Reading Notes: Krishna and Jarasandha

This was a pretty cool story! I hope to be able to hear another variation of this story some time! So in the beginning of this story it starts off with Jarasandha being born. His birth is pretty strange. His father didn't have a son yet so he divided a mango to his 2 wife and they both gave birth to one half a boy. SO he took him to the forest because that is weird right?  Some rashasi finds Jara and tie him together to carry him but that just help him form together.

After a while he came back to his father to eventually rule his kingdom but his was afraid that since his birth prophecy came the one about his death coming from Krishna would to.

To continue forward Bhima and his brothers go to find Jara after he left to hide. They fought for 27 days in a row to defeat him until Krishna told Bhima that he was a person with 2 parts. Then Bhima ripped him in half.

I loved this story and I think I would just want to tell the story from Jara's point of view until his death by the hand of Bhima. Or change it to were he kills Krishna or Bhima.

"Krishna and Jarasandha":Source

Book Information: Found in Bizzell Library
Author: Anant Pai

Reading Notes: Ayyappan

This was a very cool and complex story. It is basically about a King named Rajashekhara that is unable to have a child to take over his kingdom. Over the course of this story one of his Diwans was very ambitious and wanted to take over his kingdom when he died.

On the other side of this story. There was a threat to the Devas (which are the Gods of India) by way of a women that prayed to Lard Brahma for a boon that she would not meet her death at the hands or either Vishnu or Shiva. This caused problems so Vishnu and Shiva created a baby son named Manikanthan to give to the King so he could kill this threat on his 12th birthday.

So later on when the boy was 12 and he was going to be named heir to the Kingdom the Diwan devised a plan to get rid of the boy. So he told the wife of the King who had just had a boy a few weeks earlier that if she wanted her son to get the kingdom she must do what he says. He told her to act like he had a headache so that he could send Manikanthan to go and get tigress milk for her head.

Once the boy went out to get the milk he ran into the one he needed to kill and eventually killed her. After that the Devas all surrounded him and thanked him and then turned into tigers to escort him back the kingdom so he could tell the King about the boy. Once he was revealed he left to go to heaven to live with the Devas.

Sooo that was a lot of stuff but was a really cool story to read! I think I would want to do the story in either another overview of the story but change a few of the detail to make it different or tell the story from Manikanthan point of view

"Ayyappan":Source

. Book information: Bizzell Library
Author: Shyamala Mahadevan, M. Mohandas, Anant Pai

Reading Notes: True Friends

This story is about a man named Kanni and in his entire life he is very unlucky. Until he is reunited with his childhood friend that is a King. Later one the King gives Kanni a job in his kingdom and begins to think if of as a trusted family member. However, all of the Kings business partners do not think that Kanni can be trusted. The King did not leave believe the business partners. Some time in the future  the King wanted to go on a trip so he gave the key to Kanni to watch over his house. Later that day Kanni overheard a few burglars talk about going in and robbing his house when he was gone. So Kanni went into action and made a plan. His idea was that he would get workers to use instruments and make a lot of noise to trick them.  That night the burglurs heard the noise and thougt the King had come home early and left. The next morning the Kings partners found footprints and weapons the burglars left and was happy that Kanni could actually be trusted.

I would want to tell the story from Kanni instead of a exterior view point. So I could go into more detail on what he was thinking throughout the story.

"True Friends":Source

Book information: Bizzel Library 

by Margie Sastry, V.B. Halbe, and Anant Pai

Reading Notes: The Giant ans the Dwarf

This story is about a dwarf they called him the Little Bowman. He was trying to get into the Kings palace to offer his services. However, no one would take him serious if he was to show up by him self. So he went to find a huge man named Bhimasena to accompany him to serve the King. The King took in the Little Bow man as a servant to Bhimasena and they began there service. For there first task they asked Bhimasena to go and kill a tiger in a local village. Bhimasena had no experience fighting or in war so the Little Bowman being very clever devised a plan to beat the tiger. As Bhimasena went out by himself he was able to beat the tiger. As he came back to the Little Bowman and the King he took all glory and it got to his head. Soon he would not talk to the Little Bowman and he thought he could do everything himself. Months later another kingdom came for war but they only wanted to have the champion vs there champion to fight with each other. Bhimasena having no war experience and having a big head went to go fight their champion. The Little Bowman went with him to save him from this challenge. While they were up there Bhimasena freaked out and ran away then the Little Bowman took over and took care of the situation while also taking the other King as a prisoner. After the Little Bowman was honored and Bhimasena was never seen again.

I liked this story a lot it was very interesting to read! The point of this story that at least I got out of it was to not let glory go to your head, and that it doesn't matter what your sizes. I would want to put a modern twist on this story and show the lesson in it.

"The Giant and the Dwarf"-Source

Author-Luis Fernades. 

Book found in Bizzel Library 

Reading Notes: The Tortoise and the Geese

I found this story to be a little strange but still very good in its lesson. Starts with 2 geese and 1 tortoise that live in pond until the pond dries up and the 2 geese decide to leave so they wont die. However the tortoise doesn't want to be left to die in the pond. After discussion on the matter the geese agree to take him but he must not speak at all because the only way they could get him there is if he held on to a stick while they fly. Once they had almost made it to a new pond they went over a few people then they started laughing at the trio so the turtle got mad and yelled at them which resulted in him dying. I think the lesson is this is to not be to quick to anger because it could result in bad things. I would like to find a way to make this modern somehow and have some back story to really represent the lesson of this short story.

"Tortoise and the 2 geese"- Source

Reading Notes: Deer Stories

Ruru the Golden Deer

I really liked this story and that it is a Jataka makes it awesome. Through out this story a boy lives and is spoiled by his parents his entire life. After his parents die the boy has no idea how to spend money and eventually blows through all the money in his possession. The boy tries to become rich again by barrowing money to eventually gaining enough back to pay them back. However, all the people who lent him money wanted it all back after several months of no repayment. The boy then takes all of the lenders to the river to drown himself rather then to let the other men deal with him. Once the boy was trying to drown himself a golden deer named Ruru that lived in a hidden spot on the river saved him. The only thing that Ruru asked in return was that he told no one of his location.
Days later the King of the town issued a search for a golden deer. The boy lead them straight to the deer!.

I think that I could be able to take the position of the deer in this story. After he saved a boy that is drowning or a near death experience he sits down with him to talk. After talking to the boy I will explain what the boy was doing to get into trouble that way I have a way to explain the other half of the story. Then I will have the boy leave to tell a person or hunter where the deer is to show that betrayal is not a good thing.

"Ruru the Golden Deer": Source

Book Source Information: 

Bizzell Library
Deer Stories: The Gentile Wisdom of the Jataka
Author: Anant Pai

Nivedita, Shiva: Reading Notes A

Supremacy of Shiva

In this story they talk about how Shiva isn’t welcome in Daksha house or welcome to any of his daughters for their worship or anything of that matter. I thought this story was a little hard to follow up to the point that I stopped on but pretty interesting. I think I could retell this part so that it is a lot clearer to understand and follow.  At the end of this Shiva is able to gain entry to Daksha house by way of one of his daughters who has been praying to him in secret for a long time. But she somehow died at Daksha’s feet at the end of this paragraph.

The Anger of Shiva
This was a really cool paragraph. After Sati in the last paragraph dies basically by the hands of Daksha Shiva is extremely anger with him and the sacrifices that he has at his house. Once he hears what happened he pulls a hair out of his head and throws in in to ground and a huge demon pops out of it.  Shiva then tells this demon to attach Daksha and his sacrifices. The demon cuts off his head at the end of it and destroys the gods that were in attendance there. Brahma advises the gods to make peace with Shiva because he could destroy the whole universe. They describe the demon really well in the story but that was pretty much it as far as what he did. The battle wasn’t even in the story so I think I could write about that. That I could also describe the Gods when they approach them. I really like a lot of this part of the story but I wish they would have added more information about it because it kind of lacked a lot of description for me.

(Uma beloved of Shiva: Source)

Story: Source;

Author: Sister Nivedita 

Reading Notes: Mahaharata Part D

Abhimanyu and Jayadratha:
Very intense story about Arjuna's son being killed. He was basically traped by a crew of 7 people being led by Jayadratha.  I don't really think it was a fare was for Abhimanyu to be kill given the way he was such a great young warrior. However, Arjuna was so upset he had vowed to kill the evil Jauadratha by the end of the next night or he couldn't attain heaven. I thought that build up a lot of tension in this story that he baskically gave himself a deadline to whether or not he was going to be able to go to heaven. So by the end of the story Arjuna kills Jayadratha right before the end of night because they were all fooled into thinking that the sun had already set. I think I could give a twist to the story by telling it from the Kauravas side and how they created this plan to hide Jayadratha so that Arjuna would be able to kill him by dark.

Death of Drona:
While reading this I was a little dissapointed that that the Pandavas allowed Bhima to trick Drona. As far as the Kauraves go they do these kind of sly tricks all the time. However when they let Bhima do this to Drona it kind of let me down a bit. I also understand that they are in war but I thought they would be able to make it through it without going to a low point to trick a person that trained them fo the majority of there lives. I did think it was very cool how Drona's spirit kind of just disapeared from his body before they cut his head off. That in many ways to me I still think if Drona being a better warrior because he didn't trick them.

Death of Drona:Source

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

Arjuna and Shiva:
Very cool story about Arjuna. He basically has to go on a solo adventure to be able to get a very powerful weapon to defeat Duryodhana and his brothers. So he goes to the Himalayas to go and worship and prey. What I thought was cool about this was that the more time he spent up there the less he was would have to eat. He eventually go to the point to where he only needed air to sustain his life. Side not that is impossible but I think it adds to how committed to the cause he was in this story. He eventually get to the part in the story where a boar was charging after him and a unknown huntsman and Arjuna shot at it and begun to fight over it until he realised it was the God Shiva. I think the weapon he got from him is freaking awesome because it can be used by thinking about it or using your eyes only when ou run out of all your other weapons. Could tell this story and maybe a journel entry because he was there for around 4 months.

Arjuna recieves the Pashupata:Source

Arjuna and Indra:

Really enjoyed this story. I think it has a lot of potential to be able to create my own ideas in it. They talk about how Arjuna goes off into the depths of the sea to fight off the enemey's of his father Indra but it doesn't really give much detail about the attack as a whole or really how the celestial weapons work in battle. I believe that I could tell the story about what Arjuna was thinking and a lot about what happened while he was in this conflict. Could also set up the  story by describing the city that Indra lives before Arjuna leaves for battle.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

The Fire House
That it was really interesting story. Basically the Blind King just really hates the Pandavas princes and will do anything to kill them. But the way that they supposedly died reminded me a lot of Game of thrones and how everyone thought that the youngest Stark boys were burned alive in the show. Though they ended up not dying at all which is just life this story! I think that I could narrate this story from the miners perspective. How he had to hide out in the palace and work at night so that he could save family.

Bhima and Hibimbi
Love the stories where there are fighting scenes! Bhima as of right now in the reading is my favorite one! He is a freaking giant and is super strong! I just thank that's awesome. However I really like how they set up the scene that the rakshasa saw him and didn't want to kill him any more. The Hibimbi seemed like a pretty bad dude, but Bhima was way to strong for him. I think that I could write this story from either the rashaka wife or from Hidimbi. It would be cool to hear the story for the rashaka because in both ways she doesn't want her new love to die in front of her and even if the her brother just said that he was going to eat her she might still not want to see him die.. I don't really know what kind of emotional type connection they had but I could see her maybe being upset about that. Also the way there son was already grown up with in the first hour was kind of tripy to me.

"Ghatotkacha":Source

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

Amba 
Pretty interesting story. Thought it was kind of comical that she just left a place where she would have been basivcally a queen. However, It was kind of sad the way the person that she loved ended up being so cold toward her. That and she went off the deep end and blamed it all on Bhishma. I could somewhat agee with it but at the same time I don't at all. I am really interested on when she recarnates into a male to kill Bhishma.

Pandavas and Kauravas
 This was the first story that I liked in this section of story's so far. The story is basically describing the two different families of princes. It talks about how the blind king didn't like his brothers son's since they were better than all of his son's. What intrigued me about this story was that they said they trained together and had competitions and the Pandavas always ended up winning or at least one of the brothers always win. So my idea with this story is that I could create a story that had all of the princes in a competitions against each other and tell what all they did in the challenges. I think this would be a cool side story and have some depth about the blind king and his family.
Another side story of this in when they talk about how the Pandavas boys go there I thought it was really cool how they described the sages at the end and all of there abilities that they were told about having. I think I could incorporate this into future stories.

"The Pandavas":Source

Reading Notes: Ramayana: D

Indrajiti
 This was a pretty cool story. It has a lot going on in this story. Rama is basically defeated by Ravana's son named Indrajit. So Indrajit has magical power that he uses basically to win this battle. Once it tuns dark he turns himself  invisible and rains like snake magic arrows to kill everyone. This leaves Rama and Lakshmana in the dirt where they are basically almost dead. Everyone loses hope because their leaders are dying. All the monkey's want to go home. Sita also gets captured again (Seems to be a common occurrence in the story's). By the end of the story a guy called Garuda comes in like an angel and heals everyone with his magic and they recommence the war. I think I could tell it from Indrajitei's point of view. I kind of like to write stories from the other side. But probably write the way that the battle happened as more of a inner personal way like maybe from Rama's mind and what he was thinking. Place a one on one fight with him and Indrajiti when he is invisible maybe.

Kumbhakarna
 A very interesting story. I read a of wiki post about this story when I was reading it. I think it really cool that the dude is a freaking giant that has to sleep for 6 months before he is woken up. However I dont think they came enough of a story before they killed him. I would definitely tell the story from the view point of one of the rakshasas or Kumbhakarna himself. Just imagine being in the shoes of this lumber jack of a guy, Has to sleep for 6 months just to be woken up early to fight a war then get your head cut off. That would be cray cray.

"The raskshasas wake Kumbhakarna: Source

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part C

Sugtiva and Hanuman 
Rama and Lakshmana traveled into a lake country in search of Sugriva a monkey king in exile. But they run in Hanuman which is a monkey god that can shape shift. They meet him while he was shifted into a beggar lake country.  After Hanuman realized hat he was talking to the two powerful brothers he befriends them in hoped that they will help get back Sugriva's wife and the kingdom he once ruled over. This story was pretty cool. I like how Hanuman can shape shift so I could us this in a lot of different ways.

The Burning of Lanka
This story was one of the more entertainign one's I have read. When Ravana order to have Hanuman's tail to be burned Sita prayed to the Fire lord to have the flame "be cool' to Hanuma. So indtead of burning his tail it stayed on fire but it did not burn him at all. He continued to go around Lanka until he burned it down. He thought that Sita had died in the fire but he fod he after sitting in the Ashoka tree.  I think that I can add a fighting seen in this to have some depth, or I could tell the story from an other monkey that heard the story from Hanuman once he returned.

Lanka on fire

Reading Notes: Rayamana Part B

Rama and Bharata
Bharata meets Rama in the jungle after being apart for years. Bharata gives the power of the government to Rama infront of the army so that he can return to Ayodhya. Rama refuses to return to the city becaue his fathers will was not completed. Jabali tell Rama that he doesn't need to listen to the will of the dead because he is dead and there is no after life so they do not need to waste their time with it. Rama countered to Jabali that nothing that he said was proven so he will continue completing the rest of his fathers will.


Lakshmana and Shurpanakha
after Shurpanakha left Rama she approached Lakshmana. He ended up offending her and attacked him. So he cut off her ears and and nose. Could recreate this fight in a where he cuts off something different and have some kind of conversation with he. Shurpanakha goes back and get her brother involved. Khara ends up having 14 rakshasa's to go back and fight them but Rama shoots all of them with celestial arrows. Also could illustrate this story in Shurpanakha's point of view would give it a nice twist.

Lakshmana cuts Shurpanakha

Reading Notes Ramayana Part A

PDE Ramayana: Vishvamitra. I liked the way that King Dasharatha honored his words and sent the two boys to fight off the rakshasas. I could elaborate on why he didn't want to send to boy a little bit more that what he did. Also could describe the what they were wearing and how the armor, weapond, and jewels looked on them while they were walking away.

 

Vishvamitra speaks with King Dasharatha Web Link

PDE Ramayana: Thataka.  Really awesome fighting story with Rama fighting Thataka. I can write about how he was able to beat her with his bow or maybe a sword. She turned invisible after the two boys were able to cut off a few limbs. Write a little bit mote about that fight and how they did it. Then write about how the celestial weapons came in to the story by explaining and describing how beautiful they are. Move forward to the last fight with Maricha and Subahu and explain how they die in your own version. ALOT of room to finish this story how you want it to end.

Thataka and Maricha, Web Link  

PDE Ramayana: Rama Wins Sita. Not a lot of context to this story but really like that he had to go into the castle and win Sita by breaking a bow of a God.  I think I could elaborate more on the after effect of breaking a bow that took thousands of people to attempt to beak it until Rama. You can also create a bigger and different environment where there are more people around him in the castle coming to watch him break the bow.

Bibliography: Public Domain Edition: Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Web Link