Indian Epics Fall 2019

Oof. That is all I can say at this point. I am currently writing this post in between classes trying to get back some of the many points I have already missed in this class. Even though I do not mean for it to be, this class often falls last on my priority list. It is definitely the most assignments in a class that I have this semester, even though none of them are difficult or too time consuming. I am a senior and am just now willing to admit that I have terrible time management skills. When something is not due, I tend to put it off until I have to do it. There was a moment last week where I went to the library with the intention on getting work done, but because nothing was actually due the next day, nothing got done. Each week I have missed at least one of the readings, and one week I even missed both. I say in my head that I am a slow reader so I never feel like I can read that many pages in hour or so that it says it should take. Rather than buckling down and actually doing it,...

Because I had a bit of a difficult time coming up with a plan for my storybook, I did some research on my topic and feel a lot better about what I have. My storybook contains three stories all from the lives of Kumbhakarna, the sleeping giant. I did quite a bit of research for my storybook introduction, so I have a plan set forth for the stories I want to do. For my first story, I want to tell the story of Vijaya and Jaya being turned into Kumbhakarna and Ravana. The main source I found was Wikipedia and it gives a simple yet still detailed enough account of what happened. The Wikipedia story allows for some interpretation about which brother was the one who influenced the other. The story also tells of the Four Kumaras  who are the cause for each of the gatekeepers turning into their characters from the Ramayana. They have the appearance of children which is why they were not allowed through the gate. Children are often tricksters so I can understand why they were not allowed t...

The Eighth Baby: They were very nonchalant about killing seven babies. It seems many of the characters follow a similar theme, with them being very nonchalant about death, yet extremely passionate about carrying on the family legacy. At first I did not think I was going to like Bhishma, but he quickly grew on me as he was sticking to his vow. Though all the things that followed because he stuck to his vow were a bit odd. The whole page about the fish smell and how a fish/human hybrid baby was born, except the only trait of a fish that she kept was the smell. It seems like for my own stories I could get a little more outlandish. I also laughed out loud whenever Vyasa said he needed a full year to prepare for sex. I had anticipated more of an emphasis on Vidura, but they chapter ended with the emphasis on the Padavas and the blind kings many sons So far this is very different from the Ramayana as so much happens in very few lines. Praying to gods seem to usually end with a powerful...

After reading the comments and thinking over it myself, my storybook plan was not much of a cohesive plan. I misunderstood that each story was meant to stand on its own, so that changed how I wanted the sotrybook to go. Below is my new plan for what I want to do for my storybook. I still want to stick to the dream aspect of Kumbhakarna. I want each story of his to be a different dream. These dreams will not be connecting to one another and one can be read without knowledge of the others. For one of the stories, I want it to be about him and Ravana when they were growing up. This way I can make my own story up, but also help tie it in to why Ravana started to become a villain and if Kumbhakarna is bad because he is bad, or because of pressure from his brother. For the next story, I want it to be about Kumbhakarna killing Rama and becoming worshiped by everyone around him. Even though I want to display Kumbhakarna in a positive light, I think this story plays along the fact that ever...

All of the gods were happy to see that Ravana was defeated and that Sita was returning home to Rama. After all Rama has went through to save the love of his life, they can finally live in peace. As the gods gathered around to watch the reunion of Sita and Rama at his house, Agni, the fire god, felt that something was off. Rama was not as excited as everyone else and Agni noticed. When Sita finally arrived she knocked on the door to see Rama answer. She began to come inside but Rama blocked her way. "Are you not excited to see me?" Sita asked. "You cannot come in because I do not know if Ravana has tainted you," Rama replied. Sita was not surprised by his answer. She turned around and left without saying another word. Meanwhile, Angi, along with the other gods, were watching this is confusion. Because of this, Angi went down to speak to Rama to clear this up. "Why have you turned away the woman you fought so hard to save?" Angi asked. Rama replied...

For my storybook, the hardest part for me will be sources. At this moment I only have the Ramayana I read, a comic book , and another book . I feel like that may not be enough sources. Because of the sources I have only containing the same story for Kumbhakarna and no real others, my plan is to make my own stories that center around Kumbhakarna's sleep. For specifically, I want to write about the dreams he has during his time of rest. One possibility would be taking other stories from around the Ramayana and insert him into them somehow. So he thinks that he has been a part of all of these stories but in the end he wakes up and finds out none of it was real. I just now thought of that idea, so I still have not decided whether I want to create my own dreams, or have them be other Ramayana stories. The main idea for this storybook would be to make them believe that Kumbhakarna could have easily fit in these stories, and are just as surprised when they find out it was all a dream. I...

(Sea of Dreams. Source: Pixabay ) Storybook