bring him possession of a human.  The King knew how much humans liked their possessions, and soon King Parikshit's castle was surrounded by watches, baby toys, and dollar bills.

After about a month the human king Ayusha decided that he had enough.  He disguised himself as a frog and sought an audience with the king.

"Oh great king, I am Ayusha, king of men.  My people have suffered enough.  Stop taking our goods, and let us have peace."

"A human killed my queen, and I must have retribution for her life."

"Your queen is still alive.  She is my daughter Sushavana.  She disguised herself as a frog when you met her.  She has deceived many frogs this way, and does not deserve to be queen."

King Parikshit was saddened that queen had left him, but he decided to forgive her if she came back.  Sushavana then reassumed her form as a frog and returned to Parikshit.  The couple lived the rest of their lives in peace and happiness by Lake Ayodhya.

The Frog Queen

Image from Wikipedia

Author's note: I really enjoyed the story about the Frog King's Daughter.  In the story, King Parikshit sees a beautiful woman and decides to marry her.  When the two go swimming, the Queen turns back into a frog.  Thinking that the frog's are responsible for his queen's death, he requires his citizens to slaughter all the frogs that they could find.  Eventually, the king finds out that his wife was a frog in the form of a woman.  He takes her back and they have three children together.  I decided to retell this story from the opposite perspective by making the main characters frogs instead of humans.

Bibliography: Kincaid.  Tales from the Epics.  Frog King's Daughter.

Reading Diary B: Tales from the Epics

Notes on Kincaid.  Tales from the Epics.

Ruru and Pramadvara.
Ruru gave Pramadvara half of his life to make her return from the dead after she was bitten by a snake.


The Frog King's Daughter.
This story, once again, contains love at first sight.
The king Parikshit falls in love with a beautiful princess who happened to be a frog.
I don't understand why the princess requires the king to forbid her from looking at water on the ground.  Does water automatically make her turn back into a frog?  This makes even less sense when the frog king comes to Parikshit's court and says that his daughter deceived Parikshit and many other men.
Frog's sons were cursed to hate sages.
Vamadeva, whose horses were stolen, is a very forgiving sage, especially in comparison to the other sages we have heard stories about.


The Descent of the Ganges.
Queen Sumati gave birth to a gourd that contained 60,000 sons.
Prince Asamanja, the son of King Sagar, was banished from the kingdom and never heard from again.
In order to punish King Sagar for pride of his sons, Vishnu came, disguised as an old woman and stole the sacrificial horse from them.
The 60,000 sons set out to find the horse.  They dug through the earth to get to the other side and asked elephants which hold up the earth if they had seen the horse.  Finally, they found a meadow where the horse and the old woman were.
The old woman turned into a god and fire shot out of its eyes to consume the 60,000 sons.  This must have been a very impressive sight.

The Tale of the Pole Star.
Dhruv walks along a path to find Vishnu and becomes the pole star.

60,000 sons could fill OSU's Boone Pickens Stadium

(OU's stadium capacity is 82,000)

Image from Flickr

Reading Diary A: Tales from the Epics

Notes on Kincaid.  Tales from the Epics.

The tortoise who holds up the mountain on his back is referred to as the "Tortoise king;" there is no mention of Kurma, the avatar of Vishnu.

Vishnu gives the ambrosia to only the Devas because the demons tried to take it for themselves.  In other stories, the gods do not want to share the nectar with the demons.

The eclipse of the sun is caused by the Asura Rahu, who lost his head when he tried to drink the nectar.

Uttanka cursed the king for giving him unclean food.  Who curses someone to blindness because their food is cold and has a hair in it?  Is seems very outrageous to me that Uttanka, who just received the Queen's earrings for free, would curse the king.

The Indian year has 6 seasons

King Kashyapa's wife, Queen Kadru, wants to be mother of 1000 snakes.  When her sons refuse to do her bidding, she curses them to be consumed in a snake sacrifice.  What mother curses her own children?  It seems like the characters in these tales curse each other so freely.  What is particularly interesting to me is their ability to make some of these curses.  How can they just say that another person will be blind or not have any children and then it happens?

King Kashyapa's other wife, Vinata, has two sons.  The first curses her to slavery for breaking his egg, and the second son is a bird.  How does a naga have a bird for a son?

After Indra steals back the ambrosia, the snakes but their tongues on the sharp grass, which is why snakes now have split tongues.

In addition to curses, the characters of these Indian stories also seem to make strange promises.  Jaratkaru promises only to marry someone with his same name that will cost him nothing.  This requirement seems so arbitrary and unnecessary.

When Jarakaru finally gets a wife, he curses her for waking him up so he can say a prayer.  Once again, this seems very backwards.  His wife was only trying to help him and he punishes her for this.

One of One Thousand Snakes

Image by Carolyn

Week 10 Storytelling: Drona's Death

Drona looked at the display on his visor where he checked on the status of the battle, his own vitals, and the status of his son Ashwatthama. Everything was going well so far. Above him, two starfighters fought for air supremacy. With a blast of a laser cannon, the enemy's craft disintegrated into a million pieces.

The Kauravas and Pandavas fought for control of Hellas Planitia, the largest visible crater on Mars. The battle had raged on for nearly two weeks now. Drona was sad to see the cousins fighting in this way. He had mentored both groups of men when they were just padawans. His loyalty, however, remained with the Kauravas. As long as Duryodhana still wished to fight, so would Drona.

Drona's skill as a commander was unmatched. They had enormous success today; they had victories on every front, and the Pandavas were unable to claim any successes with Drona at the helm of the opposition.

Yudhishthira, the wise leader of the Pandavas, realized their predicament and devised a plan. He happened to know that the Kauravas spacesuits were manufactured by Lenovo, and they had one major flaw. The spacesuits that the military used ran the same operating system as civilian suits. When Lenovo manufactured the suits, they added a piece of software called Superfish to the bundle. The intent of Superfish was to allow subliminal advertisements to be shown on the suit's visor display. Superfish used a man-in-the-middle attack to insert these advertisements. It allowed encrypted traffic to be routed through an intermediary server which unencrypted the message, inserted the ads, re-encrypted the message and sent it to the spacesuit. Yudhishthira exploited this flaw. He intercepted messages sent to Drona that contained Ashwatthama's telemetry and made it appear as if Ashwatthama was dead.

Everything had gone well for Drona until now. He was on his way back from the midst of the battle to the command post in order to check how everything fared there. He glanced up at his visor again and saw that his son was dead. His heart nearly stopped, and he sank to his knees. Ashwatthama was his legacy and everything he lived for. Without his son, he could not continue the fight. A tear rolled down his right eye, and his spacesuit tried to compensate for the extra moisture. Had he walked another five hundred feet into the command post, he would have known that his son was still alive. Nearby, a starship landed and Dhrishtadyuma stepped out. He unholstered his weapon, aimed down sights, and fired a laser into Drona's heart.

Hellas Planitia

Image from Wikipedia

Author's Note: When I thought about Drona's death, it reminded me of the book "The Martian." The crew of the Mars mission believed that Mark Watney was dead and so they left him on the planet. Similarly, Drona believed that his son was dead and lost the will to live. I thought that Mars would make a good setting to retell this story, and as it involved a space battle, I threw in some Star Wars. The Superfish attack is a real venerability of some Lenovo computers. In order to make a few bucks on advertising, Superfish created a huge security issue for thousands of computers.

Bibliography: "Mahabharata" by Peter Brooks. Website: YouTube

Reading Diary B: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

Notes on Peter Brook's Mahabharata:

Yudhisthira goes to Bhishma for counsel and speaks to the deathless boy.

Drona's loyalty is questioned.

"He was born for a life of pease, yet he chose war" -Vyasa about Drona

Drona pours wine or blood on his head when he looses the will to live.  After he hears that Ashwatthama is dead.

Karna's death seems to be the most tragic point of the film up to this point.  After his chariot wheel drops into the earth and the sun goes behind the cloud, he seems completely lost as he tries to remember the words to attain the weapon which will save him.  The great warrior Karna was reduced to desperation and fear just before he died.  After Karna dies, the Pandavas learn that Karna is their brother.  They are distraught that they killed their brother.

After the battle, Duryodhana retreats to underneath the ice in the river.  He seems like a coward for hiding in the water, but he is offered the kingdom if he beats Bhima in a fight.  His greed gets him out of the water.  It seems strange that Duryodhana is originally able to best Bhima with clubs since Bhima is such an acclaimed warrior with the club.  Krishna advises Bhima to cheat by hitting Duryodhana in the leg, and Bhima is able to win the fight after he does so.

Krishna often advises what seem to be morally questionable choices.  He lets Bhima's son go to his death, he advises to Arjuna to shoot his enemies when they are down, and he advises Bhima to cheat. Apparently, Gandhari thinks so too; she curses Krishna for participating in the fight through his advice.

Just before Gandhari and Dhritarashtra are killed by a forest fire, Dhritarashtra orders Gandhari to take off her veil, but she does not.  Why does she lie about taking off her veil?

Karna's Death

Image from Peter Brook's Film

Reading Diary A: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

This week, I am watching the second half of Peter Brook's Mahabharata.

Amba visits Bhishma in the night.  It now makes since how he could know Amba's new form.  In the previous version we read, it seemed strange that Bhishma knew that Shikhandi was Amba reincarnated.

What I don't understand is why Bhishma tells the Pandavas how to kill him.  If he wanted the Pandavas to win, then he did not have to fight for the other side, but it seems reckless to tell the enemy how to defeat you.

I'm still a little confused about Shikhandi(Amba).  Did he even shoot his arrow?  It seems like he was unable to kill Bhishma, and instead Arjuna fired the arrow.

I thought it was very interesting how Krishna guided Arjuna's arrow.  Krishna carried the arrow until it his Bhishma, which I suppose is how the filmmakers showed that Krishna influenced the flight of the arrow and made it fly true.

Arjuna shoots an arrow into the ground to produce water

I really like Karna's interaction with Kunti.  It is a very emotional scene.  You can see that Karna is deeply hurt that his mother abandoned him and that he longs for a mother.  My favorite quote from the interaction is, "After the battle you will keep the same number of sons."

It seems very cruel that Krishna, knowing that Karna possessed the celestial weapon, sent Bhima's son to die in order to destroy the weapon.  However, I suppose it was a very effective tactic.

Brook's film also give a lot more detail about the death of Arjuna's son.  Arjuna breaks through the enemy's defenses, but he does not know how to escape.

Arjuna's Son

Image from Film

Reading Plan

Week 9: Brook's Mahabharata Week 2; I already watched the first half of this film, so for week 9, I will finish it.

Week 10: Nivedita. Krishna.

Week 11: Kincaid. Tales from the Epics.

Week 12: Devi. Indian Fables and Folklore.

Week 13: Kalidasa's Shakuntala

Week 14: Wilson. More Stories - Nala, Savitri, Rishyashringa

Damayanti

Image from Kincaid. Tales from the Epics reading guide

Reflections: Looking Forward

Everything has gone well so far this semester.  Going forward, I would like to continue as I have been.  I really enjoyed writing the introduction to my Storybook, and I think the it has a lot of potential.  I want to continue to produce high-quality Storybook entries.  I also want to write more stories in worlds that I devise on my own.

If possible, I want to read the stories that go along with my storybook.  Otherwise, I just want to read what is interesting.

There are places I can improve, but overall I think the most reasonable goal is to continue to turn in all my assignments on time and continue in the same fashion I began.  So far, I am on track to finish with an A a week or two early.

Looking Forward

Personal Photo

Reflections: Looking Back

Out of all the stories I have written for the class so far, I still think my favorite is the story from Week 1, Keebler's Journey Into the Wild.  I wrote the story before school started so I had a lot of time to being as creative as possible.  I think the combination of a map story and continuing a Dungeons and Dragons game gave me powerful constraints that let me write a really good story.  I also am very proud of Aarabhi and Angga.  I was able to adapt the original story into a story about ants.  When I first started this semester, I expected to write more stories like this, where I invented my own characters to retell the story.  But as the semester has gone on, my stories seem to get closer to the originals.  I think this is probably due to an increase in the amount of work I have, so I have spent less time and creativity on the stories.  I tried to be slightly more original with my Week 7 Star Wars-inspired story, but I think it lacks a lot.

For some reason, the most interesting part of the readings so far has been the genealogies.  I really enjoy looking at how the characters are related and how they interact with one another.  There are so many stories in the epics that relationships tend to get complex fairly quickly.  I've found that drawing a diagram showing relationships helps me understand the stories better.

I love the format of the class being entirely online.  In some of my other classes, I've found that I have trouble paying attention during class.  Then, when I need a piece of information, I have trouble finding it because I can't go back and reference the lectures.  I am also taking another online class, and while it is better than a normal class, there are a few things that get on my nerves.  The Indian Epics class is extremely well organized, and since there are a lot of redundancies in the assignments, it is very easy to find he information I need.  My other class has information scattered about, so it is more difficult to find what I want.  One of my favorite things about this class is the grading system.  So far, I have not missed a single normal assignment, and I feel much more motivated to work on Epics of India than my other classes.  The participatory system removes almost all of the stress, and I probably learn more than I do in my other classes.

I do almost all of my homework at my apartment, and I have no set schedule.  I've tried to get a week ahead on my work, but so far I have been unsuccessful.  When I work hard to get ahead, I tend to neglect my other schoolwork.  I then spend the next few days trying to catch up in my other classes and I end up nowhere.  It is extremely frustrating, and I wish I could just be ahead on everything and work stress-free.  Unfortunately, I feel like there is always something I should be doing for school, which makes my school-life balance tricky.

This class has improved my writing by forcing me to write constantly, but I still enjoy the process.  Retelling stories in my own words is actually interesting, unlike most academic writing.  I also now use bookmarks, which has made my Internet experience much better.

Not Yet

Image from Wikipedia

Week 7 Storytelling: Watto Loses Everything

Watto was from the planet Toydaria, and despite a difficult youth, he had managed to do well for himself.  Oringally, Watto had served as a soldier for the Ossiki Confederacy Army on his home planet.  After he returned home from war he expected to continue his father's business.  His father owned multiple businesses across the system, but the largest was a food producer known as Monsanta.  Monsanta farmed algae and fish for the Toydarians and had a near monopoly on the planet's food supply.  Instead, when Watto returned home, he discovered that his brother Datto was running the empire.  His father informed him that Watto would be given a small junk shop on the planet Tatooine.  Watto should have suspected as much.  His father had always favored his older brother.  He packed his things and took the next ship to Tatooine.

Watto would not let his father or brother stop him from acquiring fame and fortune.  He set about becoming the best junk dealer in the galaxy.  He began learning about trade from the local Jawas.  Before long, his junk shop was the most profitable on Tatooine.  Around this time he decided to join the slave trade.  He had an uncanny ability to choose the best slaves.  He even found a young boy by the name of Anakin who had a mechanical aptitude and boosted the productivity of his shop by nearly double.  Watto became very wealthy and very happy.  The business almost ran itself with Anakin there.

While everything was going well for Watto, Monsanta was going through a rough patch.  Datto was not nearly as competent as Watto.  In order to make himself feel better, Datto planned a trip to visit his brother.  Datto owned an empire while his brother had a measly junk shop.  However, to his surprise, when Datto arrived on Tatooine, he discovered that Watto was the wealthiest creature on the planet.  Datto grew jealous and hatred burned in his heart.  He decided that he would send his servant Shakuni to win everything from Watto in a gambling match.

If Watto had one weakness, it was gambling.  He loved to wager on the podraces.  Just before the biggest podrace of the year, two groups of foreigners came to Tatooine.  The first was Shakuni and his aides.  The second was Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme Amidala, and a strange Gungan named Jar Jar Binks. Qui-Gon Jinn claimed to have a podracer that he won in a game of chance.  He wanted Anakin to pilot it for him.  If Anakin won, Watto would keep the prize money.  If Anakin lost, Watto would keep Qui-Gon's ship.  It was too good to turn down.  Similarly, Shakuni offered him a deal that was too good to be true.  Watto bet Shakuni that the Dug Sebulba would win the race.

If Sebulba won, Watto would have been the wealthiest man in the system.  But instead Anakin won the race, and Watto lost everything.  Watto spent the rest of his days destitute and alone.

Watto

Original Image

Author's Note:  I watched Star Wars Episode I last night.  Like Yudhisthira, Watto's weakness is gambling.  While Watto is extremely different from Yudhisthira, I thought he would make a good character to retell Yudhisthira's story.

Bibliography:
"Mahabharata" by Peter Brook. Website: YouTube.

Reading Diary B: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

The gambling match still baffles me.  I don't understand how Yudhisthira, one of the wisest men, could gamble everything away.  He had nothing to win and everything to lose.

The king Dhritarashtra is portrayed as a caring and normal man who is trying to do the best by his children.

Amba tries to get Bhima to kill Bhishma.

Arjuna's exile seems to be missing entirely from the film.  There is also no House of Fire.  Half the movie remains and the war is the only large event that remains.

The Kauravas try to kill the Pandavas in exile.  Vyasa interferes and puts a stop to the attack.

Bhima encounters Hidimba later chronologically.  He is married to Draupadi at this point.  Hidimbi looks overjoyed when her brother is killed.  It is somewhat disturbing that Hidimbi goes from being faithful to her brother to experiencing joy at his death only a few minutes later.  Kunti is not here for this fight.

The Kauravas use fire to invoke Arjuna.  They can see that he is searching for weapons and the Kauravas can even talk to him.  I wonder what type of god or magic makes this possible.

Arjuna gets a weapon from Shiva.

Karna cares for a Parashurama in the wilderness and asks for a weapon in return.  Parashurama gives Karna a formula that will call a creature from heaven to give him a weapon.  When Parashurama sleeps, a worm eats a hole in Karna's thigh.  Parashurama accuses Karna of lying to him about being a kshatriya and curses him to forget the formula.  Also, where did Karna's armor go?

The Riddles at the Lake makes a little more sense now.  The Pandavas are overcome by an overwhelming thirst that makes them drink even when their brothers are dead.

Arjuna gets the Pashupata from Shiva
Image from Wikipedia

Reading Diary A: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

Peter Brook's Mahabharata has several differences from the PDE Mahabharata.  Below I've listed the biggest differences that I noticed or things that stood out to me this time that I did not notice earlier.

I really like how they start with Vyasa as the story teller and constantly go back to him.

Vasu's sperm is given to a falcon; he doesn't ride a flying chariot.

The PDE Mahabharata focuses on Bhishma's "terrible oath" but the film sees his action more positively - "The gods applauded his actions."  He is portrayed as noble.

Amba goes back to Bhishma and threatens him after Bhishma refuses to marry her.

Pandu makes his brother king
I don't remember Kunti's mantra

I only remember 4 Pandavas instead of 5.  The PDE Mahabharata only discusses Arjuna, Bhima, and Yudhisthira in depth.

A ball of flesh comes out of Gandhari's womb.  This is a pretty memorable visual and explains how she can have so many children.

Ajuna's promise to fight Drona and fight to kill
Youth rejected because too many pupils

The film portrays Drona as cruel.  Ekalavya, the youth that cuts off his thumb for Drona is rejected because Drona already has enough pupils, not because he comes from a kingdom of robbers.

The film skips over a lot of material before the dice game.

Pandavas get bad land from Dhritarashtra and improve that land so that they have a wonderful palace and all the people are happy.

The Kauravas, especially Duryodhana are maddened by jealousy.  They seem to be noble when they accept Karna.  However, after this they are only trying to keep up with the Pandavas.

Yudhisthira loves gambling in the film.  In the PDE Mahabharata, he is just unable to refuse a challenge.

Swayamvara challenge was shown as the contest in Peter Brook's film

Image from Wikipedia

Week 6 Storytelling: Bhima Slays Kichaka

For the final year of their exile, the Pandavas and Draupadi disguised themselves and lived in the courts of King Virata.  Although Draupadi had assumed the guise of a maid known as Sairandhri, she could not hide her radiant beauty.  When Prince Kichaka, the brother of the Queen, first beheld her, he immediately fell in love.  Kichaka decided to win Sairandhri's heart, so he convinced his sister, the Queen, to assign Sairandhri to bring him his afternoon meal.  Every day for an entire fortnight, when Sairandhri brought the food, the prince asked her to be his bride.  And each day she said nothing.

Finally, Kichaka grew impatient.  If the fair maiden would not give him what he wanted, then he would take it by force.  The next day, when Sairandhri was delivering food, Kichaka grabbed her by the arm and began to tear at her clothes.  She punched him in the nose and ran from his chambers as fast as she could.  Immediately, she went to her husband Bhima and told him everything that had taken place.

"Avenge me Bhima!  Do not sit idly while Kichaka tries to violate my honor."

"Have no fear.  Tomorrow will be his last day on this earth."

The next afternoon, Sairandhri brought the Prince his food.  But instead of taking it to him, she left the tray by his door and knocked.  When Kichaka opened the door, he found his tray of food.  Underneath the cup of wine was a brief note that reeked of perfume.  "Meet me in the dancing hall."

Kichaka wasted no time on his way to the dancing hall.  He hoped that Sairandhri had finally come to her senses.  The room was dark when he arrived, but he entered without hesitation.  Bhima, who was hiding in the corner, leapt out and threw Kichaka to the ground.  Bhima grabbed Kichaka by the hair and the feet and wrapped him around his knee.  Kichaka's back crackled as it broke in every imaginable place.  Then, Bhima kneaded Kichaka's body until every feature was beyond recognition.  It was unclear whether the heap of meat was an animal or a man.  Calmly, Bhima placed the body into a sack and carried him to the kitchen.

That evening, the entire royal household feasted on steak.  King Virata praised the meal as "our chef's finest work."  Even Queen Sudeshna, who normally avoided eating meat, gobbled up her entire portion.  Because of the delicious dinner, no one save Bhima and Sairandhri noticed that Prince Kichaka was missing.  Out of all the royal party, Bhima enjoyed his meat the most.  He thought about his vow to slay Dushasana and drink his blood.  Bhima looked into his cup.  Its contents were red as wine but slightly thicker.  He took a long draught from his chalice and smiled.

Bhima kills Prince Kichaka

Image from Wikipedia

Author's Note:  Of all the Pandavas, Bhima seems to kill his enemies in the most brutal ways.  I wanted to tie his murder of Prince Kichaka with his vow to slay Dushasana and drink his blood.  Most of the story follows the original, but I added the last paragraph, where Bhima and the royals eat Prince Kichaka, to emphasize Bhima's brutality.

Bibliography:
"Bhima and Kichaka" by C.A. Kincaid from The Indian Heroes (1921). Web Source: PDE Mahabharata.

Reading Diary B: PDE Mahabharata

65. Death of Drona - At certain points in the battle, each side compromises their honor or moral code in some way to gain an advantage. This is the main case for the Pandavas. They don't strictly lie, but they kill Drona through deceit.  As Drona was almost like a father to the Pandavas, it is sad to see him go in such a manner.

66. Bhima and Duhshasana - This takes the cake for Bhima's most gruesome kill. He's pretty good at killing people in gruesome ways. He completes his vow by slaying and drinking the blood of Dihshasana.

72. The Pandavas and Bhishma - Bhishma's fable gives a lesson that many of the heroes in the Mahabharata need to understand. A seemly evil act might be justified in some circumstances. For instance, when Arjuna is banished for 12 years because he walks into the room where Yudhishthira sits next to Draupadi. It would make sense for him to not go into exile. Bhishma's moral also makes every decision much more theologically difficult. How is someone to know what is right or wrong?

80.  The Afterlife - Yudhishthira's journey to the nether regions reminds me of Dante's Inferno.  Yet, for him, it is only a test. The description of heaven raises a few questions about the afterlife.  When they attain heaven, is it their souls in new celestial bodies that dwell there?  Are the souls the same as they were for previous incarnations and do they remember all previous incarnations of themselves. For instance, Draupadi is there in heaven, but she was another in a previous life.  Krishna says (in a previous chapter) that everything that is has always been and will always be.  So does that mean that Draupadi has existed in many incarnations and is just now attaining heaven, where her soul will now dwell for eternity, now out of the pool of souls that make up life on Earth. That also raises a question about god's avatars. When they become incarnations on Earth, do they share the same soul as their celestial self?  When Krishna ascended to heaven, does he remain a separate entity from Vishnu, or does he rejoin with Vishnu to be one celestial being?

Yudhishthira's Journey to Hell

Image from Images and PDE Epics

Reading Diary A: PDE Mahabharata

46. Bhima and Hanuman - Both Bhima and Hanuman are extremely physical and deadly in battle which makes sense because they both have the same father. The description of Bhima entertaining himself by killing lions, tigers, and elephant and then using their bodies to defeat other creatures makes Bhima seem incredibly cruel.  While I haven't counted, it seems like Bhima has the most kills. If not, he has some of the most gruesome kills.

48. Karna and Indra - This brings me back to when Karna and Arjuna first met. If only they could have humbled themselves and become allies, they would have rules the world. Now that Karna has lost his armor, he is surely doomed.

50. Riddles at the Lake - This reminds me of the Hobbit when Gollum and Bilbo Baggins exchange riddles. Considering the Pandava's wisdom and strength I'm surprised that they decided to drink after seeing their brethren dead before them.  Although it starts out poorly, Yudhishthira wins them the boon of going undetected in their last year of exile.

52. Bhima and Kichaka - This is probably Bhima's most gruesome slaughter. I can't imagine someone who is kneaded beyond recognition. I would not want to cross Bhima. 

60.  The Battle Begins - This is like a movie.  One of my favorite quotes is "Blood dropped like rain out of heaven."  Ghatotkacha, Arjuna's rakshasa son is very impressive.  He can grow to an enormous size.  I don't understand why Bhishma continues fighting even though he doesn't believe in the cause.

Ghatotkacha

Image from Images and PDE Epics

Thoughts about Comments

For me, the attribute that makes a comment most useful or entertaining to read is specificity.  General impressions are nice, but I really appreciate when someone points out a particular aspect of my story that they liked or disliked.  For instance, on my Week 3 story, two people mentioned that they liked how I described Vali's morning workout.  This is helpful to me because I know that I did a good job in this instance of making the character relatable, which was the entire point of the story.

So far, I haven't received much in the way of criticism or suggestions.  While this inflates my ego, it doesn't make me a better writer.  I really would appreciate more constructive criticism.

I also appreciate comments on my image.  As the first impression of the story, I think the images are very important.  This is probably because I am a photographer, so I like to think about images, and I am happy when other people enjoy my photography.  Although I don't expect anyone here to give me constructive feedback on my photography, I've found that is something difficult to come by.

Additionally, on several of my posts, I've provided links within the story or author's note.  I appreciate when people who comment on those links so that I know they were somewhat useful.

I think the most interesting comments I receive on my introduction post are ones with facts, anecdotes or links.  Its almost always more fun to read a comment when you get an interesting fact or story out of it.
 
With my comments so far, I think I've done a good job of providing specific suggestions for people to improve their writing.  However, I need to focus on providing more specific praise.

Week 5 Storytelling: Palace of Fire

The Pandavas and their mother, Queen Kunti rode to the top of the hill, where an enormous palace stood, its magnificence matched nowhere else on Earth. It was a malevolent masterpiece of Prince Duryodhana, but the Pandavas did not yet realize the Prince's cruel intent.  They entered the Great Hall.  Above them was a vaulted wooden ceiling.  Emblems of all the great families lined the ceiling, and statues of fierce warriors watched over the vast space.  Despite their royalty and wealth, the Pandavas had never gazed upon any palace as grand.  They looked forward to spending the next few months in the place.

The Great Hall (in a strange gothic style)

Image from Wikipedia

Now Yudhishthira had received a warning from Prince Vidura about Duryodhana's treachery.  He soon realized that the entire palace was built with wood and soaked in oil.  His rage was immediately inflamed and he desired to leave the castle at once and kill Purochana, the guard Duryodhana had sent along with them.  Yudhishthira realized that Purochana had been sent to set the palace ablaze.  However, he realized that killing Purochana would seem unjustified and anger his people.  Instead, as he calmed down, he concocted a different plan to enact his revenge.  He counseled with his mother and the rest of his brothers, and they set to work at once.

The next day they announced their plans to hold a grand banquet to celebrate the completion of the palace.  As a reward for overseeing its completion, the Pandavas invited Purochana and all the other guards to attend this feast.  Yudhishthira went into the city hire additional kitchen staff and make the necessary arrangements.  Unbeknownst to Purochana, he also found a miner to help him complete a special project.  For the next fortnight, the Pandavas kept Purochana under a keen eye to make sure he did not set the palace on fire.

Finally, the day of the feast arrived.  The tables were decorated to their finest and there was enough food to feed an entire army.  Near the end of the meal, Yudhishthira accidentally knocked over a candle while raising his glass.  The table immediately burst into flame.  At the same time, all around the palace, servants set fire to the building and left with great haste.  The Great Hall stirred with commotion as the guards rushed to leave.  In their hurry, none of them realized that the royal family had disappeared.  The entire palace was engulfed in flames and the guards had no means of escape.  They all perished.

The next morning, the townspeople saw the heap of ashes and began to mourn the loss of the royalty.  At that time, the Pandavas arose from the underground shelter which the miner had built.  When the people saw the Pandavas arise from the ashes they shouted, "Masters of the Flames!"  Thus the Pandavas had their revenge and their glory was doubled throughout their kingdom.

Author's Note:  This story was particularly difficult to write.  I enjoyed the story about the "House of Fire" especially because of the tunnel.  However, building a tunnel seemed somewhat pointless since the Pandavas could have just walked out of the house.  I wanted to retell the story where the Pandavas are in the house when it catches fire so an underground passage is needed.

Bibliography:
"The House of Fire" by C.A, Kincaid, from The Indian Heroes (1921).  Web Source: PDE Mahabharata.

Reading Diary B: PDE Mahabharata

21. House of Fire - I don't understand why Prince Vidura has a miner dig a tunnel out of the house.  Although it is an interesting way for them to escape, it seems unnecessary.  They weren't prisoners, they could have just left when they realized that the house was soaked in oil.  I also expected Vidura to be punished for the deaths of the innocent beggars, but instead, they just provided a means of escape for the Pandavas.

Vidura's Tunnel

Image from Wikipedia

23. Bhima and Hidimbi - That was fast.  Bhima barely knows Hidimbi when he decides to take her as his bride.  Bhima is very good at breaking backs.  He also breaks Jarasandha's back later in the story.

27. Wife of the Five Pandavas - It is strange to me that Draupadi is accidentally married to five men.  People in the Mahabharata take their words very seriously even when the outcome does not make sense.  For instance, when Arjuna walks in on Draupadi and Yudhishthira he stays true to his vow and goes into exile for 12 years.  Even though Yudhishthira did not want Arjuna to depart, he still leaves.  It seems like this attitude of taking the spoken word so seriously causes a lot of unnecessary trouble.

34. The Burning of the Forest - During the wedding of the Pandavas and Draupadi, the Pandavas are said to be an incarnations of Indra. It seems strange that Arjuna would fight Indra if he himself was an incarnation of Indra.

37. The Gambling Match - It is particularly sad to see Yudhishthira gamble all his possessions away.   Gambling is a dangerous endeavor.  Even today, many people are destroyed through their gambling addiction.  Since he lost every single match, I am surprised that Yudhishthira was not wise enough to know that the game was unfair.

Reading Diary A: PDE Mahabharata

4. Devavrata's Vow - What I don't understand is why Devavrata didn't marry Satyavati instead of vowing not to have children or take the throne.  It seems like it would have worked better for everyone if the two married.  That way, Devavrata would have still become king and the line would be continued.

5. Bishma at the Swayamvara - Bishma demonstrates his mighty power by capturing the three princesses.  His skill also makes me wonder why he took the vow; he could easily have been a powerful ruler.  It seems like Bishma tries to do right, but instead just makes more trouble for himself.  First vows not to be king, and now he captures the princesses.  Because of the trouble with Amba, Bishma will be slain by her.

Bishma abducts the three princesses

Image from Images and PDE Epics

9. Pandu and His Wives - It seems like ancient kings really need to be more careful when they go hunting.  It is really a bummer for Pandu that he is doomed to die in the arms of one of his wives just for the small mistake that he made.  It seems that in many stories, the main troubles are caused by small mistakes.

18. The Arrival of Karna - It seems like Arjuna and Karna could have resolved their differences to their benefit if they had not been overly prideful and refused to back down.  I wonder how it would have changed their reactions if they knew that they were brothers.

19. Drona's Revenge -  I wonder if Drona will later regret taking out revenge on Drupada.  While Drona is happy with the settled score, it seems like Drupada wants to get revenge of his own.

Tech Tip: Website

I just created the website for my storybook.  Right now, it is called "Encounters with Dashavatara" which is a terrible title.  I plan to change it to "____ and the Dashavatara" when I figure out the name of my main character.

https://sites.google.com/site/encounterdashavatara/

Week 4 Storytelling: Hanuman Saves Sita

Hanuman would have made an excellent repo man.  He possessed superhuman strength, was a master of stealth, and he regularly parachuted from airplanes just for fun.  Unfortunately, his only job was working for Rama, an abusive husband and boss.    Rama was the King of Ayodhya, and it certainly went to his head.  When Rama was making the rounds with his various girlfriends, he left his wife Sita at home.  Sita was a faithful and loving wife.  She cared for their home, managed the day-to-day affairs of Ayodhya, and was passionately devoted to her husband despite his extracurricular activities.

Tap. Tap. Tap.  It was a knock on the door.  She was puzzled.  Who would be at their door at such a late hour?  Thinking that Rama must have forgotten his keys, Sita walked from the living room to the foyer.  She glanced over at the clock.  It was just past midnight, but she hadn't heard the chimes.  She flipped on the outside lights, turned the lock, and opened the door.  No one.  Only the sweet song of crickets.  She peered across the street to see if the neighborhood boys had been playing pranks again.  A black dog scampered down the pavement.  Sita sighed.  She closed the door and turned around to head to sleep.  A man with ten heads stood in front of her.  Every face smiled in unison.

"I am the one who knocks."

Black.

Rama stumbled home at 11 the next morning.  At 1 in the afternoon, he finally noticed that Sita was missing.  He summoned Hanuman.  "Find Sita for me, she seems to be missing."  Hanuman searched all of Ayodhya.  Sita was nowhere to be found.  He then checked the security cameras, and the verdict was unmistakable - Ravana had kidnapped Sita.  It was difficult to mistake a man with ten heads.  He sent a messenger to notify Rama and wasted no time going to the airport.  Within twenty minutes they were airborne and en route to Lanka.

Meanwhile, Ravana was busy trying to woo Sita.  She was held captive in the world's most beautiful garden, and Ravana brought her lavish gifts.  Sita could not remember the last time Rama had given her a gift or even written her a letter.  Yet she lay facedown on the ground, weeping for Rama.  Ravana tried in vain for the next hour to convince her to become his wife.  Frustrated, he gave her an ultimatum, "you have two months to join my bed, otherwise your head will be on a spike."

Hanuman's aircraft passed over the island of Lanka.  With the array of cameras mounted to the bottom of the plane, he was able to pinpoint Sita's location.  He dove out the door, plummeted towards the ground, and executed several front flips.  Two minutes later, he was standing next to Sita, and every guard within a mile was dead.

"Follow me."

Hanuman's Flight

Image by Lachlan Rogers

They ran to the center of the gardens where the plane had just landed on the grass.  Sita and Hanuman jumped into the plane and were back to Ayodhya before a soul in Lanka noticed anything wrong.  Sita was so relieved to be home and she sprinted into Rama's arms.  Rama smiled and said, "thank goodness Ravana slipped up this time.  I was looking forward to annihilating him."  He nonchalantly reached over and pressed a giant red button.  Two miles away, fire and rock spewed from the Earth as a missile lifted into the sky.  It detonated three hundred feet above the surface of Lanka with a blinding flash.  Two seconds later, all the blind men on Lanka were dead.

Rama's Missile Launch

Image from Wikipedia

The Earth shook and so did the gods.  "Rama, you have disgraced yourself by not meeting Ravana in battle and saving Sita yourself.  For this, you must die."  With a strike of lightning, Rama was dead.

Sita weeped for a fortnight.  They finally placed Rama's body on a pyre and the fire immediately consumed him.  Without a thought, Sita jumped into the fire with Rama.  She screamed in agony for an hour.  The wood was entirely consumed and yet Sita still burned.  Finally, she collapsed in a heap of ashes.  They say if you go to the field where she burned, you can still hear her screams reverberating off every surface.  Hanuman, now jobless and homeless spent the rest of his life in poverty.  Without a leader, Ayodhya fell into ruins.  Lanka is still absent of monkey life; the nuclear blast provides too many bananas of radiation.

Author's Note:  During a discussion in Sita Sings the Blues, one of the commentators mentions that it would have saved a lot of trouble if Hanuman had saved Sita when he was in Lanka.  I thought this was an interesting idea, and I wanted to explore what could have happened if Hanuman did save Sita.  The first half of the film focuses on Rama and Sita's relationship and leaves out many other details and stories.  The entire second half of the film is about Sita's exile after Rama sends her into the wilderness.  Sita Sings the Blues exaggerates Rama's abandonment of Sita.  I wanted to take this a step further and portray Rama as good-for-nothing.  Sita's abduction sets the direction for the rest of the story; I added the clock and dog as omens to foreshadow her eventual death.  My brother enjoys watching the show Airplane Repo.  I used their crazy methods of repossessing planes as an inspiration for Hanuman's rescue of Sita.  If you didn't follow the link, I used one of my favorite quotes from Breaking Bad.  I also referenced bananas as a benchmark for radioactive levels.  I thought it was fitting since the hero of the story is a monkey.

Bibliography:

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Website: YouTube

Reading Diary B: Sita Sings the Blues

It seems like the entire first half of Sita Sings the Blues was devoted to setting up the second half.  Right after the intermission, Dave breaks up with Nina over email.  All he says is "Don't come back."  This harsh email is an enormous criticism of Rama and shows the the writers of the film think Rama is extremely cold and neglectful.

The Dhobi is mentioned a couple times in Sita Sings the Blues.  I don't remember him being mentioned in the PDE Ramayana.  A Dhobi is a washerman.  We hear that the Dhobi beats his wife and refuses to take her back after she has been with another man, saying that he is not like Rama.  Then Rama decides that he needs the respect of his subjects and banishes Sita.  Rama is portrayed as extremely cold, and he even walks on his pregnant wife at one point.

Rama Walking on Sita

From Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

At 1:04 Sita has twins in the forest.  Which leaves me wondering: what are the sons of avatars?  Are they demigods, gods, or mortals?  As the twins sing their song about Rama, the writers take another kick at Rama by making the songs as hypocritical as possible.  They sing: "Sing his love.  Sing his praise.  Rama set his wife ablaze" then, "Duty first.  Sita last."

Next, we go back to Nina in New York.  She dials Dave and pleads with him to take her back.  I noticed that she dials 16 numbers to make her call.  However, a call to India should only be 15 numbers (011 - US exit code, 91 India country code, then 10 digits in the Indian phone number).

When Sita is swallowed up by the Earth, she is portrayed as vengeful.  At this point, I realized that her fingers are entirely red.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to be finger nail polish or something else, but to me, it looks like her fingers are covered in blood.  I also noticed that the film doesn't show Rama's departure from the Earth.

The last scene shows Nina reading the Ramayana, seemingly over her depression about Dave.  I did not realize that this story was from her own experience until I saw the note in the credits about her cat.  According to the introduction of a talk Nina gave, this story details the end of her marriage.

Reading Diary A: Sita Sings the Blues

Of all the differences between the PDE Ramayana and Sita Sings the Blues, I found what the animated film chose to leave out to be very intereesting.  For instance, Lakshama is not in the story except for a brief mention at the beginning.  Most of the sub-stories are left out.  We don't hear about Bharata, Vali and Sugriva, Vishvamitra, or even how Rama wins Sita.  Instead, the focus is on Rama's banishment, Sita's capture, Rama's rescue of Sita, and Rama's refusal of Sita.  The film is only half-finished, and it is already near the end of the story.

You would expect that, as an animated film, there would not be very much violence.  However, the film seems to satirize the violence with a near celebration of violence.  Rama and Sita are seen under the fountain arch of rakshasa blood.  During fight scenes, heads comically pop off and blood gushes everywhere.

Fountain of (Rakshasa) Blood

Image from Kristian Golding

I like how the film is broken into commentary, singing, story, and the modern-day story.  I think it breaks up each section well and keeps the entire story interesting.  The gives a different perspective on the story.  The comment that most stuck out to me was the question why Sita didn't leave with Hanuman.  It seems logical that Sita would accept rescue when she had a chance.  They also portrayed Ravana to be originally good but was slowly corrupted, while the PDE Ramayana only mentioned negative qualities of Ravana.

The side story of Nina and Dave is also an interesting addition to the story.  I assume their relationship will parallel Rama and Sita's relationship in some way, but I don't know where they are going with the story yet.  So far, it all seems like setup for some larger event.  Dave flew to India for a 6-month contract, leaving Nina behind.  When his contract is extended, Nina joins him in India for the next year.  We can already see some strain in their relationship, and Dave seems somewhat clueless to Nina's emotions.