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.

Styles Brainstorm: Avatars of Vishnu

Topic.  My storybook will be about the different avatars of Vishnu.  In particular, I want to focus on the stories of Matsya, Rama, and Kalki.  Matsya is Vishnu's first avatar of the Dashavatara.  He is a fish who grows uncontrollably and then warns Satyavrata of a great flood.  Kalki, on the other hand is Vishnu's last incarnation and has not yet appeared.  Kalki bring the end times and is said to arrive atop a white horse and wield a flaming sword.

Bibliography:

1. "Matsya, the Lord's Fish Incarnation."  Website: bhagavata.org 
2. Kalki.  Website: Wikipedia.
3. PDE Ramayana. Website: Images and PDE Epics.


Possible Styles:

Bedtime Stories.  This is a very simple way to frame the different stories, but I think there are some ways to spice it up.  Similarly to "Where the Wild Things Are," the child who was listening could enter the story in his dreams.  The tale would start as a bedtime story, and as the kid falls asleep, he would be transported into the world itself.

Vishnu's Perspective. Since I will be focusing on the avatars of Vishnu, I can tell the stories as a frame tale from Vishnu's perspective.  He can describe his reasons for each avatar and tell the readers about his experiences.  These can be in the form of letters or set as a story told to a mortal hero.

Journey.  The stories could be told by a man who travels to a significant place where each of Vishnu's avatars visited and has an encounter with each of them.  This would be a neat way to include a map.  This would be a combination of the traveling India topic and the avatars of Vishnu.

The Earth as a Storyteller.  I can tell the story from the perspective of different objects.  The ocean could tell the story of Matsya and the forest could whisper Rama's story.  This could be set up with a frame tale or just be an anthology of different stories told in the same style.  For a frame tale, the Earth as a storyteller could be combined with the idea of the journey.  A man would travel to different areas of the country and hear the stories from the Earth instead of encountering the different avatars themselves.  As he dives into the ocean, he has a vision of Matsya's story.

All the above.  Vishnu's avatars become more and more evolved with each incarnation.  I think it would be fun to follow a man who experiences a different and more evolved avatar as he grows himself.  First, as a child, he would enter Matsya's world through his dreams.  Then, when he is traveling India, he hears the story of Rama from a tree in the forest.  As he dies, he hears from Vishnu himself as he becomes Kalki to bring the end times.

Avatars of Vishnu

Image from Wikipedia

Week 3 Storytelling: Vali's Account

My brother betrayed me.  Let me tell you the story:

Sugriva and I have been very close for as long as I can remember.  Little did I know that ever since I was crowned, he plotted to steal my throne.

I had just returned from my morning workout.  Each day, I toss a mountain into the air for exercise.  Great strength building.  I highly recommend it.  Anyways, I took a side road to get back home.  Just before I reached the gate, a dart stung the back of my neck.  Mayavi.  The rakshasa had been harassing the people of my kingdom for weeks.  Today he chose the wrong person to attack.  I signaled a guard and loosed a shaft.  The arrow stuck him in the shoulder.  Although he was almost 100 yards away, I could see a change in his face.  He wasn't surprised that he was injured, but rather he was stunned that it was me.

Without another thought, I leapt forward to pursue my enemy.  It was time that I rid the world of the wretch.  He knew that he could not match my strength head-on, so he Mayavi leaped backward and ran for the hills.  Behind me I heard Sugriva's footsteps as he came to join me in battle.  We ran for nearly an hour until Mayavi darted into a small cave.  Since he wasn't going anywhere, I stopped to consult Sugriva.

"Stay here and guard the entrance until my return.  The rakshasa will never again see the light of day."

"I'll await your return, brother."

I dashed into the cave.

Cave Entrance

Photo by Ben Ashmole

For the next year, I chased that demon.  The cave spanned for miles, and I covered every every inch until I reached the end.  Mayavi was nowhere to be seen.  He had somehow managed to sneak past me.  I spun around in a flash and sprinted back to the opening.  There he was, giddy at his apparent freedom.  I grabbed his shoulder and thus commenced a brawl like never before.  He stabbed me in the gut and dropped me to the ground with another blow.  I remember the wicked smile on his face as he gloated over his victory.  He relished in my defeat, with a spear in his right hand, ready to pierce my heart.  The pause was his last mistake.  I grabbed his ankle, pinned him to the ground, wrapped my fingers around his head, and crushed his skull with my bare hands.  It cracked like an egg, and his blood flowed in a stream to the entrance of the cave, bits of brain bobbing like little boats on a mighty river.

I now wish that Mayavi had killed me when he had the chance.  It took me three days to recover the strength that I needed to stand.  Had I not gotten up, I never would have known that my brother abandoned me.  I walked towards the mouth of the cave, but I realized that it was gone.  Had I angered the gods so that they commanded the Earth to swallow me whole?  I dug fiercely to escape, fueled by my desire to see Sugriva again.

When I reached the surface, the forest was dead quiet.  What was wrong?  Where was Sugriva?  I mustered all the strength I had left to make it back to the city.  I had to know what happened to my brother.  Stunned silence seemed to follow me as I made my way to the castle.  I entered the throne room, and there he was.  Sugriva sat upon my chair with a crown upon his head.  It dawned upon me: Sugriva had trapped me in the cave so that he might take my place as king.  Finally, my strength failed and I collapsed, unconscious on the floor.

When I woke, I thought it must have been a dream.  That is, until Sugriva walked into the room, a golden crown still on his head.  He gave me every excuse in the book.  According to him, he had spent an entire year watching over the cave until he saw blood issuing from the entrance.  He thought I was dead and covered the cave with a mountain.  Even if is was the truth, he had still committed treason by leaving me there.  The punishment for treason is death, but I could not kill my own kin, so I gave him until sundown to leave the city.

That brings us today.  Sugriva has been in exile for several years now, but apparently he has not given up on ruling the Vanara.  He has made a new ally, Rama, and now he challenges me to a duel.  I cannot refuse.  Tomorrow I battle my brother.  May the gods be with us both.



Author's Note:  I chose to write this story because I was interested in Sugriva and Vali's relationship.  Rama sides with Sugriva after only listening to Sugriva’s side of the story. Rama thinks that Vali is unreasonable for banishing his brother, but I was not certain that Sugriva was in the right. Since we did not hear from Vali himself, I wanted to tell his side of the story.  As Vali’s account, I thought this particular story was well suited for first-person.  Last week, I created entirely new characters for the retelling, but this week I wanted to tell the story with the Ramayana characters themselves. This made writing more difficult because I did not have as much room to change details. Although, since we don’t have as many details about the fight in the hole, I had more room to add my own details for that part of the story. Mayavi's death was inspired by a Game of Thrones scene [spoilers] that I just watched for the second time last night. Although, I mention Vali’s strength and make it clear that he is the better warrior of the two, the amount of time that he avoids capture suggests that Mayavi has some unexpected advantage.

Bibliography:

"Sugriva's Story" by Geraldine Hodgson, from Rama and the Monkeys (1903). Web Source: PDE Ramayana.

Reading Diary B: Public Domain Ramayana

65. Hanuman and the Mountain - I thought it was a powerful image to see Hanuman carry an entire mountain back.  Just as when he destroyed the grove of trees where Sita was, Hanuman lacks patience in this instance.  However, he makes up for this with pure might.

Hanuman carrying the mountain

Image from Images Blog

71. Ravana's Death - Ravana was finally destroyed by a Brahma weapon.  This got me thinking a lot about the weapons in the Ramayana.  These empyreal weapons are known as astra.  Indrajit uses a naga-weapon against Rama's army, and he receives a Brahma weapon from the Fire-god, Agni.  When Hanuman was captured, it was only accomplished with a Brahma weapon.   According to Wikipedia, there are three different types of Brahma weapons, the particular weapon that is used in the Ramayana is the Brahmastra.  The Brahmastra is used to completely annihilate an enemy.  It can only be defended against with another Brahma weapon, it never misses, and it is equated with a nuclear weapon.  This leaves me wondering:  How did Hanuman survive a Brahmastra, and why did it bind him instead of slaying him?  Also, why did Rama wait for so long to use the Brahmastra instead of finishing the battle quickly with it?

Modern Day Brahmastra

Image from Wikipedia

73. Sita and Rama - "What man of high degree receives back a wife who hath lived long in another's house?"  What?  It's your fault that she was abducted Rama.

78. Valmiki's Hermitage - Rama does it again.  Sita has already endured the fire to prove her purity.  I don't understand why he must cast her away again.  Sugriva, for whom Rama killed Vali, was banished on more rightful grounds than Sita.  Could he not order a statue of Sita surviving the flames to be cast so that everyone would remember?  If he really loved her, then why did he have to send her away where she raised his children alone?  Maybe my modern-day western perspective clouds my vision.

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

42. Sugriva's Story - Sugriva's story about how he came into conflict with his brother Vali is particularly tragic.  For a year, Sugriva stands watch over the hole where Vali descended to fight an enemy.  When Sugriva sees blood issue from the cave, he believes his brother is dead and covers the mouth of the hole with a mountain before he leaves to rule the kingdom.  When Vali finally escapes from the hole, he banishes Sugriva for abandoning him.  While Rama takes Sugriva's side, to me, this seems like both Sugriva and Vali are at fault.  Sugriva broke his vow to guard the hole and did not seek to avenge his brother.  Vali refused to forgive his brother and made the situation worse by banishing him.

49. Sampati and Jatayu - Both Sampati and Jatayu are extremely helpful to Rama.  Sampati tells that Sita was taken to Lanka.  He also tells the story about how he lost his wings.  Jatayu fainted when the two were racing and Sampati's wings were burnt off when he tried to protect his brother from the sun.

50. Hanuman's Leap - Impressively, Hanuman leaps 100 leagues over to Lanka.  He even tears through a rakshasi on the way.  This story was interesting because of Hanuman's feat and the water monster.  When I Googled, "water rakshasa," all that I found was information on a game called Summoners War.  Upon further research, Hanuman jumped through Surasa, a naga or serpent.  Surasa is the daughter of Daksha who is the son of Brahma, god of creation.

Hanuman's Leap

Image from Wikipedia

57. The Burning of Lanka - Hanuman is not a good spy, but he is a good saboteur.  He is captured when he destroys the Ashoka grove.  Now, not only does he escape, but he burns half of Lanka to the ground in the process.  Just a few years ago, a new species of monkey, called the fire-tailed tiki monkey, was discovered.  I wonder if they are related to Hanuman.

Topics Brainstorm

1. Possible Topic: Traveling India. This particular idea is very enticing to me because I enjoy traveling so much.  When I was reading the Ramayana, I was intrigued to find out that there is a Ganges river in India.  I think it would be interesting to map the places important to the stories to put them in context.
Research so far. There is an entire Wikipedia disambiguation page for places in the Ramayana.  The ancient city of Ayodhya still exists.  It might be interesting to write a storybook that combines the city today with its ancient version.

In the city of Ayodhya

Image by Ramnath Bhat

2. Possible Topic: Rakshasas. Rakshasas have been a big part of the Ramayana so far, so I imagine there is a lot more interesting stories to go along with them.  I also think it is interesting that someone can be cursed to live as a rakshasa as Viradha was.
Research so far. All rakshasas we have read about so far have been evil, but apparently this is not a universal trait.  Ravana's multiple heads make him intriguing as well.  He is an especially distinctive stick figure in my notes.  Because there are so many rakshasas, there would be plenty of material to use in a storybook.

Ravana

Image from Wikipedia

3. Possible Topic: Avatars. From the Ramayana reading, I know that Rama is the avatar of Vishnu and Sita is the avatar of Lakshmi.  I've never heard the term avatar used to refer to an incarnation of a god on Earth.  I think this topic is really interesting because I can learn about a specific god through the stories of his avatars on Earth.
Research so far.  I am most interested in focusing on the avatars of Vishnu.  According to the Wikipedia page, Vishnu has 10 avatars also known as the Dashavatara.  I find it interesting that with each incarnation, Vishnu's avatar's become more evolved.  His first avatar is Matsya, a fish.  Then he is a tortoise, a boar, a half man half lion, dwarf, and then a man.  I feel like this particular topic has a lot of potential directions.  I could tell a storybook that ties together themes or morals from several of these stories, or I could have Vishnu's avatars interact in some way.

4. Possible Topic: Monkeys. This is a little more specific than the animal characters listed in the suggested topics, but monkeys seem to be very recurring so far.  I was also impressed by the image shown below of Rama building the bridge.
Research so far.   It looks like the monkeys in the Ramayana are referred to as the Vanaras.  It is also unclear whether the Vanaras were monkeys or forest dwelling people.  In addition to Hanuman, there is Sugriva, Vali, Makardhwaja  among others.  It seems that they are most prominent in the Ramayana but are also mentioned in the Mahabharata.

Rama Builds the Bridge

Image from Images and PDE Epics

Week 2 Storytelling: Aarabhi and Angga

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.  Tick.  Ajnamasa had never seen anything like it.  Before him was a giant wooden tower.  A weight swung back and forth, back and forth.  There was a circle of numbers at the top of the tower, and two large metal pointers crept slowly around the numbers.  A cricket wearing a top hat sat on the ledge just below the numbers.  How peculiar.  Ajnamasa had never seen a cricket wearing a top hat.  Most of the crickets he knew wore baseball caps.  To Ajnamasa's left was a giant mountain, or a plateau, or a lot of plateaus stacked on top of each other.  Either way, he hadn't brought his climbing gear so he continued forward.

A Top Hat

Image by Tom Simpson

Meanwhile, Sara of the House Attini, First of Her Name, Queen of the Pheidoles, Lady of the Seven Hills and Protector of the Realm was visiting the granary to inspect the stores.  A recent drought made finding food very challenging.  Just a few hours ago she had sent sixty thousand of her sons to scout a nearby house for food.  She prayed to the Great Talpidae that they would be successful.

Ajnamasa could tell that this is where the humans kept their food.  He imagined that this is what a French bakery smelled like.  He remembered the wonderful crumbs of a baguette he ate when he was still too small to reach the ration dispenser.  A giant bell ringed.  Ajnamasa found a piece of chicken on the floor.  While he was enjoying his barbecue chicken, he heard footsteps behind him.  He turned around to see a a large man in a white uniform.  There was a red diamond on his shirt with white lettering that said something.  Ajnamasa squinted to make out "O... R... K... I... ... ..."  He was suddenly very tired.  His eyelids drooped and he fell asleep.

It had been three days since Queen Sara had sent the scouts and there had been no news so far.  She decided that it was time to send her granddaughter Nashua to discover where her uncles had disappeared to.  Two hours later, Nashua returned with a load of food and the bad news.  "They have all perished.  I looked for water to make the oblations which would send their souls to heaven, but there was none."  Queen Sara sunk to the ground in grief.  At least they found enough food to feed the kingdom.

The only way to send Queen Sara's sixty thousand sons to heaven was to bring the waters of the nearby River Angga to where they lay.  Sara ordered an enormous tunnel to be built to divert the water into the house.  Thirty thousand nights of Sara's reign came and went.  The Tunnel was still unfinished.  Nashua was crowned as queen and continued the project, but thirty-two thousand nights passed in her reign.  The Tunnel was still unfinished.  Pilida was crowned.  Thirty thousand nights came and went.  The Tunnel was still unfinished.

The River Angga

Image by amitd

After Pilida's death, Aarabhi was crowned.  Queen Aarabhi directed half of her subjects to work on the wall while the other half devoted themselves to adorning the Great Talpidae with gifts.  Now Talpidae was very pleased.  He had followed the progress of the Tunnel since its inception, and he decided now was his time to help.  With his mighty claws, Talpidae flew forward through the dirt until he arrived at the River Angga.  The torrent rushed through the Tunnel and into the house where it washed over the remains of Queen Sara's sixty thousand sons, and their souls ascended to heaven.

The Great Talpidae

Image from Wikipedia

Author's Note:  I wanted to retell the story of Bhagiratha and Ganga because I find the genealogy absolutely fascinating.  I felt that ants could relate to having sixty thousand children, so I decided to tell the story through their point of view.  It also made sense that, in order to redirect the flow of a river, ants would attempt to dig a tunnel.  Most of the names that I used were partial anagrams from the original story or actual scientific categories of real animals.

Bibliography:

"Bhagiratha and Ganga" by John Campbell, from The Great Indian Epics (1894). Web Source: PDE Ramayana.

Reading Diary B: Public Domain Ramayana

24. The Sandals - Not only is Rama a hero, but so are his brothers.  Bharata is humble enough to refuse the throne.  Instead, he rules from a location of exile and has his brother's shoes as the symbol of rule.  It is interesting that Rama's shoes are the symbol of authority.  It seems like he could have sent one of his many surplus weapons.


30. Battle with Khara - I really like the imagery when Khara's army is described as "black tremendous clouds rushing towards the rising sun."  His arrows "swept among the rakshasas like fire in a sun-dried forest."  This scene (along with much of the rest of the story) reminds me of a Tolkienesque fantasy.  I just image swarming armies of orcs closing in on a few hobbits and a wizard.  This seems to be Rama's most insurmountable challenge yet.  Yet he alone is able to defeat an army of thousands.

Rama defeats Khara

Image from Images and PDE Epics Blog

35. Ravana and Sita - The loss of Sita reveals weakness in Rama.  Until this point, Rama has been nearly without mistake and invincible.  But despite the warning from his brother about the deception of rakshasas, Rama chases after the golden deer and leaves Sita.  It shows that the only way to overcome Rama is through cleverness and wit; he is unbeatable through sheer force.  However, I expect that Ravana won't get away with his deed for long.


36. Jatayu - Jatayu seems like a very interesting character.  I'd like to know more about this bird that watches over the forest.