Epics of India

For part B of my week 11 reading, I chose to cover the second half of the YouTube videos on Krishna. Similar to part A of this week’s readings, I enjoyed the use of illustration to convey the messages of Krishna’s story. It makes the story much easier to follow and helps keep track of who is who. Secondly, I loved the drama involved in Krishna’s story. With assasination attempts, the overthrow of rulers, war, and ascensions, this story is definitely one to keep you on your toes, and doesn’t progress slowly like some of the other stories we have read. Lastly, I liked learning about the different incarnations of Krishna. The idea of incarnation is something I’ve been aware of but haven’t really learned much about, so it was been cool to hear that aspect of religion from these stories. Image of Krishna

For part A of my week 11 reading, I chose to cover the first half of the Krishna Tales Video . The first thing I liked about these videos was the use of illustration to help convey messages. It makes the stories easier to follow, which is also something I noticed in the videos we watched earlier about the Ramayana. It was once again somewhat overwhelming to learn about the additional gods involved in our epics, especially since Krishna is considered a minor god and also the supreme god at the same time. The different names they are given is fascinating, and I would enjoy seeing some sort of graphic on where in India these different names and traditions come from. It was refreshing to hear about a god we had previously read about, with Krishna being mentioned in the Mahabharata, so it at least wasn’t too overwhelming in the sense of additional characters. Image of Krishna

For Part B of my Week 10 Reading, I chose to cover Babbitt: More Jataka Tales . I’ve continued to enjoy these stories more and more as I like the deep philosophical thoughts they can provoke, which is surprising given their simplistic nature. The stories in this section definitely seemed to emphasize the importance of perspective. In the Red Bud story for example, four brothers got in an argument over the appearance of a tree, and it turns out that they all had seen the same tree, just in different seasons. It’s important to understand that not everyone views things in the same way that you do, and I liked how these stories echoed that. Image of More Jataka Tales

For Part A of my Week 10 reading, I chose to cover Inayat, Twenty Jataka Tales , namely the Guilty Dogs story. I was fascinated by this story and the message it was trying to convey to the reader. The idea that the rich and privileged dogs were to the guilty ones and yet they were the only dogs destined to live was a powerful message that still echoes today, and is something a lot of people certainly take for granted. The idea of it being dogs to as opposed to people was interesting, as the image people have of dogs makes them much more empathetic to a story about them, and certainly makes the message hit harder. Image from the Guilty Dogs

For Part B of this week’s reading, I continued the cartoons on the first week of the Mahabharata. For this part, I chose to focus on the setting. What I noticed more from this week that I had not in the past is the use of setting to help character development .Generally when young men of importance to the story were being raised, much of it was done outside. It appears to make them seem more pure and in tune with their surroundings, which gives you a positive image of them that sticks as the story goes on. Image of Duryodhana and Drona 

For this week’s reading, I chose to cover the cartoons based on the Mahabharata. Although I have been covering character development in the past, I chose to continue it for this week. The common theme of revenge is ridiculously prevalent in a majority of the epics we’ve read for this class, and this week is no exception. In Amba’s story, the position she is put in by two kings is cruel, and she does what she can to exact her revenge on the one she feels has most wronged her. Image of Amba from the Mahabharata

For my second reading for week 7, I read part D of the public domain version of the Mahabharata. For this section of the reading, I chose to focus on death, which was wildly abundant in this section. First came the death of Abhimanyu. It seems that all great stories must be associated with the occurrence of tragedy, and the life of Arjuna is no exception. His son, who is described as being pure and innocent, has his head done in by a mace trapped behind enemy lines, which seems like a horrible way to go. He was blinded badly right before then, highlighting his innocent and lack of ability to defend himself, just to exemplify the lack of mercy shown to him. Next came Bhima’s son, which was slightly less dramatic but still a heat tragedy for the side of the Pandavas. It seems that many of these fights occurred solely between two people, which of the rest of the armies just watching on. This adds to the dramatic scene of each fight, although it seems like if they really wanted to pro...

For the first part of my week 7 reading, I read part C of the public domain version of the Mahabharata . \ For this reading, I chose to focus on the conflicting morals that are highlighted throughout the stories. The first one which is discussed is forgiveness. Often the Pandavas discuss the importance of forgiveness, that it is the truth, and yet Arjun, eager for battle, seems to generally be fairly unforgiving. He wrecks an entire city of demons, slaying all that come before him. I know they’re Econ’s, but it still doesn’t seem very forgiving to go attack them without being provoked and destroy their entire city. Another concept which seemed odd was Bhima’s killing animals for fun. He was amused by the monkey that he could not move, and was often described as being the thoughtful and selfless caretaker of his family, but he was killing elephants and then using those dead elephants to kill more elephants for fun. It seems odd to include this and doesn’t seem very fitting. Lastly...

For my reading of part B of the public domain version of the Mahabharata, I chose to focus on the setting. The extreme variety of natural settings, palaces, cities, and rivers was fascinating, and each seemed to have an impact on the story. The forests almost always implied a certain level of mystery or mischief. Often the environment was described as being scenic, but it usually either burned down or was filled with rakshashas. The palaces were always described as being filled with riches and fair women, although the nature of them changed. They either belonged to noble or mischievous people, and often were involved in scenes of jealousy or revenge. The cities were generally used to describe stopping points for the characters, and was almost always where children were born. The rivers had a magical element to them, involving nymphs, rakshashas, and gods. Everything that happened at the rivers had a mystical element to it, and generally involved at least some interaction with the go...

For this week's reading, I read parts A and B of the Mahabharata, taken from the public domain edition.  For this reading, I chose not to focus on character development (because there were so many), and instead focused on morals. I found all of the moral lessons that were present in the Mahabharata quite interesting. These included raising a child to not be proud, loyal devotion to a husband, not making unwise vows out of love, and that karma always wins. It was also shocking how often and how willingly people did favors just to get the chance to fight and kill someone. People would sacrifice their lives, their childrens' lives, and the lives of complete strangers just for revenge. It really seemed like the entirety of part A was about Karma and revenge, and about different sons being too proud and fighting each other, often not even realizing who they were fighting against. Image of Bhima and his mace

For my extra credit reading this week, I chose to write about the second part of Sita Sings the Blues. For this part, I chose to focus on the setting. It’s interesting how the creators used the different scenes in day and night to help the viewers associate certain moods or motives within the plot. Night time generally is either associated with trickery or love, while the fighting and talking takes place more during the day. I enjoyed how the different settings were only used to portray a single idea or action, whereas most of the other discussions took place between the three narrators. This made the story much more easy to follow. Generally when traveling is involved, the creators go to lengths to make the environment seem as vast as possible. I’m unsure of why this is, but they’re fairly consistent with it and it seems to add to the plot. It’s also interesting how everything is done symmetrically. Everyone lines up evenly, when rakshashas die, they die in even numbers on bot...

For the reading these week, I chose to watch Sita Sings the Blues, and these notes will cover the first half of the movie. For this half, I wanted to focus on character development. First, I enjoyed the discussion at the beginning introducing all the characters. They seem to be somewhat confused which made me feel a bit better about being as confused as I was when they were all introduced. It’s also interesting how they introduce Sita as a follower and someone who would live in the shadow of their significant other, when we know this not to be true as the story unfolds. The other side of Ravana that is revealed in the movie is also fascinating. In the Ramayana version that I read, he is portrayed to basically be this devil king, but in the movie he is described a a fairly good king, with the only negative thing he did being kidnapping Sita. The movie also goes to great lengths to show Sita’s loyalty to Rama, so it will be interesting how they show her relationship with Rama devel...

On reading D for this week, I wanted to focus on plot and mainly the ending, because that was fairly frustrating for me. Rama, being this person who is described through most of the Ramayana as a person with flawless morals and actions, seems to make a very stupid judgment call and lives the rest of his life somewhat in sadness because of it. After everything he had been through with Sita, he banished her to the woods because she was kidnapped. He claims that her body is no longer pure, although from the viewpoints we were given, it seems that all she did was sit trapped underneath a tree with no man, including Ravana, really making any physical contact with her. She then gives birth to his two sons and he doesn’t even know about it because she is in exile. It was powerful at the end when Rama asked her to come back and she left to go be with the gods. It felt fitting and that Rama had that coming, since he had been horrible to her all for the sake of preserving the people’s view of h...

On reading C for this week, I wanted to focus on setting. First, the description of Ravana’s court and Lanka was quite interesting, with the town being very expansive and spread out, full of rakshashas, and also having the Ashoka grove where Sita was being kept. Lanka, being hidden by clouds and separated by water, is attached with a mysterious and looming vibe, and is also deemed to be powerful given all of the palaces and treasures that are associated with it. The Ashoka grove is fairly contrasting to that though, and a part of this is likely due to the fact that it is where Sita is staying, and palaces full of rakshashas wouldn’t be fitting. The Ashoka grove isn’t described in much detail though, so I’m curious as to how Hanuman was able to talk to Sita in secret.  The setting for Ravana’s hall is also not described in great detail, although you are given the impression that it’s a large room full of tension and anxiety, and that all are fairly fearful of Ravana. The set...

Reading B: Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana For my reading notes over part B, I chose to focus again on character development. Almost all of part B took place somewhere in the woods, which I've learned are extremely vast and full of rakshashas. Each encounter Rama has with creatures in the woods has seemed to teach him and maybe us a lesson about either loyalty, courage, or keeping one's word. It's also interesting that almost all of the people Rama encounters have been aware of his coming for quite a long time. Another interesting comment I noticed was the brief mentioning of atheism by one of the Brahmins when speaking to Rama. Rama immediately disregarded this with arguments of moralty and faithfulness and the story continues, but it was of interest that it was brought up at all. The ruse that Ravana uses to steal Sita away was odd, and I'm sure I'm thinking too logically about it but I'm not quite sure how that would work. Surely Rama would immedi...

Reading A: Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana For my reading notes over Part A this week, I chose to focus on the character development. First and foremost, there are a ridiculous amount of names. I'm sure it's much more difficult for me just because most of the names sound so foreign, and that I'll get used to it as the semester goes on, but it's certainly making the reading more difficult right now. It was also interesting how the stories switched back and forth from a narrative tone to a poetic tone. This didn't necessarily make the stories easier to follow, but it was interesting nonetheless. The development of Rama over the first part of the reading reminded me of some of the stories of ancient Greek heroes. What was unique though was that Rama didn't go through any serious hardships in his upbringing, which is unlike those stories of Ancient Greece. It was fascinating as well to see the role rituals, sacrifices, and other traditions played in the up...

For my Week 2 extra credit reading, I chose to focus on a couple of stories. Both stories are from  The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse. The first story I wanted to take notes over was The Mouse and the Farmer. On a side note I like the fact that most of these stories use animals to convey human thoughts and emotions, and often the humans are the unintelligent ones in the story. Regardless, my first thought about this story and many of the other stories was how much luck and randomness seems to be involved. I understand that the point of the stories are to convey a certain lesson or moral, but in this story for example, how unlikely is it that the farmer's land is completely covered in gold that he's just not aware of. And that the only reason the gold is included in the story is to eventually lead to the cat being overly greedy about food. I know I'm overanalyzing this but it, like many of the other stories, seem like quite a stretch to get ...

For these reading notes, I've chosen to focus on a couple of stories, which are linked below, and to focus on the plots of each of them, as they were interesting and similar but had a few key differences. The Cunning Crane and the Crab by W. H. D. Rouse The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses by Robert Chalmers The Cunning Crane: I enjoyed this story because it was not only about the use of wit for both good and bad, but also about karma and one's ability to think for themselves. In this story there are two ponds, one that dries up every summer and becomes very warm, and another that is always cool and covered by shade. The warm pond is filled with fish, who are consequently miserable every summer as the pond heats up. A crane lives at the cool pond, and he convinces the fish that he could carry them in his beak to the nicer pond. After convincing them, he manages to eat every single fish, and somehow still being hungry tries to convince a crab in the warm pond of the same thi...

For week 3, I've chosen the public domain version of Ramayana. I've chosen this mostly because it'll be free, but also because it will be interesting to see the many different writing styles involved from all of the authors who contributed to it. For the comic books on the Bizzell web page, I've chosen Dasharatha: The Story of Roma's Father and Kubera: The Lord of Wealth . I chose Dasharatha because it appears to tell the story of a life filled with tragedy and learned lessons, which seems interesting, and I chose Kubera because it tells the tale of a virtuous struggle between brothers and seemed thought-provoking.  For videos, I've chosen Ancient Technology - Atlantis and India and Rama and the Ramayana . I chose the first video because a discussion of the technology developed in ancient India seemed fascinating, and I chose the second video because it was created by Crash Course, and I've always found their videos to be very informative.  Image ...